Check out opentable.com and Resy.com for a more comprehensive list of Atlanta-area restaurants open for lunch and dinner on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve-Eve 

The General Muir Christmas Eve Eve (and Eve) Dinners 
Emory/Druid Hills 

The General Muir kicks off the holidays with a “traditional” Chinese Christmas dinner, available Dec. 22 and 23 for dine-in service. The restaurant also offers a special holiday takeout menu.

Christmas Eve 

Aria
Buckhead

Aria will open from 4:30 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 24 serving the regular dinner menu. Reservations encouraged.

Carmel’s Feast of Seven Fishes Dinner
Buckhead 

Celebrate Christmas Eve by partaking in the traditional Italian-American dinner of Feast of the Seven Fishes at Carmel. The multi-course dinner will feature dishes like an Osetra caviar tart, striped bass, and crab-stuffed lobster. $95 per person, with optional drink pairings. Reservations encouraged.

Omakase Table 
Buckhead 

Indulge in Michelin-starred Omakase Table’s 20-course tasting menu for $295 per person on Christmas Eve.

The Southern Gentleman 
Buckhead

From 11:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., The Southern Gentleman will serve both brunch and dinner on Christmas Eve.

Le Colonial 
Buckhead 

Celebrate Christmas Eve at Le Colonial with festive food specials and the regular dinner menu.

MARTA Dining Guide: Doraville/Buford Highway
(Many restaurants on Buford Highway are open on Christmas Eve/Day.)

Your 3rd Spot
Underwood Hills, The Works

From 2-8 p.m. on Christmas Eve, families are welcome at Your 3rd Spot, an arcade-style restaurant, for a day that features a Christmas slide, photos with Santa, holiday craft station, and unlimited game passes for a $25 entry fee. Kids 3 and under, or 70 and older, receive complimentary admission.

Buena Vida Tapas Bar
Old Fourth Ward 

Celebrate Christmas Eve with a Spanish twist. Buena Vida will serve its regular menu, along with a few festive dishes.

Il Premio
Old Fourth Ward 

The Forth Hotel steakhouse will open on Christmas Eve serving its full dinner menu. Reservations encouraged.

Moonlight
Old Fourth Ward 

Head upstairs at the Forth Hotel to Moonlight cocktail bar with its skyline views for a holiday party on Christmas Eve. Reservations encouraged.

Little Bear
Summerhill

Little Bear returns with its annual Jewish Chinese Christmas dinner, taking place on both Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day. Reservations highly encouraged.

The Ashford on Dresden 
Brookhaven 

The Brookhaven restaurant will open for regular service on Christmas Eve.

Joey D’s Oak Room
Dunwoody

Joey D’s will open on Christmas Eve for lunch and early dinner from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Select
Sandy Springs

Decked out in its holiday finest, The Select will offer a three-course Christmas Eve dinner for $85 per person. There’s also a two-course kids’ menu for $42 per person. Vegan options available by request. Reservations encouraged.

Truth Be Told 
Roswell 

Truth Be Told on Canton Street will serve a festive pre-fixe dinner on Christmas Eve for $115 per person. Reservations required.

CRÚ Wine Bar & Bistro
Alpharetta, The Battery 

The Alpharetta and Battery locations of Cru Wine Bar will offer a Christmas Eve dinner from 4-9 p.m. The holiday menu, features three courses with dishes like lobster bisque, truffle-fondue tortellini, Barolo-braised short rib, and herb-roasted sea bass. Look for desserts, too, including molten chocolate cake and a Christmas crème brûlée. Reservations encouraged.

Cattle Shed Wine & Steak Bar
Alpharetta/Forsyth County

Cattle Shed Wine & Steak Bar at Halcyon will open for Christmas Eve serving a holiday menu, including bacon-wrapped scallops and Beef Wellington. Expect festive cocktails like a gingerbread martini and mistletoe margarita. Reservations encouraged.

Ocean & Acre 
Alpharetta/Forsyth County

The coastal cuisine-inspired restaurant at Halcyon will open on Christmas Even from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. serving its regular lunch and dinner menus.

Marlow’s Tavern
Multiple Locations 

All locations of Marlow’s Tavern will remain open until 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Stop by Santa’s Speakeasy at the East Cobb and Woodstock locations for extra festive fun.

Related: Get festive at these holiday pop-up bars around Atlanta

Christmas Day 

The Americano
Buckhead 

The Americano at The InterContinental Buckhead will open from noon to 7 p.m. for a prix-fixe Italian feast on Christmas Day. $100 per person. $50 for children 12 and under. Reservations encouraged.

Gypsy Kitchen 
Buckhead

The Buckhead Village restaurant will open from 4 to 7 p.m. on Christmas Day serving specials like Moroccan-spiced lamb chops with sumac tzatziki, seared scallops with saffron cauliflower purée, and duck breast with Manchego polenta and a port-cherry reduction.

The Waldorf Astoria: Brassica
Buckhead 

The Waldorf Astoria’s restaurant, Brassica, will open on Christmas Day offering a three-course prix-fixe menu from noon to 8 p.m. $180 per person. $95 per child. Reservations required.

The Sparrow
Midtown

The West Peachtree Asian tavern plans to open for lunch and dinner on both Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day.

Marcus Bar & Grille 
Old Fourth Ward 

From 1 to 6:30 p.m. on Christmas Day, Marcus Bar & Grill on Edgewood Avenue will host a Southern-inspired holiday buffet. Reservations encouraged.

Elektra 
Old Fourth Ward 

The Forth Hotel’s Mediterranean restaurant overlooking the rooftop pool will open on Christmas Day featuring holiday food and drink specials. Each reservation includes a s’mores and hot cocoa kit. Reservations encouraged.

Nakato
Cheshire Bridge

Nakato will open for dinner on Christmas Eve (3 to 9 p.m.) AND Christmas Day (1 to 9 p.m.). Reservations for sushi and hibachi highly encouraged on both days.

Holiday Takeout Service

Mary Mac’s Tea Room 
Midtown 

Mary Mac’s on Ponce will offer a family feast for takeout on both Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day, feeding up to 10 people. Dinner features dishes like turkey breast, smoked ham, Southern-style green beans, whipped potatoes, collard greens, sweet potato pie, and banana pudding. Order online.   

Ela
Virginia-Highland

The Fifth Group-backed Mediterranean restaurant offers a take-and-bake holiday feast feeding up to four people. The three-course dinner features dishes like feta-brined chicken, za’atar salmon, butternut squash and halloumi salad, and a mezze board for $120. The meal comes with Greek doughnuts for dessert. Order online.

Staplehouse
Old Fourth Ward

The Michelin-recognized restaurant and market will once again offer holiday meal kits that include Beef Wellington and optional sides like Robuchon potatoes, a kale Caesar, dinner rolls, and pecan pie. Order just the Beef Wellington ($120), or build a feast around the main. Order online to pick up by Dec. 23.

Wood’s Chapel BBQ
Summerhill 

Wood’s Chapel BBQ will offer Christmas catering, featuring rosemary and garlic roast beef, spiral ham, and apricot and maple-glazed duck, along with sides like cornbread dressing and butternut squash casserole, with gingerbread cheesecake for dessert. Check out the menu and order by Dec. 16 here.

Joey D’s Oak Room
Dunwoody

Grab Christmas Day dinner from the Dunwoody classic, including prime rib ($47), sides, the restaurant’s popular croissants with honey butter, and salad. A prime rib with sides costs $239 and feeds up to six people. Order online to pick up on Dec. 24.

The Select
Sandy Springs

The Sandy Springs restaurant will offer a Christmas feast for takeout this year to include Beef Wellington, herbed fingerling potatoes, and green beans, starting at $95 for two people. Order online.

Delbar
Alpharetta, Inman Park, Buckhead 

All locations of Delbar Middle Eastern Restaurant will offer harissa-spiced leg of lamb to reheat at home. The lamb feeds up to seven people. Order here to pick up at location of your choice.

The post Atlanta restaurants offering dine-in and takeout service on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.

• On Mon., August 11 at 7:30 p.m., Charis Books & More welcomes award-winning journalist Alexis Okeowo in conversation with Neesha Powell-Ingabire to discuss Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama, a powerful blend of memoir, history, and reportage that explores the complexities of identity, belonging, and political life in the American South. This event is free and open to the public and will take place both in person at Charis and virtually via Crowdcast. Copies of “Blessings and Disasters” will be available for purchase.

• On Tues., August 12 at 6:30 p.m., FoxTale Book Shoppe is thrilled to welcome award-winning author Marjan Kamali for an evening celebrating the paperback release of her instant national bestseller, The Lion Women of Tehran. Set across three transformative decades in Iran, Kamali’s novel is a moving portrait of friendship, feminism, and the enduring power of courage in the face of political upheaval. This event is free and open to the public, but space is limited—please RSVP. Copies of “The Lion Women of Tehran” will be available for purchase at the event.

• On Tues., August 12 at 7 p.m., New York Times bestselling author Scott Anderson pays a visit to the Atlanta History Center to discuss King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation and explore the lasting impression that the Iranian Revolution continues to have on the world. Anderson uses his first-hand knowledge as a veteran war correspondent to give more insight and a deeper understanding into the topics he explores. Unearthing new perspectives on the Iranian revolution that leaves the audience with a new found sense of curiosity. Tickets are $12 for not-yet members and $6 for members. 

• On Sat., Aug. 16 at 2 p.m., FoxTale Book Shoppe welcomes Victoria Benton Frank for a special afternoon event celebrating her heartfelt Lowcountry novel, The Violet Hour. Come for a conversation and book signing with the daughter of beloved Southern author Dorothea Benton Frank as she shares a story of reinvention, friendship, and finding one’s voice after heartbreak. This event is free and open to the public, but space is limited—please RSVP. Copies of the “Violet Hour” will be available for purchase at the event. 

• On Tues., Aug. 19 at 7 p.m., The Atlanta History Center  is joined by Chef Kevin Mitchell and David S. Shields to share the story behind their cookbook, Taste the South: Georgia Distinctive Foods and Stories from Where Eating Local Began. This isn’t just a cookbook, it is a collection of the history behind the food we know and love. The cookbook is a deeply researched project that shares 65 different entries with unique backgrounds. This event is $12 for not-yet members and $6 for members.

• On Thurs., Aug. 21 at 7 p.m., constitutional law scholar Zaakir Tameez takes the stage at the Atlanta History Center to share his thoughts and research on Charles Sumner through the discussion of his work, Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation. Sumner’s influence on the American Civil War and Reconstruction era is extremely overlooked. Tameez will be joined in conversation with Peter Biello. Tickets are $12 for not-yet members and $6 for members. 

• On Tues., Sept. 2 at 7 p.m., A Cappella Books presents the September edition of Writers at the Wrecking Bar featuring acclaimed author Sheri Joseph, in conversation with Atlanta novelist Susan Rebecca White. Join us upstairs in the Marianna Room at the Wrecking Bar Brewpub for an evening discussing Joseph’s haunting new novel, Angels at the Gate—a literary mystery set on a cloistered 1980s college campus, exploring memory, grief, and the complicated lives of young adults coming of age. This event is free and open to the public. 

• On Fri., Sept. 5 at 7 p.m., A Cappella Books is thrilled to welcome Atlanta author Laura Dickerman to Manuel’s Tavern to celebrate the release of her witty and heartfelt debut novel, Hot Desk. Blending workplace comedy with family drama, Hot Desk follows two rival editors sparring over a shared cubicle while uncovering long-buried secrets from the 1980s New York publishing world. This event is free and open to the public.

• On Sun., Sept. 7 at 4:30 p.m., A Capella Books hosts southern author Scott Gould to come and discuss his recent work, Peace Like a River. Gould will be in conversation with Julia Frank, acclaimed author of Over the Plain Houses. Gould’s novel emphasizes the difficulties as well as joys that come with the upkeep of father-son relationships. The novel follows the story of Elwin McClennon and his return to his hometown as he navigates the relationships, not only with his own father, but with his son as well. This event is free and open to the public.

• On Thurs., Sept. 11 at 5 p.m., meet local authors including Michael Thurmond, Emily Giffin, and Jessica Handler during a relaxed Sip & Sign at Stoney J’s Winery in Cumming. Browse books, get your favorites signed, and hear the stories behind the stories. A portion of all book sales will be donated to Jesse’s House.

The post Literary Events: August appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.

Reading has always been a big part of my life. As a child, I fought in epic battles with Lord Voldemort with Harry Potter, traveled alongside Bilbo Baggins as he ventured into the unknown outside of the Shire, and fell in love with Gilbert Blythe in “Anne of Green Gables.”

Books shaped my childhood. I still vividly remember sitting with my mom in my bed as she read Charlotte’s Web aloud, tears streaking our faces as we finished the last page, and learning how much literature could make me feel. I’ve covered some of my favorites in reviews in the newsletter: “The Guest” by Emma Cline, “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano, and “Lies and Weddings” by Kevin Kwan are some of the most notable novels I’ve written about so far. 

My latest obsession is “The Great Gatsby,” which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

I fell in love with Fitzgerald’s rich prose that captures the luxury and glamor of the roaring 20s, along with the pursuit of the American dream in the midst of deep class divides, all just in 180 pages. It was heartbreaking– Gatsby himself was driven by love and dreams rather than greed, and never fully accepted into the upper echelon society of New York or wins over Daisy, the girl of his dreams. 

As graduation day approaches for the class of 2025 and me, the last passage keeps appearing in my head, the sense of melancholy that we all feel as we embark on the unknown.

Fitzgerald’s narrator Nick Carraway observes Long Island:

…and as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an æsthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

As I think about this turning point in our lives, I see that we, too, are like the sailors Carraway describes—not in the sense of being colonizers, but as explorers. We hold our breaths in the overwhelming grandness of the future ahead of us, our lives stretched out in an expanse of unknown terrain, a land bursting with dreams and possibilities.

We do not know what we might encounter, we only have our own capacity to wonder, to imagine. For me, high school has been my own safe haven, the familiarity of my friends, teachers, and community becoming what I imagine the Dutch Sailors saw as the “old world,” or the Netherlands. The structure of high school days, the feeling of unconditional acceptance and love from my friends and family, have been such a light guiding me through my childhood.

And I’m now realizing how comfortable and even dependent I have grown to this fact. And that scares me. Now, face to face with the uncertainty of the future, the task of building a new community for myself is daunting. 

This passage is also immensely hopeful. Thinking of what the land the Dutch sailors encountered has become, the city of New York with its skyscrapers stretching towards the stars, and the plethora of people, cultures, and religions that have grown, thrived, and come to inhabit on that soil, makes me think of the infinite paths we might take.

The unending possibilities of what we can attain, experience, and enjoy. So, as we leave behind the world of the unknown, taking the skills and experiences we have received from our childhoods and from our time in high school, I hope we all look at the rolling hills of our future, the trees and fruitful landscape, and let ourselves wonder about the good we can make with our lives. To allow ourselves to feel fear, but also let our imaginations run wild.

As Fitzgerald teaches us, dreams are limitless, and we have “come a long way to this blue law,n and [our] dreams” are so close. I do hope and believe that we can grasp them. 

I want to congratulate all of us who are embarking on new adventures this month! 

– Eloisa

The post A letter to graduates in honor of 100 years of ‘Gatsby’ appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.

Understanding that access to books is essential for a child’s intellectual growth, the mission of this program is to ensure that every child has the opportunity to enrich their education through reading. This year their service work took on a deeper significance when the participants decided to shift their focus to help students devastated by wildfires that recently swept through Los Angeles, California.

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Throughout Los Angeles and the surrounding communities, five schools were destroyed, with seven more heavily damaged, leaving as many as 700,000 students and staff displaced and having to learn from temporary locations or online school. Besides schools, the fires have devastated libraries, independent bookstores, and personal book collections. 

So, Breakthrough Atlanta went beyond merely collecting books for affected communities. With great care, they packed and shipped volumes of books to readers in Los Angeles, adding personal touches such as heartfelt notes and Chick-fil-A gift cards. They hope that these books and gifts will offer enrichment, escape, and comfort to children enduring incredibly challenging circumstances.

“Our Breakthrough scholars understand that leadership is about more than just taking initiative—it’s about serving others with empathy and kindness,” said Monique Shields, CEO of Breakthrough Atlanta. “Through their efforts, they are demonstrating the power of literacy and the impact that even small acts of kindness can have on individuals and communities.”

In partnership with SoCal College Attainment Network and Reading Partners Los Angeles, Breakthrough Atlanta donated 40 cases of children’s books to be distributed to students displaced from their schools and libraries due to the devastating L.A. wildfires. Reading Partners took charge of giving out the books by distributing them in the Pasadena Unified School District’s drive-through lunch lines as well as Pasadena elementary students upon returning to school at the end of January. 

“We are incredibly grateful for our partnership with Breakthrough Atlanta, whose generosity has helped provide books to students impacted by the Eaton Fire,” said Chloe Oliveras, executive director of Reading Partners Los Angeles. “The excitement on their faces as they receive these books is truly heartwarming—flipping through the pages, discovering new adventures, and finding joy in stories that offer comfort and inspiration. This partnership is more than just about books; it’s about hope, healing, and the power of education to brighten even the toughest of times.”

The post Breakthrough Atlanta students collect books for students of schools devastated by L.A. Wildfires  appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.

The Wren’s Nest

Margaret Mitchell House

Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse

National Center for Civil and Human Rights

The White Bull

The post 5 literary tours to check out this month appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta.