DeKalb Avenue Lounge Lloyd’s Becomes a Pizza Parlor

With a menu once described as an “unholy mix of Chili’s and Southern comfort food,” DeKalb Avenue throwback lounge Lloyd’s officially shifts gears to pizza paired with pitchers of High Life.

Part of the Victory Brands restaurant group (Victory Sandwich Bar, S.O.S Tiki Bar, Little Trouble), Lloyd’s pizza parlor pivot wasn’t in the original plan. During a three-month shutdown last spring due to the pandemic, owner Ian Jones says the need to transition the menu at Lloyd’s from meatloaf and fried chicken to pizza and beer became crystal clear.

“We’d struggled with our kitchen since we opened [in 2018] and it was never quite shaping up into what we had initially envisioned,” Jones says. “When we had to shut down, we debated just putting pizza ovens in our Victory kitchens to do delivery. Once everything re-opened, we realized that Lloyds would be a perfect fit for pizza. Hell, it already looks like an 80’s pizza parlor!”

Jones says he and his team scrapped half the kitchen at Lloyd’s and installed Swedish deck ovens. After the quick kitchen remodel, Jones then consulted with a pizza chef who helped create the dough program for Lloyd’s New York-style pies. Using a non-bromated bread flour, dough is hand-balled and stretched and cold-fermented for three days.

The new menu at Lloyd’s features six pizzas, ranging from plain cheese and pepperoni to a pie topped with white sauce, mozzarella, provolone, and goat cheese and a vegetarian option topped with onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, and artichokes. The restaurant also offers a “slice of the day”.

Most of the appetizers from the former menu remain intact, including the spinach and artichoke dip and shrimp cocktail, along with a few new additions like pesto pillows made from day-old puffed pizza dough tossed in arugula pesto and the poutine-esque pizza fries topped with cheese, pepperoni, and white and red sauces. Completing its 1980s Pizza Hut vibe transformation, Lloyd’s could feature a salad bar in the future, once the pandemic ends. Jones plans to continue the restaurant’s Monday night crab leg dinner special and is currently working to get Lloyd’s set up on third-party delivery services.

As for Lloyd’s popular vesper and martini happy hour, that’s not going anywhere. “Martinis and pizza is a hilarious combination. How could we get rid of that? Lloyd’s is 100% a pizza parlor where you can get rad pizza, a pitcher of beer or shaker full of martinis!”

Open for patio seating and limited indoor seating. Order online for takeout. Delivery forthcoming. Masks required.

900 DeKalb Ave NE, Atlanta. lloydsatl.com.

• The Group Behind Victory Sandwich Bar Is Opening a Restaurant Near SweetWater Brewing [EATL]
• Victory Brands Is Gearing Up to Reopen Most of Its Atlanta Restaurants in June [EATL]