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Wagamama officially opened July 27 for dine-in at Star Metals in West Midtown. The restaurant, the first in Atlanta for the London-based brand, had been open for the past few weeks but for takeout only, as the restaurant ramped up and received their liquor license. Featuring an Asian-inspired menu complete with ramen, teppanyaki and assorted noodle dishes, the restaurant also features vegetarian friendly options like a mixed mushroom bao, freshly made juices, and a full bar.
After hearing for weeks that Publix planned to open its new store in Chamblee August 24, and waiting to report it due to what seems like endless restaurant, retail and hotel delayed openings, representatives from Chamblee Plaza shared yesterday that the grocer is on track for its planned opening. The new store, situated in a newly rebuilt portion of Chamblee Plaza (5534 Peachtree Boulevard), measures approximately 41,000 square feet and is one of several stores the Lakeland, Florida-based grocer is opening this year in metro Atlanta.
Chick'nCone in Alpharetta has closed. The restaurant, which occupied what some might call a "cursed" restaurant space, reportedly closed suddenly in recent days with no warning or mention of its closure on the Chick'nCone Alpharetta facebook page. The restaurant, a franchise of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania-based chain, opened May 2021.
At long last, Atlanta's newest location of Hattie B's Hot Chicken is poised to open. The restaurant, located at 711 10th Street in West Midtown, was first announced in August 2019, at which time plans called for it to open in spring 2020. The pandemic and other factors derailed those plans and while we had been told in late 2021 that the opening was on track for March 2022, that didn't happen either.
Goldberg's Fine Foods (fka Goldberg's Bagel Co. & Deli), plans to close its outpost in Alpharetta. The restaurant, located in Avalon next to Antico Pizza Napoletana, opened with the project in 2014, but has reportedly never lived up to expectations. Sources close to the project indicate that the restaurant was due to end its ten year lease in 2024, but had been working to vacate sooner. A separate restaurant industry source tells ToNeTo Atlanta that plans are to shutter in Alpharetta by July 31, 2022.
With two Atlanta area Whataburger restaurants slated to open this year and another half dozen confirmed for 2023, ToNeTo Atlanta has now confirmed two more outposts planned for Georgia. While an intown Whataburger is still a hope for many, the two additional locations are planned for OTP and way OTP.
A grocery store that just opened in Sandy Springs in 2021 is now closing. Lidl, located at 6331 Roswell Road in a center currently known as City Center Crossing, opened January 20, 2021, and is due to close July 31, according to employees at the store. The nearly 28,000 square foot store opened in a large and heavily renovated portion of a onetime Marshalls that itself relocated to nearby Hammond Exchange.
A popular Sandy Springs seafood restaurant is closing. Hammocks Trading Company, located at 7285 Roswell Road, announced via its Facebook page Friday that it will close as of Sunday July 31. Owned by Here to Serve Restaurants veterans Jason Sheetz and William Sigley, Hammocks opened August 3, 2012. The duo, via their Succulent Hospitality Group, will continue to operate Under the Cork Tree at The Prado in Sandy Springs and Prime 120 on Chambers Street in Downtown Woodstock.
Corner Bakery Cafe today shuttered its location at Akers Mill Square near Cumberland Mall. The restaurant, which opened in 2013, occupied a 3,800 square foot space made available when LongHorn Steakhouse relocated elsewhere in the center to a portion of the former Circuit City.
House of Hummus is now open in Cumming. The new eatery, the sibling to the restaurant by the same name in Alpharetta, is located in The Shops at Brannon Crossing across from The Collection at Forsyth in Cumming. House of Hummus serves a variety of Mediterranean favorites and occupies a 1,200 square foot endcap space complete with an expansive outdoor patio. Owner Samar Hadlow opened the original House of Hummus at Steinway Promenade on North Point Parkway, not far from North Point Mall, in early 2014.
Louis Vuitton has temporarily moved to a smaller store at Lenox Square in Buckhead. Previously located in a 10,000 square foot store within the mall's "Luxury Wing," the luxury retailer has relocated to the slightly smaller, roughly 8,200 square foot former Apple store on the mall's upper level. The move was made to make way for what promises to be a complete renovation of the brand's Lenox Square boutique. As of 5PM Thursday July 21, the retailer had not yet filed any permits for its buildout, so it's unclear what the scope or cost of the renovation will be.
Memphis BBQ Co. has closed in Dunwoody. The restaurant, located in Ashford Place (4764 Ashford Dunwoody Road), opened in 2014 and closed at the end of dinner service July 20. Memphis BBQ Co. was created and owned by Pitmaster, World BBQ Champion, and 2017 Barbecue Hall of Fame inductee Melissa Cookston. A native of Mississippi, Cookston also operates a second Memphis BBQ in Horn Lake, Mississippi, a city in Desoto County, about a mile south of the Memphis metro. A third location in Fayetteville, North Carolina previously closed.
Jimmy John's has closed its outpost on Howell Mill Road in West Midtown. The restaurant, located at 1605 Howell Mill Road, opened in June 2015 and closed without warning earlier this month, according to sources in the area. Unlike most Jimmy John's, this location had a drive-thru, but even still, was reportedly not living up to expectations.
RA Sushi has closed. The two-story sushi restaurant occupied a nearly 7,000 square foot space in the street level retail of the 1010 Midtown condo tower, and after opening in mid 2009, reportedly closed Sunday, July 17. RA was the last remaining original restaurant in the project which has over the years seen some of its spaces turn over two and three times.
A familiar pizza brand is returning to a familiar part of Atlanta. Donatos Pizza is returning to Toco Hills where it operated one of 23 Atlanta area locations until the chain's late 2002 exit. The new Donatos replaces Shorty's, another pizza eatery, which closed in the LA Fitness anchored center in late 2019 after fourteen years in business. (A second Shorty's remains in business on Lawrenceville Highway in Tucker.)
With the greater metro Atlanta's first Raising Cane's restaurant now under construction in Buford, ToNeTo Atlanta has confirmed that a second location is coming, with several more "in the works," according to a source familiar with the brand's local expansion plans. While intown residents will again be let down by this news, Dacula residents wanting to have to schlep all the way to Buford can take comfort in knowing that they, too, will soon have a Raising Cane's.
A former suburban Arby's restaurant is being targeted by Chipotle for yet another new location. The former Arby's, located at 3900 Brookside Parkway just off Old Milton Parkway, has been dark since early 2020, when the Atlanta-based chain known to have "the meats," abruptly shuttered its roughly two decade old location.
Mendocino Farms, the California-based sandwich shop that that we exclusively reported in September 2021 would enter Atlanta in 2022, has called off those plans. The restaurant, slated to open in Prominence Apartments (fka Modera Prominence), was to have occupied a roughly 3,900 square foot first level space in the multifamily development at the corner of Lenox and Piedmont Roads in Buckhead.
Delbar, a popular Middle Eastern restaurant that debuted in Inman Park in 2020, has secured space for a new outpost in Alpharetta. The new freestanding location at 4120 Old Milton Parkway has been several other eateries over the years including Pisces Seafood, Urban Spice, and Traditions, among others. According to a newly updated post from Irving Jacobson of The Shumacher Group who handled the transaction, Delbar owner Fares Kargar didn't lease, but purchased the 6,800 square foot building which sits on 1.7 acres.
A new restaurant called "Sister" has opened at Hotel Colee at 3377 Peachtree Road in Buckhead. The restaurant opens in place of Cook Hall, which closed at the hotel, formerly the W Atlanta Buckhead, at the end of 2020. Sister "soft opened" Friday July 1 with a breakfast and lunch menu but is expected to add a dinner menu and "grand open" in a couple of weeks, according to an employee at the restaurant. Sister is the third newly introduced hotel restaurant to open within blocks of one another in the past few months. Brassica, a new "French-Southern," restaurant debuted at the Waldorf Astoria Atlanta Buckhead in late March, while "celebrity Chef" Scott Conant opened an outpost of his Italian eatery "The Americano" at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta in late May.
It's now been a little over three years since we first reported that Florida-based bowl concept Bolay Fresh Bold Kitchen had Atlanta on its expansion map and just over one year since we broke news that they would make their debut in Alpharetta. We are pleased to be able to share now that the company plans to open in Alpharetta August 11. The new restaurant, located at 10920 Haynes Bridge Road, has hired industry veteran Mitch Rubin as Operating Partner of the Alpharetta outpost. Bolay Alpharetta replaces Corner Bakery which closed in August 2020 after about seven years in business.
Floor & Decor (NYSE: FND) will reopen its original Northeast Expressway store in Brookhaven July 25. The store, the company's first, opened in 2000 and was completely demolished in late 2021 to make way for a new 80,000 square foot flagship store replacement. In other Floor & Decor news, the company is also opening a "Design Studio" at Tower Place in Buckhead. ToNeTo Atlanta was first to report on the planned opening this past January but visible work has only recently commenced on the former restaurant space along Piedmont Road.
Savage X Fenty, the lingerie brand co-founded by singer Rihanna in 2018, will open in Atlanta later this year. The brand, which emphasizes confidence and inclusivity (with sizes XS to 3XL) and is designed for all genders, sizes, and backgrounds, will open alongside Moose Knuckles in the upper portion of the once two-level home of Topshop. The new Lenox Square outpost will be among six new brick and mortar stores the fledgling brand opens in the coming months.
After what was apparently a successful pop-up at Lenox Square, luxury retailer Alexander McQueen will open a permanent store at sibling center Phipps Plaza in Buckhead. Newly installed signage confirms that the new boutique will occupy about 4,400 square feet on the center's first floor.
