Hotlanta. On a summer night, there are few nicer cities in which to kick back — feet on the table and Southern food on the way. Where big-city style blends with rural Georgia hospitality, the balmy nights call for relaxing within the comfort of a cold beer and good tunes.
    The city itself is made up of a centralized downtown, but if you ask any local, the best nights are born in one of the scattered neighborhoods that stretch the fun far beyond the invisible lines of the metropolis.
    From Little Five Points to Buckhead to Vinings, Atlanta residents are free to make the night whatever their hearts desire. In the neighborhood of Virginia Highlands, however, Neighbor’s takes most of the business and the name with a somewhat serious smile.

Back in the Day
    Owner Doug Landau graduated from Emory college and put his knowledge to the task of setting up Neighbor’s as a true Atlanta watering hole. Upon entering back in 1986, one of his friends might have noticed a few things — and it would have ended there: Landau behind the bar, a tiny kitchen behind the fireplace — and not a whole lot else.
    “Basically you are talking about a tiny, little room that had roughly 1,500 square feet for the entire place — including the patio,” Chris Eissman, president of Neighbor’s and Dark Horse Tavern and Grill, Landau’s other venue a few blocks away, says. 
    “Back when we started,” he says of coming on board in the very early ‘90s, “Neighbor’s was only open for lunch in the spring and summer and fall. We didn’t even open for lunch in the wintertime because it was so small and so slow. It wasn’t even worth being open.”

Movin’ on Up
    “Right now,” Eissman says, “we have probably gone from 1,500 square feet back then to almost 5,000 — 2,200 feet of deck, with about 50 tables and 2,700 square feet inside.”
    The group began expanding both the physical space and the concept in the early 90s, working over everything from the menus to the seating. One of the greatest tricks was using Landau’s live music venue Dark Horse Tavern — as a sort of lever to boost Neighbor’s.
    “We had Dark Horse, which was a live music venue that did a lot of the singles scene,” Eissman says. “It had multi-levels with really strong winter and summer business. Then, we had Neighbor’s with the patio. Neighbor’s would do really well in nice weather. So, we began to take the weak part of one and make it the strength of the other.”
    They focused on pulling a larger lunch crowd year-round by accruing the space next door and opening up the place up with a new breakfast area with diner-style seating, a lounge area and an a more open atmosphere — all of which enticed the neighborhood families for French toast and orange juice along with the college kids for beer and bomb shots.

Standing Room Only
    The license to longevity for Neighbor’s lay in looking at the big picture and offering the clientele a simple, uncomplicated version of what they wanted. The more laid-back and unobtrusive and open it became, the larger the numbers and higher the profits.“
    Our biggest selling feature is our patio,” General Manager Whit Finks says. “There are only two bars in our neighborhood that have patios. If you don’t get a seat on our patio by 6:30 on a Saturday night, you are not getting a seat unless you get really lucky. People stay there — big time.”
    With a management style of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the song on the patio remains the same.“
    We purposefully have not put a lot of structures to cover the sunlight on the deck,” Eissman says. “The restaurant next to us has a giant trellis that looks beautiful, but on a nice day, nobody is sitting over there because everyone wants to be outside in the sun.”
     In addition to the patio, whose only facelift has been a misting system in the summer and electric heaters in the winter, the company benefits from their drink list, which caters to the college taste bud. Neighbor’s offers an awe-inspiring 10 bomb shots, including the Dr. Steinbomb (Absolut Citron dropped into a Warsteiner), the Conquistador (Jose Quervo Gold dropped into a Coors Light) and the Fa Shizzle Dizzle (Absolut Vanilla dropped into a Red Bull and ginger ale).
    “On a good Saturday night,” Fink says, “we probably sell 250.”
    The menu also contains 28 bottled beers and 17 draft, with new additions such as Heineken Light appearing regularly. And, a sophisticated spirit selection.
    “Just like everybody else, I have noticed that there has been a gravitation towards your higher-end, call brands,” Eissman says. “We got rid of the $5 a bottle, well-brand vodka. When you order a vodka, you get Finlandia and up.”

The Day-to-Day And the Face-to-Face
    According to Eissman, a substantial portion of the credit for the guest traffic also comes from the presence and caring persistence of ownership.
    “Doug (Landau) can throw a rock from where he lives and hit Neighbor’s. So, he begins every day there. When you have an owner on-site, who is involved in the business like that, you know, it is a really different thing,” Eissman says.
    Evident in the 35 empty keg shells refilled a week and the 10-12 percent average, annual growth rate,  Neighbor’s has captured the hearts — and loyalty — of all types in Atlanta.
    “We are lucky enough to have been around for so long,” Eissman says. “People just say, ‘Let’s meet at Neighbor’s before we go to the ball game’ or ‘Let’s meet at Neighbor’s and just hang out on the patio.
    “A couple of our regulars are staffers at the Carter Center. They kept talking about us, and we ended up having Jimmy and Roselyn Carter come and eat dinner one night with the Secret Service in tow.”
    And former President Carter’s reaction? A fitting, “Y’all have a real nice place here.” NCB