A first look: Old Savannah Distillery and Restaurant

A couple of weeks back, we spent some time during a podcast talking about the nearly 2 dozen restaurants that were on the way in and around Downtown Savannah’s Historic District. As is always the case, and we said so at the time, whenever we share such a list, there is always more than we are sharing. Sometimes we aren’t allowed to share what we know; other times, we just don’t know about them.

The Old Savannah Distillery and Restaurant falls into one of those categories. It wasn’t on our list, but it is very much on the way. We were given an early look at the property this week, and we think visitors to Savannah are going to enjoy it. Yes, it says ‘Distillery’ on the marquee, but no, spirits are not being produced here. More on that later.

The effort, brought to you by Old Town Trolley Tours, is a massive-and I mean huge-14,000 square foot converted warehouse (Circa 1940s) that sits on the block between MLK, Junior Blvd and Montgomery Streets near Liberty Street. You know it well, I’m calling it Downtown Savannah’s front doorstep as you arrive off of Interstate 16.

You’ve undoubtedly seen the trolley tours going in and out of that general area directly across the street from the Visitors Center on MLK and/or employees out on the street trying to flag down guests to enjoy a trolley ride. The building sits right in the middle of all of that and will eventually, if not immediately, become something of a hub for guests looking to spend some time enjoying the Hostess City.

I was given a tour this week by the property’s General Manager, Phil Lambert. Phil was brought to Savannah from Key West to oversee this project in January of 2020. The vision was a tasting room and restaurant that would benefit from being situated right at the begin/end point of the already very popular trolley tours.

We all know what happened 2 months later. All bets were off. Everything went on hold. For years. Eventually, shovels went into the ground in January of 2024. The property is a few months away from pulling back the curtain. See some visuals here

Inside, you’ll find a space for the sale of their spirits. There will be 10 different flavors initially. Anything from Peach Vodka to Peanut Butter Whiskey and everything in between. I’ll call them novelty spirits. They are very much real, and even possibly tasty, but I don’t expect any of them to be entered in a worldwide competition. That’s not the point here. That room, as it stands now, is beautiful and will be very popular. It is essentially a liquor store adjacent to this restaurant.

The gift shop dominates the entryway and first room. Anything and everything Savannah will likely be for sale there. Ahead to the left is a sampling area bar. Your spot to try a variety of cocktails made with any of their spirits. The glass wall behind said bar, meanwhile a constant reminder that anything you are tasting you can very easily purchase….right over there.

The restaurant will be huge and quite beautiful. It has been designed to resemble a distillery. The decor is kitchy (in the kindest sense of the word); none of the “distilling” in here is real, it’s just made to look that way. Their spirits are being produced in St. Augustine, Florida.

The restaurant, meanwhile, will seat about 200 and will sit on the Montgomery Street side of the building. It’s a massive space in and of itself.. From what I am told, the decor will be that of a working distillery as well. The entire wall along Montgomery Street is made up of windows that will keep this space feeling large and airy with views across the street at the Savannah Civic Center, for as long as that will remain there. If it is eventually torn down, as has been speculated, this restaurant’s view will be that of another Savannah square that has been discussed for the area. Not bad at all.

The restaurant’s menu, Lambert tells me, was written before the restaurant was designed. He had to know what he would be preparing before he designed a kitchen for it. That kitchen itself is huge. Lots and lots of space to get around back there, and even a giant window sitting above the dishwashing area. It’s fairly obvious that no detail has been overlooked in the creation of this restaurant.

The 2nd-floor event space (and another 4,000 square feet) was conceived after the original concept downstairs was mapped out. It took some creative construction to make it work, but I’m impressed with how much of this building’s original detail was salvaged for proper visuals in this nearly hundred-year-old structure.

We didn’t discuss the menu in great detail. Let’s be honest, we didn’t need to. Lambert mentioned Low Country Boil and Fried Chicken, and weekly Thanksgiving feasts every Thursday year-round. I suspect the rest of the offerings to be dominated by the foods that people come to Savannah in the largest numbers for. Southern comfort foods.

While the hope is that locals will take the time to come down and enjoy this new restaurant, it will largely be full of visitors to Savannah, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. If the food is good enough, you’ll get locals enjoying a lunch break there or maybe even dinner when they have guests in town. Meanwhile, others will undoubtedly dismiss the entire operation as Savannah adding another jewel to its status as a theme-park crown.

Whatever floats your boat. More fried chicken for us, and I’m excited. Why?

Because until this point, the building was just another empty Savannah warehouse, one of the many that still exist across the general downtown area. By the time they are done here, this renovation will be beautiful-in many ways, it already is. And oh yeah, 185 new jobs in the area won’t hurt either.

I’m looking forward to it and excited to see Savannah attempting to clean up its front porch, ever ready when our guests arrive.

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A first look: Old Savannah Distillery and Restaurant

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