Grant Park restaurant Ramen Station closed last month at Larkin on Memorial after seven years in business.
Ramen Station was a concept from Michael Lo and George Yu of Korean Wives Hospitality Group, which also includes Suzy Siu’s Baos in Krog Street Market and Salaryman in Toco Hills.
Lo also owns Philly cheesesteak shop Nicky’s Undefeated in Tucker with business partner Walt Gebelein, separate from the Korean Wives brand.
Lo and Yu opened Ramen Station at 519 Memorial Drive SE in 2018 with a menu of steamed buns, rice bowls and ramen.
“The closure was purely a business decision isolated to this specific location,” Lo wrote in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The local market (around Larkin on Memorial) has been difficult for restaurants over the last few years with many of our neighbors closing as well.”
The Larkin on Memorial shopping center debuted in late 2017 from Paces Properties, the developer behind Krog Street Market.
Full Commission, Ramen Station, Firepit Pizza Tavern and Kale Me Crazy were among the first food concepts to open in the development. Woodward & Park later opened in 2020, but Full Commission and Woodward & Park both closed in 2023.
Full Commission’s space was taken over by Perc Coffee.
A representative from Larkin on Memorial did not immediately respond to the AJC’s request for more information.
Lo also pointed to other closures over the past few years along Memorial Avenue in Grant Park, including Doc Chey’s, which was initially replaced by Chef Wang’s in 2023 before it closed as well; Mi Barrio, which shuttered in 2024 after more than 20 years; Farm Burger, which closed in 2024; and Tin Lizzy’s Cantina, which closed in 2023 after almost 15 years.
Yu and Lo’s remaining two restaurants in the Korean Wives Hospitality Group are still doing “great and thriving,” Lo said.
Larkin on Memorial’s remaining food and beverage businesses include Grant Park Market, Firepit Pizza Tavern, Birdcage and Perc Coffee.
Leslie Cohen opened Firepit Pizza Tavern in 2018 and Birdcage in 2024. She said when the Firepit initially opened, they saw a lot of traffic from the surrounding neighborhoods, but in the past year her restaurants have been attracting customers from outside the immediate area.
“We’re actually more of a destination spot for people,” she said. “We market fully on social media, which I think has helped us a lot really pull in outside customers from other areas.”
She also said that catering orders have picked up lately from the downtown office crowd that has returned to work. And she is optimistic about the efforts of property managers to bring new businesses into the vacant spaces at the development.
“We, as a community at the Larkin, need these places filled to bring that traffic and (to keep) that area alive,” she said.
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