[ALERT] East Cobb Grapples With Rash of Restaurant Closures

Chicago's Steak and Seafood is slated to close May 31 after about 36 years in business.  Currently located in the Publix at Shallowford shopping center - 4401 Shallowford Road - the upscale restaurant first opened in 1991 and at one point had two locations.  The restaurant occupies a 5,311 square foot endcap space in the center at the corner of Shallowford and Johnson Ferry Roads near where Roswell meets East Cobb. 

The restaurant was sold in 2017 to current owners Mark Zwolak and Connor Murray.  

Chicago's received an "unsatisfactory" score of 69 in a March 4 inspection by the Cobb and Douglas health department.  Inspectors cited Chicago’s for several violations, including improper food storage issues, such as holding some ready-to-eat foods for longer than seven days and not having proper procedures for discarding certain foods.  The restaurant scored a better, but certainly not stellar, 89 in a follow up inspection a week later.  

Some locals believe the restaurant was unable to recover from its poor health score while others simply assume the new owners opted not to renew their lease given the restaurant's downward trajectory in recent years.  

A second location was located in Willow Springs (2500 Old Alabama Road) in Roswell, but it closed about twenty years ago, according to resident Roswell restaurant expert Joe Duffy.  The former Chicago's space is today occupied by an outpost of Bambinelli's Italian Restaurant.  

The East Cobb area has been hit hard by restaurant closures as of late with La Madeleine having closed May 22 in Providence Square and Mirko Pasta closing a few days prior in nearby Merchants Walk.  

Tuesday brought news that we knew was coming at some point with the announcement that Reunion: Kitchen and Bar is closing as of June 7, with plans to "relocate" to an unspecified location at some point in the future.  ToNeTo Atlanta observed a sales listing in late April advertising an "exceptional second generation turnkey restaurant" opportunity in East Cobb that was very clearly the Reunion space.  It's closure now suggests it has been leased to a new operator.  

The 4,550 square foot restaurant opened at The Market Plaza - 1255 Johnson Ferry Road - in April 2024.  The restaurant, owned by Ilene Kapper Oxman, was originally slated to be called "1255 Social," but a ownership and direction change took place before opening that led to the name change.  In a social media post Tuesday, ownership cited an increase in rent and operating costs as the primary factors leading to the closure.  Before Reunion, Red Sky Tapas and Bar, another locally owned restaurant, operated from the same space for 14 years before selling to Oxman in 2022.  

What would you like to see open in place of Chicago's or Reunion?  Are you surprised by all the turnover in East Cobb?  What kind of restaurants do you think are needed most in East Cobb?

Please share your thoughts below.