Atlantic Restaurant

Atlantic

The Impact

Through culture-led leadership, team development, thoughtful hospitality, and a distinctive wine program, Atlantic achieved:

  • Reached approximately 275 guests per night within months of opening
  • Named Best New Restaurant in Savannah in 2017
  • Named Best Overall Restaurant in Savannah in 2017 and 2019
  • Earned Best Wait Staff in 2018, reflecting the strength of its service culture
  • Jason and Atlantic earned Best Sommelier recognition four consecutive years, from 2017 through 2020
  • Earned Best Wine Selection honors in 2017 and 2019
  • Received a 2017 Historic Savannah Foundation Preservation Award for restoring and rehabilitating the former gas-station property

CASE STUDY · 01

How Atlantic Built a Loyal Following Through Culture and Hospitality

The Challenge

Every new restaurant opens into the same risk: a crowded market, guests with dozens of options, and no time to build an identity before the doors get judged. In the mid-2010s, Savannah had exactly that kind of opening: no serious wine-forward, chef-driven independent restaurant. The kind of gap that either sinks a new concept or becomes its edge.

The Approach

Jason built Atlantic from the ground up around three things:

  • A wine program recognized as one of Savannah’s best
  • A culture that made the team a reason guests came back, not just the food
  • A dining experience built to be sought out by name, not stumbled into

The Outcome

The alternative was a restaurant that opened, got tried once, and faded into Savannah’s crowded dining scene. Instead: Best Overall Restaurant, Savannah (2019). Multiple Best Sommelier awards. A national spotlight on Bravo’s Southern Charm Savannah. And a following loyal enough that guests still ask for Jason by name, years later.

“At Atlantic, we lived by one simple belief: the most important person in the room was the person standing in front of you. Whether it was a guest, a server, a cook, or the dishwasher, everyone was treated with the same respect. With an open kitchen, there was no ‘front of house’ and ‘back of house.’ We were one team, creating the experience together.”

— Jason Restivo