"The pregame and postgame destination Buckhead has been missing." That's how the new tenant at 128 East Andrews Drive describes itself, and the phrase is doing more work than it looks like at first read. The building it's moving into spent the last seven years as a nightlife address. The new one is going out of its way to say it isn't one.
Chido & Padre's and The Blind Pig Parlour Bar closed at that address this past December after roughly seven years in business, a run long enough that most people who've lived in Buckhead through it never knew the space as anything else. Now Buckhead Brewing & Lodge is preparing to take over the same roughly 8,100-square-foot building, and the operators have been unusually direct about what they're not building. Their own site describes the concept as a "neighborhood-first brewpub" that is "family and team friendly," and pointedly not "a nightlife bar" or "a gimmicky arcade concept." For a stretch of East Andrews that's known plenty of both, that's a specific bet, not a marketing line.
Who's Behind the New Sign
The project traces back to Reid Olsen, an Atlanta native, University of Georgia alum, and Buckhead resident who runs Olsen Hospitality Partners, a company that operates dining concepts inside Southwest Florida International Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Olsen's most recognizable non-airport project is Queen Park Social in Charlotte's South End, a bowling, air hockey, skee ball, and pinball venue paired with a full restaurant and bar. That background explains some of what's showing up in Buckhead Brewing's plans, though the operators have been careful to frame this one as a brewpub rather than an entertainment venue.
The beer side of the operation comes from Kenny Driggers, brewmaster at Southernside Brewing Co. in Greenville, South Carolina, who'll brew Buckhead Brewing's house lineup at that Greenville facility. Tim Campau, also from South Carolina, is chief operating officer. Sarah Olsen, Reid's co-owner, led the design of the space itself: a large open room with warm, dark finishes and two indoor bars, plus a front patio built around couches, picnic tables, and shade rather than standard cafe seating. Together the indoor and outdoor areas seat about 230 guests.
A Building Doing Two Different Jobs
What separates Buckhead Brewing from a standard restaurant launch is the split personality built into its hours. On weekdays, the space runs as a walk-up sandwich counter from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., aimed at nearby office workers and residents grabbing lunch rather than settling in for a meal. The menu at that hour leans toward gourmet sandwiches and salads, including options like beef carpaccio, a prime rib French dip, and Southern shrimp po'boys.
Then, at 3 p.m., the building changes jobs. Weekday dinner service runs from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. with hosts, servers, and bartenders, and a broader menu that adds Southern fried chicken sandwiches and burgers. On Saturdays and Sundays, that dinner menu is available all day, no lunch-to-dinner switch required. The full schedule looks like this:
- Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.: quick-serve sandwich counter
- Monday through Friday, 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.: full-service dinner
- Saturday and Sunday: dinner menu available all day
- Open seven days a week
That's an unusual structure for a single 8,100-square-foot building to run on a single staff and kitchen, and it's the clearest evidence that the owners are trying to capture two different Buckhead crowds under one roof rather than picking a lane.
The Beer, and the Bet on Game Day
The house beer program will feature eight styles brewed through Driggers' Greenville operation, including a light lager, hazy IPA, Belgian wheat, coconut porter, sour, and pilsner, alongside a cocktail list and wine program. None of that is unusual for a brewpub. What's more specific to this project is the programming the operators have floated for the space beyond the bar itself: game nights, school spirit nights, "concert stream" nights, and monthly autograph sessions with former Atlanta Braves players. That's a calendar built around recurring group visits rather than one-off destination trips, which tracks with the stated goal of being a spot people return to on a schedule rather than a special-occasion stop.
As of early September 2026, the project was described as nearing its soft opening in an interview Olsen gave to Business Debut, with the space still finishing out before its first guests arrive. Nothing in the public reporting has put a firm calendar date on that opening as of late September, which means the honest answer for anyone checking is that it's close but not yet confirmed.
What the Swap Actually Says About the Strip
Buckhead's 2026 restaurant class has a pattern worth naming: nearly every notable opening this year is moving into a space someone else vacated, rather than breaking ground on something new. La Parrilla is taking over the former On The Border space at Buckhead Station after the national chain's bankruptcy. A new Asian concept is filling an 8,800-square-foot building on Piedmont Road near Fogo de Chão and Kyma. Koshu Club, from the team behind Michelin-starred Mujō, is the rare exception opening in a purpose-built space across from The St. Regis Atlanta rather than an inherited one.
Most of those swaps are like-for-like. A Mexican chain replaces another Mexican chain. A restaurant group takes over a space built for restaurants. Buckhead Brewing & Lodge is a different kind of swap. It's not just a new operator taking over an old lease. It's a business explicitly defining itself against what the address used to be, trading a bar-and-restaurant identity built around evening crowds for one that opens its doors at 11:30 in the morning for a sandwich and stays open through Sunday afternoon for families rather than closing time. Whether that bet pays off depends on whether East Andrews has enough daytime foot traffic to support a lunch counter in a building that spent seven years living almost entirely after dark.
Where and When
Buckhead Brewing & Lodge is set to open at 128 East Andrews Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30305, in the building most recently occupied by The Blind Pig Parlour Bar. The concept is run by Buckhead Brewing, part of Olsen Hospitality Partners, and is preparing for a soft opening as of the most recent public interview with owner Reid Olsen in September 2026. No confirmed public opening date had been announced as of late September.
If you've been watching East Andrews Drive for what comes next, this is the one to watch. Dorsey Alston Realtors keeps a close eye on what's opening and closing along the streets our neighbors actually walk, and we'll be back with an update once Buckhead Brewing & Lodge locks in an opening date.
