The Food Halls Opening in Atlanta

Beth McKibben is the editor and staff reporter for Eater Atlanta and has been covering food and cocktails locally and regionally for 12 years.

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 — and whether folks like it or not — food halls are here to stay in Atlanta.

Eater is tracking the food halls now open around Atlanta and the plans for new food halls headed to the city, and beyond. Check back for updates.

OPEN

Krog Street Market

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, 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

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

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

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

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

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, Hector Santiago, and Justin Dixon and cocktail bar By Weight and Measure from the owners of Joystick Gamebar and Georgia Beer Garden.

Politan Row

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

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, Cuban sandwiches, and mochi doughnuts. Part of the Works complex, Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q, Fetch Park, Your 3rd Spot, Taste Wine Bar and Market, and Scofflaw Brewing are now open, with a cocktail bar and forthcoming restaurants the Waffle Experience and cabaret-style restaurant Damsel opening soon.

Southern Feed Store

Where: East Atlanta Village
Stalls: 5 to 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, TKO Korean, Woody’s CheeseSteaks, Butaco, and Waffle Bar. Buteco owner Rafael Pereira is also a partial owner in the food hall.

Citizens Market

Where: Phipps Plaza, Buckhead
Stalls: 8

Citizens Market at Phipps Plaza features eight restaurant stalls offering everything from sushi and burgers to fried chicken sandwiches and tacos from some big name chefs. This includes chefs Dani Garcia, Masaharu Morimoto of Iron Chef fame, and Shimi Aaron and Italian chef and master butcher Dario Cecchini.

AlcoHall

Where: Pratt Pullman District, Kirkwood
Stalls: 7

Pratt Pullman and Atomic Entertainment owners Adam Rosenfelt and Maureen Meulen describe their latest venture together as a food hall for drinks. Like a food hall, the seven stalls at AlcoHall operate independently and feature different alcohol brands offering tastes, cocktails, and flights ranging from wine and whiskey to gin and beers on tap. Non-alcoholic drinks will be available at each stall and brands in the hall will rotate seasonally.

Lee and White

Where: West End, Westside Beltline
Stalls: 19 (partially open)

This food hall joins restaurants, breweries, offices, and retail shops open at the Lee and White complex along the Westside Beltline. Housed in building 1020, the food hall will eventually feature a mix of 19 food stalls once fully open, 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 food hall is currently open with a handful of restaurant stalls. More are expected to open in the coming months. A cafe location of Costa Coffee is also open at the food hall.

The Municipal Market (Sweet Auburn Curb Market)

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

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 over the next year. Korean street food stall and bar Umbrella Bar, Vietnamese restaurant stall Vietvana, and Persian restaurant stall Bibi are now open. The expansion adds an additional 5,000 square feet to the first floor of the food hall.

COMING SOON

Switchman Hall

Where: Peoplestown, Southside Beltline
Stalls: 18; 2 restaurants

Anticipated to open in 2024 as part of the adaptive-reuse complex Terminal South taking shape along Ridge Avenue, Switchman Hall will reside in one of two former warehouse spaces on the property and feature 18 restaurant stalls with a terrace for outdoor seating on what was a loading dock. The second warehouse will include two full-service restaurants, one with a patio facing Hank Aaron Drive. It’s the final stop on MARTA’s planned bus rapid transit (BRT) route originating in downtown Atlanta and is just steps from the Southside Beltline trail.

Halidom Eatery

Where: Woodland Hills, Southside Beltline
Stalls: 11

Expected to open by the end of 2023 at IST Management Services on Moreland Avenue, Halidom Eatery will feature 11 restaurant stalls from local food purveyors and chefs, a bar, and a private events space. The food hall is part of project that also includes a building for retail shops, an apartment building, and a small park.

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 mini-mart; a Los Angeles-based burger restaurant; cocktail bar and slice shop Niteowl from the owners of Edgewood Pizza; a co-working space and art gallery; and possibly a plant shop all under one roof. Sandwich shop and bakery Leftie Lee’s and Wonderful World Coffee are already open. Olive and Pine is a joint venture between Tin Drum Asian Kitchen founder Steven Chan, Decatur-based Office of Design architecture firm, and Metro Green Construction.

Chamblee Tap and Market

Where: Downtown Chamblee
Stalls: 5; 1 bar

Owned by Jeff Kimmel and David Heymann, Chamblee Tap and Market is located across the street from the new city hall in Chamblee and will feature a taproom with 20 taps serving beer and wine, four food stalls, and a coffee shop. Potential food served here could include pizza or tacos, Asian fare, sandwiches, and dessert. The taproom and micro food hall is expected to open by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

Politan Row at Ashford Lane

Where: Dunwoody
Stalls: 9; 2 bars

Politan Row is hoping to become a triple threat on the Atlanta food hall scene. The New Orleans-based Politan Group already operates a Politan Row food hall location at Colony Square in Midtown and is working on a forthcoming food hall at the Forum in Peachtree Corners, opening in 2024. For this next food hall, Politan Row is taking over the infamous food hall space vacated by the Hall at Ashford Lane, which closed under dubious circumstances just two months after opening. Politan Row at Ashford Lane will feature nine restaurant stalls, a full bar, and a separate cocktail lounge similar to the glitzy JoJo’s Beloved at Colony Square called Benton Bourgeois, channeling the music and cocktails of the 1980s and 1990s.

Politan Row at the Forum

Where: Peachtree Corners
Stalls: 7; 1 bar and 1 restaurant

Having found success with the Colony Square food hall, which opened in 2021, Atlanta developer North American Properties and New Orleans-based Politan Group are partnering again to bring a food hall featuring seven restaurant stalls to the Peachtree Corners development. At 10,000 square feet, half of the size of the Colony Square food hall, Politan Row at the Forum will include seven independently owned restaurant stalls, a full bar in Bar Politan, an outdoor patio facing a green space at the complex, and a standalone restaurant and wine bar. Opening 2024.

South End Norcross
Where: Norcross

Stalls: 3 to 4; 1 barbecue restaurant

Located in a former engine repair building on South Peachtree, the latest food hall headed to metro Atlanta will contain between three and four restaurant stalls anchored by a barbecue restaurant aptly named South End Smokehouse. Smoked brisket will apparently be the star attraction on the restaurant’s menu. No word yet on the future occupants of the food stalls. Opening 2024.

Privi at Stonecrest

Where: Stonecrest
Stalls: 13; 2 bars and 1 restaurant

Located on the second floor of Privi, once home to Sears at Stonecrest Mall, this food hall will eventually include 13 restaurant stalls from Atlanta Breakfast Club, the Original Hot Dog Factory, and Dope Coffee, along with a cocktail bar, golf simulators, a daiquiri bar, and a fine dining restaurant. Opening spring 2024.

Underground Atlanta

Where: Downtown
Stalls: 21

This new food hall will eventually serve 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, the upcoming relocated MJQ nightclub in the former Dante’s Down the Hatch space, and Dolo’s Pizza.

Like It or Not, Food Halls Are Here to Stay in Atlanta

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OPEN

EXPANSIONS

Ponce City Market

COMING SOON

South End Norcross Where: Norcross

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