Hi
Best way to remove this in order to replace it with something nicer?
I am a very very amateur homeowner when it comes to repairs. (As in I just spent 2-3 days fiddling with a faucet and disposer replacement).
That looks exactly like the kind of thing that turns into the next nightmare when I start on it.
I like the suggestion of a chisel myself. I might even see if I had an old screwdriver I could use to make very small nibbles.
However there are two things that concern me when I look at the picture.
The first is that around the top 2/3 of the drain it looks like the top layer of concrete may be an "add-on". That suggests that if that was my project, there is probably no way the concrete would break the way I wanted it to.
The second is that I have never worked with a drain, new or old, and I do not know what should be underneath it. I can see concrete sticking out from the sides of the drain hole under the grate in two spots. I don't know what that says about the possibility of concrete breakage around the drain cover leading to problems seating a new one when you work on removing the old one.
Depending on where it is, budget and how important appearance really is, I would consider opting for just a dremel steel brush, rustoleum primer and glossy black spray paint.