I'm curious. Is the Social Grill still open? My brother and I used to get lunch there all the time in the mid-Eighties. It was a meat and three, with rolls and tea, cafeteria run by a Greek family. Kinda run down then, but a great bargain and good food.

Why do we keep going back to the Social Grill? There are plenty of other meat-and-three places in town, places where the greens taste fresher, the tables match, and the turkey gravy doesn't glow a lurid yellow thanks to food coloring.
But there's something about this run-down, downtown institution. Maybe it's the sense of history, of days when a trip downtown meant shopping at Pizitz, meeting under the clock at Loveman's and eating at Britling's Cafeteria. The ghosts of patrons who could get a cheap, homestyle meal seem to rattle around in the four dining rooms between the warped paneling walls, the inexpensive, faded landscapes on the walls, and the yellowed framed newspaper clippings, while Muzak plays softly in the background. […]

Ahhhh. Now THAT’S atmosphere, folks!

For the hoity-toity amongst you, think of it as Birmingham’s own little version of Le Chartier.

Or not.