Hilltop Grille

We have been going here for our office Christmas party for several years now. We love it!! We book a private room and can enjoy our work family camaraderie and silliness in an awesome environment. The staff is always so friendly! The food is delicious! We look forward to the wonderful appetizers and entrees. The dessert brownie is over the moon yummy.

Hilltop was good place to celebrate our daughter's birthday. The restaurant is gorgeous inside and out. Judging by the stream of patrons, it is a popular lunch option. The prices are very reasonable. Trent was very attentive. My daughter had the Salmon, my husband got a cup of gumbo, house salad and bacon wrapped shrimp. Their food was as good as it looked. Unfortunately, my steak sandwich was a disappointment. I assumed it would be thinly sliced but no. It was tender but had no seasoning and should have had the fat trimmed off. It was unappealing. I would order something else next time. We will return. I just ordered wrong. All in all, a great experience.

Had dinner tonight with my granddaughter. Ordered the fried green tomatoes as our appetizer. The grease on the bottom of the plate was insane. I ordered the country fried steak, with mashed potatoes and green beans. I had to take a napkin to soak up all the grease from the country fried steak. I wish I had taken a picture. My granddaughter ordered the fried shrimp dinner. The shrimp had the weirdest taste. We sent those back.. Not sure if I’ll ever eat in this establishment again. Seems like they would have at least try to drain the grease off of the fried food before they put it on the plate. I was very disappointed.

Great atmosphere and great food. Our server Matthew was very helpful and friendly.

Good meal. Good attentiveness by the server. Excellent atmosphere made for an enjoyable dining experience. I ordered the Chicken Fried steak that comes with Green Beans and mashed potatoes. My wife ordered fried pork chops that came with collards and mashed potatoes. We both agreed that the food lack proper seasoning. I seldom add salt to my food, but found it necessary today. Portions were good for a hearty diner. The food was cooked to perfection with a beautiful crust on the fried meats. Good discounts if you dine before 4:00 p.m., which we did. Our meal with only water to drink came to $42.

We had appetizers, crab cakes and bruschetta. The bruschetta’s were nice the crab cakes were very salty. We ordered red snapper, rainbow trout and a T-bone steak. The steak was great. Both fish dishes were underwhelming. Not seasoned, I had to find the pecans in the pecan crust the rice that came with the fish was undercooked and the grilled asparagus were greasy. The server was very apologetic but still, it wasn’t the best experience. Won’t go eat there again.

I was very impressed by this meal.I honestly didn't expect for the pork chop to be as large or as good as they were.The mashed potatoes are delicious and the collard greens were seasoned well. I ac8liked the taste. Me and my colleague really enjoyed our evening. The server made sure of it. She was excellent!

Had a great experience! My girlfriend and I were visiting from out of town and were looking for something in the area. We started with the crab cakes, which were well seasoned, perfectly cooked, and rich in crab meat. From there we ordered the salmon and a cajun fish dish smothered in crawfish meat that was amazing. We shared a bowl of gumbo on the side and it was one of the best gumbo we have had and she's from New Orleans! The wait staff was friendly and everything was clean. Would definitely go back on our next trip to Athens.

Great place in Athens. Wonderful menu of salads, sandwiches and authentic southern dishes. I had the trout special with collards and green beans/mushrooms and garlic. Absolutely fantastic . Cooked to perfection and fair quantity. Service was very, very nice. Friendly staff. Easy parking. Definitely would do this again!

My favorite Athens restaurant. And I always get the same meal but change up the appetizers when sitting at their fun bar. It's a nice atmosphere especially on game days or the Sunday Brunch the day after the game. (Make reservation in advance for Brunch). Their steaks are amazing but I can't pass up the best pecan crusted trout I've ever had. It's so fresh and mild. No fishy taste. And the cheese grits are amazing. If you're just in town and want to watch a game the bar has the best bartenders and a lot of seating with multi TVS. You can eat at the bar and watch a game with friendly locals. Highly recommend. Reservations are suggested for Game days.

This was a decent choice for a quick Saturday lunch, with a 9-person table reserved over the phone. They were ready to seat us as soon as we arrived, and the dining room was fairly quiet. The service was smooth, and there are some nice menu options. The onion rings are huge - be sure to share a portion. The crab cake sandwich is not recommended; it's a little bland and other sandwiches were much tastier (try the chicken).

Our favorite "neighborhood" restaurant and bar for years and years. Doesn't try to be haute cuisine but consistently delivers good food and drink in a comfortable atmosphere.

We stopped in for a Sunday Brunch with our family and enjoy a great meal, great service, with a great atmosphere and we will definitely be back.

Love this place for brunch. Very chill and lowkey vibe for a Sunday morning brunch. The price is worth it.

Five stars today -because this month I had the best salmon I have eaten in Athens in a long time! Thanks chef! Food:4/5 Other than the salmon (which was 5 star) they specialize in southern comfort food -which is very good (4 star) Vegetables and grits are standard fare & good. Salads are fresh. Service -pleasant and efficient. I think possibly ? they suffer from a slight shortage of cooks and servers -like many other restaurants in town, because the food was a little slow in coming and being served-but it was good and hot when it arrived and the servers were pleasant, & helpful, and got the orders right. Location-conveniently located off Broad St/ Atlanta highway Usually the parking is adequate in their private lot. Facility-not new, but well kept Bathrooms are clean There is a small waiting area inside the front door, which is nice when it's crowded during inclement weather. There are outside tables. If there is a long wait you can walk next door to shop in a pleasant home decor store during the daytime.

Food was good but the environment was lacking. We went by on an impulse and apparently not having a reservation makes us the scum of the earth. The hostess was extremely rude when we said that we didn't have reservations. We really should have left based on her attitude at the hostess stand. She would yell at the staff that they had a table, "Bailey!" and she held up two fingers, "Garrett!" as she was holding up three fingers. Very, very condescending to us and their staff. Not sure why she is such a stickler for reservations when they were maybe 20% seated? The worst part is that we were seated by an exterior door and they had a fire going on the patio. Every time the door opened we got hit with a wall of smoke. Now we have departed and all smell like smoke.

I had an amazing experience here and loved the aesthetic of the restaurant. Our server was very sweet and my steak was delicious! Would definitely come back.

anytime I'm in the area. I stopped to visit the Hilltop Grille. Food selection is always great. Service is excellent and it's a fun place to hang out.

This is the best restaurant in Athens. Great atmosphere the bar is a true social event of locals! The steaks and seafood are the best around and the service is great you can tell the employees enjoy what the

Very nice place! Had the lunch special and everything was delicious! Portion size was perfect and price was very reasonable. Service was excellent as well. Check this place out when you are in Athens

The food is always amazing! The service is great. The hostess (older) could take a lesson in hospitality, graciousness, and manners.

An enjoyable dining atmosphere with good food. Negatives are that the portions were very small for the expensive price. I think they could serve more than a scant cup of grits or greens as a side. I left feeling hungry but didn't want to spend more at their prices. Service was kinda meh, too.

What a disappointment. We eat here quite often. I had to ask the manager for water, ketchup and the server nevered return after the food was dropped. Bailey wasn't on top of her game. Thanks for no COLESLAW.

This place was really good. Be sure to make a reservation we're told. Fortunately they were able to find a table for us. The Soup and sandwich were both really good. The bread was a little small but really fresh and tasty. We'll definitely be back again.

This is usually our average restaurant of choice for a quick seating with a number of people. We've eaten here before after ceremonies and celebrations at UGA with 4-5 in our party. Unfortunately, when we called today they said they can't take 8 people which surprised us because 2 tables of 4 seems simple enough. They basically said don't come. We were disappointed to say the least and wonder what's really going on because if we were to just show up as 2 separate parties they likely would seat us. The food is just average and the service was better. However, now, not sure we'd return.

Everything was perfect! Food was awesome - steak, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls! Absolutely delicious!!

Absolutely the best food in Athens! The grits are so good with everything. I've tried quite a variety and all is wonderful.

Went here for a 6 month anniversary dinner. The food was great and the service timely. The restaurant has a nice upscale theme to it. Would recommend.

Food is very good. Service is good. The baked potatoes are always just warm and never hot. The rude jerk that answered the phone and later seated us should have the other two stars I would have given otherwise implanted where it would cause severe pain until he gets his attitude adjusted.

Always great service with delicious food and deserts. We love going here for after work dinner.

This is a favorite for my wife and I. We were going there for Easter Brunch until everyone else got sick. So I had to cancel my reservation but Angie was so nice that she made sure I got my wife's favorite meal to go. We will remain loyal and happy customers.

Met former colleagues I last saw over 4 years ago at Hilltop grill for a dinner. Our server was excellent and the food was tasty. I got crab cakes and they were very good. Others got steak and one got fish. I think everyone was pleased with the food and the atmosphere. The restaurant was not overcrowded so we enjoyed the evening eating and talking about old times. When in Athens this is a great place to go. The food prices are reasonable for what you get and they have good parking. I will definitely come again when in Athens.

I did not eat. Only went to the bar to make me forget about how bad the saucehouse was down the street. The bartender Danelle is great. Go Dawgs....

Crawfish gumbo & Crab bisque are my favorites .... and you never know who you might see here.

Management is awful. No respect for customers & obviously has no idea how to do his job. Very disappointed. Would rather go to McDonald's than ever have to step in that restaurant ever again.!

This restaurant came highly recommended by a local we had met earlier in the day . It was move in weekend so rezzies were hard to come by.... Called for a party of 6, no problem! First impression was of an outdated Hungry Hunter but the service was spot on , professional and patient as there had been some earlier consumption ... menu offered plenty of choice from appetizers to main dishes . Food was tasty , relatively quick , and presented okay . This is not for corporate dining or special occasions more of a locals vibe. We will come back as it's away from the downtown scene and we enjoyed ourselves !

Should have in radio ad that Sunday Bulldog Brunch is reservations ONLY!!! Most times they have lots of availability!!

Ordered the shrimp and grits and the grits came out terrible! The only seasoning they appeared to have on them was salt! The texture of the grits was also off and the portions were very small. My girlfriend ordered the seafood pasta and it came out luke warm and unseasoned as well! The waiter was not attentive and did not return to our table until about 20-30 mins after we got our food. Will not be returning to the venue.

Go on Wednesdays they have $4 wine and $4 well drinks from 4pm to 10pm. They have great appetizers, entrees, drinks, and desserts. A huge outdoor patio. Great service and food!

The food was not my cup of tea . I had the fried chicken plater, it was under the southern food section . Since it was marketed as southern food i expected a bit of seasoning . For my personal taste it was bland . Green beans were bland for my taste as well . Service was great but the fire ants on the patio should be taken care of. I did not eat much of my plate and the chef came out to address the complaint. I appreciate the fact that he took the chicken off of the bill but he was confident that our complaints were not reasonable . The demographic for this food seems to be old white people. If you are someone who doesn't like a lot of spice then this place would be great ,but for me i wish i could have brought some seasoning . Burcheta was great .

Food is good but they are very busy. I understand that everyone needs help right now. I would recommend limiting the number of patrons in an effort to provide better service until this problem can be remedied.

Great atmosphere. Delicious food. Great service. Just minutes from UGA. Great bar for a cocktail.

I was invited out to eat by sister with her husband and kids. Our waitress was super cool (I hate that I can't remember her name). Anyway, everyone thought that their food tasted ok. I had a caesar salad. I'm almost finished with my salad and I notice that there's something foreign in my mouth. I'm hoping that it's just a piece of stringy lettuce. I immediately start pulling at my tongue. I start to pull and pull and pull and I'm mortified that I'm pulling this long piece of hair out of my mouth. A lady at a table was watching me in disbelief. I'm in utter shock. My sister asked me if it was my hair. I said No. The hair is brown or brunette. (My hair is gray in the top and black all the way down.) My sister came over and shined her flash light on it and was like OMG! That's not your hair. Well, I had eaten most of the salad so I wasn't going to say anything. I was just sitting in silence. When our waitress came by, my sister told her that I ended up chewing hair that was in my food. She came over to me and I showed her. She said, "well that's not good". She immediately took my plate away saying that she'll take it off of my ticket. I never said a word. Less than 5 min later, the owner shows up and ask who has a problem over here? No one answered but he made his way over to me. So I told him that I was eating and noticed something in my mouth and it was a long piece of hair. So in a very condescending tone, he looks down at me and says, "are you sure it wasn't your hair?" I said, "well I wish she hadn't taken my plate away so fast because I could have shown it to you but no, it wasn't my hair." Then he proceeds to tell me that no one in his kitchen has long hair and walks off with an attitude saying he'll take it off of the ticket. So I'm pretty upset at this point because I wasn't going to say a word. I figured since he made it his business to come over, the least he could have done is said I'm sorry this happened and I would have simply smiled and said thank you but it's ok, mistakes happen. Instead he decided to be A CONDESCENDING ASS-HOLE!!!! keep in my mind that several waitresses included ours had long brunette hair or the salad could have been prepped the morning of. I don't know, but the owner is a whole ASS!

***worst customer service I've ever experienced. To have eaten here in the past with a large party(check my previous Yelp photo 3 years ago) and everything went well to what my family experienced this evening was a clusterfuck. This has definitely changed my mind on dining here in the future. We had a reservation for 15 at 6pm to celebrate my aunts 68th birthday. The manager/chef Burt was by far the most unprofessional manager I've ever encountered. Our eating utensils and plates were all dirty. Asked to speak with the manager, he walked passed my family twice before he came to speak with us. His excuse was they were out of a lot of items as he shrugs his shoulders then tell us he would have our server bring us out new plates & eating utensils(that never happened). At 7pm after waiting for refills that we never received and our orders being placed at 6:20, I spoke with Burt. He tells me that they should've never taken the reservation for 15 considering they were out of a lot of items. Keep in mind this reservation was made in advance. Instead of him being apologetic and trying to rectify the poor service he basically gave my family the restaurants arse to kiss as if he wasn't bothered one way or another if we ate or not. He then asks were we going to eat, so that he can stop the food from being prepared if we weren't staying (I could've ripped him a new arse, but God has been working on my temper). By this time, I'm over this restaurant and will not allow my family to spend one red cent here. As I walked back to my table to explain what Burt said, another party of 8 stopped me to inform me that they were experiencing horrible service as well and the manager Burt told them that they could just leave due to the lack of staff and food they had available for the evening. This party was celebrating someone's 50th birthday. What a way to celebrate. To know that the manager had the same energy with other parties shows that they need to address their customer service. Not once did Burt say I'm sorry for the mishaps, and salvage this evening to a sub par experience. To the one waitress that they had serving 15 people by herself, I'm sorry that management set you up for failure this evening. You did everything in your power to fix what was in your control. Thank you for staying positive and trying your best. You are only as strong as your weakest link and today that was Burt. I think it's safe to say we won't be dining here in the future. *Burt, I understand that certain things are out of your control and things happen, but your attitude should be better. When you're running a restaurant or any business that involves customers, you have to be prepared to handle situations. You dropped the ball big time.

This is a nice place to come for a dinner. The atmosphere is simple and clean. It's semi-fancy, but you won't feel out of place of you come looking more casual. The hostess at the front didn't seem very welcoming. She just seemed like she didn't enjoy being there. She showed us to our table, barely saying anything and not even smiling. I though that was especially odd for her age (since she wasn't some young adult who was still in school or just graduated or something...). Luckily our main waitress WAS very kind and friendly. She was very accommodating and happy to refill our drinks or get us anything else we needed for our meals. Speaking of the food, it was really good! It's a seafood/ steak type place, which isn't something I go for a lot, but it was definitely yummy. The menu wasn't huge but still had trouble deciding what I wanted to order. I was told that the jumbo fried shrimp was really good, but I ended up going with the seafood pasta. It seemed like a bigger bang for the buck. It also came with a house salad. The salad ended up being very simple and not much to it. I'm glad I got the bleu cheese dressing, because it definitely added some flavor and excitement to the few pieces of lettuce, two cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices, a few carrots, and some croutons. The pasta was yummy. All of the seafood (shrimp, crab meat, and scallops) was cooked very well, was a good consistency, and tasted great. The bowtie pasta was good but nothing too special. I really liked the sauce and the cheese, because it was nice and creamy. I also added lemon juice to the pasta which made it even better. We also order hush puppies to share. They were flavorful but I wish more came in the order, since there were only three or four of them. Definitely more of an individual side order rather than one to share, unless everyone just wants one hush puppy (but c'mon... who wants just one hush puppy, haha?!?!). I almost forgot we decided at the end of our meal to order a dessert, even though everyone was already pretty full. We went with key lime pie. The flavors were spot on and it was nice and cold. Even though we were full like I said, the pie was so good that we finished it anyway!

I've eaten lunch here 6 or 8 times over the years while in Athens on business. The menu is mainly home cooking southern comfort food - meatloaf, fried chicken, turkey with stuffing, Salisbury steak and gravy, etc - served with traditional southern side dishes. My favorite thing on their menu is the collard greens side dish...perfectly slow cooked with just the right hint of heat on the finish. The entrees are pretty good - in fact I've never had a bad meal here, but they won't be getting a Michelin star anytime soon, I don't think.

We had an excellent experience. The food was phenomenal. We had fried green tomatoes for appetizer. We had chop steak with mashed potatoes and asparagus. The atmosphere was gorgeous. The service was impeccable. Highly recommended

I made a Yelp account to leave a review for this place. The service was good, especially for Easter Sunday. However, the food here was probably one of if not the worst I've had at a restaurant. Considering all of Athens, this is definitely the worst food I've had. We got the artichoke crab dip which was decent. The salads looked pitiful, like cafeteria lettuce, that I didn't even bother getting one. I got a chicken sandwich which maybe was the wrong thing to get here but it was the worst I've ever had. I also tried the steak sandwich which was just bland. Everything just appeared to be very cheap and bland considering the prices. Maybe I got the wrong thing or maybe if you go here stick with brunch, but the only thing that I ate were the fries.

Such a great and homey kind of restaurant. I got the friend chicken with green beans and a loaded baked potato. & a crème brûlée for désert. Everything was delicious. The green beans were seasoned well and the chicken was crunchy but still juicy.

Really nice facility and service staff but that's were it stops. Had business dinner with customer and coworkers on a Tuesday night. We all ordered beers and they were out of almost every craft beer on menu. Had shrimp and grits. Shrimp were decent but you get more grits at Waffle House. They should spend another $0.25 and give you more grits for $20.

This establishment provided the worst service for my sister's wedding party. The room was reserved with a preset menu. We waited over 45 minutes to have our order taken. Another 45 minutes for our salads to be served. Dinner took another 1 1/2 hours to be served. Tables were not bused. Drinks not refilled. No apology was given throughout the whole painful awful experience. The servers slammed drinks down on tables, mumbled under their breath complaining throughout. We paid $1 per slice to cut the cake. They sliced the cake and transferred it to the plates with bare fingers. Flipped the entire cake over and ruined it. No apology given. My salmon dinner arrived after 2 hours undercooked. When I sent the raw salmon back they re fired my piece of salmon and served it to me again. The server argued with me that what did I expect a new piece of salmon? Uhhh, yes. I expect a properly cooked piece of fish.

I changed my mind this place deserves a 2 out of 5 stars the grits were just so atrocious

I've been a loyal customer for 12 years and I went in there Saturday night at 9 with a party of 4 and ask for a table and got turned down and watched a guy come in while I was in the lobby wanting a table for a party of four and they immediately seated him. I will never cross their threshold again that was a slap in the face and I've spent thousands in this establishment but never again you have lost my business and everyone I know will hear this story..

Everything was pretty dry here, including my pork chop that was also over cooked. The fried batter they used on everything also had the same flavor, which completely masked the taste of shrimp, mushrooms, and bacon. The only good thing was the bread, which was unbelievably soft and fluffy, until you actually ate it. It had no flavor at all, and the butter served with it was unsalted, which unfortunately didn't help it at all. I think this restaurant is only good if you're an average white person that doesn't know the good flavors you're missing.

The service was great from the check in throughout the dinner, and the food was even better. A great value and I loved the UGA ambiance.

good date night spot. excellent menu choices. the collard greens taste like somebody grandma in the back stirring the pot! Not sure how the service is always but when we went, it was A1. fast friendly service. Would return.

Really good. One of the nicer restaurants in Athens. Special ordered a burger with certain things on, off, on the side and it came out perfect. Service was attentive without being intrusive. Looking forward to going back and trying something new!