Five Points South Birmingham: New Restaurants and Dining in 2026

Seven businesses opened in Five Points South between March and mid-September of 2026. They include a sushi and sake lounge, an açaí shop, a coffee shop, a bar, a brunch spot, a diner that never closes and a late-night cocktail bar with DJs. None of them is a white-tablecloth seafood room. On October 2, Bham Now reported that Ocean, the district's seafood room since 2002, had closed for good.

Taken one at a time, the openings look like the usual turnover. Lined up by the hour each one serves, they show something else. The district has been adding morning, brunch, late-night and overnight business all year. Its anniversary-dinner business now rests almost entirely on two restaurants owned by one family.

The 2026 opening log

Here is what opened, in order, based on Bham Now's running tally of the year.

Four of the seven are built around the start of the day or the end of the night. Coffee, açaí and brunch cover the morning and midday. La Catrina, which Bham Now described as a late-night cocktail bar with DJs and dancing, and Karma's Kitchen cover the hours after most kitchens close. Sakéroom and Icon fill out the evening. The city council agenda for May 19 lists La Catrina's lounge liquor license applicant as LA Catrina Bar, LLC, and that is the only ownership detail on the public record so far.

The diner built for the hours after the bars

Karma's Kitchen explains the pattern better than anything else on the list, because its owner said out loud what gap he was filling.

Dan Williams, who owns Dave's Pub, started looking for a spot for a round-the-clock restaurant after Marty's PM closed in 2024. Marty's had been the district's late-night fixture for 31 years at 1813 10th Ct. S. When the former 5 Point Public House & Oyster Bar space came up, Williams took it. The diner is named for his daughter, seats up to 74 and serves breakfast staples, burgers and comfort food around the clock, seven days a week.

The plan, as Bham Now laid it out, works in two shifts. Daytime and evening service is aimed at families, students and non-drinkers looking for a casual place to hang out. After midnight, it turns into a late-night spot for people coming out of nearby bars and music venues.

"I think it's going to be really family-driven during the day, then at night it'll start turning more into college kids and people leaving the bars." Dan Williams, to Bham Now

AL.com's July preview gave July 31 as the opening date, and Bham Now's October roundup confirmed the diner started serving that day. So a 1:00 a.m. table in Five Points South exists again, about a year and a half after Marty's closed.

Ocean's address is now the dark one on the block

Look at a map of the 1200 block of 20th Street South. Bham Now placed Karma's Kitchen between Ocean and Dobber's Five Points Pub. Two months after the diner opened, the restaurant on one side of it closed.

Ocean had been at 1218 20th St. S. since Chef George Reis opened it in 2002. It collected multiple Best Chef and Best Restaurant awards. In 2024 it was one of only three Alabama restaurants to receive the Award of Excellence from the Distinguished Restaurants of North America. Earlier in 2026, Reis handed ownership to Chloe Kidd and wrote that she had "exciting plans for Ocean's future." Eight months after that transition, Kidd confirmed the closure to Bham Now and declined to give a statement.

No reason for the closing has been made public, and nothing in the reporting ties it to the new places down the street. What can be said is this. A restaurant built for graduation dinners and anniversaries went dark in the same year the district gained a diner, a brunch spot, a coffee shop and two late-night bars. The block now runs on a different schedule than it did in January.

Where the special-occasion dinner still lives

That leaves Frank and Pardis Stitt holding up the district's fine-dining end almost alone.

Bottega was a James Beard Award finalist this spring, and AL.com photographed it in full service on April 2. Its website posts café and dining-room hours, and its dining-room menu is dated October 3, 2026. Chez Fonfon's site carries a menu dated September 23, 2026, with reservation details and current hours. As of AL.com's April reporting, Dolester Miles' coconut pecan cake was still on the menu at both, more than four years after the James Beard-winning pastry chef retired.

The third Stitt room is still waiting. Highlands Bar & Grill, which won the 2018 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant, has been closed indefinitely since the pandemic hit in 2020, according to AL.com's April 2026 report. It is still listed on the Stitt Restaurant Group website. In August 2025, Alabama's 42 reported that the Stitts hoped to reopen it as a "reimagined space." No timeline or plan came with that report.

So the district's 2026 business has spread out across the clock, while its occasion dining has narrowed to two dining rooms within walking distance of each other.

A full day in Five Points South on the 2026 schedule

If you live close enough to walk in, you can now spend an entire day and night in the district without repeating a stop. I've left out specific hours because most of these places post their own and change them. The order is what matters.

1. Morning coffee at Land of a Thousand Hills, on the ground floor of the Cortland Vesta building at 2173 Highland Ave.
2. Late-morning brunch at Bandido Brunch & Social, 1105 20th St. S., or an açaí bowl from Bandida Bowls back in Five Points Lane.
3. Lunch at the Bottega café, which keeps its own hours separate from the dining room.
4. Dinner at Chez Fonfon or the Bottega dining room, the two reservation-worthy rooms still open on the Stitt side of the district.
5. Sushi and sake at Sakéroom, 2007 Highland Ave., or a drink at Icon Birmingham in Pickwick Place.
6. Dancing at La Catrina, 1005 20th St. S.
7. Pancakes after midnight at Karma's Kitchen, 1210 20th St. S.

A year ago, steps one, two, six and seven had no 2026 business to send you to. Steps four and five were the district's strong suit. Now the first list has filled in and the dinner list has gotten shorter.

What to watch at 1218 and around the fountain

Three addresses will shape the next round.

• 1218 20th St. S. The former Ocean space has no reported successor. The October 2 closure story names no new tenant.
• 1813 10th Ct. S. The former Marty's PM storefront has no announced replacement in the coverage so far. Karma's Kitchen took over the old 5 Point Public House space, not Marty's.
• Highlands Bar & Grill. It is still closed as of spring 2026 reporting, with only a stated hope of a reimagined reopening.

What happens at those three addresses will decide whether the new hours become a lasting identity or just one year's tenant mix. If the Ocean space goes to another late-night or casual concept, that block of 20th Street will be built almost entirely around brunch, bar hours and the hours after the bars close. A sit-down dinner concept there would keep the old balance.

The district's shared calendar points the same way. The Five Points Alliance, the Birmingham Irish Cultural Society and Downtown BHM's business improvement district put on the 42nd annual St. Patrick's parade on March 14. On August 22, the first Five Points South Summer Sampler set up at Brother Bryan Park from 5 to 9 p.m., with bites and drinks from district restaurants and live music. Both events are built around walking from place to place and staying out into the evening. Both center on the same few blocks around the Storyteller Fountain, which Downtown BHM still lists as the district's signature landmark.

I spent years on the builder side watching how one anchor tenant decides who shows up on a block, and the next lease at 1218 will do exactly that. If you live near Five Points South and want to talk through what the district's changing tenant mix means for your street, Roxanne Hale is happy to walk it with you over coffee at Land of a Thousand Hills. Let's Connect.