Enzo Steakhouse & Bar will open 2nd location in Midtown this winter

Enzo Steakhouse & Bar, the popular Italian restaurant and steakhouse at Fayetteville’s Town at Trilith development, will open its second location at the Epicurean Atlanta hotel in Midtown this winter.

It is set to take over the Reverence restaurant space, which will close July 22 amid renovations at the hotel, including an overhaul of the lobby. This will be the first in-town restaurant for chefs and co-owners Andrea Montobbio and David Gibbs.

The announcement comes several weeks after the pair opened Italian restaurant Bicicletta in Peachtree City.

“It’s a great transition, and we’ve been working toward it,” Montobbio said. “It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s a good challenge. It’s a great place we want to be.”

Enzo Steakhouse & Bar co-owners Andrea Montobbio (left) and David Gibbs will open a second location of their restaurant in Midtown this winter. (Courtesy of Heidi Harris)

Enzo’s Midtown location will be tailored to fit the neighborhood, Montobbio told the AJC, with a food and beverage menu and appearance that reflects the area.

“I‘m going to try to keep the menu as close to the root of Enzo and what made Enzo great, but then also bring a little bit of getting to know Midtown,” he said.

Enzo’s Trilith location offers a menu with charcuterie, crispy olives and grilled Caesar salad; pastas like lobster and burrata risotto and orecchiette and clams; and wood-fired cuts of beef and pork, including a porterhouse, New York strip, pork chop and wagyu tomahawk.

Enzo Steakhouse & Bar will open in Midtown at the Epicurean Atlanta with a menu of wood-fired steaks, sides and Italian dishes. (Courtesy of Heidi Harris)

The 2,886-square-foot space in Midtown will be designed by Atlanta-based architecture firm Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio. The new look will have a modern and “beautiful, artistic feel to it,” Montobbio said, with an open kitchen, large bar, lounge seating and indoor and outdoor seating.

He wants Enzo’s Midtown outpost to take a very “friendly and easygoing approach that you don’t get at most steakhouses.”

“We want to have a conversation with the guest. We want to bring ourselves next to the guest,” he said.

A rendering of Enzo Steakhouse & Bar's forthcoming Midtown location, which will open at the Epicurean Atlanta hotel inside the Reverence space. (Courtesy of Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio)

In Fayetteville, Enzo Steakhouse is located across the street from Trilith Guesthouse, a hotel property managed by the Epicurean Atlanta’s parent company, Mainsail Lodging & Development. Alex Amato, general manager of Epicurean Atlanta, said the hotel had been looking for a way to reimagine the existing restaurant space with a partner that could bring “a winning formula for a restaurant,” he said.

After seeing Montobbio and Gibbs’ success with Enzo in Trilith, Mainsail decided it would be a great fit for Midtown.

On July 22, the Epicurean Atlanta lobby will also close for a “pretty extensive renovation,” Amato said, with the goal of making the lobby and Enzo Steakhouse feel more like two separate spaces. He said they also want Enzo to have a stronger street presence than Reverence does.

“I think what makes a hotel restaurant really great and really shock and thrive is that it has a local following as well, and that’s really what we’re after,” Amato said.

Find pasta on the menu at Enzo Steakhouse & Bar. (Courtesy of Heidi Harris)

Montobbio grew up in northern Italy, where he cultivated his love for the culinary world and was classically trained in Italian cuisine. When he moved to the U.S., he worked at restaurants in Atlanta and New York City, including at Fifth Group Restaurants and STK Atlanta.

He said these experiences sparked his love for cooking with wood and high-quality meat, so Montobbio decided to combine his passions of Italian cuisine and steakhouses to open Enzo Steakhouse & Bar in 2022 with co-owner and chef de cuisine Gibbs.