The most anticipated Triangle restaurants opening in 2026
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Prime Barbecue founder Christopher Prieto. Photo: Prime Barbecue
It's hard to keep up with the Triangle's restaurant scene, which continues to expand and evolve along with the region's surging population.
Why it matters: Restaurants and bars remain an integral part of the Triangle's economy, reinvigorating old spaces and helping make destinations out of new developments.
- From new barbecue joints to the renovation of an old motor lodge, here are some of the most anticipated openings of 2026.
Big Cat
Built by an all-star list of some of Raleigh's best culinary minds, what exactly Big Cat will be once it opens on Brookside Drive remains to be seen.
- But the ultimate goal is to bring together multiple concepts under the roof of a new community gathering spot — one part restaurant, one part bar and one part market.
Zoom in: Big Cat is a collaboration between Cheetie Kumar and Paul Siler, the owners of Ajja; Angela Salamanca and Marshall Davis, who are behind Mala Pata; and Justin Pasfield, a partner in Locals Seafood and Person Street Bar.
- While the menu hasn't been released, the talent involved has us ready to line up at the door on opening day.
Location: 1000 Brookside Dr., Suite 119, Raleigh
Opening: Spring 2026
Botiwalla
Created by an acclaimed Asheville chef, Botiwalla is an homage to the Irani Cafes, known for their tea and late-night bites, that are popular in many of India's largest cities.
Zoom in: After winning the James Beard Foundation's "most outstanding" restaurant award in 2022 for Asheville's Chai Pani, chef Meherwan Irani moved to open the Botiwalla concept in several cities, including Charlotte and Atlanta.
- Botiwalla's grill-based menu includes dishes like okra fries, lamb burgers, kebab rolls and salad and rice bowls. It will also serve a collection of fizzy drinks, slushies, hot chai and lassis, a yoghurt-based drink.
Location: 2221 Iron Works Dr., Raleigh
Opening: Spring 2026
Cottage Coffee & Park Bar
Dix Park's food-and-drink offerings will keep growing this year with the addition of a new coffee shop and bar inside the historic Flowers Cottage.
Zoom in: Cottage Coffee & Park Bar will add a new drinks stop in the park, with a deck that overlooks Dix's famous flower field, where thousands of sunflowers bloom every year.
- The new business comes from Jeff Clarke and Justin Pasfield, two veterans of the city's hospitality scene who have opened other spots like Person Street Bar, Locals Seafood and Natural Science.
- Beyond coffee, beer and wine, Cottage Coffee plans to offer ice cream and a selection of local baked goods and picnic-friendly foods.
Location: 2105 Umstead Dr., Raleigh
Opening: Summer 2026
The Gables
The effort to breathe new life into the old Gables Motor Lodge, once a fixture on the old U.S. Highway 1 route through Raleigh, is quickly gaining momentum.
Zoom in: A collaboration between the Raleigh singer-songwriter Tift Merritt and Daniel Robinson, of The Durham hotel, could reopen north of downtown this summer.
- Merritt's vision calls for restoring the lodge's 18 rooms, adding a new neighborhood bar and becoming a retreat for artists.
Location: 1217 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh
Opening: Summer 2026
Lewis Barbecue
Fresh off a Michelin nod, Lewis Barbecue is set to add another spot to the Triangle's growing and diverse barbecue scene.
Zoom in: The restaurant, which traces its origins to Charleston, is known for its Texas-style barbecue and will have a 1,600-square-foot smokehouse at its Raleigh location.
- The restaurant joins a growing number of tenants in Raleigh Iron Works' Salvage Yard expansion, including Triangle Rock Club, NOCO Brewery from the Bond Brothers and Cannonball Music Hall.
Location: 2300 Atlantic Ave., Raleigh
Opening: Later this year
Lloyd's Full Service
Early Bird Night Owl, a Durham-based hotel group behind The Mayton hotel in Cary, is not done with transforming downtown Cary.
Zoom in: Its next project will be Lloyd's Full Service, a restaurant that takes the place of a former 1950s-era filling station that has long dominated the main corner of downtown.
- The current building, most recently home to Gurkan's Downtown Auto Repair, is 1,280 square feet, but the goal is to add another 2,300 square feet of indoor space and a patio featuring a fire pit.
Location: 107 E. Chatham St., Cary
Opening: Summer 2026
Lutra Cafe & Bakery
After attracting a loyal following for its pastries at farmers markets and pop-ups across the Triangle, Lutra Bakery will finally have a permanent location come this spring when it opens at the American Tobacco Campus.
Zoom in: Lutra was created by Chris McLaurin, the former chef de cuisine at Poole'side Pies, and first gained popularity for a rotating offering of sweet-and-savory buns.
- But the new space allows McLaurin to expand the menu and offer a fuller breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch menu, which McLaurin has been fine-tuning at pop-ups at the Indian restaurant Cheeni for the past year.
Location: 312 Blackwell St., Suite 102
Opening: Spring 2026
High Horse
High Horse was on its way to being one of downtown Raleigh's buzziest new restaurants when the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to the short-lived restaurant in 2020.
Zoom in: Now, it's chef Katsuji Tanabe, an alum of "Top Chef," who plans to revive the restaurant at Hub RTP in Research Triangle Park later this year.
- A menu has not yet been revealed, but in its previous iteration, High Horse drew plaudits for a menu that combined Mexican, Japanese and American culinary traditions of Tanabe's youth growing up in Mexico City.
Location: 3151 Elion Dr., Durham
Opening: Summer 2026
Pinheiro
East Durham's dining options will further grow this year, with the addition of Pinheiro, a wine bar specializing in bottles from Portugal.
Zoom in: Founded by Sergio Ramos, a longtime wine industry veteran in the Triangle, Pinheiro plans to offer a mixture of wines from around the world, but with special attention to producers from the Iberian Peninsula.
- The plan is to offer a collection of small snacks, too, but Ramos hopes to complement the growing number of restaurants along Angier Avenue and Driver Street, like Ideal's and Sofia's Pizza.
Location: 304 S. Driver St., Durham
Opening: Early 2026
Prime STQ
After becoming one of the few local establishments to land a Bib Gourmand distinction from the Michelin guide, Prime Barbecue hopes to continue its momentum this year with a new concept at Hub RTP in Research Triangle Park.
Zoom in: Founded in Knightdale by Christopher Prieto in 2020, Prime Barbecue has become one of the Triangle's favorite destinations for Texas-style barbecue.
- Now Prime plans to get into the steak game when it opens Prime STQ in the coming months.
- At lunch, Prime STQ will offer a counter-service menu focused on chopped-to-order meats and sides.
- But in the evening, counter service makes way for the table-side service of a classic steakhouse.
Location: 3151 Elion Dr., Durham
Opening: Early 2026
Stanbury expansion
While few details have been revealed, Raleigh's dining scene is eagerly waiting to see what the owners of the popular Stanbury restaurant do with the former Ezcasu Chocolates space on Blount Street.
Zoom in: Stanbury, a laid-back neighborhood haunt based just north of downtown since 2013, is one of the city's most popular and idiosyncratic restaurants.
- It's known for serving funky seasonal dishes and refreshing cocktails from its intimate, converted laundromat space on Blount Street.
- The restaurant's owners have said they want the new concept to share a kitchen with Stanbury, while not creating any changes to the original Stanbury space.
Location: 936 N. Blount St., Raleigh
Opening: Later this year
42nd Street Oyster Bar
Few restaurants are mourned the way 42nd Street Oyster Bar was when it closed last year.
- The iconic restaurant, which offered space both to the politicians of Jones Street and the anniversary dinner crowd, had more than 90 years of memories within its walls.
Zoom in: The tradition looks likely to continue in the coming months, however, as the restaurant's longtime general manager has brought together a team to reopen it this year.
Location: 508 W. Jones St., Raleigh
Opening: Early 2026
Go deeper: The best restaurants that opened in 2025