Westside Provisions District Loses Its ‘Blade Runner’ Cocktail Bar in August

Cocktail bar Little Trouble is closing Saturday, August 19, after eight years at Westside Provisions District.

Backed by Victory Brands, the restaurant group behind Victory Sandwich Bar, Lloyd’s, and S.O.S. Tiki Bar, the design for Little Trouble is styled after the 1982 Sci-Fi movie “Blade Runner” with a touch of the 1986 film “Big Trouble in Little China”. Little Trouble’s iconic neon red and blue sign at the end of the hallway near the entrance to the bar is a popular spot for Instagram photos. Beyond its futuristic decor, Little Trouble is known for strong cocktails using Asian ingredients and spirits and an extensive Japanese whisky selection.

“In true Victory Brands fashion, it would be fun to say something snarky about ‘disagreements with the landlord’ or ‘the rapidly changing nature of West Midtown,’ but the simple reason is that Little Trouble was never meant to last,” a statement provided to Eater on Monday reads. “As we conceived of what would eventually become Little Trouble (credit heavy boozing, a Miami fishing trip, and compatriot Greg Best [Ticonderoga Club] for the killer name), and developed it into a highly-stylized ‘izakaya’, we knew we would be setting a timer on things. That time has come.”

Staff at Little Trouble have been given the option to stay on with Victory Brands to work at its other restaurants.

In addition to cocktails, Little Trouble also features food from Mushi Ni, the Asian-American comfort food stall run by chefs Tanya Jimenez and Michael Le. Mushi Ni took over the kitchen at Little Trouble in 2020 serving dishes like Tokyo fries, a variety of bao, and tempura fried Oreos. Last call for Mushi Ni at Little Trouble is Friday, August 18. Jimenez and Le first opened Mushi Ni at We Suki Suki: Global Grub Collective, eventually landing a residency at S.O.S. Tiki Bar in Decatur. A Mushi Ni stall recently opened at Chattahoochee Food Works in Underwood Hills and Jimenez and Le are working on a standalone location on the east side of Atlanta.

“There are always small elements that we may incorporate into another bar (Japanese highballs anyone?), but it just wouldn’t be LT anywhere else,” co-owner Ian Jones tells Eater of possibly reopening Little Trouble elsewhere. “[The bar] was a reaction to the space we had to work with — the long hallway, the split suites, etc. — not so much a concept we developed first then shopped around.”

As for the Victory Brands restaurant slated to open at Armour Yards near SweetWater Brewing Company, Jones says that’s no longer in the works. While he wouldn’t elaborate on what the group has planned next, Jones did say any future Victory Brands restaurants and bars would be located on Atlanta’s east side.

Little Trouble becomes the third big closure at Westside Provisions District since 2021. Redbird, the restaurant from chef Zeb Stevenson where vegetables were center stage, closed in February after three years at the complex. Ford Fry closed JCT Kitchen and Bar at the end of 2021 after nearly 15 years at the Howell Mill shopping and dining district. Fry expects to open neighborhood restaurant Little Sparrow in the former JCT Kitchen space later this summer, followed by cocktail lounge Bar Blanc upstairs in the former JCT bar space across from Redbird in the fall.

Little Trouble

Little Trouble

Little Trouble