"[We] would love to be open by the end of 2026, but otherwise early 2027, based on construction," Rob Luzzi of RAVentures Hospitality Group told Naples Press in May. He was talking about Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill, which is going up behind fencing in the southwest corner of the Macy's parking lot at Coastland Center. The sign that first went up on that lot said "Coming late 2025."
That corner sits directly across Fleischmann Boulevard from Lake Park, which runs south from Fleischmann to 5th Avenue North between U.S. 41 and Goodlette-Frank Road. Oar & Iron is one of three restaurants under construction around the mall's western and northern edges. Taken together, they show a clear direction. A pizzeria, a Tex-Mex restaurant and a Caribbean grill are giving way to three restaurants built around steak, two of them with fire features on the patio. The work also runs on a timeline that puts most of the openings after this season begins.
What Left, and What Is Taking Its Place
As of mid-October 2026, the mall's own directory still lists Rodizio Grill as "Coming Soon." No local report shows any of the three new restaurants open yet. The latest detailed update, a Sept. 25 Naples Press column, gives early 2027 as the target for the newest of them.
Address | Previous occupant | Incoming | Reported target |
|---|---|---|---|
2094 Ninth St. N. | New outparcel in the Macy's lot | Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill | End of 2026, otherwise early 2027 |
2048 Ninth St. N. | Aurelio's Pizza, plus an adjoining vacant unit | Rodizio Grill | Late 2026 or early 2027 |
2096 Ninth St. N. | Uncle Julio's Mexican restaurant | Atlantic Forge Mediterranean Steakhouse | Early 2027 |
2088 Ninth St. N. | Bahama Breeze | No announced tenant | None |
The two sources disagree slightly on Rodizio. The chain's own Naples page still says "OPENING in 2026." The May Naples Press report gave a wider window that runs into early 2027.
The Menu Is Changing Along With the Signs
The departures were casual and mid-priced. According to Gulfshore Business, Uncle Julio's moved out of its freestanding building in February after about three and a half years. Bahama Breeze closed when Darden Restaurants shut 15 locations of the brand in May 2025. Darden plans to retire the Caribbean concept entirely next spring. Aurelio's Pizza vacated the space at the mall entrance near CMX CinéBistro.
Each of the replacements is planned around a longer, meat-centered dinner:
- Rodizio Grill is a Utah-based churrascaria with more than 20 locations, six of them in Florida. It is known for rotisserie-grilled meats carved at the table by gauchos, alongside a salad bar with hot and cold sides and a full bar.
- Oar & Iron is a Florida version of the Northeast's 110 Grill. It uses lighter, nautical colors and adds a raw bar, with a menu weighted toward seafood and steaks.
- Atlantic Forge Mediterranean Steakhouse is described as a high-end restaurant. Its menu and other details have not been announced.
The Rodizio space has some history here. Before Aurelio's, the same inline unit was home to Pate's House of Prime Rib and Ted's Montana Grill. Rodizio is combining it with the vacant unit next door for 9,160 square feet of indoor dining. That is considerably larger than the Rodizio that has operated at Coconut Point in Estero since April 2016.
The Patios Face U.S. 41
The plans also show where each restaurant is putting its outdoor dining, and that matters most to someone who drives past on Fleischmann or U.S. 41 every day.
Oar & Iron will have 5,899 square feet inside and an 1,833-square-foot patio with a firepit under a louvered pergola. That patio sits beside the main entrance, on the corner of Fleischmann Boulevard and U.S. 41, which is the edge of the mall closest to Lake Park.
At the opposite end of the mall's western side, where U.S. 41 meets Golden Gate Parkway, Atlantic Forge is redoing the nearly 11,500-square-foot building that was built for Uncle Julio's. The building's best-known feature, the large colorful mural on its western wall, will be painted white and carry the restaurant's name in gold letters. The Naples Design Review Board gave final approval on Aug. 26. The approved plans remove the ironwork near the patio and replace the agave and umbrella plants with Italian cypress, bougainvillea and podocarpus.
"Our proposed improvements include the addition of firepit tables, freestanding firepits, some planters and a built-in gas fireplace feature on the patio," Jason B. Taylor of Taylor Studios Inc. told city staff, as reported by Gulfshore Business.
So two new patios with open flame will bracket the mall's U.S. 41 frontage, one at each end. Rodizio, set at the mall entrance near the cinema, will have no outdoor dining.
One Building Waits, and One Across the Street Leaves Dining
The former Bahama Breeze at 2088 Ninth St. N. has no announced plan. Darden is converting its longtime south Fort Myers location to a Yard House next summer, but it has not set any short-term plan for the Coastland building. When Oar & Iron opens, it will be the sixth chain restaurant built as a freestanding outparcel on the mall's western end. The others are The Cheesecake Factory, CMX CinéBistro, Twin Peaks, and the two buildings that are now empty or being rebuilt.
Across Golden Gate Parkway, the former Dorona space is changing use, Naples Press reported. Dorona, a modern Italian steakhouse run by the Aielli Group, closed in May 2025 after more than seven years at 2110 Tamiami Trail N. That 7,380-square-foot space at the south end of the Centre Pointe retail center had earlier been a TGI Friday's and Midtown Kitchen & Bar. Northwestern Concierge Clinic is now building it out. Northwestern already operates Northwestern Medicine Concierge Medicine Naples on Fourth Avenue North, and it has not yet announced which services the new office will offer.
That makes the shift more specific than it first appears. Steak dining is moving onto the mall property, into new or rebuilt buildings with patios. Meanwhile, the corner across the parkway that served a similar dinner for years is leaving restaurant use entirely.
What Is Open on the Row This Season
Until the fences come down, the mall's established restaurants carry the dining. The Coastland Center directory lists 23 food and restaurant entries. These are the ones on or near the western end that Lake Park is closest to:
- The Cheesecake Factory, the long-running restaurant that preceded the outparcel buildings around it.
- CMX CinéBistro, the dine-in cinema beside the entrance where Rodizio is being built.
- Twin Peaks Restaurant, one of the original freestanding outparcels.
- Gelateria Made In Italy, which the directory lists as "Now Open."
Oar & Iron has already shown what this kind of opening looks like elsewhere in the area. The first location opened in late 2023 at Founders Square, at Collier Boulevard and Immokalee Road. Locations in Fort Myers near Topgolf and in Parrish followed in 2025, and a fourth opened in Babcock Ranch in early April 2026, according to a Naples Press column published May 15, 2026. The Naples restaurant at 2094 Ninth St. N. will be the fifth, and its patio will face the Fleischmann Boulevard intersection.
Alfred Robbins Realty Group follows these changes block by block in central Naples. If you would like a clearer picture of how the corridor along Fleischmann Boulevard and U.S. 41 is shifting around your own home, we welcome you to request a private consultation.
