Joystick Gamebar spent fourteen years on Edgewood Avenue before its lease came up this past February. The arcade bar had become a fixture there, the kind of place that pulled in DragonCon and MomoCon crowds every fall and kept regulars coming back for pinball and cheap drinks on a Tuesday. This fall, it reopens across town at 485 Flat Shoals Ave, in the old East Side Lounge space, directly across from The Earl.
That single move tells you more about what's happening in East Atlanta Village right now than any list of new menus could. This isn't just a neighborhood refilling empty storefronts after a rough few years. It's a neighborhood pulling business away from a corridor that used to be its equal.
The Corner That Emptied Out First
EAV's reputation as one of the metro's best places to eat and drink took real hits over the past several years. Happy Donuts closed in 2022 after two decades on the strip. The Elder Tree pub shut down in 2024 after a dozen years. Add a run of smaller closures on top of that, and you get a stretch of storefronts that used to define the neighborhood sitting dark for longer than anyone wanted.
AJC restaurant critic Henri Hollis called what's coming next a genuine revival, and the timing backs him up. Within roughly a year, several new concepts tied to established Atlanta restaurant teams are set to open within a few blocks of each other. That's not a coincidence. It's a signal that operators who've already proven themselves elsewhere in the city think EAV's audience is worth betting on again.
A Fourteen-Year Brand Chooses EAV Over Its Old Home
Here's the part that gets buried in most coverage of this story. Joystick Gamebar didn't fail on Edgewood Avenue and go looking for a fresh start. Co-owner Johnny Martinez was direct about why the bar left: the pandemic shakeup, a doubling power bill, the cost of hiring security, and a capacity cap that kept restricting how much the bar could actually earn on a busy night. He was explicit that unpermitted street parties and a handful of recent shootings on Edgewood had little to do with the final call to relocate. This was a math problem, not a safety scare.
Martinez didn't leave quietly, either. He served on the city's Edgewood Security Task Force representing the corridor's small business owners, a list that includes Our Bar, Church, Lore, Pisces, and Edgewood Pizza. He's said plainly that he loves the street and wouldn't have stayed fourteen years if he didn't. But when a business with that much accumulated loyalty picks a new zip code instead of renewing its lease, it's worth asking where that loyalty is heading next. The answer, in this case, is 485 Flat Shoals Ave, across from The Earl, opening this fall with an updated food menu, new games, and a third business partner added to the ownership group.
The New Addresses Aren't All on the Main Strip
The second thing worth noticing is where the other new spots are landing. EAV's traditional nightlife core runs along Flat Shoals Avenue, home to places like The Earl and Argosy. But Sagra, a new neighborhood wine bar from owner Eric Di Nardo, is heading to 535 Gresham Ave SE, a block that's technically part of the neighborhood but sits off that central stretch.
Di Nardo has more than 13 years of restaurant and beverage management experience across Atlanta, Boston, and Washington, D.C. An alcohol license filed with the city late last year put the buildout at 1,507 square feet with room for 76 guests. By the time Di Nardo spoke about the concept publicly this year, he described a scaled-back plan of roughly 50 seats split between the bar and dining area, plus a small private tasting room and a back patio, built around an Italian osteria-style food program of sourdough focaccia, wood-fired pizzas, and a wine list leaning on Italian varietals with room to wander beyond Italy. Either way, it's a wine bar choosing a side street over the main drag, which only works if the owner believes people will walk a block further than they used to.
Two more concepts round out the picture. Bar Schmutzi, a European-style wine bar from Jarrett Stieber, the chef and owner behind Little Bear in Summerhill, is planned for EAV in 2027. And Zarate Tiki Co, a Filipino street food concept with juices and zero-proof tiki cocktails, is slated to open somewhere in the neighborhood later this year. Neither has a confirmed address yet, but both add to a pattern of chefs and operators with track records elsewhere choosing to plant their next project here.
| Business | Location | Concept | Target Opening |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joystick Gamebar | 485 Flat Shoals Ave SE | Cocktail bar, arcade games, updated food menu | Fall 2026 |
| Sagra | 535 Gresham Ave SE | Italian wine bar, osteria-style food, wood-fired pizza | Summer 2026 |
| Bar Schmutzi | TBD, EAV | European-style wine bar from the Little Bear team | 2027 |
| Zarate Tiki Co | TBD, EAV | Filipino street food, zero-proof tiki cocktails | 2026 |
What Actually Changes If You Already Live Here
None of this means the neighborhood is unrecognizable by winter. Most of these openings are still months out, and a couple don't have confirmed addresses yet. What it does mean, practically:
- Joystick's new hours once it opens will run Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., Saturday from noon to 2:30 a.m., and Sunday from noon to midnight, so it's positioned to be a late option again once it lands across from The Earl.
- Sagra's planned schedule is closed Tuesdays, with Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday service from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday until midnight, Saturday from 1 p.m. to midnight, and Sunday from 1 to 9 p.m., which puts it in range for both an early glass of wine and a later one.
- The Gresham Avenue address is a short walk from the main strip, not a new commercial district, so it's an extension of where you already go, not a reason to drive somewhere unfamiliar.
- None of these openings have finalized menus posted publicly yet, so specific dishes and prices are still unconfirmed as of this writing.
The One Thing That Hasn't Moved
While all of this shifts around, the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market keeps doing what it's done since 2006. It runs Thursdays from 4 to 8 p.m. in the grassy park at 572 Stokeswood Ave SE, across from Midway Pub, with the 2026 season scheduled to run from March 26 through November 19. It's one of the oldest markets in the city, and it's kept its Thursday-evening timing specifically so people don't have to drag themselves out early on a Saturday. Produce, eggs, bread, and local artisan goods show up every week, along with chef demonstrations that have made it a genuine community fixture rather than just a produce stand.
That contrast matters more than it looks like on paper. A neighborhood that can hold onto a twenty-year-old weekly market while also absorbing a 14-year-old bar relocating in from another part of town isn't just recovering. It's proving it can keep its own rhythm while still pulling in outside investment. That's a different story than "storefronts are filling back up," and it's the one worth paying attention to if you live here.
If you're the kind of EAV resident who tracks this stuff because you're curious what your street will look like a year from now, or because you're wondering what all this means for your own home's value, that's exactly the kind of question Kristen Wickstrom and the team at Roots spend their time answering. Reach out anytime you want a local read on what's actually happening around you, not just what's on the sign out front.
