Rathbun's Reopening Scheduled Sept. 23

INMAN PARK — Rathbun's, the Krog Street staple, which shuttered its doors for repairs after a July 4 fire, has scheduled a reopening for Monday, Sept. 23.

Cliff Bramble, who, along with Chris Parks and Kevin Rathbun is co-owner of the popular eatery at 154 Krog St. NE, sent East Atlanta Patch this statement:

As you may know, due to a kitchen fire, Rathbun’s closed on July 4th.  We are now proud to announce that we are ready to re-open our restaurant. Our official re-opening date has been set for Monday, Sept. 23 at 5 p.m.

Although this fire was devastating to us, we have looked on the bright side of the fire and have turned it into an opportunity for improvement.  The fire has allowed us to take a look back at our last ten years in business and tweak what we thought needed to be tweaked.  Or maybe update areas of the restaurant that we thought were looking worn.  We have taken the golden opportunity and have given ourselves a facelift.  
Some of the facelift examples include renovating the kitchen and adding all new kitchen equipment. We have had to place new hoods in the kitchen.  We have newly painted dining rooms.  We have also added new carpeting to the private dining room, and have had the bar and bar tables completely refinished.  The restaurant is brand new!     
Along with the above, we are also introducing a new menu.  We are taking a new approach to our menu and introducing an exciting menu that we feel is the new generation of Rathbun’s. Our next ten years…
As for the staff, many of our staff members have been cross-training at our other restaurants. They have been taking field trips to pig farms & dairies.  They have been tasting new wines and training in wine classes. Some of the staff were lucky enough to visit steak and seafood companies. Because of our insurance plan, they were also paid each week. Our staff has been extremely patient with our closing and we cannot thank them enough for sticking with us. 
We would also like to thank our guests for being so patient, apologize to them if they have driven up to the restaurant and realized that we were closed, and tell them how much we appreciate their loyalty over the past ten years.  We hope that we will meet their expectation during this new generation of Rathbun’s dining and we look forward to seeing you soon. 
We are excited to be back!