When I say that 2025 is the year that broke me, I don’t mean that it’s because beloved local restaurants closed (although they did). What I mean is that the number of AI-written, gushy press releases filling my inbox and talking about chain restaurants became overwhelming. This year has felt like a tipping point for so many things, and although there are still people doing good work, cooking good food, creating good experiences, there’s also a lot of slop. I cannot get excited about yet another franchise coffee chain opening up. I cannot get excited about restaurants designed for Instagram and not for functionality. I cannot say that I’m hyped about something just because it’s new, y’all.
I have been writing this column for almost 22 years, week after week after week, and I am the only person who has ever written it. It didn’t exist before. I have made it through two kids, job changes, a master’s degree and more. But the past year has shown me that it’s time to bow out gracefully before my grouchiness spills over and douses my flame. I am supremely thankful to have had the opportunity to eat wonderful food in both gas stations and restaurants with tablecloths; that my editors probably let me run off several advertisers; that I have had a lovely seat in many parts of Athens and beyond to see the town change and grow. I’m still here in Athens, and I’m still eating food, but someone else is going to have to write about it.
Here are the best restaurants I ate at that opened in 2025:
Athens Pho, which still doesn’t seem to have permanent signage, replaced The Crab Hut on the Eastside. The former restaurant was already doing some Vietnamese specialties, but the new one dives into it fully. A stone’s throw away, Mochinut became Beyond Poke but still has Chef V’s Indonesian soups plus, now, poke.
Cielito Lindo, on Baxter Street, brings the energy of Kique’s Kitchen to the middle of Athens, with an intense approach to decoration, good birria and a bar that goes hard on its cocktails.
Pancho’s Tacos and Tequila, which replaced Pulaski Heights BBQ, makes really good tortillas and treats its food with care.
The Watkinsville location of Tamez BBQ proved that, although the original by the Hancock Avenue and Broad Street intersection has more charm, the food is just as good at the second iteration, and the country music and UGA shrine have their own shine.
Taqueria Mi Rancho, a gas station Mexican restaurant in Hull by the Space Kroger, was a late but excellent discovery, doing charcoal-grilled chicken and bomb hot sauces out of a small space with a big clientele.
316 Caribbean Cuisine, serving out of the almost dead Georgia Square Mall, is a bright spot, with fresh juices and curry goat, plus plenty of vegetables.
Tres Amigos, on Broad Street downtown, could just be a place for college students to pound margs, but its food is not bad at all, from sliced cucumbers with tajin and chamoy to lengua tacos.
Yossi Kitchen, inside Prince Market, isn’t my favorite Indian food in town, but it’s fresh and has soya chaap, a fun vegetarian protein.
Other things that opened included Three Buddies on Baxter Street, doing a wide variety of halal dishes, and BurgerFi across the street, an Atlanta chain. Downtown, we got a location of Sully’s Steamers doing steamed bagel sandwiches, a Bojangles that serves beer, a Foxtail Coffee, a location of Queen Tea (replacing Tai Chi Bubble Tea), Creature Comforts’ cocktail lounge Cura, food truckery/bar/venue Union Fare, a location of Stoner’s Pizza Joint, a grilled-cheese franchise called Meltwich, and a location of Dumpling Master in The Mark (where a robot playing Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” delivered food to a nearby table). Just down the street, Butter Bites Catering is operating on West Broad and serving oxtail some days.
Keep going on Broad and you’ll find the new Caribou Coffee, which replaced Checkers at Hawthorne and Broad; Buffalo Wild Wings, on the spot of the former Red Lobster; and a Wingstop on Alps Road. Normaltown got locations of Baddies and Fully Loaded Pizza replacing Winghouse Grill and Square One, and Agua Linda began seriously enforcing towing in its parking lot. 1000 Faces opened a branch at Wire Park in Watkinsville. Blenz Smoothie Bowls opened on UGA’s campus, and Tropical Smoothie Cafe and Panda Express opened near the Space Kroger. Boba Mania opened in Five Points, and Taj Sweets began scooping kulfi on South Milledge. Swirlee’s Sweets replaced Cool World on the Eastside, and Ricos Helados y Antojitos opened at Gaines School and Lexington roads late in the year. The Food Truck Station, serving up Venezuelan food and more, is still going on Tallassee Road, and Namak, a Pakistani restaurant, opened its doors at the very end of the year, in the cursed building on Mitchell Bridge Road.
Buvez closed at the end of the year and will become the Dead Beat Club, a music venue and bar, on Feb. 13. Birdie’s, the go-to spot for fancy cheese on Prince Avenue, closed in December, too. Weaver D’s hasn’t closed yet, but it’s just a matter of time until the property sells and Dexter Weaver gets to put his feet up. Lindsey Payne of Lindsey’s Culinary Market also decided to hang it up, closing her place downtown. Also downtown, Athens Wok, Lumberjaxe, ARTini’s Art Lounge and Bento Stop closed. Saucehouse, just down Broad Street, closed as a restaurant and now does catering only. Gusto, on Alps Road, closed and is becoming a Shake Shack. Munch Hut on Baxter, the Jittery Joe’s Tasting Room on Fritz Mar, Jimmy John’s and the Blind Pig by the Eastside Kroger, the Peach Pit in Winterville, La Laguna Taqueria Express on Highway 441, Chef Ming in the Epps Bridge area, Martino’s in Watkinsville and J Christopher’s in Five Points all closed. Taqueria Juaritos on Jefferson Road closed after a fire, but may yet rebuild.
Ahi Hibachi and Poke didn’t close, instead moving down Clayton Street into new quarters. Kiki’s Bakeshop in Watkinsville made a similar short move, into the building behind it. El Aguila, which had been operating out of the gas station at Timothy and Mitchell Bridge roads and Atlanta Highway, has moved its delicious pupusas to the Power Shopping Center on Hawthorne, inside the Variety Mart with more space and more tables. Street Treats is moving from inside the Piggly Wiggly on North Avenue to the Georgia Square Mall. Ideal Bagel, The National and Just Pho and More on Baxter all got new owners. Plantation Buffet changed its name to J & L Buffet. And the downtown Condor Chocolates changed from being a café to being a factory store.
Still to come in 2026: Oak Steakhouse, a fancy chain, in the Bank of America building on Lumpkin Street downtown; Nove Mesto, with Czech food and beer from some Hi-Lo folks, in the Atlas Building on Barber Street, after plenty of delays; a Ted’s Montana Grill in Beechwood Shopping Center this summer, a Smalls Sliders at the corner of the Alps Shopping Center and a Paris Baguette nearby on Broad; the next Cafe Racer off the Greenway on the Eastside, maybe soonish; another Willie B’s Chicken Coupe on Lexington Road; the second location of Brett’s, called Brett’s Backyard, on Jamestown Boulevard in Watkinsville; lots of drive-thru coffee chains; a second location of Sunroof Coffee in what had been @local downtown; and maybe, if we’re lucky, Bruno Rubio’s chicken place at Boulevard and Chase Street.
Editor’s Note: Flagpole thanks Hillary Brown for shaping our Grub Notes column and for all the hard work over the years to keep the community informed. We’ll continue to shine a light on the local food scene, so watch this space for future updates. All news, tips and correspondence should be sent to [email protected].
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Dining and Cooking