For a very long time, the storefront at 63 North Court Street stood vacant. The spot, formerly known as the Blue Gator, closed in 2007 and didn’t come back to life until recently. Now re-imagined as “The Over Hang,” this new Athens bar sports a spacious interior for dancing and a large bar where people come and enjoy both food and drinks and some company. It’s a dark and spacious interior and another spot along Court Street where the college crowd gathers to enjoy a few drinks and some lively company.
The bar specializes in your typical bar food, much of the concept is similar to the kinds of foods you might find at the other bars in town, but at the same time, the Over Hang mixes it up with a different take on a lot of these. Among the items on the menu:
- Chicken salad quesadilla: A quesadilla filled with a mixture of cheeses as well as chicken salad and grilled in a tortilla. You’d be surprised how well a mix of cheese and chicken salad come together, really it’s a great combo. The dish is also served with chips and a fruity salsa that makes them great.
- Sweet Caroline burger: This dish features a 5-ounce. cheese burger served on a grilled kaiser bun and topped with cole slaw and a sweet BBQ sauce. The burger is very lightly seasoned and the slaw is a the vinegary variety which meshes well with the sweet barbecue sauce. The burger is small at 5 ounces but it’s also a very reasonable sized burger that isn’t overwhelming. You should also know, it’s served with a mountain of fries that make it really rock.
The food is good, but the experience is decent, too. The bar has a nice wood finish and it’s sort of low-lit to give the feel of a modern bar or maybe something like a dance club. But the spot has been building an audience and drawing a larger crowd in the evenings. The spot is a decent experience, and an interesting addition to the bar scene in Athens. It’s nice to see that this once-popular bar has returned to life as something interesting.
Recommendations
- The burgers are good, some are bigger than others, and served with a ton of sides. Consider a few of these for the first meal here.
- You might want to give a try to the other bar favorites, like wings and quesadillas, too.
- There’s a pretty big drink menu which includes craft beers from around the state.
Another Food Critic 