Friday, January 27, 2017

Hudson Grille Scores "Famous" Space in Toco Hills

Hudson Grille opening eighth location. 

Atlanta based Metrotainment Cafes plans to bring their Hudson Grille concept to Toco Hills shopping center later this year.  Hudson Grille, which bills itself as "Atlanta's best sports bar," will take over the former Famous Pub, which closed last month after 30 years in business.  

I spoke to Metrotainent Cafes' CEO Jeff Landau earlier today who confirmed that a lease has been signed on the approximately 9,000 square foot space at Toco Hills and that he hopes to be open in time for NFL season in early September.  The 2017 season will begin with the Kickoff Game on September 7th. 

The new Hudson Grille will join locations in Tucker, Midtown, Brookhaven, Kennesaw, Sandy Springs, downtown and Alpharetta. Having renovated former restaurants many times before, Landau expects the work at Toco Hills to be more challenging due to the age of the infrastructure.

Metrotainment is in the process of renovating the former Pub 71 in Brookhaven to become Hudson FC - International Sports Pub.  Landau hopes to have the soccer themed restaurant open in time for the 2017 MLS season which begins March 3rd.    

Hudson Grille is the second new restaurant to join Toco Hills following its 2015 purchase by Columbia S.C. based Edens. Spiller Park Coffee, the upscale coffee shop from acclaimed chef Hugh Acheson, previously committed to open in the center.  

The neighborhood seems split on how they feel about all the changes at Toco Hills.  While improvments have been made to the center, a number of longstanding tenants have already closed with others contemplating closure or relocation.  

Are you excited for the opening of Hudson Grille at Toco Hills?  What else would you like to see open at Toco Hills?  Who do you think will be next to close or announce a relocation at Toco Hills?

Please share your thoughts below.  

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a pretty bad move...doesn't fit the Emory demo very well.

Anonymous said...

Hudson Grill is about as generic as you can get. They serve garbage food and don't keep the space as clean. My last visit was to the Brookhaven location and was totally underwhelmed with their product.

Anonymous said...

What a huge dissapointment. Another Hudson Grille. I've only been to the Brookhaven and Tucker locations and was not impressed with the food or service. From looking at Yelp I think my experience is normal.

Based on the somewhat unique coffee shop that is going into the shoe center location I had high hopes they would bring good places to the center.

I have some ideas of who they will force out next but not going to jinx them.

Anonymous said...

Hudson Grille is so disgusting and I wish the one in Brookhaven would close and Taco Mac would open instead. How are they still opening new ones? How are their current ones staying open? Barf.

Anonymous said...

nothing guarantees a mediocre dining experience more than Hudson's grill. It should be as good as Famous. Something more 'gastropubish' would have been nice.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know if the Hudson Grille experiment at Pub 71 in Brookhaven is opening soon? Turning that Irish bar into some kind of pub for soccer fans...

Anonymous said...

Yawn, not a fan of the food at Hudson Grille and was disappointed when Famous was pushed out. I was hoping for something more along the lines of a Twain's outpost but alas.

Anonymous said...

replacing stand alone neighborhood mainstays with boring mediocre (or worse) chains is a recipe for disaster.

I have been to Hudson Grille a couple times and each time the food was below average and the service was horrendous. Taco Mac blows them away and it's not like Taco Mac is some special culinary experience.

Good luck to them.

Anonymous said...

Amazing they can expand when the existing locations are lacking.
Brookhaven has staff turnover issues and a beer draft system that does not fit in the space. Therefore all foam all the time.
The Soccer concept has had a cease work order posted for quite a while. Brookhaven and Midtown location are also very dirty
as was stated earlier. Taco Mac is over priced to cover all their football advertising.

Anonymous said...

The Hudson Grille in Tucker is barely mediocre. Went once and wouldn't go again. Average food, slow service, underwhelming in all aspects.

Alex said...

Worse than Taco Mac? I've never eaten at a Hudson Grille, but anything worse than a Taco Mac has to be REALLY awful.

Anonymous said...

AWESOME NEWS! Big fan of Hudson Grille. They will have a big problem rehabbing that piece of crap building, though. Two great moves for that shopping center so far.

Unknown said...

To tell the truth, I don't know how the chain is still in business. Terrible food!

Unknown said...

Hopefully they will be better than the reviews and, an asset to Toco. It is nice we are getting new places in the area.

Coolio said...

Ate at the Sandy Springs location once. Nasty food. Applebee's & Chili's run rings around this, and that's saying something.

Anonymous said...

The Hudson Grille in Alpharetta sucks also. Been there about 10 times before I finally realized it was never going to improve.

Anonymous said...

This place is an eyesore, smells even outside like cigarette smoke and beer. What a bad decision. It certainly makes the shopping center look downtrodden.

Anonymous said...

How many Hudson Grills does Atlanta need? Seriously this is the best they can do? What a joke. Might as put a Target there or a WalMart or a CVS or another generic chain that doesn't move the needle. There are already about 5 Hudson Grills within driving distance of Toco Hills so I really don't understand the need to saturate the area with one more. Their dining experience is nothing special, their layout is nothing special. Is it so off the wall to reach out to a unique Mom and Pop space? This country is going down and Trump is leading the charge.

Anonymous said...

Whether Hudson's Grill is good or bad is not the issue for me.

Eden's is forcing out long term tenants that have supported our neighborhood and in turn we have supported the businesses at Toco Hill. We are losing too many neighborhood businesses giving Eden's the opportunity to line their greedy pockets.

We will wind up with stores that have products and services to expensive for our neighborhood. Long live Edens

Anonymous said...

Hudson was a disappointment for us. We had several coupons so we went more than once and have not gone back. Bartender was unaware of specialty coffees on the menu :(

Whatever they had at Northlake between Twisted Taco and Hudson - which I think was a sibling of Hudson - was pretty decent, and we had high hopes for Hudson, but no.

Anonymous said...

The same Anonymous posted their brand of hate 15 times?

Anonymous said...

The food at Hudson Grill is terrible. I'm so disappointed the Famous Pub is gone, even though it was a little seedy. I wish a Planet Fitness would come to Toco Hills. L.A. Fitness is too expensive. Hopefully when N. DeKalb Mall is renovated, we'll get a Planet Fitness.

Anonymous said...

I was hoping for a taco Mac in that space, but I'll take a Hudson grill! It's an improvement over famous. Although a gastropub would have been nice, I cant image of one large enough to fill a 9,000 sf space.

I think an events space would be a good addition to toco hills and a marshalls or tj Maxx, even a stein mart. I think those are the only retailers still opening stores. All these changes are a positive for the community. You can't say the former space was not dilapidated. I have lived in the neighborhood for 10 years and never ventured to that portion of the shopping center.. they have already made great improvements to the parking lot and are bringing in some greenery.

Decatur Don said...

Hopefully Tonetoatl will check the IP addresses on the first 12 or 13 anonymous comments and remove them. Just for fun I checked the Yelp reviews and Hudson Grille easily has better feedback than Taco Mac. I've never had a bad meal at Hudson Grille but I wasn't expecting Bones. Service is local folks, friendly and efficient. I agree that a new concept at Toco Hill would have been more exciting, but the ravings of Anonymous above are not accurate and it's a shame to trash a place that's certainly on parr or better than any Applebees or Ocharlies.

DecaturCyrus said...

I don't know much about the local politics or the obvious ax that "anonymous" has to grind, but I think Hudson Grille is a great addition. They have like five or six other locations of Hudson Grille (plus Cowtippers, Joe's On Juniper, and Einstein's) that are all really popular. I've eaten at several of the locations, and always had good food and (usually) good service. I'm sure Famous Pub had its fans, but I couldn't bring myself to open the front door because of all of the cigarette smoke, so personally, I'm looking forward to a new spot in my area.

Disneypal said...

I like Hudson Grill - will miss Famous Pub but the service there had gotten so slow! Hudson Grill usually has good food and good service - I think Toco Hills will be a good location for a place like this.

Anonymous said...

WHEN is Hudson Grille going to open at Toco Hills??? I contacted Hudson Grille corporate office six months ago or longer and was told construction was stopped at the Toco Hills location so they could work on the Northpoint location. Really?? They stop work already in progress to start work at another location?? Ridiculous!

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