Busy Bee Cafe Review

The staff are nice. The fried chicken is crispy. The Mac and cheese has extra Gouda. Overall decent place for soul food.

I was in Atlanta from Kansas City for a weekend visiting my boyfriend since he was stationed there for work, Sunday was my last day with him before I had to fly back.

First and foremost, I have never waited this long at ANY restaurant.

At 5:30pm we had gone on their website to put ourselves in their wait line. We were 30th in line. When we go there we decided to just do pick-up since the wait line queue had not moved much. Called to put order in, but no one picked up. Went to their website to put in order, by the time we were at the checkout page the pick up window had closed on us; the window closes at 6pm, it was 6:02 pm when we got to the checkout page. So, we decided to just walk in and put our order in; The place was busy and I feel like we were understanding of that. We waited approximately 20-30 mins until we were allowed inside to order our food. Then waited another 10-15 mins to put our order in. Once we got our order put in at approximately at 6:50 PM .
Meanwhile, we were still in the queue/wait list for a table. at 7:02 we had gotten a text saying there was a table ready. I had asked the front door host if we got sat if we would get our food faster instead of keeping our order to-go, we could just have it sent to our table instead. The host said it would be faster if it was to-go, so we decided to just wait for it.
We finally received our food at approximately 8:30 PM. The staff did not apologize or even cared that we were the last people to get their food, WHILE PEOPLE WHO ORDER AFTER US RECEIVED THEIR FOOD.

WE WAITED FROM 6:50 PM TO 8:30 PM FOR FOOD.

I'll give a review based on the 3P's (People, Product, Process). Since the overall review of this business will be poor, I'll start with the good.

Product:
The product or food is good. Please, understand the difference between good, great and excellent. The food is good in a sense of a desire for southern soul food. It ranks near the top of the list for best in the city. However, the food is not great or excellent as you'd get from someone's grandma's kitchen.

People:
The people who work there are cordial at best. No one is exceptionally friendly or overly nice. I must say, most of the waitresses are polite. However, you do get a sense of attitude.

Process:
Here's where Busy Bee is subpar. There's so much I can write here, but I'll just give the skinny. The cafe has outgrown their current location. There's no reason for a business that's survived decades not to expand. The ordering process is a zoo, and that's me being nice. It takes at least 10-15 minutes to order. Multiply the wait time by 2.5 if you want to dine in. Their POS (point of sale) is unlike anything I've ever seen. Scenario, I order a couple of dinners to go paid and then realized I was overcharged. Here's the caveat I was refunded for my original purchase and then recharged for the correct amount. So the problem is my bank is holding roughly 200 dollars for a "mistake."

Overall, the food is decent the people and process are horrible. No one is accountable or display any empathy. I'll just say customer service is not their forte.

Hands down the best soul food in Atlanta. Lil pricey, but you get what you pay for.

Great food every time no complaints about this place at all if u want good quality soul food this is the place best soul food in Atlanta!!!

Poor service. Waited 1hr for my food. Seen several people get served before me thinking they ordered online until the waitress kept asking them for my food. Chicken stringy but done. Have to wait to get home to put in the oven to crispy up. This crazy for a. 6 piece chi Ken and was charged $20 ..for this meal. KFC would had been a whole lot better and cheaper and more food for the money.Pkease learn what Best Fried Chicken actually taste like. Never again.

Omg great food nice service can't wait to go back!!!!

Best soul food that I ve had since I ve been in GA, I have been here for 4 years and I was starting to think that the south was lying. Where s this good soul food?? My co worker ordered one day and I ve been hooked! Today I got the chicken wings, Mac n cheese, dressing and peach cobbler. Yum, Yum and more Yum. I NEVER eat peach cobbler with whole peaches in it so that s how I know it s certified. This will continue to be my go to for soul food or your go to because I m losing weight this year!!

I called for info on catering. None of the employees were knowledgeable and they told me to call back. Not a good look!! I'm gonna take my money where they have time to cater to me and my needs.

Order there all the time, my husband ordered some food for us over the phone,and I went to pick it up. It STILL wasn t ready after 45 minutes even though we were told 15.
So I waited and waited and waited until I finally got my food. Not only was it cold, was told I couldn t pay for it because it was in my husbands name. This place isn t worth all of that trouble for an hour+ wait, cold food, high prices for small portions and the technicality of it being in his name. The food used to be better, the service as well. They honestly need to fire everyone and just start over. Laziness
I m good love

The service was off the chain and the food was over the top!! Made a brother from Arizona most welcome. Luv me some Brittany!!

The Busy Bee The most Amazing restraunt in Atlanta GA. "10"s across the board"

The best soul food. Food always taste the same. Definitely worth the wait because you will have a wait. Pack your patience.
The sweet potato pie and cornbread dressing #best I've ever taste.

Extremely crowded for the square footage od the place. I would suggest an expansion to accommodate the wealth of people patroning at this establishment. The food was good, I tried their famous chicken. I concur, its delicious. They need a bigger place however. That will definitely eliminate the wait time of 45min+. Consider expanding folks.

This place has amazing food. And the server was so sweet and helpful. I highly recommend giving this place a try, you won't be disappointed!

The place was un organize the person at the door could not answer my question about take out, when i finally spoke to a lady Revise D she inform she was not taking carry out orders when the gentleman that was innthe front inform me i could not stand in the back that he told me to go to, it lead to more confusion. I was able to place my order to find out, i was missing my cake and was told to stand outside to wait for my change..... never going back to this establishment, whem i come back to Atlanta will be givimg my business back to Mary Mac.... i felt welcome there.

The food is good just be prepared to wait a while during lunch.

The service was GREAT the employees were friendly and the food was awesome I would definitly go back.

The food is amazing. This restaurant just makes me want to keep coming back to Atlanta

Absolutely LOVED this restaurant. Our food was amazing. Hot, fresh, and delicious.

Love this place! Everytime I come it's a wonderful atmosphere, and the food is great!

I absolutely love the food here! If you have never been to Atlanta this is a staple you have to try. Also be prepared to wait! The food is definitely worth it the seating area isn't huge but if you're looking for that southern Homestyle soul food this place is the best place to eat at. They're known for their Fried Chicken but their pork chops are amazing as well. If you're a vegan they have tons of sides just ask a couple of questions to see what sides are cooked in meat but they have options available including the vegetarian plate.

Excellent food in a tiny spot in a historical area. I've tried tried their fried chicken, catfish, and smothered and it was superb. This is a "must try" during your time in Atlanta.

Food and service were good. Bathroom was really small. Highly recommend.

Always good service and good food!!! Soul food...some of the best I've had with non- pork options!!

When I say that I Love me some Busy Bee, believe it. Busy Bee is not a large restaurant so there's not room for the additional employees and equipment needed to gracefully and promptly handle a lot of people. With that being said, you must have patience. If the food was trash, there wouldn't be a wait. Anything good is worth the wait.

You will wait but the food is well worth it! So go with patience and enjoy a great southern meal.

The food was FANTASTIC... I got the smothered Porkchops best I've ever had, the servers were nice & friendly, good place to visit in Atlanta.

The food is great, however, I believe it's overpriced.

Great food a little bit overpriced the macaroni and cheese taste like KFC macaroni I was expecting a lot more saying that the line is always longed outside this place but the catfish was to die for in the drinks was real good the potato salad is about a three and a half out of five

Excellent food and excellent service! This was my not first visit and I will be going back!

The food was great. The wait though, man oh man black folks. Gotta love us :)

This place wasn t what I picked (I would ve taken heed due to the reviews ahead), but gave it a try ANYWAYS and usually I give great leniency, but this is terrible for a FIRST IMPRESSION. We HAD to order at the door ONLINE, and wait for someone (ANYONE) to get our order or even check on it. We tried and tried only to be grouped after an 120 min of waiting to have our food sitting COLD on the counter MISSING ITEMS ( granted it was too hot & TOO MANY people (WAITING -TAKING ABOUT 3 HOURS WAIT!!)...(YOU KNOW HOW SOULFUL FOOD TAKES TO COOK) .A WHOLE PLATE (RIBBBBS!!!!) with Mac & Cheese, etc...I think this place has HUGE POTENTIAL. I will try again.

This food is very nasty. They had a cockroach coming from their food and no one did anything about it. I do not recommend this place!

Great food excellent customer service friendly staff....long wait time ...make sure you get in line online before you get there...

Placed my order online today at 1:32 and my food was ready in exactly an hour. My son ordered 6wings, mash & string beans and I had chops, Mac & rice and gravy . Everything was DELICIOUS! Food was hot upon pickup! We will definitely be back !!

Only one star because we didn t get a chance to enjoy the food. After being on the waiting list two hours (which was only suppose to be 30-45 mins) we learned that there was an additional 2 hour wait while were outside sweating in the heat. So after a 4 hour total projected wait time and uncomfortable waiting conditions we decided to travel back home to Tennessee to eat. I wish more black owned businesses would figure out a way to accommodate their growth. I don t doubt the food is delicious but the experience ruined any chance of finding out.

I have NEVER written a review for any diner, but I felt sooo compelled to let y'all know how absolutely amazing this food was. My first time and Busy Bee's has a customer for life. The collards are legit fresh, the yams had a sweet bourbon taste, and the music set the tone for the whole experience! It's worth the price, the wait, everything. You won't be disappointed!!!

The real deal! Delicious soul food and incredibly nice staff make this place a winner. It's small and very popular, so do yourself a favor and use the online feature to get on the waitlist. The wait on Sundays can be especially long, but it's worth it. They're famous for the fried chicken, which I can attest is very, very good.

Very good food! Although they are very busy, they get your food to you quickly! I will definitely be coming back when I visit Atlanta again

Been looking for some good soul food and we found it here today ! Thanks for blessing our soul with your amazing cooking. We will definitely be back!

I know this place recently was voted best chicken in Atlanta, that means the wait is gonna be absurdly long. But I had no clue I'd be waiting over an hr to eat here. The chicken didn't disappoint, it was really good, however none of the sides were that good. The collard greens were just greens, no neckbones or ham or anything, the mac and cheese was pretty grainy and unordinary. I did like the potato salad. On the whole, the chicken makes it worth the visit alone, but I'd definitely recommend calling your order in.

The food was extremely disgusting my chicken was very soft. And my mash potatoes didn't even taste like mash potatoes and it wasn't even no gravy on my mash potatoes.

The food was tasty and the service was good. Just too crowded need more space have too wait to long to be seated.

We had to wait a while, but the food was delicious, worth waiting for, everyone in our party enjoy what they ordered, I will definitely come back again.

I m currently temporarily away from Atlanta working in California. I am literally screaming for good homecooked meal that I don t have to cook myself. BB s fried chicken, pork chops, cornbread, collards, yams, potato salad, cabbage, macaroni and cheese, banana pudding! OMG! I cannot find any place like BB in the Bay Area! If you re from the West, and ever in Atlanta, visit BB and you re realize what deprivation is!

Busy Bee is truly busy. Excellent service and food. Food was fresh, tasty and served hot.

What a great experience I had, going to this place was in my bucket list and I finally made it. The food was great, truly some of the best fried chicken I've ever had, the side dishes are really good too. The service was outstanding, our waitress was Jackie, she was awesome, what a wonderful person! So, now I know when I want to have great fried chicken and excellent service I'll go to Busy Bee Cafe.

It's TIGHT! No room to hardly think but the food is sooo good,omg, it was delicious and worth it.
The restaurant is very small. The waitresses are friendly, and the food was fresh. I have a half of a chicken smothered with greens and dressing.

There's usually a wait of 30 minutes or more. Especially during peak hours. Again, it's worth it. We've been 3x now.

The food was slapping, the customer service was great. This was my first experience and it was worth the wait.

early sunday afternoon the place was packed a 2 hr. wait for take out. and in my opinion the food wasn't that great. will not be going back

My Food was Amazing.... They were jammed pack but were definitely worth the wait. If you are visiting from Out of Town definitely Stop by Busy Bee's Cafe and Try some Real Authentic Soulfood. Like Me You Will Not Be Disappointed..The food was Delicious Hands Down 5 Stars.

One of my best soul food spots. I just wish they would expand...its worth the wait though!

I was completely disappointed. I ordered a fish dinner with sides, chicken dinner and a pork chop dinner; The plates looked liked child plates. And, the fish was awful. After ordering we were told the wait was 20 mins and we there for 2 hours. The Mac & cheese was missing the cheese. I will never ever ever eat at this bucket ever again in life.

First showed here in 1975...been back once 2007...still some awesome people and food.

Busy is the place to be for some good and I mean good soul food. Everything on the menu is good. My favorites are fried chicken, smothered pork chops or fried, yams & collard greens. All the desserts are good but love their banana pudding. Been going here for the last 15 years.

The food was good . The dessert serving size was plentiful. We ordered the catfish and the whiting. The catfish was an 8 on a scale of 0 to 10. Just a bit too much breading. The Whiting scored a 10. The banana pudding scored an 11. The peach cobbler was a 10. You did not get a big portion on the sides. The mashed potatoes were excellent. The string beans were average in taste. The macaroni and cheese was lacking on the cheese. The collards were good but not great. The waitress was excellent and it didnt take long for the food to arrive.

TERRIBLE!!!! THE WAIT TO BE SEATED IS CRAZY!!!! THE PEOPLE WHO WORK HERE IS SO UNORGANIZED!!! OVER AN 1 1/2 WAIT TO BE SEATED.... IF YOU ARE HUNGRY AND WANT TO BE SEATED WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME, THIS IS NOT NOT NOT NOT THE PLACE!!

Great food. We came down from Wisconsin and the food here was super flavorful. Everyone in our group loved it. Awards all over the wall. Great service and staff. Very small space that is cozy and part of the charm, and they are done serving at 7 pm I think. Have to try their friend chicken and banana pudding!

Food is good but customer service is horrible. Sometimes it s not what you say it s how you say it! The lady with the short hair delivery comes off very rude and the lady with the braids is just plain rude. Stood outside for 10 mins in the cold and rain to pick up food and someone was looking at me while sweep at door other employees just walking around. When the lady with braids came to door she was very rude and short with me but was nice to the man behind me. She even gave him his food first and i had already been standing at door while he had just got there. I asked her was my food ready she said it is with a attitude, went and grab it and hand it right to me. So I m confused why he got his first and i had been standing at the door. No thank you come again or anything. On top of that she was really nice to the next guy customer. Treat all customers the same male or female!!!!

OMG....Definitely worth the wait. I'm from the south and I love my southern soul food BUT Busy Bee hands down is the best. Honestly it does take some time for your food to be served but that's because it's made fresh and it's definitely worth the wait. Nice hefty portions for the money you pay and nice staff.

Beautifully small personal place. Excellent food. Very nice, professional staff. On point & ready to serve at all time because there is a line waiting outside. & we bought 3 shirts.

There customer service was not good! My ribs were not good. The manager was not open for corrective criticism. My food was not good enough to recommend to anyone.

Excellent food we did wait a bit over 3 hours but it was super busy and the food was GRRAT I'm from Florida and I enjoyed this food