New Restaurants on George Washington Way in Richland: Familiar Addresses

"Right time, right place, right price." That is how Andrew Chilton described Doggie Style Gourmet's move off the Ace-Griggs Food Truck Hub and into a storefront at 624 George Washington Way, which opened at 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 14. The space is not new. Until the end of 2025 it was Popcorn Northwest.

The same thing happened up and down the corridor this year. Damascus Bites took over the old Napoli's. Biscuit moved into a former meat market. Metztli Cocina Bar opened in the building most of Richland still thinks of as Fat Olives. At the south end, the restaurant at The Lodge at Columbia Point kept its kitchen and changed its name. Nobody broke ground. If you've driven George Washington Way all year without seeing a new building, you didn't miss one. The changes went in behind signs you already knew.

Old Names, New Tables

Here is the corridor's 2026 turnover, north to south, with the name each space used to carry.

Moving into an existing space changes how quickly a restaurant can open. Jesus Luna, who owns Metztli with business partner Azael Purata, told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business that the old Public House 255 building needed few improvements. The work was mostly bringing in kitchen equipment and repainting. He signed a five-year lease and moved fast. Luna and Purata had been in the Tri-Cities only a few months when they opened.

The North End Now Opens at 5 a.m.

The northern stretch of George Washington Way leads toward the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and both new restaurants there were built around that traffic.

Biscuit, at 1086 George Washington Way, set out to catch northbound Hanford and PNNL commuters. Its own site lists Monday through Thursday hours from 5 a.m. until sold out, and Friday through Sunday from 8 a.m. until sold out. "Until sold out" is the important part. There's no fixed closing time, so a late lunch there is a gamble. The menu is biscuits, coffee, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, mac and cheese, and tater tots, served in a farmhouse-style room. Bri Arnone, chief marketing officer for Table & Co., the hospitality group behind Biscuit, said they wanted it to feel "like you go to your grandma's house and fresh-baked biscuits come out of the oven." Biscuit is the group's first restaurant in Washington, and some of the owners are based in the Tri-Cities.

Two doors down, at 1080 George Washington Way, FlavorJoy Hot Soup Bowls has been serving hot pot since March. The Tri-City Herald reported its hours as Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. As October cools off, it's the corridor's most obvious soup stop.

Farther north, Damascus Bites opened Sept. 19 at 3280 George Washington Way. Napoli's ran there for three years before closing in June. The restaurant says it is the first Syrian restaurant in the Tri-Cities. Three Aghawani siblings run it: Abdul is the owner, Mohamed is the chef, and Sedra manages inventory. Mohamed ran a Syrian restaurant in Egypt after the family left Syria. The family came to the United States in 2016.

Damascus Bites has two menus. Lunch is set up as takeout for college students and anyone in a hurry. Dinner is meant as a sit-down meal. If you've never had Syrian food, Sedra recommends starting with the $16 shawarma combo. The chicken comes off a vertical rotisserie. A bigger dinner might be the $25 beef tikka plate or the $20 chicken shawarma dinner with rice, grilled vegetables, and pita, plus $10 baba ghanoush for the table. Before opening, the restaurant announced hours of 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Those 1 a.m. weekend hours are the latest on the corridor.

Williams Boulevard Got Its Lights Back On

Metztli Cocina Bar opened July 5 at 255 Williams Blvd., not far from Biscuit. Fat Olives held the building for nearly 15 years. Public House 255 moved in during 2025, and the building sat empty after it closed at the end of that year.

The food comes from the Puebla region of Mexico. The salsas use Puebla chiles, the margaritas use fresh lime juice, and a guacamole cart comes to the table so the dip is made in front of you. Enchiladas, chimichangas, and seafood are on the menu too. In July the restaurant reported hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. That's the most recent schedule published, so call ahead before a weeknight visit. Luna has said he hopes to open a second Tri-Cities location if this one succeeds.

A Food Truck Comes Indoors Near Howard Amon

Doggie Style Gourmet started as a hot dog cart, moved to the Ace-Griggs Food Truck Hub, and now has a storefront in front of the Park Place apartments, a few doors from Graze. Longtime fans of the truck now get air conditioning, indoor seating, and a bigger menu that brings back some past specials.

The menu is still split among hot dogs, burgers, and mac and cheese. The Bandit is a chopped hot dog with chili con carne, shredded cheese, Fritos, and chipotle mayo. The Magic Mushroom Mac comes with mushroom duxelles and truffle oil. There's also a Kimchi-Bacon Burger with gochujang aioli. Corn dogs are a Monday item, and the Vegan Doggie and Salt of the Earth Burger cover vegetarian and vegan orders. Chilton went to culinary school and co-owns Magill's Restaurant & Catering with his mother.

The new spot is close enough to the river that Chilton has a picnic in mind. He said he hopes to see people taking his food down to Howard Amon Park. Opening hours were set at least Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and he said they might change once the shop settles in. The truck has left its old spot so it won't compete with the restaurant, but it's still available for private events and public festivals.

Columbia Point Changed the Name on the Door

The Lodge at Columbia Point follows the same pattern, only more obviously. In May, the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business reported that Drumheller's Food & Drink had become Riva Riverside Italian Dining. The Lodge held a ribbon cutting on Sept. 25, and the City of Richland called Riva "now open" in a Sept. 28 post. If you remember Drumheller's, Riva is in the same room and on the same patio over the Columbia, with a new menu.

The City describes that menu as house-made pasta, seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, fresh seafood, craft cocktails, and Washington wines. Brunch runs daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner daily from 5 to 9 p.m. The bar opens at 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at 2 p.m. Friday through Sunday, closes at 10 p.m., and has happy hour every day. Brunch every day means a weekday riverside breakfast is possible, which isn't true of most brunch menus.

One Day, Five Old Addresses

With these openings, the whole corridor covers a full day of eating. Using current or most recently published hours:

1. 5 a.m. on a weekday: a biscuit and coffee at 1086 George Washington Way, before it sells out.
2. Midday: takeout shawarma from Damascus Bites at the north end, or a Bandit from Doggie Style Gourmet carried to Howard Amon Park.
3. Late afternoon on a weekend: the bar at Riva opens at 2 p.m., with happy hour on the patio.
4. Dinner: Puebla-style plates and tableside guacamole at Metztli on Williams Boulevard, or pasta at Riva until 9 p.m.
5. Late on a Friday or Saturday: Damascus Bites' announced hours run to 1 a.m.

For seasonal color this month, the September business listings also put a Spirit Halloween at 1717 George Washington Way. Several of these hours were published at opening and may have changed, so check each restaurant's own page before you go.

The corridor's map is easier to follow once you know which old name each new place replaced. At Desert Edge Realty Group, we track Richland's streets the same way, address by address. If you'd like to talk about what's changing near you, or about a property on one of these blocks, Contact Us.