According to the Dallas Morning News, the last dinners at Saint Rocco's went out on a Friday night, February 27, 2026. Regulars who'd been coming for the rooftop view of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and a plate of chicken parmigiana got one more round of veal Milanese and pot roast over ruffled noodles before the lights went dark on a restaurant that had outlasted almost everything else at Trinity Groves. Chef Jay Valley, who co-created the place with Phil Romano back in 2015, packed up for Missouri to teach at a culinary institute. Trinity Groves put out a statement promising the replacement would be "unlike anything" in the complex. As of the announcement, it didn't name who that replacement is, and no name had surfaced in any of the coverage that followed through early summer.
The restaurant lineup at Trinity Groves changes over time. Knowing about its recurring events can help when planning a Friday night.
How the Restaurant Model Works
Trinity Groves opened in 2013 as something closer to a restaurant incubator than a fixed dining row. Romano and his fellow investors part-owned most of the concepts, which meant they also had the right to shut down anything that didn't work. This turnover was part of the concept. The Dallas Morning News reported that Romano described the approach as testing concepts and ending those that did not work.
That structure is why Saint Rocco's mattered so much. Since Trinity Groves opened, it was one of only three tenants that actually had staying power, alongside Kate Weiser Chocolate and Beto & Son. Dozens of other concepts came and went. Saint Rocco's remained for about 11 years, a long run within a changing lineup.
Recent Restaurant Closures
The March closure story still counted Kate Weiser Chocolate among the continuing tenants. Two months later, Kate Weiser Chocolate had announced its closure, and an omakase restaurant that had been open for a little over a year had also closed; Saint Rocco's closure had taken place earlier.
Kate Weiser isn't vanishing overnight. Both the Trinity Groves and NorthPark locations are staying open until the chocolate sells out, and the shop's signature hand-painted Carl the Snowman is getting one last seasonal run at Central Market before the year ends. These closures involved both a long-running tenant and a newer restaurant, adding to the changes in Trinity Groves during 2026.
What closed in the first half of 2026, in order:
- Saint Rocco's — last service February 27, replacement unnamed
- Kate Weiser Chocolate — the original tenant, selling remaining stock at both locations
- An omakase concept — shuttered after a little over a year in the space
What's Actually Sticking
Several concepts have become established options. If you're deciding where to go this weekend, these are some of the restaurants to consider:
- Winsome Prime — the steakhouse spinoff of Winsome, dry-aged cuts and an oyster tower, marked its first year this summer with a party that brought in R&B singer Eric Benét. It also picked up a CultureMap Best New Restaurant nomination for 2026.
- Pesca Coastal Classics — chef Jesus Carmona's seafood spot, still enough of a fixture that it's the named cocktail sponsor for the Friday Night Market as of this August.
- La Rue Doughnuts — from the Carte Blanche chef team, known for selling out most days and rotating in seasonal flavors like brown butter pecan and, this fall, pistachio crueler.
- Beto & Son — opened in 2016 by Julian Rodarte and his father, and still described as the highest-grossing concept in the development a decade later.
The restaurant model has also changed. Sam Romano took over as CEO in 2024 and opened the doors to third-party restaurants.
A Weekly Night Market
The Night Market offers a recurring Friday option alongside the restaurants. Every Friday from 6 to 10 p.m., The Underground Market hosts it at 331 Singleton Blvd, right in the park at the center of the development. Recent installments have pulled in more than 25 local vendors, a live DJ, and craft cocktails from Pesca, all under the string lights with the downtown skyline as the backdrop. It's free to attend and it runs whether Saint Rocco's building has a tenant or not.
Trinity Groves' restaurant lineup changes, while the Night Market provides a recurring weekly event. Visitors can plan around the market and the restaurants operating at the time of their visit.
Plans for a Larger Trinity Groves
One more piece of context: Goldenrod Cos., the Nebraska-based real estate firm that partnered with the original investors in 2023, has floated plans for a much bigger Trinity Groves, up to 5,000 residential units, nearly a thousand hotel rooms, and over two million square feet of office space at full buildout. These plans do not change what's open this Friday; they describe a potential buildout for the development.
I watch this kind of shift closely, partly because it's the same instinct that makes new construction interesting to me professionally. When a neighborhood is still deciding what it wants to be, that's usually when the most gets built. If you're ever curious about what Trinity Groves' next phase actually looks like on paper, not just on the restaurant menu, that's a conversation I have often with Virtual City Real Estate. Schedule a consultation and we can talk through it.
