CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Ford’s Garage officially opened its first Tennessee restaurant Tuesday, Oct. 13, just outside Hamilton Place Mall in Chattanooga, with a ribbon-cutting at 10:30 a.m.
The automotive-themed restaurant sits at 2102 Hamilton Place Boulevard, the former home of Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant. Its design is inspired by a 1920s service station, with vintage Ford vehicles, memorabilia and nostalgic details throughout the dining room.
The menu focuses on prime burgers, comfort food, craft beer and hand-crafted cocktails. The restaurant is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Hamilton Place shared photos of the newly opened restaurant on social media the day it opened.
Ford’s Garage was founded in Fort Myers, Florida, in 2012. The chain first announced plans for a Chattanooga location in August, when a spokesperson said the restaurant was scheduled to open in fall 2026.
The new restaurant adds to the commercial strip around Hamilton Place Mall, Chattanooga’s largest regional shopping center, which anchors commercial activity in East Brainerd. The mall opened in 1987 and accelerated residential and commercial growth in the area through the 1990s, turning East Brainerd into the dominant suburban growth area for the Chattanooga metro.
East Brainerd was built out mostly along the I-75 corridor, and the restaurant’s spot on Hamilton Place Boulevard puts it in that busy interstate shopping district, close to the stores and restaurants that draw shoppers from across the region.
