Smiley's Burger Club Smashes Into Summerhill With an $8 Cheeseburger

Smiley's Burger Club opened its second location on October 1 at 71 Georgia Ave SE, Unit B, in Summerhill, taking over the space How Crispy Express vacated in May after a lease dispute with its landlord. The original Smiley's has been smashing burgers across from Kimball House in Decatur for about two years and won Creative Loafing's ATL Burger Week in both 2024 and 2025, so this is not an unproven concept moving into Fulton County. It is a real, confirmed second storefront with its own staff, not a pop-up or a food truck testing the market.

The menu is smashburgers in a few sizes, including a veggie option, plus seasoned fries, fried cheese curds, and house-made potato chips with a savory French-onion-style Hecken dip. Instead of milkshakes, Summerhill gets frozen sodas topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. Co-owner Ean Camperlengo told the AJC the cheeseburger runs $8, which is worth knowing before you go. There is no alcohol at opening; the team is applying for a liquor license and expects to add beer and wine by January.

Ownership is a small group, not a chain outpost: Camperlengo runs day-to-day, Tanner Crotty has taken on a bigger leadership role, Sean Crotty, his longtime mentor and the former owner of Kelly's Market, is staying on in a reduced capacity, and two neighborhood partners, Randolph Kallenberg and Ron Peterson, round out the group. That matters for a Summerhill storefront specifically: it reads as people who already know the block, not an operator parachuting in from somewhere else.

Summerhill is the real story here for a client thinking about this part of Fulton County. It is the neighborhood built up around Georgia State's Center Parc Stadium and the old Turner Field site, walkable to the Beltline's Southside Trail, and still filling in with retail. How Crispy's four-year run and exit is proof the block can support a concept, not just hold one open while rents get sorted out. Parking is street and a small shared lot, the same as everywhere else on this stretch of Georgia Avenue, and game days at Georgia State will be the one predictable crunch. A buyer or renter looking at Summerhill condos and townhomes gets a genuine walk to dinner now, not just a bullet point on a listing sheet.

Go on a weekday evening, before a Georgia State game is on the calendar, order the cheeseburger and a side of the fried cheese curds, and expect a counter-service room still finding its rhythm three weeks in. It is a smashburger stop, not a special-occasion dinner, which is exactly the kind of place a neighborhood needs more of before the bigger developments around it show up.

Photo courtesy of Smiley's Burger Club.