‘Freaking awesome.’ Popular Harris County restaurant to open Columbus location
Luke’s Pub & Steakhouse co-owner Bobby Noland was all smiles Thursday as he worked in the restaurant’s upcoming Columbus location and celebrated his family’s 30th anniversary of owning the business.
Last year, Noland, along with friends Jeff and Katrina Johnpeer, reopened Luke’s Pub in Pine Mountain after being forced to close the original Ellerslie location because the building needed substantial repairs.
In May 2025, Noland and the Johnpeers welcomed customers to the new location near Callaway Gardens in Harris County. During the past year, business has gone “above and beyond” for that location, Noland told the Ledger-Enquirer.
“We knew it would be good,” he said. “But I believe it’s a little bit better than what we ever anticipated.”
While the Pine Mountain location has worked well, drawing people in from LaGrange, Newnan and Peachtree City, Noland said, some of the regulars from Ellerslie told him the new location was too far for them.
Around three or four months ago, Noland learned about an open space in a Columbus shopping center at the intersection of Moon Road and Miller Road.
The traffic on Moon Road is strong, he said, and a lot of residences are nearby.
Around 50% to 60% of Luke’s Pub customers are from Muscogee and Harris counties, Noland said.
“I’m definitely expecting to see a lot of my old faces,” he said. “The people who were going to Ellerslie, who say that Pine Mountain is just too far away, now have some place to be. I’ve never been in the city. I’ve always been in the county, so this is going to be new. I’m expecting it to be just flooded with customers.”
Luke’s Pub to offer wings and oysters in Columbus
The new Columbus location has more of a “bar look” to it than the Pine Mountain location, Noland said, but the plan is to keep Luke’s Pub a family-friendly restaurant first and foremost.
While most items on the menu won’t change, the Columbus location will offer some choices the Pine Mountain location does not.
“We don’t do wings or oysters out there,” Noland said. “We’re going to do wings and oysters here.”
The reason for this is that the kitchen in the Columbus location is bigger and can support adding these items, Noland said, but the main entrees will be the same, including the snake bites.
“I cannot go anywhere without snake bites and a steak sandwich,” he said.
Another difference is that the Columbus location will serve lunch.
“We don’t do lunch in Pine Mountain,” he said. “So we’ll run a meat-and-two, meat-and-three vegetable type deal. We’re also going to run a catfish plate during lunch.”
‘How far will you take us?’
When it comes to the atmosphere, the Columbus location has more televisions than the one in Pine Mountain, Noland said, which will provide more entertainment.
He is waiting for more inspections, including the fire marshal and health department, but for now, the Columbus location has about 92 seats, Noland said, which includes outdoor seating.
This includes booths that Noland is excited about.
“My little booths over here are phenomenal,” he said. “I call them the gangster booths. They look like the little mob-type scenes you see in Las Vegas.”
Noland also plans to decorate the restaurant with images of people wearing their Luke’s Pub T-shirts as they travel the world. The shirts have traveled to Russia, China, France, Australia, Germany and more, he said.
“How far will you take us?” he plans to ask customers. “If you’re going out of the country, I’m fixing to give you a shirt. Take a picture of this when you get there. Let’s see how far we can build it.”
The T-shirts will also be on sale in the restaurant.
More work and inspections must be done, Noland said, but he expects to open the Columbus location around the second week of July.
“It’s going to be freaking awesome,” he said. “Same quality of food, same menu.”
