Buford's Holiday Season Starts on Buford Drive, Right Where the New Restaurants Opened

Buford's first holiday event this year happens on Buford Drive. Downtown comes later. Santa arrives at the Mall of Georgia on Saturday, November 7, almost a full month before the Buford Holiday Festival and Parade fills East Main Street on December 5.

That timing matters more this year because the same stretch of SR 20 around the mall picked up Buford's most talked-about new restaurants in 2026, and it is still under construction. The season starts in the corridor that changed the most, then moves toward the lake and finally Main Street over about four weeks.

The corridor got its dinner lineup first

Most of this year's restaurant news happened within a short drive of the Mall of Georgia, at 3333 Buford Drive. Here is the lineup, in order.

Nan Xiang is the one people outside Gwinnett noticed. Atlanta Magazine reported that the New York soup dumpling brand, which held a Michelin recommendation for nine straight years at its original Queens location, picked the Mall of Georgia for its first Georgia restaurant and its 13th overall. The Buford space covers 6,000 square feet with seating for nearly 200, which makes it one of the brand's largest. Co-founder Michael Ma told the magazine that, after New York's compact rooms, "here the space is huge," and that the room lets the restaurant serve more customers "in a more comfortable manner than some of our other locations."

The menu matches the brand's other locations. It includes the Lucky Six basket of six soup dumpling flavors, Shanghai-style wontons in spicy peanut sauce and pan-fried pork buns, with an open kitchen where staff fold dumplings by hand. In August, management said it planned to add a full bar with cocktails, wine and beer later this year, pending liquor license approval. If you're planning a holiday dinner there around the bar, call the restaurant first.

Jeremiah's had its official opening on June 20, according to Southwest Gwinnett Magazine. In an April roundup of the chain's metro expansion, What Now Atlanta already listed the Buford shop as open.

Portillo's has permits, not a date

The next big arrival is already approved on paper. On September 18, Portillo's announced a Buford restaurant at Buford Highway, also called SR 20, and Mall of Georgia Boulevard, set to open in 2027. It will be the chain's second Georgia location, after Kennesaw opened in November 2025. The release describes a restaurant of about 4,900 square feet with nearly 100 indoor seats, 20 patio seats and the brand's double drive-thru lanes.

Gwinnett County's building permit report shows two permits for 3207 Buford Drive, both issued August 19, 2026. One is a restaurant building permit with a stated project cost of $1,222,115. The other is a demolition permit for the old building at $200,000. In July, What Now Atlanta identified the site as the former Romano's Macaroni Grill and reported that renovation bidding was open. Neither the company nor the county has given an opening month. A crew at the former Macaroni Grill this winter would match those permits, but it won't mean a 2027 date has been set.

The season, date by date

The corridor's restaurants are new this year. The holiday calendar around them follows the same order of locations. The mall goes first, the lake follows, and downtown Buford takes the first weekend of December and the weekends after.

The first deadline is Monday, November 2. Christmas Traditions runs in two timed entry slots on parade morning and includes Santa photos and holiday activities. Tickets cost $10 and go on sale November 2 at 9 a.m. According to Explore Gwinnett's listing, the festival around it that day includes the parade, live performers, food trucks, vendors and family activities. If you want both on the same Saturday, the 10 a.m. slot leaves the rest of the day free for the street.

For Magical Nights of Lights, the October 1 release from Lanier Islands promises more than 1.5 additional miles of lights and new displays for 2026. Clark's Holiday Pop-up Bar returns at Game Changer, the resort's 23,000-square-foot indoor playground. Before the lights open, the resort's fall calendar lists a Murder Mystery Weekend October 30 to November 1, Songwriters at the Lake November 13 to 15, and a Thanksgiving buffet on November 26.

The Sylvia Beard Theatre shows take three December weekends in a row. Marley Jayne & Friends tickets are listed at $20. All of these pages are live listings, so check them again before you go.

The busiest weeks run through an active work zone

Every mall-side date on that calendar sends traffic onto SR 20 while crews are still widening it. Gwinnett County's transportation project dashboard, updated October 9, lists two Buford Drive projects under construction.

• Rock Springs Road to Brand Smart Way: adds a third northbound lane, plus sidewalks, curb and gutter, and drainage work. Expected completion is early 2027.
• North of the I-85 interchange to Old Peachtree Road: also listed as a third-northbound-lane widening with sidewalks and drainage, funded through the SPLOST program. Expected completion is late 2027.

So the work will still be underway for this whole holiday season, and the northern segment will likely still be in progress when Portillo's opens at Mall of Georgia Boulevard. If you're heading to the November 14 tree lighting or the December 19 Grinch on the Green, plan for evening traffic in a construction zone. The new lane and sidewalks are scheduled to arrive in 2027, when the corridor's next restaurant does.

The new restaurants also bring new activity on the roads around them. If your home is near the Buford Drive corridor and you've wondered how this year's changes nearby affect its value, Tommy Nguyen can run an instant home valuation and walk you through what nearby sales show. Get your instant home valuation whenever you're ready, even if your only plan for December is the parade.