New Restaurants in Great Neck 2026: What's Open and Coming

Between June and mid-September 2026, three Great Neck restaurants with long runs served their last meals. Together they had been open for more than 70 years. In the same months, several new places opened along Great Neck Road and Middle Neck Road. Nearly every one of them is built around a counter, an ordering screen or a scoop.

Taken together, that adds up to a different kind of dining corridor. Great Neck has more places to pick up dinner than it did in the spring. As of October 12, both of the new upscale restaurants that could bring back a dressed-up dinner on Middle Neck Road are still on the way.

What Closed, and How Long Each Had Been There

The closures span three decades of openings, and none was a short-lived experiment.

There was one shorter loss too. Newsday's 2026 closures roundup reports that Hunan Tapas closed after only about six months in Great Neck. The paper had named it one of its top Chinese restaurants of 2025, and it was an outpost of the original Hunan Tapas in Long Island City.

Francesca's ended the way many neighborhood pizzerias do, with a thank-you message from its owners on the restaurant's website, which Patch reported on September 15.

Lola's Kind of Cooking Hasn't Left the Peninsula

Lola had the largest reputation of the group. Newsday's account of the closing describes a Middle Eastern-fusion restaurant that earned 3½ stars from the paper and spots on its Top 100 and, later, Top 50 lists. Its kitchen built a menu around Levantine dishes like hummus, baba ghanoush and malawach, served in a fine-dining room with wine and cocktails to match. According to Newsday, the restaurant closed because the chef-partner's farm business upstate needed his full attention.

The Levantine cooking itself is coming back in two separate places.

Elisha opened first. It is a kosher, fast-casual Israeli restaurant at 25 Cutter Mill Road from the team behind Paprika, and Newsday covered its opening in a June 25 update. That was days before Lola's final service. The early announcement on Yeah That's Kosher listed beef and chicken shawarma, paninis, burgers, steak pita and schnitzel sandwiches under VHQ supervision. Newsday singled out the hummus with green zhoug and named the chicken schnitzel challah sandwich as the dish to order. Elisha's own site currently lists service hours and online ordering.

Elisha is a fast-casual restaurant. It covers the hummus-and-pita side of what Lola offered. The more ambitious version is planned for Northern Boulevard.

The Corner Getting Its Third Try

Novah is going into the building at Middle Neck Road and Northern Boulevard that was the Seven Seas Diner from 1979 to 2023. Newsday reported in July that the Pashalis family, which runs about two dozen Mediterranean restaurants, had taken over the space. They include Anassa Taverna in Manhattan and Astoria and Dear Margo on the Upper East Side. Novah's menu will be very similar to Dear Margo's and will focus on the Levantine traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean. Chef Efraim Naon will oversee both kitchens.

The same Newsday piece connected the timing directly to Lola, noting that Great Neck "certainly has an opening for elevated Levantine cooking."

This corner has been hard to fill since the diner closed. After 2023 its owners reopened it as Paros Grill, an upscale Greek fish restaurant that lasted less than a year. Americana Eatery & Bar opened in April 2025 as a family restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch, and it closed that November. Dean Pashalis, who grew up in Douglaston Manor, told Newsday the team is doing "a full cosmetic change" that includes raising the ceiling by two feet.

On timing, the owner said he was hoping to open by November. Newsday's September 15 roundup of new 2026 restaurants still listed Novah as coming, with no revised date. As of mid-October, November is still the target and the opening has not been confirmed.

505 Middle Neck Road Is the Other Restaurant on Hold

At the north end of the corridor, Cho-Sen Village served its last customers on July 8 after 22 years, as reported by Long Island Press. Even at closing, the site was expected to reopen after renovations as a new kosher Asian restaurant.

That restaurant is Sautéed Asian Cuisine. When it went before village trustees in early August, Long Island Press reported that the owner planned a fine glatt kosher Asian restaurant with Asian-fusion fare, new appetizers and grilled meats, and possibly a bar later on. The owner was aiming for a mid-September opening. The board asked for revised storefront renderings before giving formal approval.

That step has been completed. At the September 1 meeting, according to Long Island Press, trustees approved facade improvements that included Sautéed. As of October 12 we have found no dated confirmation that the restaurant has opened, so the mid-September date remains a target that has passed.

So the closings took away Lola's fine-dining room, Cho-Sen and the Seven Seas site's latest tenant. The two restaurants set to bring back a more upscale dinner, Novah with its "elevated Levantine" menu and Sautéed as a fine glatt kosher restaurant, are both still pending this fall.

What Did Open Is Built for Ordering

The summer's openings followed a single pattern, and most of them are on or just off Great Neck Road in the Plaza.

• Wonder, 48 Great Neck Road. Great Neck Plaza's July 2026 newsletter recorded a grand opening and ribbon cutting on Thursday, July 30. One order can include food from several restaurant concepts, for dine-in, takeout or delivery.
• Wokobowl, 69 Middle Neck Road. The same July newsletter described it as newly opened, and the village held its public hearing on the application on May 6. The brand calls itself Modern Chinese Bowls, with lo mein and fried rice on the menu.
• Emack & Bolio's, 3 Great Neck Road. Newsday reported in an August 13 update that the Great Neck shop had opened. It sells premium ice cream, signature cones, shakes, smoothies and custom ice cream cakes, and Newsday lists daily hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Plaza featured it as a new arrival in its September newsletter.

Count Elisha on Cutter Mill Road and the Plaza has four new spots within a few blocks of each other. All four run on fast-casual service, quick pickup, an ordering screen or a scoop counter.

The Plaza's approvals point the same direction. Its August and September newsletters show trustees approving Zen Oasis Beauty & Spa at 99 Middle Neck Road, Turbo Scripts pharmacy at 7 Cutter Mill Road, and Olash, an eyelash-extension studio at 7 North Station Plaza. None of those sources confirms an opening yet. None of the three is a restaurant.

Where That Leaves an October Weeknight

Here is the corridor's status as of October 12:

1. Open now for a quick dinner: Elisha at 25 Cutter Mill Road, Wokobowl at 69 Middle Neck Road and Wonder at 48 Great Neck Road.
2. Open now for dessert: Emack & Bolio's at 3 Great Neck Road, until 10 p.m. daily.
3. Planned, not confirmed open: Novah at Middle Neck Road and Northern Boulevard, targeting November, and Sautéed Asian Cuisine at 505 Middle Neck Road, with its facade approved September 1.
4. Successor not announced in coverage we found: Lola's former space at 113 Middle Neck Road and Francesca's at 29 N. Station Plaza.

Lola's own website still shows a reservations prompt, even after the closing Newsday reported, so it is no guide to whether the restaurant is open.

Two spaces are worth watching over the next few weeks. Once Novah finishes its renovation and Sautéed opens its doors, Middle Neck Road gets its upscale dinner options back. Until then, Great Neck's newest options mostly start at a counter.

If you're getting ready to sell in Great Neck, the restaurants and shops along Middle Neck Road and Great Neck Road are part of how we describe your home to buyers, so the listing should reflect what's actually open this season. Amy Liu offers a free home valuation and staging consultation that starts with your house and the blocks around it.