Stop the Presses: The Colonnade is Now Taking Credit Cards

If you have not had the chance to eat at the restaurant, which has been in business since 1927 and located on Cheshire Bridge Road since 1962, here is what you need to know. The Colonnade is a full-service restaurant with a long, Southern menu. On weekdays, it opens only for dinner, promptly at 5 p.m.

“We have the early bird special and then the specials on the board right behind you,” Pam Chastain explains to a new diner. Pam is one of several people who share cashier and host duties. There are always at least a couple of people waiting to greet customers and lead them to their tables.

The crowd capacity sign near the front door says the restaurant holds 164 people. By 5:30 p.m., it is usually more than half full.

“Service and the food, and the employees have been here for so many years, and you get to know them. It’s sort of like coming to a party.” That is how Jim Buzzbee describes The Colonnade. He lives nearby and says he has been eating here about twice a week for 40 years.

Ron Finnessey is also a regular. He also places his frequent diner status at twice a week for the past 40 years. His reason for dining at the Colonnade so often? “Where else are you going to get a super, super drink along with fried chicken?”

That is something else you need to know: fried chicken is the most popular item.

The Colonnade is also known for offering a stiff pour from the bar, so some of the regulars might have thought it was the cocktails talking when they read the handwritten sign that showed up on the cash register a few weeks ago. It announced The Colonnade is now taking credit cards.

“Has hell frozen over? What’s going on? Are pigs flying?” Those are some of the reactions Executive Chef Ryan Cobb says he has heard from his clientele in the past few weeks.

“I think we absolutely were the last holdout in Atlanta,” says Cobb, “and I think it just became time. We figured that we were not getting some of the return business from our younger clientele, because it can be a hassle to have to stop and get cash somewhere or stop and write a check.”

That’s right: until the policy change, you could not use a credit card, but The Colonnade would take your personal check.

Retta Black has been working behind the Colonnade’s cash register for the past 14 years. She is the one who has had to break the news.

“I had one man come up to me and say, ‘Has Jesus come back?’’ says Black with a laugh. “They can’t believe it, number one, because we’ve gone so long without taking credit cards. Some of them are very pleased.”

And some of them clearly are not.

“Oh, I think it’s a dirty shame. I do indeed,” says Molly Verene. “I like the old principal of cash only or personal checks.” Verene and her husband, Jim, eat at The Colonnade every Wednesday night. They stick to a strict schedule to make sure their favorite waitress in on duty.

  Chef Cobb says there were a few other negative reactions: “We had a few people, I guess hipsters, that were like, ‘No, don’t take credit cards!”

Despite that, Cobb says almost half his customers are now playing with plastic.

For the dozens of regular customers, it is taking some time for the shock to wear off, but word is traveling fast.

“We gasped when we heard it was going to happen,” said Stuart Johnson of Marietta.

“Unbelievable. I passed the word around to all my friends,” said Ron Finnessey.

I asked Molly Verene whether she is going to be able to adjust to the new policy. Her answer was quick: “We won’t have to adjust because we won’t use a credit card.” She and Jim will still be using “cash money.”

They are not alone. “It’s a wonderful thing, but I still pay in cash,” said Will Reynolds. He usually eats at the bar, and he says most of the bar regulars still prefer paying in cash.

I asked Chef Cobb about patrons who still want to write a check. He smiled and said, “If you come up and give us the wink or the little, uh, the nose tap, I will probably still take your check if you’ve been coming here for 50 years like a lot of our clients.”

So all is not lost for the old school regulars. And here is one more thing to know, which Jim Verene quickly pointed out: “They don’t take American Express.”