Friday, December 16, 2011

Olde Towne Tavern & Grille Taking on 360 Pharr


Olde Towne Tavern and Grille plans to open next year at 360 Pharr Road at the street level of the Atrium apartments. (A lease is in place pending final approval from the buildings landlord)
 Located on the street level at 360 Pharr Road In a space that has seen restaurants come and go like Dave FM morning shows, Olde Town Tavern has the best chance at success in my eyes. It's a bar, its approachable and its seemingly properly geared towards its nearest demographic: 20-30 something apartment and condo dwellers. Parking, which has always been a major obstacle should be less of an issue with more walk-ins and neighborhood traffic. AFC Enterprises still holds the lease on the space from their short lived Tibs Grill, an upscale Popeye's restaurant that never opened.

Spondivits opened in its place and closed not long after. In October 2008 Harry Bissett's, an Athens institution opened what at the times was said to be the first of many planned franchised locations. The Buckhead eatery proved unsuccessful and closed about six months later.  Saskatoon, a restaurant from Greenville, South Carolina specializing in wild game such as elk and ostrich was the next concept to walk the plank.  Somehow they lasted about a year, having closed sometime this past February.

At the time of Saskatoon's closure, many readers mentioned Marlow's Tavern , Taco Mac and Hudson's Grill as good candidates to open in the space.  These businesses derive a lot of their revenue from alcohol and simple bar food.  Though Olde Towne is none of these, it fits a similar mold and relies heavily on alcohol though does feature a substantial food menu as well.

The first Olde Towne Tavern opened in Kennesaw in 1996 and was followed by a location in Lawrenceville in 2003 and later Suwanee at Suwanee Town Center in 2007.  Suwanee's location was purchased last year by Robert and Pat Moraveck, the same owners who will now open the Buckhead location.

Moravaek is clearly very excited about the opening as he has not once, but twice placed signage on the building ahead of the lease being official.  I heard whispers of the opening over a month ago and have waited  until now to announce the opening as only now is the lease close enough to call it.

What do think about the would be replacement to all the failed concepts?  Do you think OTT will find success where so many others have failed?  Are you eagerly anticipating having this added option in Buckhead?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.  

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It might not be "unique" or "upscale", but more bar options are always a good thing. I also think it has the best chance of succeeding...

I also don't think that because it will be successful means the clientele in Buckhead only likes unoriginal bar food, etc. Sometimes people just want to go to a bar and hang out, grab something decent that's not expensive, etc. I don't see anything wrong with that... lots of bars in NYC with typical bar food (nothing special) etc, that doesn't mean majority of people in NYC don't have enjoy nice restaurants.

Anonymous said...

I think it will be a great fit. It feels more upscale than a lot of sports bars. Its different and classier than the near by Locos. I live a quarter of a mile away. I plan on adding it to my rotation. Their food is better than Locos and it's a classier place. But not too classy ya know.

Anonymous said...

Not enough parking. It will fail.

Anonymous said...

No - I think it's OTP chain like crap that needs to be with 20 feet of a mall not within walking distance froM my house. I'm bitter..

The Anti-Gnostic said...

It will only survive by local foot traffic, because the parking arrangement is terrible.

The main problem with that space is it is TOO BIG. Also, that whole model of street-level retail with apartments on top needs some serious re-thinking.

Anonymous said...

I hope it succeeds! There needs to be some casual places to hang out as another poster said. There are plenty of upscale restaurants around if that is what you are after. A lot of us remember Buckhead in the day when there were many casual establishments around to enjoy.

The Olde Town Tavern in Cobb wasn't in a good location, but it had a nice menu I remember and nice staff. It offered more than just chicken fingers and nachos.

Somehow, they will have to make themselves known and make the parking seem easy and I think they could do well. At least I hope so...

SB said...

I visited Old Towne Tavern on their second day of business Tues Jan 31st. The ownership was on hand and extremely friendly. The waitresses and bartenders were all about making conversation and cultivating repeat business. The bar area was relatively full between 6-8pm. The dining area was completely empty when my friend and I moved from the bar to a table for dinner around 7. The food was as good or better than expected. My friend said the wings were solid and I had a sandwich that was better than at Taco Mac/Loco's etc, although not by any big margin.

Overall I wish them luck and can tell they are trying very hard. There are excellent TVs all over the place and this is a good spot right now for a big happy hour for your work or a bunch of friends because there's so much room and so few regulars. One bartender noted on opening night Monday almost everyone was a resident from the Atrium building they are located in. Poor valet guys outside in the cold had no business at all on Tuesday.

Anonymous said...

should have re opened as The Lodge...that place was great

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