Bentley’s, a high-end restaurant formerly on the 27th floor of a sky-rise office tower in Uptown, has relocated to a ground level space. According to owner Jim Emad, the restaurant’s lease was coming to an end, and he wanted to modernize the dining room a bit. The new Bentley’s includes 9,000 square feet, with a bright, open dining room nearly surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Piedmont Row development. 

The dining room is divisible into several spaces that can be rented out for private events with their own entrances from the street. Emad says Bentley’s was closed much of December for private events, and he expects most of those events to return once it’s safe to do so. In the meantime, the extra space allows for the restaurant to spread out their tables and safely seat more diners with social distancing. 

Former Reid’s corporate chef James Loftus is the restaurant’s new executive chef. Aside from removing a few menu items due to the current difficulties in sourcing them, the dinner menu hasn’t changed much. 

“It’s very similar to the menu they used to run Uptown, just because we have so many regular customers,” Loftus says. “That’s what they wanted.”

He has created a menu exclusive to the bar, however, with more laid-back dishes. Brunch service will also kick off soon, with items such as crabmeat Benedict and a lobster BLT. The dinner menu features classic French cooking and techniques, listing some of the most expensive dishes in the city. It’s one of the only places you’ll find the staples of traditional fine dining, such as chateaubriand and a caviar selection. Many orders include table-side service, including the Dover sole, which is filleted table-side. And though the menu hasn’t changed much, the dishes look different. 

“I’ve been working on modernizing the presentations,” Loftus says.

The new space also includes a large patio, which seats 48 guests and has been popular with diners during Covid-19. The restaurant is hardly recognizable from the former Georges Brasserie space. Everything was redone, from the air conditioning units to the doors and floors. Even the ceilings were taken up to create a more airy space. 

With Uptown offices continuing to work remotely, the timing of Bentley’s move was fortunate. Even before the pandemic hit, however, Emad says clients were losing patience with Uptown. 

“I’ve talked to my regular customers who say they are much happier that we are in SouthPark,” he says. “It’s much closer to their houses. These days people don’t want to go downtown. It’s not because the past couple of months — it’s just parking is a mess, the one-way streets, construction. It was just aggravating for the guests, it got difficult, so we decided to just move back here.”

Also of note is the restaurant’s wine list, which includes Coravin pours of big names like Opus One and Far Niente. —Kristen Wile

 

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