Marietta Square Market, the downtown Marietta food hall that is home to 18 vendors, will reopen all restaurants and its patio on May 15. The dining destination originally planned to reopen for in-person dining as early as April 29, but walked back those plans after Governor Brian Kemp issued a 39-point list of guidelines for restaurants serving customers on-premise.
<<RELATED: These metro Atlanta restaurants are reopened for dining as coronavirus restrictions are lifted
Ed Lee, one of the partners behind Marietta Square Market, said at the time, “We think it’s way too early. We weren’t ready. As soon as we feel like it’s safe, we’ll get ready and announce an opening.”
In a Facebook post, the food hall announced that all of its restaurants would reopen on Friday and that the patio would be available for on-premise dining as well. The announcement also noted that the patio has been modified to accommodate social distancing guidelines.
According to Rich Dippolito, another partner behind the market, those modifications include removing tables to ensure at least six feet of space between parties, hand sanitizer stations and plenty of extra signage and demarcations informing customers on safe ordering procedures and social distancing. He also noted that the food hall had employed a full-time janitorial staff to continuously clean the space during open hours. Dippolito previously told the AJC that a memo had been issued to all vendors with detailed instructions for safe sanitization and service even before Gov. Kemp’s guidelines were released.
Now more than a year old, Marietta Square Market is home to a wide variety of food vendors offering a range of cuisine, from ramen to Mediterranean to barbecue. Prior to the food hall's reopening announcement, a majority of its vendors had closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. When dining editor Ligaya Figueras visited for Atlanta Orders In, five vendors were serving food: Grand Champion BBQ, Lucky's Burgers and Brew, Forno Vero, Ponko Chicken and Four Fat Cows Ice Cream and Bakery.
Now that restaurants have had a couple of weeks to observe and understand the guidelines for reopening, nearly all of Marietta Square Market’s restaurant vendors will simultaneously reopen. The food hall will continue to offer takeout ordering with curbside pickup available for those who prefer not to go inside.
To accommodate those diners, Marietta Square Market will soon launch a new ordering system that provides a single portal for ordering from all of the food hall’s restaurants. Dippolito previously mentioned the innovation , but now says that the ordering system will tentatively be launched next week. The new ordering solution would allow customers to order from all of the market’s food vendors in one online location, and Dippolito noted that the system would remain in place on a permanent basis.
RELATED:
Read the AJC Fall Dining Guide: The Noodle Edition
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
About the Author
