Midtown Reno's New Restaurants Are Moving Into Addresses You Already Know

The address 740 S. Virginia St. hasn't changed. Since July it has meant focaccia sandwiches rather than Jüs. At 960 S. Virginia, a coffee shop opened in May, and a Turkish bakery is set to open on October 12. At 1470 S. Virginia, the former LuLou's space is waiting on a new chef-driven restaurant. At 1559 S. Virginia, the Polo Lounge sign has stayed in place since May while new owners plan its return.

This year's new places in Midtown are mostly filling storefronts people already know by an older name. If you've been trying to keep track of what's open, the simplest method is to remember what used to be at each address.

Old addresses, new tenants

Here is the South Virginia Street corridor in 2026, from north to south, followed by the one part of Midtown that is building from scratch.

740 S. Virginia: focaccia in the old Jüs space

Alioto's Focacceria opened on July 11 in The Sticks plaza. Reno News & Review places it in the space Jüs used to occupy. The owner is chef Alexander Alioto, who also owns The Kitchen Table, and there's a sister branch in San Rafael, California.

The bread has a local source. Alioto's builds its sandwiches on focaccia from Beloved's Bakery. One example is The Wife, which stacks sliced ham, burrata, truffle aioli and pistachios. So a new restaurant on South Virginia also gives a Reno bakery another outlet. The Alioto's Focacceria website has the current menu.

555 and 681: one open, one still a sign in the window

A short walk north, Four Seasons Vietnamese Kitchen held its soft opening on June 20 at 555 S. Virginia St., No. 102. Edible Reno-Tahoe places it in the original Rice Box Kitchen spot near Batch Cupcakery and Great Full Gardens. The owner is Ken Vong, who also owns Crawfish Asian Bistro on Plumb Lane. In September, Reno News & Review described the menu as Vietnamese fusion: pho, banh mi, spring rolls, garlic noodles and rice dishes. The paper later ran a longer Q&A with Vong in its "The Dish" series. Like its neighbors to the south, Four Seasons moved into a storefront with a familiar earlier name.

At 681 S. Virginia St., the former home of Finbomb Sushi Burrito and Poke Bar, EZ Pot & Skewers Bar is in the works. Edible Reno-Tahoe lists Qianwen Liu, Zewen Qing and Chanpong Tan as owners, says details are scarce, and gives the opening date as TBD. No menu has been published yet, so the name is the best clue to what's coming.

960 S. Virginia: a second new tenant this year

Two new businesses at one address within a few months makes 960 S. Virginia St. the busiest storefront story in Midtown this year.

Drink Coffee Do Stuff opened there on Saturday, May 16. The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that it was giving away free coffee to mark the occasion. Next comes Bora Mediterranean, a Turkish kitchen and bakery from brothers Can and Bugrahan Uzay, in a former Junkee space in Midtown. Bora's own site says opening day is Monday, October 12, 2026, which is eight days from today. That date comes from the business. Local coverage has only said it would open in the fall.

Here's what Bora Mediterranean says it will serve from day one:

• Breakfast every day, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Small plates with eggs, cheeses, olives, honey and kaymak, plus simit and bread from the house oven and Turkish tea.
• Turkish Breakfast for Two, listed at 48 dollars. Eggs your way, three cheeses, olives, sujuk, honey and kaymak, and jam.
• Bread, simit and lahmacun from its own oven, and döner from the spit.
• Late nights on Fridays and Saturdays, and online ordering starting October 12.

Bora's breakfast runs until 2 p.m. every day, and its weekend hours run late. That gives one address on South Virginia a reason to visit at very different times of day.

The south end: LuLou's and the Polo Lounge

Both of the big pending openings on the corridor are at addresses with long histories.

Sofia is the next project from Rene Preciado and local chef Sergio Romero, who already work together on Toro Bravo and Karajillo & Co. Sofia will serve global cuisine in the old LuLou's space in Midtown. LuLou's was at 1470 S. Virginia St. Edible Reno-Tahoe describes Sofia as chef-driven and says only that it plans to open later this year. As of early October, no date has been announced.

A few blocks south, the Polo Lounge at 1559 S. Virginia St. is set for a second act. Frank Perez originally opened the bar, and Nicholas Dismang took over operations in 2018. It closed for maintenance on May 26, 2026, after 20 years in business. It never reopened after that. New ownership now plans to bring it back in the same spot as a nostalgic speakeasy, aiming for October, with the exact date still TBD. The new owners haven't been named publicly in the coverage so far.

This is the reuse pattern at its most literal. The address and the name are staying, and the concept is changing. If you went to the Polo Lounge during its first 20 years, the reopening will mean returning to a familiar place that has been reworked.

Plumb Lane is where Midtown is adding new space

The Reno Experience District, known as RED, is the one place in this year's Midtown dining news where the buildings themselves are new.

Squeeze In held its grand opening on June 27 at the RED development on Plumb Lane. It's the chain's eighth location and its sixth in Nevada. The address is 2020 Red Drive, Suite 6. This Is Reno noted that the restaurant is surrounded by homes and a hotel. The footprint is smaller than at other locations, but it has the same bright décor, and you can still write on the walls.

RED also hosted the July 18 grand-opening party for El Patio Street Eats, a Mexican food truck and catering business that specializes in enchiladas. The coverage gives El Patio no permanent storefront address, so check its schedule before you head over.

Taken together, this summer's openings follow a split. On South Virginia, new businesses moved into existing storefronts. At RED, they moved into new buildings with residents and hotel guests already nearby. Squeeze In picked the new building. Four Seasons, Alioto's, Bora, Sofia, EZ Pot and the new Polo Lounge owners all picked addresses with a previous tenant.

Dates on the near calendar

• Monday, October 12: Bora Mediterranean's announced opening day at 960 S. Virginia St., with breakfast starting at 8 a.m.
• October, date TBD: the Polo Lounge reopening at 1559 S. Virginia St.
• Later in 2026: Sofia at 1470 S. Virginia St.
• TBD: EZ Pot & Skewers Bar at 681 S. Virginia St.

Midtown's restaurants say a lot about what the neighborhood is like day to day. If you're curious about life near South Virginia Street or the Reno Experience District, or you'd like to talk through a next-chapter move in Midtown, Dyan Chapman would love to hear from you, and she's happy to share a favorite spot along the way. Let's Connect.