MARIETTA – Anyone looking for fresh foods, a full bar and a family-friendly atmosphere in downtown Marietta can now stop in at a restaurant along Tiber Way that just opened.

The River Town Grill, which has been experiencing steady lunch and dinner crowds since opening two weeks ago, celebrated its grand opening Nov.13.

Owner Steve Peters, the name behind the Boathouse BBQ in Marietta, decided to move in, renovate and open a new restaurant after he found that the Mustard Seed Cafe, which he also owns, was no longer large enough to accommodate his vision. The Mustard Seed had been on Seventh Street.

“The building with (Mustard Seed) was just too small, so we moved here and remodeled,” Peters said. “With everything going on we just decided to change it all up, create a new name and have a full bar with liquor and wine.”

Though it has a full bar that can be enjoyed each day of the week, Peters said the restaurant, which includes a full kids menu, is designed to be a family-friendly atmosphere.

“We have a full dining room now with entrees, and it’s not just counter service anymore,” Peters said. “It’s an expanded menu from Mustard Seed. We still have all the fresh sandwiches, soups and salads, but we’ve added entrees, appetizers and kids menu items.”

Menu items include bacon cheeseburgers, paninis, chili, salads, spaghetti and a variety of desserts.

“We notice down here we get a lot of local traffic from the downtown businesses, so we realize our lunch could be much stronger,” Peters said. “We plan to have soup, sandwich and salad specials for that, and really make sure we work at offering things that people can get if they have limited lunch breaks.”

River Town Grill plans in the spring to start offering hand-dipped ice cream, milkshakes and floats.

“I’m just excited to have a big dining room now, and people can come in here just to have a glass of wine,” said general manager Joni Clinton. “Overall it’s just a lot of extra room we can work with.”

The space was previously occupied by Tiber Way Grille before Peters took it over and remodeled the inside.

Peters also owns Tasteful Occasions Catering, which he started after noticing that the demand for catering from Boathouse BBQ was getting overwhelming.

The catering service will continue, as customers will be able to have catering needs fulfilled from both the Boathouse BBQ and River Town Grill menus.

“We’ll be featuring a few items that we’ll plan to put on our full menu,” he said. “We want to get good at things before we bring them on.”

Peters said the eatery has experienced good lunch and dinner crowds, and is open seven days week.