Operations To Halt At Southern Belle, Georgia Boy Restaurants

ATLANTA, GA — Chef Joey Ward will temporarily halt operations at his two restaurants on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta —Southern Belle and Georgia Boy — on Jan. 1, 2021, he announced Friday.

The joint restaurant concepts will close indefinitely, "dependent on (potential) government aid, COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness and population response, as well as Georgia's notoriously unpredictable winter weather," Ward said in an Instagram post.

Ward said he and his teams opened to critical and customer acclaim in November 2019, building momentum into the 2020 openings. Southern Belle averaged 80 guests per night with wait times up to three hours, while Georgia Boy was getting fully booked a month in advance, Ward said, until the coronavirus forced the closure of Atlanta businesses and restaurants in March and April.

"2020 has proven to be one hell of a year to open a restaurant," Ward said in the post.

The Southern Belle and Georgia Boy teams pivoted multiple times throughout the year as the coronavirus pandemic changed rules and regulations in Atlanta and around the country. Now, "old man winter has reared his ugly face and outdoor seating proved nearly unbearable for guests, cutting our already limited dining capacity by half," Ward said on Instagram.

"As a native Atlantan, and 20-year veteran of the hospitality scene here, I know that January is typically one of the slowest business months of the year," Ward said. "We are hibernating through the heart of winter so that we may re-emerge in our formal glorious form (or some variation of it) when the world finds itself on a path back to normalcy."

Until Jan. 1, guests can still visit the restaurants for dine-in or takeout services, including pre-ordering the New Year's Eve takeout special for two beginning on Dec. 26.

• Southern Belle and Georgia Boy
  • 1043 Ponce de Leon Ave., NE, Atlanta
  • 404-698-3961
  • Hours: Thursday through Saturday from 5-9:30 p.m.