"Guests from The Woodlands have supported Bari from the beginning, often traveling to our River Oaks District location and asking us to bring the experience closer to home. We listened." That is Pedro Teyuca, co-owner and operator of Bari Hospitality Group, describing why his Italian restaurant opened its second location at 24 Waterway Avenue on September 30. My Neighborhood News reported his remarks.
Two days later, across the street at 25 Waterway Avenue, Bar Bludorn opened its first restaurant outside Central Houston. These openings followed Lankford's in January and Charolais in July. Since then, four restaurants with Houston roots or a Woodlands following have opened within a few blocks of Lake Woodlands. Over nine months, the dinner that once meant a drive down I-45 has moved to Town Center.
Four openings, one direction
The pattern shows up most clearly when the four are side by side. Each arrived with an established following from somewhere else.
| Restaurant | Where it opened | Opened | Where the following started |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lankford's | 24 Waterway Ave., Ste. 160 | Jan. 31, 2026 | Houston, family-owned since 1937 |
| Charolais by Chef Austin Simmons | 1900 Hughes Landing Blvd., Ste. 350 | July 2026 | The Woodlands, where Simmons built his name |
| Bari Ristorante | 24 Waterway Ave., Ste. 125 | Sept. 30, 2026 | River Oaks District, 4444 Westheimer Road, opened 2023 |
| Bar Bludorn | 25 Waterway Ave. | Oct. 2, 2026 | Memorial, opened 2024 |
None of this happened by chance. In August 2025, Howard Hughes announced that Austin Simmons and Aaron Bludorn would both open restaurants in The Woodlands in 2026, with each chef's restaurant set up as its own joint venture with the developer. Both arrived on schedule. Aaron Bludorn put it this way: "Expanding beyond Central Houston is a big step for us, and Howard Hughes Communities has been a great partner to take it with."
The Waterway address has a backstory
The suite Bari now occupies has local history. TRIS, the steak and seafood restaurant, closed at 24 Waterway Ave., Ste. 125, on January 2, 2025, after its chef resigned. That chef was Austin Simmons. Eighteen months later he was back with Charolais, which Howard Hughes described as "the return of one of The Woodlands' most recognized culinary figures."
So this fall a River Oaks Italian restaurant is cooking in the space where Simmons first built his Woodlands following, and Simmons himself is at Hughes Landing, a stop on the same free Town Center Trolley route. Down the same building, the old Baja Cantina space at Suite 160 has been Lankford's since January.
What each one brought north, and what it added
None of these is a straight copy of the original. Each operator changed something for the Woodlands location.
Bari Ristorante. At 9,000 square feet, the Waterway location has more than 250 seats, two private dining rooms and a bar lounge. The menu leans on European cheeses, dry-cured meats, fish sourced from Europe, and house-made pastas made with imported Italian flour. Tableside truffle pasta and whole fish service, both known from the River Oaks original, are part of the concept. Teyuca says the move also gives Chef Marcelo Mintz room to create dishes "distinctly suited to The Woodlands."
Bar Bludorn. The Memorial tavern's menu came north along with new dishes Aaron Bludorn describes as American bistro cooking with Texas touches. This location adds a private dining room and an outdoor patio that the original doesn't have, and the space was designed by Gensler. At the October 1 opening party, Hello Woodlands sampled lobster beignets, steak tartare over potato rosti, duck chitarra, and a 10-ounce bavette steak frites with sauce au poivre.
Lankford's. The Grim Burger and the Firehouse Burger made the trip. New at the Woodlands location are a 12-tap self-serve beer wall, a milkshake bar with both kid-friendly and boozy options, and a Rescue Menu of dog-friendly dishes. Part of the Rescue Menu proceeds goes to the Montgomery County Animal Shelter.
Charolais. Diners build steak boards by picking the cut and the cooking method: live fire, cast iron or high-temperature broiling. The beef comes through Chef & Rancher, Simmons' venture with Texas rancher Larry Ludeke. Next door, C&R Market sells the same cuts to take home.
The calendar decides which one you get tonight
Hours are where these four really differ, and the schedules leave gaps.
- Bari: Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Weekend brunch runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and starts this weekend, October 4.
- Bar Bludorn: Tuesday through Thursday 5 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 to 10 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. Reservations are on OpenTable.
- Lankford's: Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to midnight, Saturday 10 a.m. to midnight, Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Charolais: Tuesday through Thursday 3 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 3 to 10 p.m. C&R Market keeps longer hours, noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.
On a Sunday or Monday night, Bari and Lankford's are the two of the four with posted hours, and they share the 24 Waterway building. Bar Bludorn is dinner only. Bari and Lankford's both open at 11 a.m. on weekdays, which makes them the two lunch options among the four. On Saturdays, Lankford's opens at 10 a.m. and serves until midnight. That makes it the earliest and the latest option on the street.
Opening-month hours often change. Bar Bludorn's website updates its schedule and reservations dynamically, and it doesn't post a happy-hour schedule yet. Check the restaurant's own site before you plan around a time.
Getting there without circling the garage
Waterway Avenue already has the parking a busier street needs. A Township event advisory from June 2026 listed paid covered parking at the 24 Waterway Garage and the Waterway Square Parking Garage, plus limited free curbside spaces along Waterway Avenue and nearby streets. That advisory covered an event, so treat it as a list of where the garages are, not as today's rates.
The free Town Center Trolley links the four restaurants. It runs a 4.1-mile route between The Woodlands Mall, Market Street, The Woodlands Waterway and Hughes Landing, and runs enough trolleys to keep waits around 10 minutes. Posted hours are Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday noon to 7 p.m. Routes can change for traffic or events, and the Passio GO tracker shows live trolley positions. On weeknights the trolley's last run is at 9 p.m. A 7 p.m. reservation at Bar Bludorn or Charolais works on the way there. Plan another ride home.
Hughes Landing filled in around the steakhouse
Charolais didn't land on a quiet block. Williams Sonoma opened September 18 at 1925 Hughes Landing Blvd., Suite 300, and brought cookware, small appliances, table linens and gourmet food back to The Woodlands. With C&R Market selling Chef & Rancher cuts a short walk away, you can now buy a ranch-to-table steak and the cast iron pan to cook it in at the same lakeside development.
Market Street, also on the trolley route, has its fall concert series on Thursdays from 6 to 8:30 p.m. through October 29. Bar Bludorn opens at 5 p.m. on Thursdays, so dinner on Waterway Avenue followed by the last hour of music on Market Street fits inside the trolley's weeknight hours.
One more name is on the way. Uni Sushi has announced a return to Grogan's Mill Village Center at 7 Switchbud Place, Suite 190. Its June announcement targets 2027, so it isn't part of this fall.
If you're getting to know The Woodlands, or settling in after a recent move, how the Town Center blocks fit together is useful local knowledge. Stephanie Cooper (TX) is happy to share where these restaurants sit in relation to the parts of The Woodlands you're considering. Let's Connect.
