Friday, October 20, 2017

[ALERT] Clay's is NOW OPEN in Sandy Springs

After a year plus hiatus, Clay's Sports Cafe in Sandy Springsquietly reopened their doors earlier today.  The popular "hole in the wall" bar, which shuttered their original location on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs last July to make way for Gus's "World Famous" Fried Chicken, is now located in the Hammond Springs shopping center where Kaiser's Chophouse opened this past May.  

Clay's, which has been a neighborhood go-to for over 20 years, was missed by many, chief among them Billy Holcombe, a loyal ToNeTo Atlanta reader who was one of the first to dine at Clay's earlier today.   Holcombe reports that the restaurant is only serving wings and sandwiches for now, but that the wings are as good as ever.  Ownership is still hoping to work out the kinks, and was hoping they could open super softly and no one would find out, so that they could build up to full steam.  If you do go, cut 'em some slack, as I don't want this post to cause them to be bombarded by customers.  

Although Clay's has yet to officially announce their opening on their Facebook, an "update" hinting at their imminent opening from August 31 was liked by over 440 people and shared 75 times.  

The new Clay's is about a mile south of the former location and joins eateries Cafe Sunflower, Cheeseburger Bobby's, Flying Biscuit Cafe and Jinya Ramen Bar, among others, in the center.  

Are you excited for the return of Clay's?  What is your favorite "hole in the wall" bar in Atlanta?  What is your favorite restaurant in Sandy Springs?

Please share your thoughts below.  

7 comments:

Anonymous said...


Is that Bobby's still open? I didn't realize they were. No one is ever in there. I don't know how they manage. As for Clay's, I can't wait to try them. I never did before, but after all the talk, I can't wait. Tried the Gus' once, was so unimpressed that I haven't been back.

Anonymous said...

I forwarded the email we received from Tomorrow's News to our son in Manhattan and also to our son in Chapel Hill, NC about this. That's how excited we are about Clay's reopening!

jeff a. taylor said...

Gus' took awhile to spin up, but it is not pretty much a carbon copy of the Memphis original. Gotta love hot grease and a hard, hard fry. I do. Clay's was simply the closest I've had to original Anchor Bar in Buffalo. BIG wings fried up without a trace of slimy skin and heavy sauces that hung on for dear life. The buffalo basket which added great fries to 10 wings was an insane steal. I'll do my best to give them a few more weeks.

Anonymous said...

I tried Gus's once at the downtown location, and it was the worst chicken I've ever had

Anonymous said...

May be a great place, but loser location. Kaiser's hogs the parking, the Kingston Jamaican restaurant has great food, the Italian place is failing fast, the Ramen joint is overrated and usually empty, the Thai place is struggling, and the location in which Clay's is hosted several losers in the past. And to top it off, the El Azteca in front still gets a lot of sports watchers in their cantina side. Also the English pub on the other end of the center will diminish Clay's crowd. I give them a year.

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to try it out. Sandy Springs is in desperate need of some non-chain and authentic places.

As for Ship and Anchor around the corner...went there once--Pretty rough.

Susan said...

@anonymous from 10/24 at 9:20 pm:
You really haven't been keeping up with the restaurants in that "loser location". The Italian place has been gone for months and the ramen place is actually pretty packed on most nights. The location and parking isn't any worse than Clay's previous location. In fact, parking is more plentiful. You just have to walk from in front of the Lowe's garden center. El Azteca and the Ship and Anchor Pub aren't competing for the Clay's crowd. Each offers a different menu and atmosphere. There's room for all three to succeed. The biggest thing is that you have underestimated the pent-up demand for the return of Clay's. It was more than a year without Clay's in Sandy Springs and people on Facebook and Nextdoor were BEGGING for updates on Clay's return. Word of the re-opening has spread quickly and brought much joy among Clay's customers. I don't know whether delivery has resumed but once it does, it will be an even bigger boost to Clay's bottom line. I believe your pessimistic prediction will be way off base.

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