Our Favorite Places: The Atomic Lounge

In these tough times, there’s never been a better time to support Birmingham's incredible local bar scene. We look forward to when they’ll be back at full strength!

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The Atomic Lounge

‍2113 1st Avenue North, Downtown

As longtime fans of mid-century modern design and owners of several full-body costumes, Feizal Valli and Rachael Roberts decided to marry the two ideas to their love of craft cocktails and dive bars. The result is The Atomic Lounge, a kitschy bar with quirky décor, creative cocktails, themed rooms, board games and lots of costumes. The Atomic earned a James Beard Award semi-finalist nomination for best bar in 2018.

@theatomiclounge's Feizal Valli and Rachael Roberts

Your Name:

‍Feizal Valli and Rachael Roberts, owners

What’s the first impression you want guests to have when they walk into your place?

‍We want their jaws to drop. We have eleven bubble machines, every surface has something to look at or touch or Instagram, we have a separate jungle themed room complete with monkey and rain noises, pre-Covid we had a costume shop with 35 full-body costumes, so on any given night you could walk in to a dragon, a squirrel or a gaggle of Elvis. On a sensory level, it's overwhelming.

What’s something people don’t know about running a bar?

‍Most days we start work at 9 in the morning and we go until well after the last person has left. At least that's the way we do it. We're the first ones to arrive and the last to leave.

‍What’s the greatest compliment a customer can give you?

They're never been to a bar like this one. There are 62,000 bars in America and setting yourself apart is a very high compliment.

What’s the most important thing you have to do to ensure a happy customer?

‍I think the first thing we do is make people feel like, even on their first visit, that they've been coming here for years. That means we engage them, that means that we personalize the experience for them, we start our first conversation with them like it's our fiftieth, like we're old friends.

What’s your favorite drink?

Believe it or not, it's cheap bourbon and coke. And lots of them.

@theatomiclounge's Jason Koenig Cocktail

Jason Koenig Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients:

‍‍1 1/4 oz. New Amsterdam Gin
3/4 oz. Barenjager Honey Liqueur
1/2 oz. Giffard Banane du Bresil Banana Liqueur
3/4 oz. Saffron Syrup
3/4 oz. Lemon Juice
1 Dash Orange Bitters
Absinthe
Garnish: Star Anise

Directions:

Shake all ingredients except absinthe and star anise in shaker tin with ice, and double strain into coupe glass.

Mist with absinthe atomizer and garnish with star anise.

What have you done differently to respond to the pandemic?

Besides the standard limiting of seating inside to 50%, constant sanitation and creating new spaces outside, we added a to-go list of bottled cocktails. Revised ABC rules allowed us to sell "curbside" drinks that let us extend the sale of alcohol to consume at home.

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