An East Atlanta Village restaurant revival is underway
East Atlanta Village has long been one of the metro area’s best places to eat and drink, a neighborhood with exciting, creative restaurants and a true nightlife scene.
In recent years, several business closures have dented EAV’s status as a dining destination. But there is a new wave of dining headed toward the neighborhood, with several restaurant openings announced by the teams behind other popular Atlanta ventures like Joystick Gamebar and Little Bear.
Within the next year, EAV could be back near full strength as one of Atlanta’s most interesting nerve centers for food and drink.
EAV post-pandemic restaurant closings
Since the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of the decade, EAV has suffered a spate of restaurant and bar closings, including multiple long-running businesses. Happy Donuts closed in 2022 after 20 years, while the Elder Tree pub closed in 2024 after a dozen years. Just Loaf’n closed its original EAV location in 2024.
The neighborhood also served as the stage for the tumultuous, dramatic closure of Vietnamese restaurant We Suki Suki and its related indie food halls: Buford Highway EAV, Global Grub Collective and Qommunity Food Hall.
We Suki Suki first expanded into a micro-food hall 2015, initially known as the Global Grub Collective, when owner Quynh “Q” Trinh knocked down the wall between her restaurant and the former Urban Cannibals space. During the food hall’s tenure, it was regularly embroiled in permitting disputes with DeKalb Public Health, details of which Trinh often shared on social media.
However, Global Grub Collective also birthed Poke Burri and Lifting Noodles Ramen from business partners Seven Chan and Ken Yu. They franchised both restaurants, which now have locations across multiple states. The space also hosted the first iteration of Mushi Ni, which later moved to the Works at Chattahoochee before opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Inman Park earlier this year.
Michael Le, chef and owner of Mushi Ni, said his time at the food hall felt like a movie about a rock band’s meteoric rise to fame.
“There was only one bathroom and one prep kitchen for everybody,” he said. “But it was always packed and we were making money.”
After the Global Grub Collective closed in 2021 and reopened as Qommunity Food Hall, it hosted the Ethiopian concept Ruki’s Kitchen for nearly two years. Ruki’s Kitchen later moved to the Terminal South development after enduring a messy ending at the EAV food hall.
We Suki Suki and Qommunity abruptly and dramatically closed in February 2024. According to Ali Lemma, owner of Ruki’s Kitchen, the food hall’s tenants arrived one day to find the power shut off and the locks changed.
What’s changing in EAV
After Mushi Ni left the Global Grub Collective, Le said he and Tanya Jimenez, his wife and business partner, looked for a space in EAV where they could open a permanent restaurant. But none of the property owners they approached were willing invest in the necessary improvements needed to bring old buildings up to current restaurant code.
The aging, tightly packed buildings along Flat Shoals Avenue that give EAV so much of its character also serve as an impediment for new food and beverage businesses.
“A lot of the landlords weren’t willing to put any money into renovating the buildings,” Le said.
Recently, new developers have bought properties in EAV, which has attracted the attention of local restaurateurs. One of those is Canvas Companies, which purchased the property at 461 Flat Shoals Ave. SE. Canvas has partnered with Little Bear chef and owner Jarrett Stieber to open his second restaurant, a wine bar called Bar Schmutzi.
Jarrett Stieber, chef and owner of Little Bear in Summerhill, told the AJC earlier this year that he was excited about working with Canvas.
“Their whole thing is making spaces where a tenant can actually survive and thrive based on the deal structure,” Stieber said. “They try to fix up old buildings … rather than knocking them down and putting up new construction and parking lots. And they’re really community-oriented, where they want things to blend in well to the neighborhood and be fixtures of the community they’re part of.”
But some restaurateurs are still attracted to the older spaces at EAV. Marcus Fernandez, the chef and bartender behind Filipino pop-up Zarate Tiki Co., is working to open a permanent location in EAV. Fernandez told the AJC he will take over the old Silvers Delight space, which will be relatively turnkey for his vision of simple Filipino street food and island-inspired cocktails.
“I gravitated toward EAV because it’s got a different energy about it,” Fernandez said. “They still have one of the few remaining bar districts after COVID.”
New restaurants & bars coming to EAV
Bar Schmutzi, a wine bar from the team behind Little Bear, will open in EAV in 2027, the AJC previously reported. The European-style wine bar will take over a space that was formerly occupied by a veterinary clinic. Schmutzi will serve a limited menu from a small kitchen and highlight wines from small, independent producers.
461 Flat Shoals Ave. SE., Atlanta. barschmutziatl.com
Joystick Gamebar has closed its location on Edgewood Avenue and will soon open in EAV, the business announced in July. The new version of Joystick will reopen in the former Eastside Lounge space on Flat Shoals Avenue, across the street from The Earl, Rough Draft Atlanta reported.
485 Flat Shoals Ave. SE, Atlanta. instagram.com/joystickgamebar
Sagra, an Italian-themed wine bar that will also serve pizza, is on track to open in EAV later this year, the restaurant announced on social media.
535 Gresham Ave. SE, Atlanta. instagram.com/sagra_eav
Zarate Tiki Co., a Filipino food and drink pop-up, will open its first permanent location late this year in EAV, according to chef and owner Marcus Fernandez. The food menu will focus on Filipino street food while the bar program focuses on tropical cocktails and mocktails.
493 Flat Shoals Ave. SE, Atlanta. instagram.com/zaratetiki