Southern Kitchen recently reopened at Stony Point Fashion Park. (Jack Jacobs photo)
A Jackson Ward restaurant’s move to South Richmond is complete.
Southern Kitchen has opened at Stony Point Fashion Park, where it has nearly twice the space it had in its downtown location. Owner Shane Roberts-Thomas said she relocated because the restaurant had outgrown its previous home.
“While we loved and truly miss Jackson Ward, it was just that we couldn’t give the crowds what they needed,” she said.
Now in a 8,400-square-foot space, Southern Kitchen has seating for 300 diners between its indoor and patio areas. Its former location at 541 N. Second St. was 5,000 square feet and had room for 80 people.
Southern Kitchen has a 10-year lease on its new Stony Point space, which was formerly occupied by Brio Tuscan Grill and across from P.F. Chang’s at one of the mall’s entrances. Brio, an original tenant of the mall when it opened in 2003, closed there in 2020.
Roberts-Thomas said she invested around $100,000 in the new location, and that mall owner Second Horizon Capital made a larger, undisclosed investment toward the opening of the restaurant.
She said she had looked at several options to expand the restaurant, including space nearer to its previous location. She credited Second Horizon with giving her a chance to take over a larger space when other landlords balked at the idea. She said her eatery stands to bring more foot traffic to Stony Point, which has struggled in recent years compared to other malls in the region.
“It’s a win for both of us,” Roberts-Thomas said.
Shane Roberts-Thomas
Roberts-Thomas said business had been good since opening in recent days and credited that to a loyal following she’s cultivated over a decade.
“When you’re dealing with a loyal customer base and you have done right by them, they will travel for you,” she said. “I have an amazing village. I felt like I just needed to get the right square footage and parking.”
Southern Kitchen’s menu largely remains the same in the new location, though some additions have been made. Roberts-Thomas salvaged Brio’s pizza oven and is now serving pizzas with toppings like pulled pork and meatloaf.
“I couldn’t see her go to waste,” she said of the oven.
Southern Kitchen has also recently added short ribs and a new pasta dish to its menu that features southern staples like fried catfish, shrimp and grits and fried pork chops, among other items.
Southern Kitchen closed in Jackson Ward in June, and reopened at Stony Point earlier this month. Plans for the move were announced earlier this year. The restaurant had operated on North Second Street since 2019. It first opened in 2013 in Shockoe Bottom.
Roberts-Thomas briefly ran a restaurant called The Deuce in Jackson Ward, which opened in 2022 but later closed.
Roberts-Thomas appeared on “Chopped,” a Food Network cooking competition series, in an episode that aired in late 2020. Southern Kitchen was also featured the same year on Gordon Ramsay’s “24 Hours to Hell and Back” series.
Another recent arrival to Stony Point is charcuterie business Bite by Bite & Co. The mall is anchored by Dillard’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. Other eateries at Stony Point include Latitude Seafood Co., Eggspectation and Fleming’s steakhouse.