Key Points:
- Longtime Ponce meat-and-three restaurant Eats will close on Oct. 18.
- Located on the edge of Midtown across from Ponce City Market, Eats is known for its affordable menu of comfort food dishes and jerk chicken.
- The closure of Eats becomes the latest in a string of recent restaurant closures along Ponce de Leon Avenue east from Glen Iris Drive to North Highland Avenue.
Ponce de Leon Avenue restaurant institution Eats will close this month after 33 years, according to an announcement on Instagram.
Further reporting by the AJC (paywall) indicates the restaurant has continued to lose money since the pandemic. The situation worsened in 2023, with multiple nearby construction projects mucking up traffic along Ponce, leading to a drop-off in customers at Eats.
Located on the edge of Midtown across from Ponce City Market, Eats is known for its affordable menu of comfort food dishes, including jerk chicken plates, Southern-style vegetables, and pastas like chicken Alfredo and spaghetti and meatballs.
Eats will close after service on Oct. 18.
Bob Hatcher and Charlie Kerns opened Eats in a former swingers club in 1993, offering Atlantans of all stripes a place to gather for meat-and-three meals and pasta dinners at an affordable price point. There’s still a $10 special on the menu that includes a meat, rice and beans, and cornbread.
After parting ways with Kerns, Hatcher took full ownership of Eats and purchased the restaurant’s building in 1998. Kerns also owns The Local just up the street from Eats, and owned burrito joint Tortillas, which he closed in 2003.
The closure of Eats becomes the latest in a string of recent restaurant closures along Ponce de Leon Avenue east from Glen Iris Drive to North Highland Avenue.
Longtime Ponce restaurants Bookhouse Pub and Java Jive closed at the end of 2024. Bookhouse Pub opened in 2008, while Java Jive opened on Ponce in 1994. Sports bar Dugan’s, known for its wings, closed in 2022 after 37 years on Ponce. It relocated to Tucker near Northlake Mall in 2023. The former Dugan’s property on Ponce is now home to a Chick-fil-A.
Popular neighborhood bar and wings spot The Local gave people a scare in 2023 when it appeared the property would be sold to Portman Holdings for redevelopment. That changed weeks later after Portman Holdings scaled back plans to purchase The Local property.
Major redevelopment continues, however, up and down Ponce, from Midtown to Poncey-Highland. This includes a number of new restaurants, boutique hotels, and retail shops spurred on by the Eastside Beltline and the opening of Ponce City Market.
Rough Draft reached out to Hatcher for comment on the closure.