The Ivy poured drafts for game-day crowds on Roswell Road until it closed in 2024. The same address now plates a $74 bone-in dry-aged strip under hand-painted wallpaper. Luella, the Buckhead steakhouse that brothers Jamey and Benjie Shirah opened in late 2025, is the bet that a rowdy sports bar can grow up into fine dining, and most nights it collects.
The wager isn’t fully won. Wood-fired steaks and a standout pastry bench prove the kitchen can hang with the neighborhood’s pricier rooms, while a menu that runs from sushi to Wagyu and a wine list marked up as much as 300 percent over retail show where the polish still rubs thin.
From Sports Bar to Salon: How the Shirahs Rebuilt the Room
The address has lived several lives. For 25 years it was Carbo’s Cafe, a steakhouse and piano bar. Then the brothers turned it into a rowdy sports bar built for game-day crowds, The Ivy, which shut its doors in 2024. Reopening it late in 2025 as a polished steakhouse named for their daughters, Lucille and Eleanor, reads like a decision to grow up.
Jamey and Benjie Shirah, the brothers behind Revival Restaurant Group, kept the bones and changed almost everything else. The restaurant now spans a lively bar, two dining rooms, and a private dining room. The dining areas play like a string of European-inspired salons, with oxblood-velvet banquettes, black-and-white tile floors, and hand-painted wallpapers that do most of the talking.
The marble bar is where the energy peaks. It stays packed enough that finding a seat, or even a place to stand, can feel like a small victory. The whole evening is framed loosely, by the house’s own pitch:
There’s no wrong way to enjoy your evening.
That line, lifted from the restaurant’s stated dining philosophy, sets the tone: unrushed, a little indulgent, built for company. The room delivers the spectacle this stretch of Buckhead expects. The harder question is whether the kitchen behind it earns the prices.
A Menu That Reaches Past Its Grasp
Chef Stuart Rogers runs a menu that wants to be all things. Appetizers, oysters, sushi, salads, pastas, seafood, steaks, Wagyu, and a long roster of sides crowd the page. Most of it lands, but the list could use an editor.
The starters make the strongest first impression. The Wagyu croquettes ($15), filled with braised beef and molten mozzarella, come out crisp and unapologetically rich. The Caesar salad ($16) is the quiet standout, lifted by thin slices of house-preserved lemon that cut the dressing and brighten every bite. From the bar, the togarashi-thyme cocktail ($16) folds Japanese togarashi (a savory chili-based spice blend), fresh thyme, ginger beer, lime, and tequila blanco into something crisp and not too sweet.
The sushi is where the reach exceeds the grasp. The spicy salmon avocado roll ($22) and the tuna veil ($23) were the weakest plates of the night, gloppy with extra sauces and add-ins. The tuna veil drapes over its other ingredients like a tablecloth, which makes it oddly hard to cut and eat with chopsticks. In a city now thick with dedicated omakase counters opening across Atlanta, a steakhouse roll feels like a section the menu could lose.
| Dish | Price | The verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Wagyu croquettes | $15 | Crisp and molten, order it |
| Caesar salad | $16 | Preserved-lemon showstopper |
| Togarashi-thyme cocktail | $16 | Crisp and balanced |
| Spicy salmon avocado roll | $22 | Over-sauced, skip |
| Tuna veil | $23 | Awkward to eat, skip |
The Wood Fire Cashes the Bet
Luella is a steakhouse at heart, and the kitchen knows it. The meat is where the cooking turns confident.
The 10-ounce New York strip ($69) and the 12-ounce bone-in dry-aged New York strip ($74) arrive smoky and precisely cooked off the wood fire, two of the best steaks I have had in the city. The char reads as technique, not accident.
The veal Parmesan ($60) is a textbook plate, a bone-in veal chop that stays crisp under melted cheese and bright tomato sauce, indulgent without tipping into heavy. It is the version other kitchens get measured against. The spaghetti and meatballs ($32) lands close to that mark too, with tender, well-seasoned meatballs and pasta cooked with real bite.
The one recurring fault is sweetness. The bright red sauce on the meatballs runs sugary, the same note that trips up a handful of other dishes. It is a small thing, but it keeps surfacing.
Where the Pasta and Sides Win
Past the steaks, the pasta station does its strongest and most uneven work. One dish justifies the trip; another shows the pricing getting ahead of the plate.
The hand-cut pappardelle is the high point, and the cheapest carb on the table is the sleeper. Here is how the order sorts out:
- Hand-cut pappardelle ($32): wide ribbons in a creamy white Bolognese with truffle mushrooms and Grana Padano, deeply savory and the best pasta on the menu.
- Cacio e pepe ($14): al dente spaghetti in a creamy pecorino sauce with toasted black pepper, a benchmark version and proof the best pasta here is technically a side.
- Gouda fries ($15): crunchy, irregular cuts under a cloud of grated cheese, ordered at nearly every table in the room.
- Spicy lobster rigatoni alla vodka ($45): a glossy pink sauce that runs sweeter than expected, with lobster you have to hunt for, the hardest plate to justify at the price.
The pattern is consistent. When the kitchen keeps it simple, it nails the dish; when it dresses things up, the price climbs faster than the payoff.
Pastry Chef Danielle Embery Steals the Finish
Save room. After plates this rich, dessert reads optional until pastry chef Danielle Embery’s work arrives, and she is the name to watch. Her Carrot Cake 2.0 ($16) reroutes a dish that is usually cloying, leaning almost savory under an airy swirl of cream-cheese frosting brightened with crushed freeze-dried raspberries; it is the first dessert servers push, and they are right to.
The Bananas Foster Cheesecake ($16) runs a close second. Between the two, the pastry bench is one of the most assured parts of the operation, which is not where most steakhouses keep their best player.
What Two People Will Spend
None of this is cheap. It is easy to clear $200 for two before a single drink, and the drinks are where the bill gets interesting.
The wine list is broad to the point of losing focus, less a curated range than a world tour, and many bottles carry steep markups, some as high as 300 percent over retail. The cocktails, at around $16, are the better value and the more thoughtful list.
| Item | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Togarashi-thyme cocktail | $16 | Best value at the bar |
| House wine bottles | Up to 300% over retail | Broad list, steep markups |
| 12-oz dry-aged strip | $74 | The menu’s anchor splurge |
| Dinner for two | About $200 | Before any alcohol |
Service Hasn’t Caught Up to the Kitchen
Service is the part still chasing the food.
Most servers are clearly reaching for genuine fine-dining polish, and some get there. Over a single meal, one server turned condescending while another showed the kind of intuitive hospitality that quietly lifts an entire evening.
That spread is normal for a dining room barely six months old. At these prices, though, it is the gap guests will clock first.
Luella is still settling its identity, and it does not get everything right. But when the kitchen and the room move at the same tempo, it earns the drive back, and the old Ivy address shows that a sports bar can in fact grow into a serious restaurant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where Is Luella Located in Atlanta?
Luella sits at 3717 Roswell Road NE in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, in the space that previously held Carbo’s Cafe and the sports bar The Ivy. It serves dinner Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. and Monday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m.
Who Owns Luella?
Brothers Jamey and Benjie Shirah own the restaurant through their Revival Restaurant Group. They named it after their daughters, Lucille and Eleanor, and opened it late in 2025.
What Should You Order at Luella?
The strongest plates are the wood-fired New York strips, the veal Parmesan, the hand-cut pappardelle, the cacio e pepe side, the Gouda fries, and the Carrot Cake 2.0 dessert. The sushi is the section to skip.
How Much Does Dinner Cost at Luella?
Plan on roughly $200 for two before alcohol. Steaks run from $69 to $74, pastas from $32 to $45, and sides around $14 to $15. Wine carries steep markups, so cocktails near $16 are often the better value.
Does Luella Take Reservations?
Yes. Reservations are available through the restaurant’s online reservation system and on OpenTable, and the marble bar takes walk-ins, though those seats fill quickly most nights.
What Was in the Luella Space Before?
The Roswell Road building spent 25 years as Carbo’s Cafe, a steakhouse and piano bar, then became a sports bar, The Ivy, which closed in 2024 before reopening under its current name.
