The Square you walked last July is not quite the Square you are walking this July. The bones are the same. Glover Park still fills up on the last Friday of the month, the farmers market still runs Saturday mornings, the parade still starts at Roswell Street Baptist. What has moved is the interior. Several of the storefronts you used to reach for on autopilot are now something else, and a couple of the openings you were waiting on last fall have finally arrived.
If you live within walking distance, the practical question is not whether the Square is changing. It is which of last year's habits still work and which have quietly expired. Here is the rotation, refreshed for the season we are in.
The turnover map, in one glance
Six addresses on or just off the Square have changed hands or reopened since the last Fourth of July. Reading them as a group makes the shift easier to hold in your head than absorbing them one press release at a time.
| Address | What it was | What it is now |
|---|---|---|
| 45 W Park Sq | Piastra (closed Dec 31, 2025) | Asher & Rose Modern Grocers (reopened Jan 28, 2026) |
| 29 West Park Square | Red Hare Brewing & Distilling | West Park Sports Club (opened Apr 20, 2026) |
| 36 Mill St | Spring, closed for renovations in 2025 | Spring, quietly reopened in limited capacity April 2026 |
| 34 Powder Springs St | The Frozen Goose (closed Nov 2025) | Antika, permit-approved, opening date pending |
| 113 Church St | vacant storefront | Spring 2nd Branch, Korean concept from Chef Brian So, coming soon |
| Next to Willie Rae's Social House | Ahoy! There Be Dragons gallery | Pisano's Pizzeria & Italian Kitchen, coming soon |
| 77 North Park Square, the "Goldstein Gap" | vacant since 2010 | still vacant. Ted's Montana Grill canceled Jan 8, 2026 |
The last row matters as much as the ones above it. A lot of local chatter last fall assumed the North Park Square corner was finally about to fill in. It is not, at least not this year. If your mental map still had a Ted's penciled in, erase it.
Asher & Rose is doing three jobs at one address
The most useful change on the Square this summer is not a new restaurant. It is the mother-son team of Chef Greg Lipman and Betty Bahl flipping the former Piastra space from a traditional restaurant into a market and cafe, a concept that addresses a community need for a local market while maintaining some of the dishes and drinks that made Piastra popular.
What that means in practice is that the shelves and cases carry fresh produce, regional dairy and cheeses, dry goods, and a butcher shop with customized cuts of meat and fish, along with house-made items like hummus, pimento cheese, soups, pasta sauces, salad dressing, bread, baked items, prepared meals, side dishes, and ice cream, plus wines, beers, cocktails, and coffee. One address now covers a weeknight dinner you did not plan to cook, a wine pickup on the way to a Glover Park concert, and a Sunday pantry restock. The former Piastra dishes are still on the café menu, which softens the transition for anyone who was counting on the Sunday brunch as part of a standing routine.
If you keep a mental short list of "places I can send an out-of-town guest to browse while I finish something else," this is where the Square gained a slot it did not have last summer.
Spring came back in April, but do not treat it like a walk-in
Acclaimed Marietta fine-dining restaurant Spring, which shut down last year for renovations, announced this week on social media that it has reopened in a limited capacity. The word to sit with is "limited." Chef Brian So reopened the restaurant quietly rather than with a wide press announcement, which is worth reading as a signal about capacity and reservations rather than modesty.
For residents, this changes the anniversary and birthday calculus. Spring is back on the list of walkable fine-dining rooms on the Square, but the room is smaller than the one you remember, and the same chef has a second concept, Spring 2nd Branch, in the pipeline at 113 Church Street. Spring 2nd Branch is the latest project from Michelin-starred Chef Brian So and Sommelier Daniel Crawford, a full-service Korean restaurant highlighting authentic dishes such as dumplings, seafood pancakes, stews, stir-fries, and cold noodle specialties with roots in Chef So's childhood food experiences. Two rooms from one kitchen team within a short walk of each other is a new dynamic on the Square, and if Second Branch opens by fall, the pressure on Spring's small dining room eases.
The sports bar slot is filled again
West Park Sports Club opened on April 20, 2026, in the former Red Hare Brewing & Distilling space at 29 West Park Square. The new spot is described as an upscale sports bar with plenty of TVs, a darker interior, and leather seating. Early menu details suggest a mix of bar food and polished small plates, including crispy rice with tuna, crab rangoon flatbread, and bulgogi cheesesteak sliders. West Park Sports Club comes from Fork U Concepts, the restaurant group behind Taqueria Tsunami and Stockyard Burgers and Bones.
The specific value of this opening is that Three Roses Tavern is no longer the only room on the Square built around game-day television. If you have been defaulting to Three Roses for every Braves-and-appetizers evening, you now have a second option a block away with a different menu register and a different crowd density. That matters most on Saturdays when the farmers market pushes foot traffic into every seat on the Square by early afternoon.
Also new since last summer, worth putting on the mental list
- Deep Roots Wine Market & Tasting Room, which officially opened on March 17, 2026. Useful for pre-concert stops on Glover Park nights.
- Tacos La Villa Cantina, a Tacos La Villa Cantina that opened February 3, 2026 near the Marietta Square, complementing the counter-service location on Canton Road.
- Ike's Cafe & Grill on Cherokee Street, which brought a bold West African menu in a building that has changed hands more than once in recent years, grown out of Ike's Tropical Food Market in Norcross.
Two more coming soon, so worth not filling their slot with something else in your rotation yet: Antika at 34 Powder Springs Street, registered under BEJ Management LLC, which received a 100 on an initial food-service inspection dated April 14, 2026 in a space previously home to The Frozen Goose, and Pisano's Pizzeria & Italian Kitchen next to Willie Rae's Social House.
The Friday nights that will fill up first
The event that most residents will feel this summer is not a restaurant. It is the concert series in Glover Park, and 2026 is the anniversary year.
The 2026 season marks the 40th summer of the Glover Park Concert Series. Concerts are scheduled for the last Friday night of each month from April through September, with a lineup that includes tribute bands, pop favorites, classic rock, and country.
The dates worth putting on the fridge, per the city's published lineup: Seven Bridges brings an Eagles tribute on July 31, Kasper and the 911 Band performs R and B and pop hits on August 28, and Nashville Nation closes the season on September 25 with modern country hits. A concert falls on the last Friday of every month, which means the pre-show reservation window at every walkable restaurant tightens on those specific dates. If you are hosting anyone that weekend, plan the dinner around the concert, not the other way around.
The 4th of July anchor stays where it has always been. The City of Marietta's 4th In The Park Celebration begins July 4, 2026 at 10:00am and includes a parade, free live concerts, arts and crafts show, food, carnival games and fireworks finale. Two logistical notes locals sometimes forget. The night before, on July 3, 2026, Independence Eve Brings Drivin N Cryin to Marietta Square, which is worth walking to even if you are skipping the daytime parade. And the fireworks are shot from the parking lot of the Marietta First United Methodist Church, and if bad weather is expected, the fireworks may begin a few minutes early, so plan to arrive early because traffic is expected to be heavy.
Smaller anchors worth knowing about
Beyond the marquee weekends, a handful of smaller recurring events are quietly some of the best walking arguments the Square has to offer.
- Art Walk, held the first Friday of each month from March through December. Free, self-guided, live music at several stops.
- Marietta Square Farmers Market, Saturdays 9am to noon, year-round.
- Marietta Summer Night Market at Marietta Square Market, held July 11 this month.
- Cobb International Film Festival, August 6 to 9 at the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre.
- Disney Princess Summer Movies at the Strand, with The Little Mermaid on July 22, useful for a rainy afternoon with kids.
A rotation cheat sheet for the rest of the season
If you like a short list to hand someone new to the neighborhood, or to remind yourself when the week gets away from you:
- Weeknight dinner you did not plan — Asher & Rose café menu, or the new Tacos La Villa Cantina.
- Guest arriving Saturday morning — Farmers Market, then coffee, then a browse through Asher & Rose.
- A Braves game on a screen — West Park Sports Club as the second option to Three Roses Tavern.
- Pre-concert on the last Friday — Deep Roots for a bottle, then walk to Glover Park.
- Anniversary dinner — Spring, if you can get in. Otherwise hold for Spring 2nd Branch.
- Rainy Wednesday with kids — Strand matinee, then a walk around the Square.
The Square rewards residents who keep the map updated. Six turnovers is not a redesign, but it is enough to make a stale rotation feel tired by August. Refresh it now and the second half of the summer plays differently.
If you are considering a move that would put you within walking distance of all of this, or you are ready to sell a home that already is, Keisha Nathali would be glad to talk through the market with you. Let's Connect.
