Another day, another restaurant closure in West Midtown. Humble Pie, the "vegetable-forward," pizza-centric restaurant at The Interlock (1115 Howell Mill Road) announced Wednesday that it will close as of Thursday, January 30. The restaurant opened January 18, 2023.
In an Instagram post Wednesday afternoon titled "Our Humble Goodbye," the restaurant did not indicate immediately what led to the closure but thanked the community for their support.
"Thank you to this community for allowing us to humbly serve you for over 2 years."
The post was flooded with comments with many people expressing their sadness over the closure.
One, from Cupcakin owner Lila Owens read: "it's my fault. I adore your pizza but didn't come to West Midtown enough."
Humble Pie later added: "It's been hard getting the business coming thru the doors. We love this area and hope what comes after really serves you all well. You deserve it! We love you. Xo"
As we have noted in recent weeks, West Midtown has proven to be among the most challenging and least stable neighborhoods in metro Atlanta.
Humble Pie's closure comes on the heels of the closures of Postino and Culinary Dropout at nearby complex The Brickworks. ToNeTo Atlanta first reported January 21 that Snooze an A.M. Eatery plans to close its West Midtown restaurant as of this Friday, January 31. Pour Taproom, also at The Interlock, had in 2024 been listed for sale by The Shumacher Group and remains for sale, but has reportedly closed in recent days.
In addition, West Egg Cafe and Cultivate both closed in December with Elsewhere Brewing and Girl Diver, both at Westside Paper, having closed in October. Le Fat, Slim+Husky, L.O.A. Social Club, Superica, Boxcar Betty's and Wagamama also closed in West Midtown in 2024, with Pancake Social, another Westside Paper tenant, still open but listed for sale.
Humble Pie sibling restaurant Juniper Cafe closed at Westside Village along Marietta Boulevard January 1, 2023, with plans at the time to open something different in the space and reopen Juniper Cafe elsewhere in Midtown. Juniper Cafe has not yet reopened and ultimately, Gezzo's Cantina, a restaurant (with locations in McDonough and Locust Grove) but unaffiliated with Hsu and Phipps, opened in its place in May 2023 but quietly closed at the end of 2024.
ToNeTo Atlanta is in touch with several other operators who are assessing their situations in West Midtown with some indicating additional closures are likely.
Why do you think so many restaurants are closing in West Midtown? How important is easy and free parking to you in making a dining decision? Who in Atlanta do you think may be next to close?
Please share your thoughts below.
19 comments:
it’s the parking and the acces of getting in and out
Easy & free parking is a big decision for us when dining out, there has been several times we decided NOT to eat at a place because the parking situation is to bad to deal with. As mentioned in the article, we just don’t get to West Midtown that often, primarily because of traffic
Traffic! It is just a nightmare over there...
Put on some warehouse instead. Good rent, less cars, no more failure
It appears that the commercial real estate rents have may reach an unaffordable level, not just in WMT, but around the metro. Buildout costs for a decent restaurant will take 2-3 years to recover, coupled with extraordinary rents, makes opening a new operation less sustainable. One only needs to look at the mixed use developments and large shopping complexes like Town Brookhaven or Perimeter Village in Dunwoody, both have, on a square footage basis, an unacceptable turnover and vacancy rate.
Menu prices have gone up 50% since pre pandemic. Add $15-20 parking and it's a no go for me.
West Midtown had more character when it was just auto repair shops and wholesalers; and before it was renamed with the unoriginal, made-up, and contrived name of "West Midtown." But everything about Atlanta is unoriginal and contrived.
Everyone says parking but, there are other means and this establishments aren't in the burbs. No one wants some of the places that have become outrageously expensive for what they are. Assume rising rents and labor contributed to these closures.
Parking. It will be hard to maintain any business there when you have to pay that much to park. I loved going there but refused to pay $7 minimum to park and also pay for food and drink. Nominal fees to park would be acceptable. Interlock will fail because of greed
Rents are pushing out restaurants and others and parking costs and traffic in that area. So much greed- Atlanta can’t have nice things anymore.
The Build it and they will come mentality has not worked in WMT due largely to antique infrastructure and restaurants thinking people will pay whatever is thrown at them because these restaurants think they are "Hip"
I tend to dismiss the connection of failed restaurants to paid parking, but the parking fees are truly obscene at The Interlock. $15 to cover 2 hours. No validation. That's beyond reasonable for Atlanta.
Sucks, cause this place made some genuinely excellent pizza
Truth. All the character left years ago. The best times were mid 80 to about 2010. Traffic, parking, and lack of anything truly worthwhile have made it a no go.
Everything about Atlanta sucks! So we don’t we all just move away?
I did move away. Atlanta is a joke.
Where do you live now? Tell us all so we can move there. It must be really great! I bet no one can find one single solitary thing wrong with where you live now! Let us know so we can join you.
I think Emmy Squared will be gone eventually
You sound upset. My message really must have struck a nerve with you. Have fun living in a second rate city.
Traffic has been a nightmare along most of the Howell Mill corridor for years, even before they turned most of the warehouses and equipment yards into mixed-use mid-rises.
I’ve been an occasional visitor to the area for years (mostly for Taqueria del Sol and the former Figo and a couple other places), but I’ve dropped off a lot since all the redevelopment. There are some cool places, but it’s not worth the hassle and expense usually. I went to Torchy’s Tacos recently and had a bit of trouble finding paid parking that I was allowed to park in. It’s a disincentive for people who aren’t super-familiar with all the new stuff in the area. You can’t neglect the impact of oversaturation of restaurants in the area, either.
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