In a year full of restaurant closures, many of which seem to have taken place in West Midtown, a landmark intown restaurant announced Monday that it has closed. The original Taco Mac - 1006 North Highland Avenue in Virginia-Highland - has closed after nearly five decades in business.
According to Fulton County records, the Taco Mac Virginia-Highland is 2,760 square feet and was constructed in 1948.
"Taco Mac is growing across the Southeast, with new locations in Georgia and Alabama. 🍻 We invite you to join us at one of our other 28 locations so that you can still enjoy your favorite wings, beer, and game day energy 🏈🍗"
The announcement did not indicate if the company has any imminent plans for additional metro Atlanta locations.
The Atlanta-based brand, which started with the Virginia-Highland restaurant in 1979, was acquired in 2018 by Nashville-based Fresh Hospitality which later also purchased Mary Mac's Tea Room and The Vortex, too.
In the years since the acquisition, Taco Mac has closed Atlanta area restaurants at CNN Center (now "The Center"), near downtown Decatur, at Lindbergh City Center (now "Uptown"), and in Roswell.
Taco Mac restaurants remain open at Metropolis on Peachtree in Midtown and The Prado on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.
The company has seemingly adopted a new strategy that prioritizes smaller but growing suburban markets over competitive and expensive intown areas.
New Taco Mac locations opened in Gainesville (September 2022), Dawsonville (February 2023), Pelham, Alabama (September 2023), and Conyers this past November.
As of this week, Taco Mac operates 26 restaurants in Georgia and one unit each in Alabama (Pelham) and Tennessee (Chattanooga).
Are you surprised to see Taco Mac close in Virginia-Highland? What is your favorite sports bar in metro Atlanta? Do you think Taco Mac has gotten better or worse under Fresh Hospitality's ownership?
Please share your thoughts below.
This Fresh Hospitality company completely ruined Taco Mac. Greedy conglomerate private equity firm. I try to order Taco Mac a couple of times a year and it’s completely different and I say never again. Spring mix always stinky and rotted. Now it makes sense that I see they sold out in 2018, around the time it went downhill. Not sure why a capital group would want to destroy a brand, but they are doing a good job at it. Shame.
ReplyDeleteThis is like losing an uncle. They were always just there, visited from time to time, and now they are gone. Sad.
ReplyDeleteSad but not a surprise that location has had awful service ever since it transitioned to the new management years ago. You’d have to really try to screw up a restaurant in that location. The Taco Mac’s in the suburbs I’ve been to are still decent.
ReplyDeleteI've been patiently waiting for the "This location has gone downhill since..."
ReplyDeleteBut, my patience has worn out. Always sad when an OG closes. Overall the quality at Taco Macs has been better recently, but it is very location dependent. Corporate has let this one wither a bit. Food was always fine to good, but the aesthetics were getting pretty threadbare. This could have been an opportunity to make it the standard bearer for food and service, but it sounds like the 'burbs are going to be that now. Oh well.