"The renovation will reorient the existing brick-and-mortar space to face the ocean rather than turn its back to it," an Irvine Company spokesperson told the Orange County Business Journal in November 2025. The spokesperson was describing the Coastal Overlook, the company's planned dining hub on Fashion Island's coast-facing edge.
Eleven months later, that edge has no restaurants at all. In 2026, Fashion Island added a Spanish tapas restaurant, a New York bakery, a Ralph Lauren coffee bar and an ice cream counter. Every one of them opened inland, along Newport Center Drive, in the Atrium Food Court or beside the koi pond. If you want an ocean view with your meal at Fashion Island this fall, the only option is the RH Ocean Grill rooftop.
Three Closures, One Corner
The empty corner took a few years to clear. The Cheesecake Factory closed first. By November 2025 it had been gone about two years, and the Business Journal reported that its space would be the site of the Coastal Overlook. California Pizza Kitchen closed in an earlier year too. In August 2026, P.F. Chang's closed. The Business Journal noted that it was the last restaurant left in that part of the center.
Fashion Island's statement about the closure explained the reasoning. "The community has responded enthusiastically to the beautiful coastal views and ocean breezes available while dining at RH Ocean Grill, and we will deliver a similar coastal ambiance in a refreshed restaurant space in this area of the center," the center told the Business Journal.
The statement does not include a tenant list or an opening season. As of the Aug. 31 report, Fashion Island had named no restaurants for the Coastal Overlook and published no construction schedule. This is not a small project for the owner. By the Business Journal's measure of 12-month taxable sales, $876 million, Fashion Island is the second-largest shopping center in Orange County.
How RH's Move Started the Reshuffle
Most of the year's changes trace back to one store moving. RH, formerly Restoration Hardware, left its longtime space at the center and moved into a four-story building on the south end that faces the coastline. The new RH gallery includes RH Ocean Grill, a glass-enclosed rooftop restaurant that seats 260, with a wine bar on each side of the grand staircase entrance. The Business Journal said it debuted in late 2024 and called it "a runaway favorite among local executives."
Fashion Island's general manager, Gerard Widder, said the Irvine Company plans to copy that success with the Coastal Overlook.
RH's old 7,300-square-foot space by the koi pond near Bloomingdale's didn't stay empty for long. It now holds a Ralph Lauren boutique with Ralph's Coffee, which opened on Tuesday, Jan. 20. According to the café's website, as reported by the Business Journal, it was the first Ralph's Coffee on the West Coast. The chain had eight locations in North America at the time. So one move put a view restaurant on the south end and a coffee bar in the middle of the center, and the original coast-facing restaurant row then emptied out.
Where the 2026 Openings Actually Landed
Here are this year's new food spots in the order you would reach them walking from Bloomingdale's toward the Atrium. All of them are inland.
- Ralph's Coffee is at the koi pond near Bloomingdale's, in the former RH space. It opened Jan. 20.
- Telefèric Barcelona, 311 Newport Center Dr., is in the space Hopdoddy Burger used to occupy. The Business Journal reported an Aug. 20 opening. It is the first Orange County location for siblings Maria and Xavi Padrosa, whose tapas concept started in Barcelona before it came to California. The Newport Beach Independent confirmed it was serving by late August.
- Levain Bakery is next door at 315 Newport Center Dr. It opened Friday, Sept. 4, according to the Daily Pilot.
- Ben & Jerry's is in Unit A102 of the Atrium Food Court at 401 Newport Center Dr. The Newport Signal reported the shop was open by Sept. 1, and the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce held its formal ribbon cutting on Sept. 17.
Two other spots carry a "Now Open" label in Fashion Island's directory, though the listings don't say when they opened. Lola Café is a few doors from Ben & Jerry's in Suite A107 and serves Mexican and Oaxacan-Californian food and organic Oaxacan coffee at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hudsons Cookies is in Suite 1131 in the Nordstrom Courtyard, and Fashion Island describes it as the brand's second location.
Telefèric and Levain sit side by side at 311 and 315, and the Atrium shops are a short walk away. Taken together, most of 2026's new food at Fashion Island is a sit-down Spanish dinner, a bakery and a cluster of food-court counters along one stretch of Newport Center Drive. The Newport Signal described the three late-summer openings as part of "a pattern of new food tenants arriving at Fashion Island this fall." The pattern also tells you where those tenants went, and none of them went to the coast.
The One Ocean-View Table This Season
That puts a lot on one rooftop. RH Ocean Grill is in Suite 1101X at the top of RH Newport Beach. Fashion Island's directory lists its current hours and takes reservations. According to the Business Journal, the menu includes caviar-topped lobster rolls and grilled branzino.
The other new places offer different kinds of evenings. Telefèric is the full dinner among the new arrivals, and the center's events calendar lists a Telefèric Barcelona Halloween cocktail through Oct. 31. Zentrl Kitchen + Bar is running a football-season promotion from Sept. 9 through Jan. 24, 2027. Neither has the view the Coastal Overlook was planned around. Until that project has tenants, dinner at Fashion Island with an ocean view means booking the RH rooftop.
What Has No Date Yet
Three things at Fashion Island are announced but unscheduled. They are worth checking on before you plan around them.
The Coastal Overlook. The Irvine Company has said it will reorient the former restaurant space toward the ocean, add large windows and match the design of RH and the other ocean-facing buildings. As of the most recent Business Journal report, it has not named tenants or a timetable.
Amalfi. This Italian street-food concept from chef Erik De Marchi is listed as coming soon in Suite A104, right next to Ben & Jerry's and Lola Café. The planned menu includes cuoppo, amalfitano, pizza al taglio and pasta plates. WhatNow reported in October 2025 that no opening date had been announced, and a year later the center's listing still says "Coming Soon."
The holiday season. Fashion Island's seasonal pages still show last year's schedule. In 2025, Nights of Coastal Lights ran Nov. 21 through Dec. 28, and Santa photos ran Nov. 21 through Dec. 24. The center has not posted 2026 dates, so last year's dates are only a rough guide to when the season might start.
Amalfi would add one more counter to the Atrium, inland like the rest. The Coastal Overlook will take longer, because it needs a renovation and tenants the Irvine Company has not yet named. Until it opens, the ocean-facing side of Fashion Island has one restaurant, RH Ocean Grill.
At The Mowery Group, we pay attention to changes like this because the places people eat and gather are part of how a neighborhood's value is understood. If you're weighing a move or a sale near Newport Center and want a valuation-based view of what is changing around you, we'd welcome the conversation. Schedule a free consultation.
