Friday Date Night spends a good amount of time in restaurants in small towns in Georgia. Everyone seems to know each other and there is a feeling of real community. Hoof & Ale is about 2 miles from our house and it’s a place that gives you the small-town atmosphere in the big city.

They are newcomers to the East Cobb community, and we have been meaning to stop in for months. As we are seating ourselves our server, Donald, welcomes us and lets us know that he knows we are newbies.

They are having a busy day (which we think is a very good thing) and Donald is alone out front.

He brings us some complimentary popcorn, the beer list and menus and tells us he will be with us as soon as he can get back.

In addition to lunch specials there are also daily specials on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We are here for Brew Wednesday so we get to take advantage of 1/2 off select craft beer. Today, the staff decides that it’s half off of drafts. Who can argue with that? On this very cold day we cannot resist the Three Taverns Theophan The Recluse Imperial Stout.

There are 6 beers on tap, and many more available in bottles.

Hoof & Ale is a gastropub and their specialty is burgers. We see a few delivered to a table of 10 nearby and we know what we want! I order the Clayton Burger which is angus beef, pimento cheese, house pickles and crispy shallots. It’s served on a fresh egg bread bun. I order it cooked medium and would have preferred it to have a little pink in the center, but it tastes fresh and juicy and I really enjoy this burger.

Roger is a sucker for fried eggs on his burger so the Breakfast Burger is a natural for him. It’s also Angus beef, but add grilled pork belly, a fried egg and cheddar cheese and you are going in a great direction, except if you are watching your cholesterol.

This burger was also ordered medium and would have been perfect if it had stayed on the grill about 60 seconds less.

We get a couple of generous side orders with our burgers. The hush puppies are some of the best we have ever had.

They are a little sweet and remind us of beignets. We also get a small order of fries minus the seasoning. They are fresh and hot and disappear pretty quickly.

You can see more of our meal in our exclusive Tastemade video, which you can watch here.

There are many dessert choices, but it’s lunch and the high alcohol, high calorie Imperial Stout is still being enjoyed after the food is all gone.

The Bottom Line: We like it here. There are several regulars and it’s a friendly neighborhood setting. Hoof & Ale is the sort of place where we will bring friends and we will try to come back at least once a month, on Wednesdays of course.