Dunwoody wins one, loses one in taco restaurant game

In Dunwoody, tacos come and tacos go.

One restaurant, Takorea, located in the Georgetown Shopping Center, closed permanently on Monday as another – Velvet Taco in the High Street complex – officially opened its doors.

The owners of Takorea announced the closure on its Facebook page on July 1.

“Well, it’s been a fun 10 years but as of today, July 1, 2024 we are closed,” the message said. “Thanks for all of your support over the years, we hope you will come visit us at Hankook Taqueria to get your fix of sesame fries and Korean tacos.”

While representatives of Takorea and its owner Tomas Lee, have not commented as to the reason for the Dunwoody closure, customers said they were told that food prices and general inflationary conditions were among the factors in the decision to shut the doors for good.

In 2014, Takorea moved into the space that formerly housed another popular eatery, Guthries, on Chamblee Dunwoody Road. The area has been congested and difficult to maneuver for the last two years with the construction of the massive Georgetown Gateway project, which involved the installation of new infrastructure, power line relocation and the installation of wide sidewalks.

Lee started his Atlanta career with Hankook Taqueria near the Georgia Tech campus, and then expanded to locations in Dunwoody and Midtown, which closed in 2019. Lee’s concept, according to the Takorea website, combined “traditional Korean meats and spices with easy-to-eat style of Mexican tacos and burritos.”

Meanwhile Dallas-based Velvet Taco, 100 Middle Street, opened its third Atlanta restaurant today, joining the West Paces Ferry and Howell Mill road locations. The franchise also has locations in Nashville, Tenn., Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, as well as more than a dozen in and around the Dallas area.

Velvet Taco markets itself as a “temple to the liberated taco, according to its website, “founded with the idea that tacos don’t have to be associated with Tex-Mex cuisine and can be made with the same care and quality ingredients as fine dining.”

Several other Dunwoody restaurant locations have come and gone as well. Bagel 101 Cafe, located at the Ashford Place Shopping Center on Ashford Dunwoody Road, has a sign that says the establishment is “temporarily closed by owner,” but customers say the sign has been up for days.

Bagel 101 Cafe , which opened its Dunwoody store in 2022, lists four other locations in the Atlanta area on its website.

Sushi Kingdom, an all-you-can-eat food concept, opened in May in the same shopping center as Bagel 101.

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