We attended Mastro’s Ocean Club’s Nov. 5 grand-opening event, one day before the restaurant opened to the public.
The opening represents a change of concept, not ownership. Landry’s replaced its McCormick & Schmick’s with Mastro’s Ocean Club on Nov. 6. The fine-dining steak and seafood restaurant occupies the ground-floor space at 190 Marietta St. NW, Suite 200, inside The CTR, the former CNN Center in Downtown Atlanta.
For anyone heading downtown for a game, convention or visit to Centennial Olympic Park, Mastro’s adds a different kind of stop to the food hall and central bar already operating inside the atrium. The restaurant includes a dining room, white marble bar, sunroom and private dining rooms, with live music in the lounge during most operating hours. It is Mastro’s first Georgia location.
The opening also requires a correction from us. Our May 22, 2026 article about The CTR’s reopening said, “Center Foodworks and Mastro’s Ocean Club are open.”
That sentence was incorrect. The food hall’s official name is CTR Food Works, and Mastro’s did not open to the public until Nov. 6.
What the restaurant adds
Mastro’s signed on as The CTR’s ground-floor restaurant anchor before the atrium reopened in May. Reporting from August 2025 pointed to a likely June 2026 opening, while CP Group later projected a mid-2026 debut. The public opening ultimately came in November.
CTR Food Works and the CTR Bar were already operating by then. Mastro’s adds a full-service, sit-down restaurant rather than supplying dining where none existed.
There is a nearby precedent for the business move. Landry’s closed The Oceanaire Seafood Room at 1100 Peachtree St. in Midtown in June 2025 and replaced it with another company-owned concept. Dos Caminos opened there in January 2026.
Both changes involve Landry’s replacing one of its restaurant brands with another in space it already controlled. That explains the business pattern, but it does not tell us how Mastro’s will perform Downtown.
The refresh extends beyond dinner
We previously toured The CTR with CP Group for “This Is Atlanta: Downtown.” The restaurant gives us another completed change to follow, but it is important to separate the growing list of places to visit from the larger question of how the rest of the 1.2-million-square-foot complex will be used.
CP Group and Rialto Capital acquired the former CNN Center in 2021. CNN began moving its Atlanta operations back to its Techwood campus in Midtown in 2023, with the relocation completed in early 2024.
The former office towers remain largely vacant. CP Group has discussed converting one into apartments and another into a hotel, projects that could require public incentives. Earlier in 2026, the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority also explored a potential purchase of the property.
Two more entertainment concepts are announced.
The Looking Glass, a 38,000-square-foot immersive dining and entertainment venue from AMP Up1 Hospitality, is planned for the former CNN studios. The Atlanta company behind Your 3rd Spot is targeting the second quarter of 2027.
Live-K Karaoke has signed a 10,500-square-foot lease for the former Dantanna’s space and is expected to open in fall 2027.
Those projects represent different stages of the same redevelopment: an operating food hall and bar, a newly opened restaurant, two entertainment concepts planned for 2027, and potential new uses for the former office towers.
Next door, Centennial Yards is adding restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues, placing The CTR within a broader shift around Centennial Olympic Park and State Farm Arena.
Mastro’s feels built for the nights when dinner is the event. The lobster sushi was excellent, the oysters and crab cakes were standout dishes, and the staff made the room feel warm rather than intimidating.
This is not an everyday stop. It is an upscale experience for a birthday, anniversary, business dinner or special night Downtown, where the atmosphere and service matter as much as what arrives at the table.
