"A Michelin-starred Ontario restaurant regarded as one of the best in the entire country is officially gone for good, and it's already been replaced by something new." That was how blogTO reported the change at 210 Lakeshore Road East this June. The headline was the loss of Hexagon.
For anyone who walks Lakeshore and George Street regularly, the closure was only part of it. The places that matter downtown this year are mostly addresses that were already there. One room changed kitchens and kept its fixtures. One building became two restaurants run by the same chef. And the busiest new arrival on the strip has been serving for most of a season without officially opening. Read together, they give downtown Oakville a different dining map than it had last fall, though the streetscape barely changed.
210 Lakeshore Road East kept its chandeliers
Hexagon was the reason the Michelin Guide's Toronto edition reached Oakville. When the guide expanded beyond the city limits, blogTO wrote that including Chef Rafa Covarrubias's restaurant "was a no-brainer," and that Hexagon's closeness to the city may have helped the jury decide to look past Toronto at all.
In December 2025, Covarrubias left to take over the kitchen at 20 Victoria in downtown Toronto, which also holds one star. Hexagon closed, and at first the closure looked temporary. It became permanent in mid-June, when a new restaurant called Centro on the Square opened at the same address. That left the room empty for roughly six months, between Covarrubias's December departure and Centro's June opening.
The space itself carried over. According to blogTO, Hexagon's "unmistakable honeycomb-shaped chandeliers remain intact," while the menu moved toward the traditional. Centro's own menu now lists seafood starters such as scallops, octopus and oysters, handmade pastas including a lobster tagliolini, and mains such as striploin, lamb chops and cioppino. The kitchen is led by Richard Andino, executive chef and culinary director. The restaurant says he has more than 32 years in hospitality and has opened more than eight restaurants.
Look Local's September roundup describes Centro as fine dining with seasonal, globally inspired dishes, original cocktails and an extensive international wine list. The posted hours shape how it fits into a week. Centro's contact page lists Tuesday through Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10:30 p.m., with no Sunday or Monday service listed.
So the most decorated dining room in town now hosts a five-night, dinner-only restaurant, in a room regulars of the old place will recognize as soon as they look up.
94 George Street is now one chef's two floors
A few doors off Lakeshore, the more consequential change for everyday routines happened at Towne Square. Chef Humberto Sanchez now runs both levels of 94 George Street under two names.
Look Local describes Sanchez as Venezuelan-born, with more than 20 years in restaurants in Spain, Italy, France, Peru and Florida. His two Oakville rooms split the day between them:
- Downstairs, Café Panchita. It opened at the start of summer, and the menu centers on Latin American-style eggs served all day, plus omelettes, tostadas, and burger and chicken options at lunch. Sourdough is baked in house every day, along with pastries.
- Upstairs, Bar Catalina. It serves tapas, paellas and arroces, plus grilled meats and fish. OpenTable lists Sanchez as executive chef, puts prices at CAN$30 and under, and shows hours of Monday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m.
Both floors arrived in stages. WhatNow reported in April that Café Panchita planned to open in the second week of May. Look Local's September 11 roundup said it opened "at the beginning of the summer." That same roundup still called the upstairs Spanish restaurant "opening soon." A verified OpenTable review marked "Dined on September 18, 2026" shows Bar Catalina was serving within a week of that article.
The two floors add up to a single address that covers breakfast through a late dinner, seven days a week. Bar Catalina also opens on Sundays and Mondays, the two nights Centro's posted hours leave dark. Downtown's two newest dinner rooms, a block apart, end up covering different nights of the week.
266 Lakeshore Road East is open, but not officially
The third address is the hardest to pin down, because Pii Nong Thai has been open without formally opening.
When Oakville News covered it in the spring, the plan was a restaurant opening shortly after Mother's Day weekend. A market selling products imported from Thailand and a spa were to follow later in the year. Co-owner Thomas Ha told the paper that he and his partner, an Oakville resident, used to visit the Lakeshore area and imagined opening there "like four years ago." The Oakville location seats 130.
The opening came quietly. On July 2, INsauga quoted the operators as saying they had done "a very quiet soft opening at our Oakville location a few weeks ago," and that people walked in "simply noticing our doors being opened." As of early October, the restaurant's own Oakville page still says it is operating as a soft opening, with a grand-opening date "to be announced soon." That puts the soft opening at well over three months, with doors open since about mid-June and no formal opening yet.
The menu follows the Toronto flagship, which Look Local notes was named one of Toronto Life's best new restaurants for 2025. Oakville News lists central and southern Thai cooking from chef, co-owner and namesake Pii Nong, who also goes by Chef Nana. Dishes include a tom yum hot pot, Bangkok street pad thai, a three-tiered deluxe sea and land tower, and mango sticky rice, plus drinks topped with Thai tea or mango teddy bears. The paper also reports that the Oakville location serves no pork, and that its beef, chicken and lamb are halal. In September, Look Local said guests will be able to browse a Thai market at the front of the restaurant, with imported snacks, drinks and specialty products, and that Thai massage is planned for Oakville later on.
How the new map fits a Tuesday in October
Put the three addresses next to downtown's long-running pubs and October has a clear shape. The Downtown Oakville BIA's Boos & Brews series pairs an Oakville Historical Society ghost walk through downtown with a seasonal drink at a participating restaurant. Walks run on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and the host venues rotate.
Oct 13: Kings Arms · Oct 14: Queens Head · Oct 20: The Mule · Oct 21: Queens Head · Oct 27: Kings Arms · Oct 28: The Mule
Every one of those dates lands on a night when all three new rooms are serving. Centro's posted week starts on Tuesday, Bar Catalina opens nightly, and Pii Nong's soft opening has been taking walk-ins since summer. A ghost-walk evening can open or close at any of them. Registration runs through the BIA's event page.
A reasonable sequence for one of those nights:
- Pick up a sourdough loaf at Café Panchita at 94 George Street during the day.
- Join the Oakville Historical Society walk and finish with the evening's drink at Kings Arms, Queens Head or The Mule.
- Sit down for dinner afterward at Bar Catalina upstairs at Towne Square, at Centro under the honeycomb chandeliers at 210 Lakeshore, or at Pii Nong Thai at 266 Lakeshore.
None of these routes needs anything new built on Lakeshore Road. The tables are new, and they sit in the same buildings as before. Downtown Oakville's appeal has long rested on its existing buildings, and 2026 changed what goes on inside them. Owners of older downtown homes will know that pattern from our guide to buying a heritage home in Oakville. For the summer version of the calendar, our August Oakville roundup covers the weekly concerts and markets, and our Oakville neighbourhood guide maps the streets around them.
Before you go, check hours and opening status directly with each restaurant. Pii Nong's grand opening is still unscheduled, and posted hours change as new rooms settle into the season.
A downtown Oakville home's value depends partly on what's within a short walk, and that changed this year, one address at a time. If you live near Lakeshore Road East and want to know how this year's changes affect your own property, The Papousek Team can give you an address-level read. Schedule a private consultation.
