More than two years after Cafe 33 closed near Sprayberry High School, a similar establishment is planning to open in the same space.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday granted an alcohol license to Siamak Mistaly, owner of the forthcoming Prestige Cafe (2595 East Piedmont Road, in the Sprayberry Collection Shopping Center).
There’s been a yellow sign in the vacant spot, a notice of appeal for an alcohol license that had previously been denied by the Cobb County License Review Board.
The denial was routine, given that the cafe location is within 600 feet of a school, park, library or place of worship, the minimum distance under county code for alcohol sales.
In this case, Prestige Cafe would sit 461 feet from the Masjid Ibad-Ur Rahman, a mosque at the adjacent Sprayberry Crossing Shopping Center.
Appeals of those denials are heard by commissioners, and at a public hearing at Tuesday’s commission meeting, commissioner JoAnn Birrell noted there wasn’t an objection to the cafe’s alcohol license from the mosque.
Several other businesses that sell alcohol are nearby, including Catfish Hox, Zama Mexican Cuisine, Willie Jewell’s barbecue, Kumo Hibachi Sushi, a Shell convenience store and the Sprayberry Bottle Shop.
Birrell also wanted to get more information about the Prestige Cafe’s hours.
Mistaly said the restaurant would be similar to Cafe 33 in the nature of its food offerings and will have more bakery-type items. In the evenings, it will be a hookah bar with live entertainment.
The hours are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
Documents filed with the county indicate that the establishment intends to derive 60 percent of its revenues from food sales, and that IDs will be checked in the evenings after 8 p.m. for adult-only admission to the bar.
Mistaly said the establishment is a family-style operation that is family-owned, with the proprietors experienced in the coffee shop, bakery and bar business.
