Creative Loafing’s Omnivore blog reports that Watershed employees were informed today that the Decatur mainstay restaurant would close for good next Saturday.
A message on the Watershed website confirms it.
One of Atlanta’s most iconic southern restaurants reveals its plans for relocation in Atlanta. The new location (to be announced) will combine a fine dining experience with a casual and comfortable atmosphere. The “new” Watershed will continue to serve the outstanding southern-inspired cuisine it has become famous for, including the award winning Southern Fried Chicken and Sunday Brunch. The restaurant design will offer guests a vibrant bar, spacious dining room, large outdoor patio, and ample parking. It will also include a private dining room where neighborhood residents, businesses and other community groups will be able to entertain, conduct business meetings, or celebrate special occasions. Owner Emily Saliers commented, “While it was not an easy decision to leave Decatur, we are unable to offer our guests these added amenities in our current location. We are deeply grateful to the Decatur community for 13 years of support.” Watershed’s Decatur location will be closing after dinner on Saturday evening August 6th so that the owners can begin working on the new restaurant which they anticipate opening by the end of the year.
I guess all good things come to an end, but this will certainly shock more than a couple Decaturites used to their Tuesday Fried Chicken and Sunday brunch. While Brick Store is largely credited with the revival of the Decatur pub scene, Scott Peacock’s Watershed is generally often cited for making Decatur a high-end dining destination.
A damn shame.
That’s about all there is to say.
So what’s the story? Anyone have any idea of what’s going on? It’s not like Decatur can’t support restaurants catering to casual foodies…
I saw this one coming from a mile away.
How so? (really, I am curious)
I haven’t gone there much in a few years. I don’t think many others have either. Reservations have been wide open for a long time, while they have tight at other restaurants on prime nights. I think they were beginning to collapse before Scott Peacock left and since have never regained their footing.
Why in the world would you close your current location (and lose all of your employees) before even announcing your new location? I think they couldn’t continue bleeding money.
Visited about a month ago and can honestly say my wife and I left very disappointed. Not the Watershed of old…Once Scott left I think everybody checked out.
I ate there a year or two ago and I just was not impressed. Maybe I went on a bad night or something. My biggest issue with them was the poor service.
I think that’s a bit speculative. You don’t need to be filling up reservations a week in advance to be a successful restaurant. Heck, a lot of popular restaurants in Decatur (Leon’s, No. 246, etc.) don’t even take reservations. If anything, blocking out reservations would indicate MORE of a need to move, since you don’t have a big enough footprint to meet demand (see Cakes & Ale).
We average(d) a trip to Watershed once every couple months or so (though occasionally more frequently when friends outside Decatur wanted to eat there). And on every occasion, the restaurant’s been mostly full to completely full by the time we left (and most of these occasions were not Tuesday fried chicken night).
All of that said, Decatur has obviously come up in the culinary world since Watershed first opened and the competition has really intensified. Maybe the Watershed folks (Truex in particular) were tired of being merely a neighborhood stalwart in the shadow of a growing number of new nationally recognized eateries. In a lot of other parts of the city, they would be the star and Truex would have more opportunity to put his own imprint on things. Beyond that, you have a crummy parking situation that went from bad to worse when Farmburger moved in next door.
So it’s not THAT hard to see why they’re going, even if it is hard to reconcile emotionally. As DM points out, about the only harder defections to take would be Brick Store or Eddie’s Attic.
“don’t have a big enough footprint to meet demand (see Cakes & Ale).”
Funny how a +/-40-seat restaurant has a hard time filling up at all and not enough demand to open for lunch and all day Sunday and Monday.
Watershed’s closing merely validates the fact that it was never really a “Decatur” restaurant in the first place. It has always appealed to Atlanta tourists in general; a true “Decatur” restaurant would survive with the help of regular locals, i.e. Cafe Lily (12 years?), Sushi Avenue (14?), etc. SOmething has kept people going back to those places. Watershed, on the other hand, has always had a nice, deep pool of new customers thanks to the national acclaim of its celebrity chef and owner. I’m surprised it lasted this long. I mean, it’s fried chicken, folks.
I wonder if the lease is up. It’s near ten years since opening, right?
D- in reading comprehension, I’m afraid. Says right there in the story they’ve been open for 13 years.
What a nice comment, lumpintheroad! I see where lumpintheroad comes from.
Sorry, that did come off awfully catty. Apologies, FM Fats.
Apology accepted. I realized it about 30 seconds after I hit “Submit Comment”. I bet Kessler knows the scoop.
Oh, man. What a huge bummer. I do understand that that space is not ideal. In particular, the lack of outdoor seating is a drawback. I wish they’d given us a bit more notice, though. I’d love to go back once or twice more, but the wife and I are headed out of town early Wednesday. I guess we could go for one last fried chicken night on Tuesday…
I wonder if business has been truly constrained by the location, or if the level of cooking is no longer up to the rising standard in Decatur? Frankly, Watershed has fallen pretty far down on my list of destinations in the city. That said, I appreciate the role it played in the city’s renaissance, and I hope they succeed wherever they end up.
Dude….the new chef they got was the old owner of Repast (had you ever been?)….joe Truex. And while I myself was not a big fan of the place, I don’t think there was much even a guy like Joe could accomplished.
The restaurant just ran its course…..its a fickle business.
I think the issue for me is that the prices are too high for the level of cuisine offered.
Repast was hit or miss in my experience, and on my last visit there it was awful.
I agree, the $20 pork chop I had when I was there was good, but not $20 good. For that price level, I hit up Cakes and Ale.
I agree. With fine dining options growing day by day in Decatur, Watershed is up against some stiff competition for diners’ dollars. I’m truly sad to see the restaurant close. I dined at Watershed while Joe was at the helm, and enjoyed some excellent meals with very, very good service.
Oh, and my bet is on a midtown location, for greater access to tourists.
At the current location, Watershed clearly didn’t have the space to develop all of the new offerings they hope to provide. However, it’s also interesting that they list “ample parking” as something that will be available at the new location. Some “shared parking” advocates refuse to recognize the fact, but many businesses want their patrons from outside Decatur to have as pleasant and as hassle-free an experience as possible. Like it or not, that includes “ample parking” close to those patrons’ destinations. I’d guess the property owners probably received a variance in the parking requirements when Watershed moved in – just as they sought and received for Farm Burger.
The parking argument is BS.
Decatur’s other top restaurants are thriving (Iberian Pig, Cakes, Leons, 246, Brick Store) are thriving with zero on-site parking. They could have simply added a valet if that was the problem. These are the kind of excuses failing restaurants make.
If this was an issue then what I think
It means is that their clientele’s average age is about 80 – which signals even bigger problems with their business model.
Agreed. I think you hit the nail on the head: an aging clientele is the only reason parking would be an issue. As you noted, Brickstore is the perfect example: Zero parking, but plenty of out-of-town business going there. Of course, it’s a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, but I’d also point out that the food at Brickstore is a far better value than that at Watershed.
I ate there recently with several members of my family and the food was not good. They need to completely start over with Joe Truex at the helm and try to salvage their reputation. It was such a nice location for lunch or dinner though – will be sad to see it move out of the area. Too bad they could not keep the current location as well as the new place wherever that may be.
Sad to see it go –
So sad. Watershed has been the lunch destination for my friends & family ever since it opened. People from other parts of town would meet me there for special birthday lunches or celebrations. For me, I almost shed a tear when they did away with the vegetable plate. In fact, don’t think I’ve fully recovered from that. Thanks for the many tasty meals!
WILD PREDICTION: Watershed will take over the Floataway Cafe space. Emily and Anne run in the same circles ( btw same designer for both spaces). This would explain why they haven’t disclosed location, and are also predicting a quick open. All amenities would be available, and it would still be close to Emory and Decatur, and all the other neighborhoods that came to the Shed.I’m just glad I got my fix a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t think this is the end at all.
Interesting prediction. Assuming the “by the end of the year” claim is at all accurate, it would necessitate a location that requires minimal renovation, so I’d look at restaurants that have recently folded as possibilities. Of course, I have to wonder why they wouldn’t name the location if there was any chance they are actually going to be there by the end of the year. Unfortunately, in most cases like these, it winds up simply being a closure eventually.
That’s a really interesting theory. I was at Floataway Friday night and was surprised that it was not very crowded. The space certainly meets the description.
Anne Q also has her hands full on the West Side. Shedfolks are old friends of the FloatAway developer, etc.
I’ve been to Watershed 3 times in the past year. Two times I was not impressed and only went back to satisfy the curiosity of friends. The third time we walked out after looking at the menu. Nothing really rang our chimes or made us want to stay. Each time I’ve been, the crowd was sparse at best.
I’m sure tight parking and lack of outdoor seating are a big factor, but I hope Watershed will take another look at its menu as well.
They’ve had a good run, and some great food. This will join the other “Remember when ….”
Many thanks to Emily Sailers, Scott Peacock & Co. You were the pioneers on the Decatur fine dining frontier . You’ ve been wonderful neighbors for 13 years. I’ll miss you.
Agree with you fifi. We always enjoyed Watershed and will miss the chance to take out of towners there. Had brunch there a few weeks ago – had no idea it would be our last time to eat there. Hope the new location is somewhere nearby (as in not on the Westside) so we can keep it in our dining rotation.
I wonder what will go into the new space – we could really use a new pizza place, or maybe fro yo, or what about a sandwich shop? (that’s a joke)
Normally I would say children’s shoe store or genuine bagel store, but it’s so hot and sticky that all I can think of is gelato and sorbets.
Mmmmmm…..sorbet.
+1 more, fifi. Overall, I’m just sad right now– I’m sure later, once I’ve processed everything, I’ll get some perspective, but now I’m just totally bummed.
Because of it’s national reputation, many of the more high-profile writer folks have opted for Watershed when they’re in town. I’ve had great meals there with some really fascinating folks.
Just the other day I was looking through a bunch of old DBF photos and came across a shot of Michael Connelly talking at our first press launch there back in 2006. I remember choosing Watershed, knowing it would cost us an arm and a leg, because it guaranteed us that the press folks would show up.
Granted, the Brick Store has been the equivalent of the town hall all these years, and it still seems to be city center, but it was Watershed that elevated Decatur to something more than a sleepy Southern town.
I suspect that the new Cakes and Ale location might fulfill that purpose in the future, Daren.
+1
They’re not closing. They’re moving. And getting bigger. You’d think there was a border guard on Ridgecrest. There isn’t.
Actually sharpshooters sit on the railroad trestle at Artwood and pick off Decatur deserters!
I don’t know. I suppose, if we take them at their word, they will turn up again somewhere, but I’m putting that as a 50-50 chance, generously.
Think about it. Why would a successful restaurant wishing to move, close on one week’s notice to move to an undisclosed new location at an undisclosed time? They will lose their entire staff, their loyal customer base will get into the habit of going somewhere else and may not follow them to the new undisclosed location which might be in a completely different part of town. They will lose the revenue that would have been generated while the restaurant was closed and awaiting the move to a new location. It doesn’t make sense unless they were bleeding money.
There is more to this story. Keep digging.
For the record, I thought Watershed was a good restaurant. It was never one of my favorites and was not a regular, but do appreciate that it brought upscale dining to Decatur, produced some of my favorite chefs (Billy Allin was an alumn), but felt like – much the same with South City Kitchen – it was stuck in the late 1990’s and has never had much innovation since them.
I wonder what will go into the space?
Seems about right to me. Maybe it is a simple question of vastly increased competition. For much of Watershed’s Decatur existence, it was the only fine dining game in town. Back in the day, I doubt they were losing much business to the likes of Mick’s and Sage on Sycamore. Decatur has upgraded considerably since then, with C&E, 246, Leon’s, and probably others I am omitting. There are going to be winners and losers in that sort of heated competition. Even with Truex, I thought that Watershed had fallen far behind C&E in terms of food quality and overall experience.
Can’t forget the Iberian Pig. 🙂
Everyone always seems to forget Cafe Lily. It trumps the ‘Shed’ in the categories of quality and consistency every time. Granted, the chef at Cafe Lily isn’t a star, and their food isn’t ‘haute cuisine’, per se, but I always know what to expect there, unlike all the other places in town, including Watershed. And like Cafe Lily, Watershed was never meant to be a “fine dining” establishment, yet they were never afraid to charge fine dining prices for similarly casual grub.
I always have a good-to-great meal at Cafe Lily too. I didn’t realize that it was not in the category of Watershed, Cakes and Ale, and Iberian Pig. It’s not as experimental, but there’s a lot to be said for consistently good.
But is it really much cheaper than Watershed? I always spend a lot of money at Cafe Lily. Maybe that’s because I prefer their desserts so I order them.
DEM in the previous post said:
“For much of Watershed’s Decatur existence [only a year or so longer than Cafe Lily’s], it was the only fine dining game in town. Back in the day, I doubt they were losing much business to the likes of Mick’s and Sage on Sycamore. ”
But they WERE losing some to CL, and yet CL is still thriving. My point is that there really is no true “fine dining” place in Decatur. It doesn’t fit the demographics. Pubs and Taverns trump all others here. We are talking about longevity and reasons for Watershed’s demise in Decatur, after all.
The competition issue was not only about food but also about beverages. When Watershed first opened they were the only place in Decatur with first rate wine list and a few imported beers.
Those wine and beer offerings are now nothing special for Decatur. Figures that “a vibrant bar” is at the top of list for the new space. The big profit is in the alcohol.
I liked Watershed. For me, part of the attraction was the location, old gas station, next to dry cleaners, being part of the comeback of lower West Ponce. I doubt I’ll drive to Virginia Highland, midtown, or anywhere else much outside of Decatur to eat at a new incarnation of Watershed. There’s plenty of great restaurants in Metro Atlanta that I never visit because they are not in my work-home-school geographic sphere.
I can understand where they are coming from. The space is quirky, parking is awful, and it’s smack next to a dry cleaners which doesn’t exactly scream “fine dining.” still very sad…
When the going gets tough… sellout to tourists. From the comments above, the writing on the wall has been there for a while now. I can see them moving into a big space in Buckhead or the west side and going the way of Paula Deen’s The Lady & Son’s in Savannah: churning out subpar southern buffet food for carpetbagging tourists. There are too many amazing Atlanta chefs doing incredible things with southern cuisine in town for Watershed to be relevent to locals.
I’m glad somebody else gets how I feel about The Lady & Sons– I swear I’ve had better biscuits our of a bag than they serve there. (Yes, sacrilege, I know, but if there’s a more overrated restaurant anywhere, I don’t know which it could be.)
The Varsity
+1 Right on, brianc! I just don’t get it.
Because they pretty much put cheese on everything?
🙂
My mom totally agrees with you, too, Cuba. She works in a hotel on Hilton Head. Whenever any of the guests mention Paula Deen or Lady and Sons, she tells them that they’re free to do whatever they want with their money but they’d really be much better off getting to Savannah for lunch and hitting up Mrs. Wilkes instead. They usually thank her later!
+1 for mrs. wilkes boarding house!! for those who have never gone, it is well worth the trip!
With all this talk of Watershed and Mrs. Wilkes, I can’t get fried chicken off my mind. So much for this being a meat-free week like I had planned…
Word. Oh, and The Pink House? Kinda tourist trappy, too. I mean, they serve SWEET cornbread! Not just cornbread with a little sugar added to mellow out the buttermilk, I’m talkin’ CAKE sweet. The time we ate there, I was so surprised to find sweet corbnread in Savannah that I asked our waiter if the chef was from the North, & he said, “No, ma’am, he’s from Charleston.” I just nodded & said, “Well, that is north of Savannah, isn’t it?” He laughed, brought the chef out & introduced us, and told him what I’d said. To his credit, the chef took it all in good humor, and promised that if I’d let him know the next time we were coming, he’d bake up a batch of buttermilk cornbread (sans sugar) just for us! Never took him up on that offer, but I thought it was very Southern of him.
the pink house rocks, as well!! road trip to savannah anyone?
Thank you! I’m a Savannah native and always steer people away from The Lady & Son’s and into Mrs. Wilke’s Boarding House… a much better experience and better grub.
Agree. Paula Deen is a caricature. She is to southerners and southern food what the “Crocodile Hunter” was to Australians.
One can uderstand why Truex would want to get out from Peacock’s shadow. As long as he’s at that location, he’s the “replacement.” This is really just the other shoe dropping. I hate to see an institution go, but that space won’t stay empty for long.
Once they got rid of the amazing tomato basil soup it was all over.
I could never get my family to go there. A gas station, next to a dry cleaners? Um, no thanks.
Restaurants in former gas stations/garages include TDS, Raging Burrito, Feast, and Leon’s. The dry cleaners doesn’t do dry cleaning on site.
They wouldn’t go to any of those either. About TDS, my sister said, “might as well eat in Chernobyl”.
Must be kind of limiting. Pasta Figo, Duck’s and Corner Tavern are in a former swimming pool chlorine factory. Brick Store was a hair salon. Couple other places were lawyers’ offices(almost everything around the courthouse was at one point or another) — talk about a toxic environment…
LOL! Seriously, I wouldn’t care if Leon’s had been a landfill in its former life, I’d still eat & drink there! Something’s got to kill ya, so might as well die happy!
What’s going to happen to the dozens of cats that live in their back parking lot?
I guess they’ll have to learn to eat burgers, Jeff 🙂
Maybe a _________ cuisine place will move in. Here kitty kitty…
oh no you di’nt, Rebeccab!
____________ = Melmacian?
Heh! 10 points for the Coneheads reference!
Oh no you di’nt either, Cuba! Coneheads was Remulak. ALF was from Melmac, and liked to eat cats 😉
D’OH! How could I get those mixed up (other than I was as indifferent to “Alf” as I was dedicated to SNL)?!?!? LOL! Since the Alf reference is much more obscure, you get an extra +5!
I wonder if Farm Burger would take over the space? They have been very successful in a very small one in the short time they have been open and could benefit without moving very far.
Good idea. The only downside to a family going to Farmburger is that there may be a long wait for seating and children may get restless. A bigger space would take away that impediment to families going there.
I think that Farm Burger could use a little more floor space. That being said, I don’t think they would want too much. I’ve always thought that the sense of scarcity – whether it be seating, a line to order, or parking is one of the tricks that keeps places like Farm Burger or TDS going strong. People want to go to places that seem popular – and the sense (or illusion) scarcity created by some restaurants helps create this atmosphere.
I think that Farm Burger could use a little more floor space. That being said, I don’t think they would want too much. I’ve always thought that the sense of scarcity – whether it be seating, a line to order, or parking is one of the tricks that keeps places like Farm Burger or TDS going strong. People want to go to places that seem popular – and the sense (or illusion) scarcity created by some restaurants helps create this atmosphere.
Agree that the menu at Watershed holds less appeal than in years past. I dine with family there about once a month and it’s usually lunch. The “nothing jumped out at me” line is true for the most part, although they have an excellent bacon banh mih sandwich.
Also, even though in many ways it’s apples to oranges, I think Farm Burger absolutely destroyed their lunch business. Watershed has a burger on the lunch menu it was a very popular choice for that meal. And while Farm Burger doesn’t offer a vegetable plate, their “farm to table” collard greens are incredibly tasty. Oh, and as mentioned their patrons combined with Watershed’s really cramp the parking around there.
And to echo the sentiment offered above, 13 years in the restaurant business is practically a lifetime.
Very true about Farm Burger likely killing them at lunch. I’d say that was probably the last nail in the coffin, with the proliferation of high end destination spots initially cutting into their dinners. When I can get the same quality burger (heck, I’d say I prefer Farm Burger’s burger straight up) with the seasonal pickled veggies and an Abita Root Beer all for the price of the burger alone next door, it ain’t a hard decision. And although Farm Burger’s veggie burger is admittedly *bleh* the salad options have been really good for about the same price as Watershed’s with the option of a half portion for half price even.
That said, it’s still pretty much a shock to the system to see Watershed shuttering. Even if they eventually do reopen, it seems like it will be a very different place and concept. I do agree that it hasn’t had the same appeal to me in recent years, even before Scott Peacock’s departure, but it was a real revelation to me in it’s earliest incarnation. One of my favorite dishes ever was the simple but perfect steak salad that they used to serve. And even though I held out for a long time and mocked anyone who would pay $20 for a fried chicken dinner, when I was finally dragged there on a Tuesday night a couple (OK, maybe more than a couple) years ago, I have to admit I was blown away.
Decatur and Atlanta may now be saturated with nouvelle southern, farm-to-table or whatever the term or fad du jour, but Watershed will always hold a special place in Decatur history for me. And it really was one of the first places that made me think about how and what I cook at home.
Are Farm Burger patrons more adept at finding a parking space than Watershed customers? If Watershed’s business was hurt by the lack of parking, then why wasn’t Farm Burger’s? Or is it because people actually wanted to go to Farm Burger more than Watershed?
Farm Burger gets a ton of business from folks who live nearby. (My apartment is 1/4 mile away!) It’s affordable enough that someone from the neighborhood can easily become a ‘regular.’ Watershed, not so much. And I think people looking for a casual lunch/dinner are more likely to park further away and walk, or just drop in to Farm Burger as part of a multi-destination trip to downtown Decatur.
I’ll miss it. I didn’t go often because of the price, but it was a good choice for out-of-towners who wanted to try southern food in a nice setting. But I think it’s a loss for Decatur whether you ate there or not. As a destination restaurant, I imagine it brought in a lot of people over the years who extended their visits by shopping along West Ponce or the Square.
Thanks and good luck to Emily and Joe Truex at their new location!
Though I liked it, my mama could never understand why they made hummus from a perfectly good butterbean.
It’s the best hummus I’ve ever had! I’m going this week just to get my last fix.
My mamaw made me a tasty dish as child, crumble up cornbread then smash together with butter beans and pot liquor. It was almost like this hummus.
All this said, Peacock and Mrs. Lewis’ “The Gift of Southern Cooking” is a game changer and you’d have to pry my copy from my cold dead hands to get it out of Decatur!
Amen. If I couldn’t make Edna’s shrimp grits (NOT shrimp AND grits) at home, this would be a far greater tragedy.
I even have the special enclosed loaf pan required to make the Pullman Plank.
The only thing that kept me from returning to Watershed was the noise level. I think I may be a bit more sensitive to it than others, but I found it hard to enjoy my meal and not being able to hear the cannon go off at the other end of the dining room.
Funny coincidence that Watershed and Cakes & Ale will leave “LoPo” on the same day .
Sounds like the location and parking are not the big problem. Sounds like the food is. If your food is exceptional, all the time, then people will park wherever need be, and walk. Most of these comments say the food was not good any longer. A restaurant can stay around forever, with the right chef. Sounds like they needed a different chef. Sorry guys…
Parking wasn’t an issue with El Tesoro on Church St and they failed. As has been mentioned, several locations downtown seem to thrive with no on-site parking.
Don’t get me started on El Tesoro. Whatever good intentions they started with, they ended up being a food hate crime. That place was awful.
+1. How on earth you can screw up chips, queso, & salsa is beyong me, but they managed. Fortunately, there’s Mezcalito’s!
Good…was over-rated in the Atlanta dining scene. There are so many good restaurants in Atlanta why would you go to one as mediocre as watershed?
went last night for one last plate of fried chicken. I can’t speak to the food recently but the fried chicken is still incredible. I almost got up to see if my mother’s ghost was cooking in the kitchen. 😉
last night was slammed. if you didn’t have a reservation you either had to eat at the bar or wait and pray they could sneak you in.
ok. just spent another 15 min of my life reading fascinating comments by Decatur foodies and wannabe foodies — instead of working. And I’m very hungry, too. dang.