Miso Izakaya

Miso Izakaya is on fire these days. In addition to being the go-to spot for Chow Down Atlanta twice a week (I’m pretty sure Chloe has her own menu), Miso has been named one of the top izakayas in the country by Bon Appetit, and this week I received the latest issue of Knife & Fork, where Christiane Lauterbach (also of Atlanta Magazine) upgraded them from two and a half stars to three. (Three is quite high from the succinctly definitive Christiane).

This trend of improvement is consistent with any article you read about Miso Izakaya. Early on, Miso earned a fair amount of criticism, but chef/owner Guy Wong not only used this information to positively improve his business, but he handled it with impressive class. I recall a Creative Loafing post where Besha was talking about a poor experience at a restaurant near the end of business hours. The post ended up being a discussion on how socially acceptable it is to arrive at a restaurant thirty minutes before closing. She didn’t name the restaurant.

Guy, however, did. He posted in the comments, outing his restaurant as the offender, apologized for her experience, and explained that he had discussed this matter with his staff and would improve.

I had been to Miso once at that time, and had not met Guy, but that is the sort of act that makes me want to visit a restaurant, if only to support great, accountable people who care about what they do.

BUT, it doesn’t hurt that the kimchi fried rice below is unreal. Thanks for the snacks Guy; like we needed all this right before our M. Wells dinner!