On Aug. 1 a new bar came to town. Well, the Courthouse Grill may not be new to Starkville, but the ownership sure is.
Seth O’Nan, a 25-year-old Mississippi State University graduate, and MSU student Austin Shafer, 23, both fulfilled a dream by opening their own restaurant when they bought the Courthouse Grill from former owner Wayne Chesney.
Along with new ownership comes a brand new menu, a certified chef, a new outlook centered on service, a more laid back atmosphere and live music about four times a week.
The new menu has a courtroom-influenced theme that not only reflects the restaurant’s name, but its history as well. The Courthouse Grill not only sits across the street from Oktibbeha County Courthouse, it was also the home of a law office for over 60 years.
How did the deal go down? O’Nan said it was just “the right time, right place.”
A lot of the waiters and waitresses and the kitchen crew stayed on for the change in ownership. Bartender Ashley Dodgen says that the change is wonderful.
“Business has picked up, and I haven’t heard any complaints,” Dodgen said.
Since the new bar opened about three weeks ago, O’Nan and Shafer have made improvements to the interior to create an atmosphere that blends both the character of a former law office and that of a college hangout.
“We both feel like we can appeal to the college-age crowd with night life,” O’Nan said. “Being local-both of us are originally from Starkville-we can also appeal to the older crowd with the food.”
The night life at the Courthouse has also made a change. Starting every night at 10, the upstairs bar changes to Lucky’s Lounge. Lucky’s Lounge will offer a wide variety of music: patrons can hear live blues the first Saturday of every month or listen to good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll and everything in-between. Lucky’s Lounge also has something unique to Starkville bars: a balcony that overlooks downtown.
O’Nan said having a steady set of regulars helped the Courthouse started off with a bang.
“We couldn’t ask for anything better,” O’Nan said.
MSU student Anne Lauren Fratesi went to check out Lucky’s Lounge and said she enjoyed it.
“The food was good and it is a lot better than it used to be,” she said.