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Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs are currently experiencing a food hall boom, beginning nearly a decade ago with the openings of Krog Street Market in Inman Park and Ponce City Market in the Old Fourth Ward. At the time, both food halls bookended the first portion of the Eastside Beltline trail and were novelties for Atlantans driven by their interest in food. Now, with the expansion of the Beltline westward into Reynoldstown, Glenwood Park, and West End, and ubiquitous mixed-use developments popping up all over Atlanta and the metro area, the food hall has become big business here.
Since 2014, food halls have taken root inside and outside the perimeter, including in suburban Atlanta cities like Marietta, where Marietta Square Market now resides. Even the home of Braves baseball, Battery Atlanta, includes a small food hall called Ph’east centered on Asian fare from local restaurateurs. More food halls are planned for Atlanta’s suburbs, its exurbs, and neighborhoods around the city.
Food halls often anchor entertainment districts or are part of larger, mostly banal developments, sometimes providing an affordable entry point for independent chefs and food entrepreneurs, giving them an opportunity to open a business without the innumerable overhead costs of owning a standalone restaurant. But what distinguishes one food hall from another? Some people simply consider these glorified mall food courts. Others believe food halls are more than that, offering people cocktails and craft beer from a full-service bar and restaurant stalls focused on local food from enterprising chefs. Whatever the reason for the recent surge in openings or how one defines these culinary marketplaces, it appears food halls are here to stay in Atlanta.
Eater is tracking the food halls open around Atlanta, plans for new food halls opening over the next two years, and one big expansion taking place at the city’s largest and most well-known food hall. Check back for updates.
OPEN
Krog Street Market
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Where: Inman Park/Eastside Beltline
Stalls: 12; 5 restaurants
Opened in 2014, Krog Street Market was Atlanta’s first food hall, offering a dozen stalls, a central bar run by Hop City Beer and Wine, and a handful of full-service restaurants, including Ticonderoga Club, Superica, Bar Mercado, and Makimono. Look for a range of stalls offering pizza, sushi, burgers, dumplings, soul food, pub fare, Tex-Mex, tapas, and baked goods here
Ponce City Market
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Where: Old Fourth Ward, Eastside Beltline
Stalls: 18-20; 12 restaurants and bars
Opening just a year after Krog Street Market, Ponce City Market emerged as one of Atlanta’s most popular food tourist attractions with its nearly two dozen stalls and full-service restaurants in the central food hall and scattered about the property of the old Sears warehouse complex. Several notable Atlanta chefs and restaurateurs feature stalls or restaurants at the market, including Anne Quatrano, Linton Hopkins, Pinky Cole, Meherwan Irani, Guy Wong, and Tal Baum. Food here ranges from fried chicken, vegan fare, and ramen to seafood, Italian, a bakery, and fresh-pressed juices.
Marietta Square Market
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Where: Marietta
Stalls: 17; 1 restaurant
Opened in 2019 just beyond the city’s historic main square, Marietta Street Market became the first official suburban food hall to debut in metro Atlanta. It includes stalls from D’Cuban, Henri’s Bakery, Ponko Chicken, Four Fat Cows, and the Original Hot Dog Factory, to name a few. Mexican restaurant Siete Tacos anchors the food hall.
Ph’east
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Where: Battery Atlanta, Cobb County
Stalls: 5; 1 bar
Unlike the other food halls listed here, the owners see Ph’east as more of hawkers market serving a variety of Asian fare and street foods from several local restaurateurs, including Thai, Cantonese, ramen, poke, and bubble tea. There’s even a full bar.
The Market Hall at Halcyon
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Where: Forsyth CountyAlpharetta
Stalls: 7; 12 restaurants
This sprawling mixed-use property includes an Alpharetta address, but it’s technically in Forsyth County. The food hall includes just seven stalls featuring noodles and dumplings, pizza, Mediterranean, and poke. The complex also offers a dozen restaurants, like a brewpub, Korean barbecue, a seafood establishment, and dine-in movie theater.
Collective at Coda
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Where: Midtown, Tech Square
Stalls: 5; 1 bar
Part of the redevelopment of Tech Square, this tiny food hall packs in some serious local talent, including stalls from Atlanta chefs Kameel Srouji and Hector Santiago and a forthcoming bar from the owners of Joystick Gamebar and Georgia Beer Garden.
Politan Row
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Where: Midtown, Colony Square
Stalls: 11; 2 bars
The newly opened Politan Row food hall includes 11 locally owned food stalls, along with a central bar and a hidden cocktail bar called Jo Jo’s Beloved. Stalls here serve food ranging from Vietnamese and pizza to burgers, tacos, and Caribbean fare. There’s the option to reserve a chef’s table experience, too. A sliding glass wall separates the food hall from the outdoor spaces at the Colony Square food hall, with covered patios and an events lawn in the Grove.
Chattahoochee Food Works
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Where: Underwood Hills
Stalls: Projected 31; 6 projected restaurants and bars
This market, a collaboration between celebrity chef and Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern and Gansevoort Market’s Robert Montwaid, will eventually include 31 food stalls when complete. Nearly two dozen stalls are already open here, including stalls serving Thai, bubble tea, over-the-top cookies, pizza and burgers, mochi doughnuts, and vegan Indian fare. Part of the Works complex, Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q and Scofflaw Brewing are now open, with forthcoming restaurants the Waffle Experience, Brash Kitchen cafe, dog park and bar Fetch Park, a tapas restaurant and rooftop bar from the owners of the Select and Paces and Vine, and gaming venue and restaurant the 3rd Spot slated to open in the coming year.
Southern Feed Store
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Where: East Atlanta Village
Stalls: 6
This six-stall food hall dubbed Southern Feed Store is now open inside the former Graveyard Tavern space along Glenwood Avenue. The food hall takes its name from the feed store that once occupied the building from 1927 until the 1940s. Look for food and drinks from Grant Park Brazilian restaurant and coffee bar Buteco, Woody’s CheeseSteaks, Gyro Gyro, and Waffle Bar. Rumor has it pop-up TKO Korean may be eyeing stall space here. Buteco owner Rafael Pereira is also a partial owner in the food hall.
The Municipal Market (Sweet Auburn Curb Market)
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Where: Sweet Auburn/Edgewood Avenue
Stalls: 10
While technically defined as a public market rather than a food hall, the historic Municipal Market (known locally as Sweet Auburn Curb Market) on Edgewood Avenue does include 10 food stalls and a bakery owned by local chefs and restaurateurs. The building is leased from City of Atlanta, with vendors sub-leasing space inside. As for food, expect everything from tacos, chicken sandwiches, and pizza to soul food, cheesesteaks, and Afro-Caribbean fare here. The market, which opened in 1918 as an open-air farmers market, followed by the opening of the current building in 1924, also sells freshly butchered meats, seafood, and produce and includes a gift shop and a cooking school.
EXPANSIONS
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Ponce City Market
New stalls: 6
Six new food and retail stalls are slated to open in the expanded portion of the central food hall, including Korean street food and bar Umbrella Bar . Vietnamese restaurant stall Vietvana and Nani’s Rotisserie Chicken from Chai Pani and Botiwalla chef Meherwan Irani are already open here. The expansion adds an additional 5,000 square feet to the first floor of the food hall. New Persian restaurant stall Bibi takes over the former Marrakesh stall in the central food hall later this summer.
COMING SOON
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The Hall at Ashford Lane
Where: Dunwoody
Stalls: 6 to 10; 3 bars
The Hall at Ashford Lane, which should open in the coming months, will include a variety of food stalls, 3 bars, private dining areas, and a general seating area once open. Taking over the former Henredon Furniture store at Perimeter Place on Olde Perimeter Way, the Hall at Ashford Lane will also offer full table and bar service. Owner Jamal Wilson and the Vigor Group may be looking to open a second food hall in Snellville, too.
Underground Atlanta
Where: Downtown
Stalls: 21
Robert Montwaid, the co-founder of Chattahoochee Food Works in northwest Atlanta, helped design the plans for the layout of this food hall opening at Underground Atlanta. The food hall serves as the anchor tenant for the downtown Atlanta landmark. Billed as a “boutique food market”, the yet-named food hall will include 21 stalls and joins live music venue the Masquerade and Future Showbar, an LGBTQ-friendly restaurant, cabaret, and dance bar.
Lee and White
Where: West End, Westside Beltline
Stalls: 13
Projected to open in 2022, this food hall joins restaurants, breweries, offices, and retail shops now open at or planned for the Lee and White complex along the Westside Beltline. Housed in building 1020, the yet-named food hall will feature a mix of 13 food stalls, a central bar in front opening to a large patio, and full-service restaurants, like the second location of East Lake barbecue restaurant Lake and Oak Neighborhood Barbecue.
The Exchange
Where: Duluth
Stalls: 12; 1 bar; 14 restaurants and food shops
Located in Duluth and part of larger development project in the Gwinnett County city, this food hall will eventually include 12 food stalls with food ranging from hibachi and wings to Thai and tacos. The property will also feature 14 restaurants and food shops and a location of Top Golf.
Mercantile Hall at Olive and Pine
Where: Avondale Estates
Stalls: n/a
Olive and Pine, a 25,000-square-feet, adaptive reuse complex just east of East College Avenue, will eventually include a large food hall; a coffee shop; sandwich shop and bakery Leftie Lee’s; a mini-mart; a Los Angeles-based burger restaurant; a cocktail bar; a co-working space and art gallery; and possibly a plant shop. It’s a joint venture between Tin Drum Asian Kitchen founder Steven Chan, Decatur-based Office of Design architecture firm, and Metro Green Construction.
Citizens Food Hall
Where: Phipps Plaza, Buckhead
Stalls: 13
The new plaza area planned for Phipps will eventually include a 13-story office building, Nobu Hotel and its famed sushi restaurant, LifeTime Fitness, and Citizens Food Hall with restaurant stalls like Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, and Sam’s Crispy Chicken.
Food hall at Town Center at Trilith
Where: Fayetteville
Stalls: n/a
Little is known about the plans for this south metro food hall, other than it will feature “chef-driven” food stalls. The food hall joins open restaurants Sensu Sushi, Honeysuckle Gelato, Barleygarden Kitchen and Craft Bar, Woodstone Bakery and Cafe, Hop City Craft Beer and Wine, and Amici Italian Cafe, along with forthcoming restaurant Braise, owned by Mushi Ni chefs Tanya Jimenez and Michael Le, and Enzo Italian Steakhouse.