Sandy Springs has created Restaurant Row along Roswell Road, which restaurant, hospitality, and city officials have dubbed 10 miles of “culinary treasures.”
“Restaurant Row has everything from Mediterranean street food to kosher Latin American cuisine, and they’re all tucked into those strip malls along Roswell Road,” said Jennifer Cruce, executive director of Visit Sandy Springs, the city’s destination marketing organization. “Hidden in plain sight are some of the best restaurants in the city and a diverse array of flavors from around the globe.”
During the project launch on Monday at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center, Cruce said Visit Sandy Springs developed an interactive Restaurant Row guide map to enable residents and visitors to explore every restaurant. She said more than 120 restaurants are along that stretch of road. The map can be downloaded here.
Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul described the city as a kind of restaurant desert when he first came to the city. He discovered residents were driving to Roswell, Buckhead, Dunwoody, and Cobb County and weren’t supporting local restaurants.
Paul said the city worked with the Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber and Visit Sandy Springs to create the Sandy Springs Restaurant Council, which has worked to make local restaurants more successful.
“I guess the proudest thing about our community and the restaurants was during the COVID pandemic,” the mayor said. “Restaurants were really struggling during that time.”
The Restaurant Council used social media to encourage residents to support local eateries by ordering take-out during the pandemic, which was a successful operation.
“It really made a difference when the restauranteurs heard that our community was committed to the restaurant scene and the restaurant industry,” Paul said.
That kind of commitment from the industry and residents helped develop the idea for Restaurant Row.
Four restaurants and a brewery participated in Monday night’s launch of Restaurant Row, bringing samples of their menus to City Springs.
Mexico Lindo, set to launch in early December, served nachos, while Mutation Brewing poured samples of its Pilsners, IPAs, and hard seltzers.
McDaniels QN2 served its classic pulled pork and pulled chicken and Chef Rob’s Café & Bar dished up beef and chicken Caribbean cocktail patties. Tre Vele served bruschetta with roasted tomatoes.
