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In an Atlanta restaurant announcement most didn’t see coming, Buckhead Life Restaurant Group will open a Downtown location of its iconic West Paces Ferry Road steakhouse, Chops Lobster Bar, later this year.
This location will serve as another milestone moment for the three-decade-old restaurant, which opened in Buckhead in 1989.
Chops will reside on the ground floor of a new hotel within the Centennial Yards entertainment district overlooking Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The yet-named hotel will join Hotel Phoenix in the South Downtown neighborhood, which opened at the end of last year and includes a French-Southern restaurant and cocktail bar.
Expected to open by the end of 2026, Chops Lobster Bar will occupy 13,000 square feet at the Centennial Yards entertainment district hotel and resemble the look and feel of its Buckhead counterpart.
“From a service standpoint, the focus remains luxury, quality, and a first-class operation. From a design and décor perspective, the space will draw from iconic Chops Atlanta and Boca elements,” a statement from Buckhead Life provided to Rough Draft reads. “The recent expansion of Chops Lobster Bar Buckhead was a major upgrade, introducing red banquettes in the elevated dining room and dramatic chandeliers in the Plaza (private) room.”
“We’re bringing the strongest of those design elements into the new space and pushing them further to create a more modern, cutting-edge experience,” the statement continued.
And look for a similar menu Downtown, including the restaurant’s “Chilled BLT” wedge salad, prime-aged cuts of beef, whole steamed and cracked lobsters, and the popular Chops martini.
Buckhead Life also owns Atlanta Fish Market, Bistro Niko, Corner Café, Kyma, and Pricci in Atlanta. The group includes a location of Chops in Boca Raton, FL.
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Centennial Yards is currently home to Wild Leap Brewery and Hotel Phoenix, with the sprawling entertainment district expected to add nearly 500,000 more square feet to the 50-acre development. A location of Shake Shack and cocktail bar The Irish Exit, backed by the team behind The Dead Rabbit, will join Chops Lobster Bar at the district. A Live Nation concert venue will anchor this portion of Centennial Yards.
Nearby at The Mitchell, Khao Thai Isan and a location of soul food institution Busy Bee Cafe will open in 2026 and 2027 respectively.
Just around the corner along Hotel Row, a slew of new restaurants will open over the coming months, including Estrellita, Bottle Rocket, Broad Street BBQ, Mule Train, Brewhouse Cafe, Delilah’s Everyday Soul, and El Tesoro. Tyde Tate Thai Kitchen and Spiller Park Coffee are holding down Mitchell Street and Hotel Row as construction continues around the site, which includes the redevelopment of 56 buildings and six acres of parking lots.
Weekly food festival Smorgasburg Atlanta will return to South Downtown in March at the intersection of Forsyth and Trinity.
Chops Lobster Bar, 85 Centennial Olympic Park Dr., Centennial Yards. Opening by the end of 2026.