"The renovation will reorient the existing brick-and-mortar space to face the ocean rather than turn its back to it." An Irvine Company spokesperson said that in late 2025 about the old restaurant row on Fashion Island's coastal edge. Ten months later, there is nothing left in that space to turn around. P.F. Chang's closed in August 2026. It was the last restaurant open in the area the center now calls the Coastal Overlook. The Cheesecake Factory and California Pizza Kitchen had already left in earlier years.

From Harbor View, Fashion Island is the nearest place to get coffee, run an errand, or grab a weeknight table. This fall it is changing in two directions at once. New food tenants have arrived steadily since January, and each one moved into an existing suite or counter inside the center. The one area built around the ocean view is empty, waiting on a renovation that has a start season and no announced tenant.

The Overlook: what is confirmed and what isn't

The Orange County Business Journal reported on September 14, 2026 that the Irvine Company plans to start construction this fall. The project will turn the former Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's and California Pizza Kitchen spaces into a dining hub. The design described in November 2025 calls for expansive windows with panoramic Pacific views. Gerard Widder, Fashion Island's vice president and general manager, said the new area "will introduce fresh dining and lifestyle concepts that take full advantage of Fashion Island's remarkable location."

None of the public reporting includes a restaurant name, a completion date or a construction timeline. "This fall" is when work starts, not when anything opens. For planning a dinner this season, the Coastal Overlook is a closed area.

The Irvine Company has said which building it is using as the model. "The community has responded enthusiastically to the beautiful coastal views and ocean breezes available while dining at RH Ocean Grill," a Fashion Island spokesperson told the Business Journal, "and we will deliver a similar coastal ambiance in a refreshed restaurant space in this area of the center."

The building the plan is copying

RH Newport Beach opened on December 13, 2024. The gallery fills a four-story, 97,000-square-foot building on the south end of the center, facing the coast. According to RH's announcement, RH Ocean Grill is a 270-seat indoor and outdoor rooftop restaurant built around seafood and caviar. It has a year-round skylit garden, a live-fire hearth, heritage olive trees, a central fountain, and two wine bars next to it on level four. The Business Journal's November 2025 coverage gave the seat count as 260. RH's own release says 270.

That is where the ocean-view dinner at Fashion Island happens for now. The coastal edge used to hold three established restaurants. Today it holds one rooftop above a furniture gallery, plus a fenced space that may become something like it.

Where the new food actually went

The year's openings make a clear pattern once you list them together.

Three of the four are coffee, cookies and ice cream. Fashion Island describes Ralph's Coffee as the first in California. Levain is the bakery's first Orange County shop. It is listed as open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., which makes it one of the longer-hours stops at the center. The Ben & Jerry's ribbon-cutting was a formal ceremony for a shop that was already serving. Local coverage on September 1 described it as open.

Fashion Island's directory also lists Lola Café in Suite A107 and Hudsons Cookies in Suite 1131 as "Now Open," without dates, so it's unclear whether either opened this year.

The one new dinner table

Telefèric Barcelona is the only new sit-down restaurant this year. It opened in the former Hopdoddy space, the group's first location in Orange County. Brother and sister Xavi and Maria Padrosa, who live in Barcelona, founded the company. It runs nine restaurants in the United States and two in Spain, including Walnut Creek, Los Angeles, Long Beach and La Jolla.

"Years ago, when we saw this mall, we fell in love with the location," Xavi Padrosa told the Newport Beach Indy. "Getting a place at Fashion Island was hard, but we had the opportunity." The chef, the manager and the owners are all from Spain. The Indy's preview menu included Wagyu empanadas, Iberian oysters, crab croquetas, gambas al ajillo, toasted bread with chorizo butter, and a lobster paella with Canadian lobster, Gulf shrimp and octopus. Churros, torrija and orange mousse came at the end. The bar runs seasonal cocktails alongside five classics. One is called Fancy a Carrot?, made with fig leaf-infused tequila, carrot cordial, sherry, oregano and spicy agave.

Padrosa compared the setting to the coast. "The coastal breeze, the Mediterranean light, the energy of the people and the connection to the ocean remind us so much of Barcelona." The restaurant itself is in an interior suite, not on the coastal edge the Irvine Company is rebuilding. That fits the year's pattern. New tenants are coming in through spaces that already exist, and the view-facing area is being held for later.

What's still on the coming-soon list

Fashion Island's directory lists Amalfi in Suite A104 as "Coming Soon." It is an Italian street-food concept from chef Erik De Marchi. There is no opening date. Jones Road and Hill House Home also show "Coming Soon," but both are retail, not dining.

So the confirmed timeline for the rest of 2026 is short:

1. Coastal Overlook construction is planned to start this fall, with no tenant or finish date announced.
2. Amalfi is pending in Suite A104 with no date.
3. Everything else on the food side opened between January and September.

The Business Journal ranks Fashion Island as Orange County's second-largest shopping center by 12-month taxable sales, at $876 million in its August 2026 report. A center that size can leave its best-placed dining space empty while it works out what goes there. That explains why the ocean side is quiet while the interior keeps adding counters.

October puts the interior to work

The center's busiest weeks this month fall while the Overlook is quiet. StyleWeekOC 2026 runs October 14 to 18 at Fashion Island, with fashion presentations, film premieres, panels and brand activations. The Newport Beach Film Festival overlaps it from October 15 to 22. Fashion Island is one of its venues, along with the New Port Theater and Lido Theater.

That puts two festival weeks on a center whose 2026 food openings are a coffee bar, a cookie counter, an ice cream shop and one tapas room. A screening followed by dinner at Telefèric, or a weekday stop at Levain before 10 p.m., is the version of Fashion Island that exists this October. The rooftop at RH Ocean Grill is still the only place there with the Pacific in view while you eat. That will hold until the Irvine Company names a tenant for the space it plans to turn toward the ocean.

When the Coastal Overlook gets a tenant and an opening date, it will change what Fashion Island offers the hillside neighborhoods closest to it. Casey Lesher tracks changes like this across Harbor View and coastal Newport Beach as they happen. If you want to know how changes in Newport Center affect your own plans, request a confidential market consultation.