Key points:
- Michelin-recommended restaurant Southern Belle is adding an outdoor bar this summer, offering oysters, cocktails, and live music on the patio.
- Called Belle Bar, the open-air addition will operate as its own experience alongside Southern Belle’s dining room.
- Belle Bar will feature a separate menu, a dedicated bar program, and a no-reservations policy.
Michelin-recommended restaurant Southern Belle is adding an outdoor bar this summer, bringing oysters, cocktails, and weekly live music to its Ponce de Leon Avenue patio.
Called Belle Bar, the open-air addition will operate as its own experience alongside Southern Belle’s dining room. Belle Bar will feature a separate menu, a dedicated bar program, and a no-reservations policy.
The setup is casual by design. Picnic tables, standing high-tops, area rugs, and string lights define the patio bar, and a pink neon “Bless Your Heart” sign provides a bit of Southern charm.
The menu
The Belle Bar menu, developed by chef and owner Joey Ward, centers on raw bar offerings and small plates meant for sharing. Ward described the concept as a more relaxed extension of what Southern Belle already does in the evenings.
“Belle Bar is our way of bringing Southern Belle outside, keeping the same care and quality in the food, but in a setting that feels a little more relaxed and spontaneous,” he said. “It’s the kind of place where you can drop in, share a few oysters, have a great drink, and stay longer than you planned.”
In addition to cocktails, expect wines by the glass and a special menu of cocktails built around a satellite bar developed in partnership with Atlanta-based ASW Distillery.
Belle Bar will also host live music and DJ sets twice a week: jazz on Wednesdays from 7 to 9 p.m., and throwback-themed DJ sets on Thursday evenings. The patio bar will open daily from 5 to 10 p.m.
Belle Bar marks Southern Belle’s first significant physical expansion, adding outdoor capacity to a stretch of Ponce de Leon that draws consistent foot traffic from the Beltline corridor and surrounding neighborhoods.
The opening comes as more Atlanta restaurants have leaned into patio and outdoor events to capture evening business, particularly in walkable areas where guests are already moving between stops.
Later this summer, Ward will debut restaurant stall Southern Belle Chicken Co. at CTR Food Works food hall at The CTR in downtown Atlanta.
Southern Belle/Belle Bar, 1043 Ponce De Leon Ave., Poncey-Highland. Belle Bar, debuting in early summer, will open daily from 5 to 10 p.m.
