Restaurants in Dunwoody

Chandeliers illuminate red, tufted booths and draped walls replete with golden Buddhas, Middle Eastern art, and woven-wood panels. Such touches earned Tantra an "Extraordinary-to-Perfection" decor rating from Zagat and OpenTable’s Diners’ Choice Award for romantic restaurant. The eatery also received high praise for its service and food, propelled in part by executive chef Terry Dwyer’s blend of Mediterranean, Indian, and Persian flavors. Drawing from his training at the Culinary Institute of America, chef Dwyer caramelizes scallops in a basil rub, grills ostrich filets, and stuffs pork tenderloins with quince and fennel, using these distinctive combinations to bring out unexpected flavors and baffle blindfolded taste testers. On the first Tuesday of every month, these dishes couple with tango dancing to add an extra layer of romance and spontaneity to dinner dates.

Colorful instruments erupt with sound as belly dancers twirl and shake their bejeweled torsos to the musical beats. As the dancers weave between tables, some diners remain enraptured by the show while others carry on intimate conversations with their companions. Along with belly dancing on Friday and Saturday night, Fanoos Persian Cuisine hosts flamenco music and dancing by performer Calo Gitano on the first Sunday of each month.

In the kitchen, cooks flit about with the same merriment as the dancers. The owners fondly remember the Persian flavors that highlighted their youth and commemorate these recollections with a menu replete with familiar and lesser-known Mediterranean dishes. Steaming platters of shish kebabs and veggie-rich stews served alongside beds of rice round out the menu and complement spirits and international bottles of wine.

The EVOS story begins on an ordinary day in the early 90's, when Dino Lambridis, Alkis Crassas, and Michael Jeffers suddenly felt a rumble in their bellies. The three friends piled into their sputtering 1988 Oldsmobile and drove for hours, searching for a fast food joint that could satisfy their craving for burgers that were both delicious and healthy. It was during this futile quest that they hatched the concept of EVOS —a quick-service eatery that serves healthy takes on American comfort foods. Two decades later, they’ve expanded EVOS into locations across Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina and has earned accolades from national publications such as USA Today.

Within each kitchen, chefs sizzle up grass-fed beef burgers and fold locally sourced produce into salads and wraps. The cooks eschew deep fryers, opting instead to slow roast their fries using grease-free technique called "airbaking". The restaurant staff is also deeply committed to eco-friendly practices, providing customers with recyclable and biodegradable serving materials and greeting each neighborhood tree by name.

Authentic Chinese, Thai, and Malaysian dishes dusted in spices and doused in curries make noses curious and mouths water as diners peruse a menu of more than 100 Asian fusion items. Inside the restaurant, walls the color of green tea adorned with bamboo-shoot silhouettes surround customers devouring dishes such as Malaysian curry chicken served in a clay pot with potatoes, onions, and string beans alongside general tso’s chicken glazed with spicy sauce. Bright-red box letters spelling Malaya light up nightly to draw in diners, and speedy staff members zoom delivery orders to offices, kitchen tables, and opera balconies.

Shortcake usually comes with strawberries, but at Erbert and Gerbert's Sandwich Shop it comes with a double serving of ham. That's because the shop's Shortcake is 1 of 21 signature, specialty, and classic sandwiches made at 50 locations throughout the United States. Other flavorful subs include the Geeter, which boasts a medley of chopped seafood and bacon, as well as the avocado-and-provolone-topped Jacob Bluefinger.

Like the Comet Morehouse and Boney Billy, a version of the Bluefinger is also available on an exclusive menu of certified-gluten-free sandwiches made with specially designed rolls from Udi's. Gluten-free rolls can replace regular rolls on any other sandwich, too, whether it’s purchased individually or in a boxed lunch, which comes with chips, a cookie, and half a giant pickle that, if left whole, wouldn't fit in your car.