New restaurants, taprooms & pickleball: What’s opening in Lexington
.png "New restaurants opened recently in Lexington including a return of Jasmine Rice Thai & Vietnamese, left, and First Watch in Townley off Leestown Road.")
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lexington sees new openings in restaurants, taprooms and entertainment spaces.
- First Watch, Son of a Burger and PKL LEX launched across major city corridors.
- Upcoming fall additions include Chicken Salad Chick, J.B. Steele’s, Mirror Twin taproom.
New Lexington food and drink options are popping up all over town, from Leestown Road to Harrodsburg Road, from Greyline Station to Hartland Parkway.
Here are three new restaurants, a taproom and an event space open now, with more coming soon to look for.
New Lexington restaurants open now
▪ First Watch, 124 Towne Center Drive, opened in July. It’s the fifth Lexington location and the 18th in Kentucky operated by One Holland. The breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant opened just off Leestown Road in the former A&W location in Townley Center, near Bourbon ‘n’ Toulouse, Drake’s and El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant & Cantina. Open 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.
▪ Son of a Burger, 101 W. Loudon Ave. in Greyline Station, opened in July, serving smashburgers, fries and more daily beginning at 4 p.m. The menu includes a variety of options, including a vegetarian black bean burger. You can get any burger as a single, double or triple. And yes, they have onion rings.
▪ Alpha Reserve, a new event space, has opened at 319 Cedar St. on the ground floor of the former Tilty Bob’s/JDI space. Co-owner Marc Cobane said that the mixed-use space, which has offices on the second floor and a short-term rental unit on the third, can be booked for social events and private parties.
▪ Jasmine Rice Thai and Vietnamese Restaurant has reopened at 680 Lima Drive. Owner Kukie Ruadrew is planning a grand opening Aug. 3 from noon to 3 p.m. She opened the new location less than a year after closing and selling her previous restaurant on Winchester Road, which is now home to Thai House. Open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., 5 to 8 p.m.
▪ PKL LEX, the new indoor pickleball court and Country Boy Brewing taproom at 223 Owens St., just off Winchester Road and Midland Avenue, opened July 24.
New restaurants, taproom coming soon
▪ Mirror Twin Brewing, which has its main brewery on National Avenue, is opening a second taproom on Harrodsburg Road south of Fountains of Palomar that will be called The Elkhorn at Harrodsburg.
▪ Chicken Salad Chick, which has one location in Brannon Crossing, is opening a second location at 1956 Bryant Road, Suite 110, in Hamburg in October. The new location will have the same menu of a dozen chicken salads, plus a drive-thru and patio seating.
▪ Nothing Bundt Cakes, which has a location off Nicholasville Road, is bringing a second location to the area behind Drake’s and Malone’s in Hamburg, at 1956 Bryant Road, next to the new Chicken Salad Chick, later this fall.
▪ J.B. Steele’s is opening in the former Shamrocks spot at 4750 Hartland Parkway, Suite 128. It’s expected to open in August with a menu of casual Southern comfort fare, sandwiches, burgers and more, with a full bar. It’s from Brad Scott and Bryce Steel, part of the team behind the popular Chevy Chase restaurant AP Suggins, along with Brad Scott’s son Blake.
