Mastro's Ocean Club is set to open Nov. 6 in downtown Atlanta, bringing the national steak-and-seafood chain to Georgia for the first time. The restaurant will occupy space inside The CTR, the redeveloped former CNN Center, with views overlooking Centennial Olympic Park and a dining room built to seat 275 guests.
According to Rough Draft Atlanta, Mastro's Ocean Club will open Nov. 6 at The CTR, the former CNN Center downtown. The restaurant is taking over the space previously occupied by McCormick & Schmick's Seafood & Steakhouse at 190 Marietta St. NW, according to whatnow.com, which also notes this will be the first spot for the brand within Georgia. The property, now branded The Center, sits at 190 Marietta Street Northwest in Atlanta, per CBRE, which describes the building as a seminal pillar of downtown Atlanta now evolving into something new.
Reports differ on exactly how much space the new restaurant will fill. The same whatnow.com report says the new Mastro's Ocean Club will likely target an opening in the 7,000-square-foot ground-floor space, while atlanta.urbanize.city has reported that Mastro's Ocean Club signed on to take an 8,200-square-foot ground floor space. According to Atlanta Magazine, the restaurant covers 8,000 square feet, with two entrances, a white marble bar, private dining rooms and a sunroom with a fireplace.
A Menu Built Around Seafood Towers and Prime Steaks
The restaurant's own listing promises signature seafood towers, USDA Prime steaks and the legendary Mastro's Butter Cake, per Downtown Atlanta Inc. Atlanta Magazine reports those towers stand two feet tall, and the steak lineup ranges from a petit filet all the way up to a 40-ounce tomahawk chop. Diners can also expect Japanese A5 wagyu steaks and a 14-ounce filet made from 28-day wet-aged prime beef, served on plates heated to 450 degrees.
The seafood side of the menu leans heavily on variety, with whatnow.com reporting dishes including oysters, caviar, sushi, Chilean sea bass, Alaskan halibut and bigeye tuna. Atlanta Magazine's reporting adds Norwegian cold-water salmon, sashimi-style tuna, and king crab legs to the lineup, along with starters like lobster bisque, clam chowder, Caesar salad and a chopped wedge salad. The menu also includes wagyu meatballs topped with melted burrata, wild mushroom and black truffle gnocchi, sautéed shrimp, and Nueske's maple-glazed bacon steak.
Georgia-Exclusive Dish and a Local Kitchen Lead
One dish was created specifically for the Atlanta location: an exclusive jerk-spiced grouper with mango butter sauce, according to Atlanta Magazine's reporting. The kitchen is led by chef Richard Lee, who previously worked at Le Colonial, STK and Le Bilboquet before taking the helm at Mastro's Ocean Club.
General manager William Warren said the restaurant aims to treat diners like friends or family, and that its goal is to create an entertaining experience through presentation. Warren also connected the concept to his own history with the building, having visited his father at work there during childhood, and said downtown Atlanta's revitalization makes it a fitting location for the brand's expansion. Mastro's Ocean Club now counts more than 25 locations across the country, with Atlanta marking its entry into Georgia.
Sides, Sweets and a Serious Cocktail List
Sides include lobster mashed potatoes made with a full pound of Maine lobster and a one-pound baked potato with trimmings. For dessert, Warren described the restaurant's butter cake as decadent; it comes topped with brûléed raw cane sugar and a cheesecake-like crust, served with vanilla ice cream, raspberry drizzle, orange and strawberry. The menu also includes a house-made pecan pie with a graham cracker crust, vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce — a nod, Warren said, to how closely Georgia and pecan pie are associated.
The bar program runs deep, with more than 250 wine bottles, more than 50 wines by the glass, and a Coravin system that allows single-glass purchases of high-end or rare bottles. Wine pours come in 8-ounce servings. The cocktail menu tops 30 drinks, including a lemon drop martini, cosmopolitan and apple martini, plus two new creations debuting at the Atlanta location: the Watermelon Fiesta, a tequila-based cocktail, and the Dreamberry, a strawberry martini-style drink. Acoustic piano or guitar musicians are expected to perform in the lounge during most open hours, and the space features large windows and wood panels meant to evoke Atlanta's tree-lined landscape.
Part of a Larger Downtown Dining Shakeup
The opening fits into a broader pattern of change at The CTR. Landry's, Inc., which owns Mastro's, has been swapping out restaurant concepts across its downtown Atlanta properties — the company recently shuttered The Oceanaire Seafood Room to make way for fellow Landry's concept Dos Caminos, according to whatnow.com's reporting. That same report notes McCormick & Schmick's, the concept Mastro's is replacing, emphasized seafood and steak but stayed in a less upscale, largely $50-and-below price range.
The CTR itself is in the middle of a larger transformation. The property is also planning a 12-concept food hall called CTR Food Works, spanning 24,000 square feet and featuring what's billed as the largest bar in Atlanta, according to atlanta.urbanize.city. Rough Draft Atlanta's October coverage situates the project within a citywide building boom, noting that development in downtown Atlanta has exploded over the last two years as the city prepared for thousands of World Cup soccer fans this summer, along with future hosting duties like Super Bowl LXII in 2028. That boom, the outlet reports, includes an influx of new restaurants and mixed-use complexes centered around walkability and access to transit downtown.
