At Teddy Wong's Dumplings & Wine, the dining room window at 102 Houston Ave. looks out on U.S. 180 traffic on Palo Pinto Street. That corner was Zeno's on the Square until 2025. Across the square, Zeno's now fills a bigger space in the Cotten-Bratton building. Next door, Chapel Bar pours cocktails in the same block. On Austin Avenue, the windows of the 1884–85 building that held Fire Oak Grill for 18 years are still dark.
Taken one at a time, each of those looks like ordinary restaurant turnover. Read together with Weatherford City Council's records, they show a city that has decided where its downtown money goes. In 2026 it shut down the program that paid for nicer storefronts and moved that money into one that pays for restaurant buildouts. The rules now favor fewer and larger projects. The new restaurants already on the square, and the long wait at 114 Austin Ave., both make sense in that light.
Three Addresses, One Chain of Moves
The past 18 months on the square come down to three buildings and one closure.
| Address | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| 102 Houston Ave. | Zeno's on the Square | Teddy Wong's Dumplings & Wine, open since summer 2026 |
| 113 College Ave. | Cotten-Bratton building | Zeno's on the Square, moved by August 2025 |
| 117 College Ave. | Cotten-Bratton building | Chapel Bar, opened Nov. 21, 2025 |
| 114 Austin Ave. | Fire Oak Grill, closed July 19, 2025 | $3.2 million remodel on file, no tenant named |
The city helped start the chain. On Jan. 28, 2025, the council approved a restaurant incentive of up to $279,471.37 for Zeno's and the Cotten-Bratton project at 113 College Ave. Once Zeno's moved into the larger building, its old corner on Houston Avenue was open for a new tenant.
The Corner That Stayed Small on Purpose
That tenant came from Fort Worth. Teddy Wong's had spent three years as one of the hardest tables to book on West Rosedale Street before partner Kevin Cates announced a second location for the Weatherford corner in August 2025. Cates told the Star-Telegram the size of the space was the point. "We want to keep Teddy Wongs small and have the feeling of the Fort Worth restaurant," he said. "We don't want to 'chain' Teddy Wongs. But this space seems like a good fit." He also said he likes the weekday lunch business of town squares. His grandfather ran a soda fountain and drugstore on the Wise County courthouse square for years.
The opening came later than planned. The 2025 announcement said the Weatherford location would open that fall. Instead, the Star-Telegram's July 2026 review covers the restaurant's first month. Reservations were booked solid for that whole month. By late July, Resy was offering dinner seats only at 4 p.m., 8:30 p.m. or, with luck, 4:45.
The menu matches Fort Worth's, but the early best sellers here are different. Weatherford orders have leaned toward Mongolian-style Texas beef and wagyu beef pot stickers, plus classics like kung pao shrimp and orange chicken. Fort Worth regulars mostly come for Patrick Ru's soup dumplings, hot oil wontons and Peking duck. Entrées run $15 to $20 and are easy to split. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner daily, so lunch is the easier way to get a table.
Inside the Cotten-Bratton Building
The Cotten-Bratton building on College Avenue now holds two of the square's businesses. Zeno's official site lists 113 College Ave. as its address and describes its Italian food as made from scratch. When Teddy Wong's was announced, Zeno Russo summed up the change in four words to the Star-Telegram: "Weatherford has grown up."
Chapel Bar, owned by Christian Lehrmann, opened in the same historic building on Nov. 21, 2025. It serves cocktails and small plates and hosts live music and special events. Its own site lists these hours:
- Tuesday and Wednesday, 3 to 10 p.m.
- Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m. to midnight
- Saturday, noon to midnight
- Sunday and Monday, closed
Chapel Bar's homepage promotes events from intimate dinners to concerts, but it doesn't post a regular music schedule. Check before you plan a night around a band.
So Zeno's, Chapel Bar and Teddy Wong's are all on the square now. The Star-Telegram called Teddy Wong's the first of at least three major restaurants coming to the square. The biggest of the coming projects is on Austin Avenue.
What the State Filing Says About 114 Austin Ave.
Fire Oak Grill served its last full-service meal on July 19, 2025. A Fort Worth family trust had bought the building on July 2, 2025. Since then, the clearest public information has come from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which registers accessibility reviews for commercial renovations.
The TDLR record for project TABS2026014419 was registered March 6, 2026. It describes a $3.2 million remodel of the existing restaurant, covering 12,731 square feet and paid for entirely with private money. The owner is listed as Goodrich Hospitality Trust of Fort Worth. The tenant is listed as "Not Assigned." The design firm is Duncan Design Group of Grapevine. Duncan Design also handled the $5 million remodel of Cattlemen's Steak House in Fort Worth. Of the firm's restaurant projects, only Cattlemen's, at 20,710 square feet, is on the same scale as this one.
The filing lists a start date of May 1, 2026 and a completion date of May 31, 2027. The Star-Telegram describes the completion date as an estimate. The record's status line reads "Review Complete," which refers to the plan review and says nothing about construction progress. No public record we found names the restaurant concept.
A separate item in council minutes uses a similar name. On March 10, 2026, after an executive session on a matter called "Project Iron Saddle," the council approved a $284,403 restaurant incentive agreement with Goodrich Hospitality. The minutes don't give an address or a concept. The names are close, and the timing falls four days after the TDLR filing. Still, the public record doesn't tie that agreement to 114 Austin Ave.
The City Shifted Its Downtown Money From Facades to Kitchens
Five weeks after the Goodrich vote, at its April 3, 2026 retreat, the council told staff to end the Downtown Façade Improvement Grant Program. The remaining $200,000 was moved into the Downtown Restaurant Incentive Policy, which brings restaurant funding to $400,000 per fiscal year. On Aug. 25, 2026, the council approved the rewritten policy 5–0.
The new policy ties the size of an award to how much the restaurant itself invests:
| Eligible private investment | Maximum incentive |
|---|---|
| $400,000 to $799,999 | Up to $50,000 |
| $800,000 to $1,599,999 | Up to $100,000 |
| $1,600,000 to $3,199,999 | Up to $200,000 |
| $3,200,000 and above | Up to $400,000 |
Applicants now have to show they can pay for the project, through a letter from a financial institution or similar proof. They also have to submit a proposed menu and projected economic impacts. Every award still needs approval from the Weatherford Economic Development Board and the City Council. City staff wrote that the goal is to "attract destination-quality restaurant concepts."
Comparing the new table to the deals already made shows how high the bar now sits. The Zeno's award of up to $279,471.37 and the $284,403 Goodrich agreement were both approved before the rewrite. Under the new tiers, either award would fall in the top bracket, which starts at $3.2 million in eligible investment. A $500,000 buildout, a big project for most small restaurants, would qualify for up to $50,000. The $3.2 million figure on the Fire Oak filing happens to equal the top-tier threshold exactly.
The 2026 policy tells you what comes next on the square. With the facade grants gone, most of the city's downtown incentive money now goes to restaurant projects big enough to come with proof of funds and a menu. Projects at that budget take a while. Teddy Wong's arrived nearly a year after it was announced. The Austin Avenue remodel carries an estimated finish date in mid-2027.
A Fall Evening With What's Open Now
The square has three distinct places open today, and one late-October weekend fits them all together. Jack-O-Lantern Nights runs Oct. 22, 23 and 24, from 7 to 10 p.m., at Chandor Gardens, 711 W. Lee Ave. Advance tickets are required. Those dates are Thursday through Saturday, the three nights Chapel Bar stays open until midnight.
- Eat early at Teddy Wong's, where 4 p.m. and 4:45 have been the easiest seats to book. Share one entrée and order a round of Ru's pork, chicken or veggie dumplings.
- Drive over to Chandor Gardens for your 7 p.m. ticket.
- Head back to College Avenue for a nightcap at Chapel Bar, or make Zeno's the dinner stop on a second night.
If you want a front-row look at what's going into 114 Austin Ave., walk past on your way to the car. The tenant line on the state filing still reads "Not Assigned."
Restaurant openings and incentive deals tend to show up on a square long before they show up in listing descriptions. When you want to talk about what changes like these mean for your own street in Weatherford, Ryan Barnes will give you a straight answer. Let's Connect.
