Restaurant group tells the ABC its closing the Buckhead restaurant to focus on national expansion.
Longtime Buckhead restaurant Nava is closing, BuckheadView first reported.
The restaurant, owned and operated by Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, Inc., will most likely shutter in August, according to the report.
News that Nava would close has been circulating the rumor mill for more than six months. What Now Atlanta chased the rumor only to have it denied my Nava management time and time again.
Atlanta restauranteur Ford Fry, famous for JCT Kitchen and No. 246, will open a new restaurant concept in Nava’s place this January, the report notes. Fry’s new concept will reflect a Colonial America motif and early American open oven cooking,
In an interview with the Atlanta Business Chronicle (ABC), Pano Karatassos, founder and owner of Buckhead Life, said Nava was closing so he could direct his teams energy into opening Lobster Bar – Sea Grille in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Buckhead Life was not immediately available for comment.
For the rest of BuckheadView’s thoughtful report, click here.
Developing…
That’s bull****. If Nava was doing well, it’d stay open. It’s like he’s saying, “Nava is doing great, but we’re going to close it to focus on national expansion.” I wish they’d close Pricci instead. I like Nava!
I am sad to see Nava go….it is my favorite Buckhead Life restaurant, great food and service.
Very few of the Buckhead Life restaurants are worth a damn. Most of their restaurants remind me of what you might find in a higher end Epcot. Cheesy and stereotypically thematic, playing into all the expectations of the faux that permeates Buckhead. The gimmick might work well on the relocations from Kennesaw, or suburban transports, for their “one fancy meal a year, but good restaurants these are not. Even Bistro Niko – the best of this cadre of restaurants – is only mediocre. A Ford Fry expansion is good news to me, especially if it means replacing places like Nava.
Nava wasn’t that good since Kevin Rathbun moved on. It was great in its heyday. Tomato grits? gross.
I’m not sad to see Nava go. It was, as others have said, great a few years ago. Lately, the food has been rather terrible.
I work not far from there and we used to get take out regularly. Their sea scallops and polenta was phenomenal circa 2006. Now it’s not even palatable.
I am happy to help with the new design plans for the restaurant. Please call Laura at 6784723719.