Is Engine 11 closing after its New Year’s Eve Celebration?

By caleb j. spivak + on December 30, 2012

An email from the restaurant’s owner suggests Dec. 31 will be Engine 11′s last day open.

Engine 11 Firehouse Tavern is probably closing after its New Year’s Eve celebration on Dec. 31.

A What Now Atlanta reader, who patronizes the restaurant at 30 North Ave. every Thursday for a meetup, was shocked to find Engine 11 was closed on his most recent visit Dec. 27.

The WNA reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, emailed Jose Navarro, Engine 11′s owner, disappointed that he and 23 others were left out in the cold Thursday.

“Sorry about that,” Navarro replied in an email Sunday, Dec. 30. “We have been unable to renew our lease and our last night open open will be tomorrow night.”

WNA made several attempts to reach Jose Navarro for comment, but came up empty handed.

An Engine 11 manager told What Now Atlanta in a telephone interview Sunday, she was unaware of the possibility that the restaurant might close.

Developing…

Photo courtesy of Creative Loafing.

About caleb j. spivak

CJS is the Founder of What Now Atlanta. He was recently featured in The New York Times, Creative Loafing's "20 People to Watch in 2012," named "Lifestyle Blogger You Need To Know" by Rolling Out Magazine and highlighted as Atlanta's Metropolitan Male in fashion magazine, 944. WNA was named "Best of Atlanta" by Creative Loafing and Atlanta Magazine.

9 Comments

Sean

December 30, 2012 at 6:27 pm

That’s too bad, but I’m not surprised. We gave it a chance about a year ago, and we waited quite a while for subpar food. I believe there were two servers on the floor that night, and it wasn’t a slow night. They just didn’t seem to have it together, and since I heard the same from friends who visited Engine 11 after I did, we never gave it a second chance.

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Michael Demmons

December 30, 2012 at 7:01 pm

I am actually the “anonymous” person in the story. I actually disagree that the food was mediocre. I thought it was just fine. And I will miss the place. The owner and staff were very accommodating to us and I will miss them

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Harry

December 30, 2012 at 8:02 pm

It’s a great beautiful space with history, too bad between the spotted dog and now Engine 11, it can’t find a concept that sticks. The pre-Fox crowd can’t sustain ones business alone.

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Orion

December 30, 2012 at 10:15 pm

I work across the street & thought they closed a long time ago. Every time I went (it has been over a year since the last time) the place was kind of dirty, the service was slow, and the food was cold.

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Michael Demmons

December 31, 2012 at 7:46 am

From someone who went there EVERY Thursday night for the past several months and many times before that, the service could be a bit slow at times. But the place was immaculately clean and the food was good and it was never cold.

The problem, I think , is exactly what Harry said. It was too far away from everything else.

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James

December 31, 2012 at 11:57 am

Isn’t this place owned by the people behind Sidebar and Park Bar? Are those two doing OK?

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- caleb j. spivak
  
  December 31, 2012 at 12:18 pm
  
  Hi James, yes. Engine 11 is from the owners of Sidebar (which is doing fine, apparently). Engine 11 will relocate if possible, so says the owner.
  
  –CJS
  
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Sean

December 31, 2012 at 12:33 pm

I’ll go on record and say that the only time my group went, two of the six of us got cold food. I doubt that’s the norm, but it was part of our experience and one of the reasons why we didn’t return. Slow service was definitely the No. 1 reason, though.

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R

January 2, 2013 at 9:39 am

I enjoyed my NYE at Engine 11 and the staff mentioned that it was the last night for the place. It’s too bad because it’s a really great space. I think it would function well as an event space, but the cost of rent in that location might be prohibitive.

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