Overall rating:

IT'S GOING ON 8 P.M. and the crowd exiting Luckie Food Lounge, located across the street from the Georgia Aquarium, is a mix of couples with baby strollers and toddlers and guys wearing cargo shorts and Tommy Bahama shirts. Going in? Ladies in stilettos and tank tops with an evening's worth of lip gloss, on the arms of guys bathed in cologne and dressed in $200 jeans.

Becky Stein/SPECIAL (ENLARGE)
Luckie Food Lounge's house-made pimento cheese and lavash crackers
Becky Stein/SPECIAL (ENLARGE)
Luckie Food Lounge's Margherita pizza
Becky Stein/SPECIAL (ENLARGE)
Luckie Food Lounge's strawberry rhubarb pot pie
Becky Stein/SPECIAL (ENLARGE)
Luckie Food Lounge
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Luckie's nightlife gig is easy to grasp — the idea for the restaurant, and the implementation of its design, came from Mike Boles, who launched (and later sold) Compound, one of Atlanta's most successful nightclubs. General manager Sam Governale worked with Boles to open Compound, and had a hand in Luckie's design as well.

Luckie is a Clockwork Orange sensory overload highlighted by huge plasma screens that broadcast everything from music videos to giant orbs of yellow that look very much like egg yolks trying to mate. The dining room, which seats 350 (yes, 350), is flanked by a sushi bar with mother of pearl inlays and giant tanks of saltwater aquariums backlit with neon lights that change every few seconds — fuchsia, turquoise, fuchsia, turquoise. A DJ blasts music from a loft above one of the seating areas while booths of six gobble down barbecue chicken pizza and cocktails.

So what's with the View-Masters?

Like all smart ladies, Luckie knows where her cash comes from. During daylight hours, she looks a little like the Coral Reef Restaurant at Disney World, where kids can look at their lunch choices through a View-Master and parents tired from the tour of tanks across the street can sit down and sip a cocktail while ordering something other than fish fingers. As the sun goes down, Luckie caters to the type of crowds hoping to hook up with something that doesn't possess fins. An adjacent sundry shop called Charm sells every thing from newspapers to condoms, and all can be "discreetly" delivered to your table. How about a pack of Trojans with that turkey salad sandwich?

All this, and food too!

Admittedly, it's hard to take a place like Luckie all that seriously when it comes to eating. But chef Ben Krawiecki has put some interesting bites on his menu, most notably an offering of fiery, creamy-but-still-chunky house-made pimento cheese stacked with lavash crackers (a perfect nibbler to get things started) and from sushi chef Rasmey Hong, super fresh bites of salmon, tuna and snow crab with asparagus and carrots wrapped in mandoline-thin sliced cucumbers. Thin crusted pizza is a great nosh made margherita-style with sliced roma tomatoes, basil and lots of melted mozzarella. And a fried shrimp po' boy slapped with slaw on a big baguette is a fun mouthful of somethin' good to eat.

Not everything is as swimmingly successful. Salads of marinated beef, greens and fried rice noodles and co-owner Tara Hannon's mix of green tomato, mango, avocado and tempura tofu taste like salad from a bag at the supermarket. Barbecued chicken, bacon and smoked gouda pizza tastes like smoke from a jar on dough.

Big surprises come from two small places: The wine list has some deep, unexpected selections — from a Vouvray sec to Pelissero's Barbaresco "nubiola." Not exactly merlot and chardonnay. And the dessert menu, created by young pastry chef Nicholas Crawford, is a knockout — a chocolate pyramid has layers of chocolate mousse and ganache; a strawberry rhubarb pie is sweetly served in its own tiny ramekin with a dainty scoop of vanilla ice cream. There's also a selection of darned good house-made cakes, from carrot to toasty coconut.

The mostly male staff looks like a cross between the suits on "The Sopranos" and the guys on "Entourage," constantly scoping out the dining room with headsets in their ears. (When I teased one of them about the headsets, he let me speak to the valet through his mic, then brought me a plate of buttery cubes of tuna crudo to try.) They're young, beautiful and seem happy to be there — proof that youth may not be wasted on the young after all.

Neither is Luckie. Smart ladies also know how to go from daycare, to office, to dinner in heels. This chameleon-like ability to transform from day to evening is Luckie's greatest asset. That, and a hefty supply of condoms and View-Masters.

LUCKIE FOOD LOUNGE

Food: Contemporary American

Service: Shiny Happy People

Address, telephone: 375 Luckie St., 404-525-5825

Price range: $$

Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club and Discover

Hours of operation: Open for lunch and dinner daily from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. (except Sunday, when the restaurant closes at midnight).

Best dishes: House-made pimento cheese, shrimp po' boy, margherita pizza, chocolate pyramid

Vegetarian selections: House-made pimento cheese, veggie pizza, four-cheese ravioli

Children: Absolutely. Every kid loves to order lunch from a View-Master

Parking: $3 valet after 5 p.m. Free before 5 p.m. with a three-hour limit (a $10 charge is incurred after three hours).

Reservations: Accepted online only at opentable.com for parties of six or more

Wheelchair access: Yes

Smoking: Outside on patios only

Noise level: High

Patio: Two

Takeout: No, but the sundry shop Charm serves boxed lunches to go.

Website: www.luckiefoodlounge.com

KEY TO RATINGS
Outstanding: Sets the standard for fine dining in the region.
Excellent: One of the best in the Atlanta area.
Very good: Merits a drive if you're looking for this kind of dining.
Good: A worthy addition to its neighborhood, but food may be hit or miss.
Fair: The food is more miss than hit.
Restaurants that do not meet these criteria may be rated Poor.

Pricing code: $$$$$ means more than $75; $$$$ means $75 and less; $$$ means $50 and less; $$ means $25 and less; $ means $15 and less. (The price code represents a meal for one that includes appetizer, entree and dessert without including tax, tip and cocktails.)