Historic Pineville’s first cocktail bar to open this month inside new restaurant The Garrison

The restaurant/cocktail bar is next to its sister restaurant Margaux’s Wine, Pizza & Market. The Garrison is opening in the space formerly occupied by Global Restaurant, which closed in April.

Why it matters: Pineville is growing rapidly — its population surged nearly 42% in the last decade, census numbers show. There’s a growing demand for local restaurants and bars. “This is the first cocktail bar in historic Pineville,” owner Kevin Devanney tells Axios.

Context: Margaux’s opened in early 2021. At that time, mask mandates and indoor capacity were in effect as restaurants grappled to stay open.

• Yes, but: It opened at a time when Charlotte and surrounding towns saw a population boom, in part because of the pandemic.
• Of note: Mecklenburg County is one of the fastest-growing parts of the state over the last decade, Axios’ Katie Peralta Soloff and Danielle Chemtob reported last year.

“Pineville’s downtown doesn’t have much in the way of restaurants and it was important to create affordable options — places you could stop in a few times a week, whether for dinner with family or drinks with friends,” Devanney said in a press release.

What to expect: The Garrison is a two-story restaurant with 70 seats upstairs and 60 seats downstairs, including 20 on their outdoor patio.

• Both the upstairs and downstairs spaces have their own bar so you won’t have to travel too far to get a refill.
• The upstairs bar will be used for live music, events and comedy nights.

The menu: The Garrison will specialize in American classics like filets, rib eyes, chicken wings and seafood.

• It’ll have eight burgers on the menu in addition to signature dishes like St. Louis-style toasted ravioli, Cheerwine short ribs, a braised lamb shank and pan-seared scallops with a butternut squash risotto.
• The produce is locally sourced from the Pineville Farmer’s Market down the street and the burger meat comes from Brasstown Beef in Franklin, N.C. “We try to use as many local vendors as we can,” Devanney told me. The restaurant will also have beer from Pineville’s Middle James Brewing.
• The Garrison will release a Sunday brunch menu November 6.

Details: The Garrison is located at 314 Main St., Pineville, NC.

• Hours: Tuesday-Wednesday 11:30am-10pm, Thursday-Saturday 11:30am-midnight, Sunday brunch (starting in November) will be from 10am-3pm. Closed on Mondays.

Go deeper: 18 things to do in Pineville, from the Polk historic site to Colombian cuisine to hiking trails