For years, the honest answer to "where should we eat tonight?" in Union has been a short list followed by a longer drive. Florence for the chains, Cincinnati for anything approaching an occasion. That geography is quietly changing this summer, and it is changing in two very specific buildings.
The first sits on Old Union Road, in a space most residents still think of as the Farmstand. The second sits on US 42 next to Kroger, in a shell that has been dark since Kitchen 1883 closed. Read them together with what has already opened at Union Promenade, and Union's summer rhythm looks different than it did a year ago.
The Old Union Road Return
A new Italian restaurant, Bella Vita Ristorante, is set to open in Union at the end of June, moving into the property at 9914 Old Union Road, a space that formerly housed the Farmstand Market and Cafe, which closed in December after eight years of business. The address matters. That stretch of Old Union Road is not the retail corridor most people picture when they think of new Union development. It is the older, quieter side of town, and it has not had a sit-down dinner anchor since the Farmstand's last service.
The founders are locals. The new restaurant is the brainchild of three local men: Kevin Preston, John Daugherty and Rob Trump. Preston is the founder and president of Premier Gaming Group, which operates the Louisiana Downs Race Track and Casino in Bossier City, Louisiana. Daugherty works in construction and Trump works in the mortgage business, but the restaurant itself was a joint venture between the three men as individuals and friends. The pitch is straightforward. Preston said the goal was to offer more fine dining options to Union, noting that from a family perspective, "you have to go down to Cincinnati to really get a good meal."
A few operational details worth knowing before you make a reservation. The building is capable of holding 74 people, although that probably won't match the seating capacity. The restaurant will also feature an outdoor patio with lights and greenery. The owners plan to start with dinner service, Wednesdays through Saturdays, and brunch with all-day service on Sundays. That Sunday brunch window is the one to circle. Union has plenty of weekday breakfast, but a full Sunday brunch service on Old Union Road is new territory.
The Kroger Corner, Round Two
The other building to watch is the old Kitchen 1883 shell on US 42. It has been empty long enough that most residents had written it off. According to the city's June 1 commission meeting, that is about to change. Commissioner Tuyn mentioned there will be a new restaurant, Hokkaido Ramen House going into the old 1883 restaurant location next to Kroger, and they plan to open mid-summer.
Ramen is not a category Union has previously had. It is also, importantly, a category that fills the exact gap between a Promenade fast-casual lunch and a Bella Vita dinner reservation. A weeknight bowl in a real dining room is a different unit of the week than a drive-thru or a special occasion. If it opens on the timeline the commissioner suggested, Union will have added two full-service dinner rooms inside a single summer.
Meanwhile, the Promenade continues to fill in around them. Penn Station in Union Promenade will have a ribbon cutting on June 6, 2026, at 10:30 AM. That lands on a stretch of US 42 that, per the developer, is a 62-acre mixed use development located in Union, Kentucky along State Highway US 42, incorporating multiple uses in a horizontal fashion where the uses coexist next to each other. The Promenade's current mix already reads as a full errand map: Cincinnati Children's, United Dairy Farmers, Elite MedSpa, Glamour Nails, Schlotskys Deli and Cinnabon Bakery, Tropical Smoothie, Ace of Fades, Wing Stop, McAllister's Deli, Chick Fil A, El Asadero Bar and Grill, HotWorx, The Strip butcher, Fifth Third Bank, Pure Barre, Club Pilates, Fairway Room and Lounge, By Gollys, The Works Pizza Co., Luxe Suites, Taco Mama, and Teriyaki Madness.
Put those pieces on a map together and Union's dining geography has quietly separated into three zones for three different jobs. The Promenade handles the errand-and-quick-meal loop. The Kroger corner is about to become the weeknight sit-down. Old Union Road becomes the Friday-and-Sunday destination it has not been in over a decade.
Where The Calendar Is Pointing
The community calendar is doing something similar, splitting the summer between hyperlocal events and larger regional draws that pull Union residents a few miles north or east. From the city's own June minutes and the Boone County Fair schedule, here is what is actually on the wall calendar:
- June 20, 4:00 to 10:00 PM. The City of Union will have a booth at the Boone County 250th celebration on June 20, 2026, from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM, at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Burlington.
- June 22 to 27. The Boone County Fair and Horse Show, June 22 to 27, 2026, in Burlington, Kentucky.
- June 26. Union Celebrates America will be on June 26, at Larry A. Ryle High School.
- September 19. Timothy Oktoberfest in Union, per the 2026 Kentucky festival calendar listing Timothy Oktoberfest, Union, 9/19.
- October 3. Bourbon in the Bluegrass in Union, from the same statewide festival guide listing Bourbon in the Bluegrass, Union, 10/3.
The June cluster is the interesting one. Three major community events sit inside a single week, and only one of them is inside Union city limits. Ryle High School anchors the local night on June 26, but the surrounding week pulls people to Burlington. If you have kids in the fair's 4-H track or you are showing at the Horse Show, that week will feel like a small commute for something that used to feel farther away.
One item to keep tentative. The Health and Wellness Fair scheduled for May 16, 2026, was cancelled due to weather, with forty-five vendors registered to participate in the event, and after discussion, the Commission agreed to issue refunds to all the registered vendors and sponsors, with a plan to reschedule a smaller Health and Wellness Fair sometime after July of this year. Watch the city calendar for a late-summer date to reappear.
The Tuesday Round At Lassing Pointe
None of this replaces the routine most Union residents already have with Lassing Pointe Golf Course at 2266 Double Eagle Dr, Union, KY 41091. It is worth naming what you already have alongside what is arriving. Lassing is a Dr. Michael Hurdzan designed course, minutes from the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, with a unique design that will challenge experienced players while maintaining a playable layout for casual players. A Tuesday twilight round followed by a bowl at the ramen shop next to Kroger is a version of the week that did not exist last summer.
What This Adds Up To For Residents
Two new restaurants and a Penn Street ribbon cutting is a modest headline. The change underneath it is bigger, because it addresses the specific complaint that has defined Union dining for years. As Commissioner Mefford put it at that June meeting, "The common theme that always came up is, we'd like to have places where you don't have to drive to Florence, you don't have to drive to Cincinnati."
Whether Bella Vita and Hokkaido Ramen House deliver on that is a question the summer will answer. What is already true is that residents finally have the option to test it. A Friday reservation on Old Union Road, a Wednesday bowl next to Kroger, a Saturday errand loop through the Promenade, and a June week that keeps the family closer to home than it would have last year. That is the shape of the summer, and it is worth pointing out because it is the first summer in a long time when Union's own map holds together as an evening plan.
If you have been quietly tracking these openings because you are thinking about what your block looks like five years from now, that is the conversation we spend most of our time on. The team at Willard & Erwin Group knows this side of Boone County well, and we are happy to talk through what any of it means for your own timing. Let's Connect.
