The last week of September, Graziano and Maurizio Ricci closed Old Mill Grocery & Deli on Hillspoint Road in Westport. It had been open three years, a short walk from Compo Beach. Darien Patch reported that the brothers closed it as they got ready for their next restaurant, a Romanacci at Heights Crossing, 346 Heights Road in Darien. Patch said that restaurant was scheduled to open this fall.
A Westport deli closed to make room for a Noroton Heights dining room. That captures what has happened on Heights Road over the past year. In that time the station block has lost two concepts, a seafood restaurant and a cookie shop, and both came from New York chains. Meanwhile a Greek dining room and an Italian dining room have been added or are on the way, and their owners run them.
Two developments, one stretch of road
Noroton Heights now has two mixed-use projects facing each other across Heights Road. Darien Commons, on one side, has 122 apartments above its storefronts. Heights Crossing, on the other, began opening in 2025. CT Insider reported that it has about 385 parking spaces and that new sidewalks joined eight separate segments along a half-mile stretch near the Noroton Heights station. As of March 18, 2026, Heights Crossing was fully leased.
Here is what the two sides hold heading into mid-November:
| Business | What it is | Side of the road | Arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gregorys Coffee | Coffee bar | Darien Commons | Fall 2023 |
| Bareburger | Burger restaurant, 150 Heights Road | Darien Commons | Open by Sept. 2024 |
| Magnolia Darien | Women's clothing boutique | Darien Commons | Dec. 2024 |
| Lykos Taverna | Greek and Mediterranean restaurant, 110 Heights Road | Darien Commons | 2026 |
| The Goddard School | Preschool | Heights Crossing | Sept. 1, 2025 |
| Raphaël's Bakery | Bakery, 370 Heights Road | Heights Crossing | Nov. 2025 |
| Chipotle | Fast casual, 330 Heights Road | Heights Crossing | Dec. 23, 2025 |
| MilkShake Factory | Shakes, sundaes, chocolates | Heights Crossing | May 9, 2026 |
| Romanacci | Italian, 346 Heights Road | Heights Crossing | Scheduled for fall 2026 |
The Heights Crossing roster also includes Heights Wines & Spirits, Sharkey's Cuts for Kids, the Pvolve Darien fitness studio and Garden Catering. Walgreens stayed open on the Darien Commons side through construction. Put together, the two sides cover the errands of an ordinary week, from a child's haircut and a prescription pickup to a bottle for dinner and coffee before the train.
Both departures were New York chains
Seamore's came to Darien Commons in 2023 as a sustainable seafood restaurant. It was part of a group of eight, six of them in New York City and one in Arlington, Virginia. CT Insider reported that the group closed all eight locations, Darien included.
Chip City followed this fall. The cookie shop opened at 112 Heights Road on Jan. 26, 2024, as one of the first big names at Darien Commons. It began in New York in a 250-square-foot storefront and became known for weekly rotating flavors. On Sept. 28, 2026, CT Insider reported that all three of its Connecticut shops had closed, including the one in Darien.
Both closings happened at the company level, not shop by shop. Seamore's shut down as a whole group. Chip City left Connecticut completely in a single move, and its locations in New York, New Jersey and Texas were still listed on the company's website. In each case, the Heights Road storefront closed because of a decision made beyond the block.
The dining rooms coming in are owner-run
Lykos Taverna moved into the former Seamore's space. Its owner, Euripides Pelekanos, told CT Insider the restaurant is independent. When the restaurant was announced in January, First Selectman Jon Zagrodzky described what it would add to the town in the same CT Insider story:
"We have no Greek restaurants in Darien, so this will be a first for us."
Darien Commons now lists Lykos as open, and the restaurant's own site was taking reservations for early November.
Romanacci, across the road, is a regional business. The Ricci brothers run a group of Romanacci restaurants in Fairfield County, including a Romanacci Craft Bar Kitchen in Fairfield, and their Westport restaurant on Railroad Place is still open after the deli closed. When CT Insider first reported the Darien plan in March, it named Graziano Ricci as chef and described the concept as pizza alongside tapas-style Italian plates. The Riccis did more than add a location. They closed a Westport business three years in, which shows how much weight they are putting on the Noroton Heights location.
Once Romanacci arrives, both of the block's full-service openings since Seamore's left will be owner-run. In practice that means a Greek dinner on one side of Heights Road and pizza with small plates on the other, both a short walk from the Noroton Heights platform.
The counter-service side stays national
The other half of the pattern runs the opposite way. Most of the counter-service openings at Heights Crossing are national names. Chipotle opened at 330 Heights Road on Dec. 23, 2025. MilkShake Factory, a franchise selling shakes, sundaes and chocolates, opened on May 9, 2026. Bareburger, at 150 Heights Road on the Darien Commons side, started in 2009 and has grown into a multi-location brand.
Raphaël's Bakery breaks the pattern. It opened its Darien location at 370 Heights Road in November 2025, which gave the block a dedicated bakery to go with Gregorys Coffee across the road.
That leaves Heights Road split in a way few places in Darien are. The quick stops come from brands a commuter would recognize from anywhere, and the sit-down dinners come from owner-operators.
Where the season goes after Heights Road
The station block has no holiday event of its own on the calendar, so the season goes on elsewhere in town. The dates run in this order:
- Nov. 21, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Darien Nature Center Holiday Market, with gifts from local artisans and crafters, food and face painting.
- Nov. 23 to Dec. 3. The Darien Nature Center's Festival of Wreaths. Wreaths are displayed and open for bidding, and a community reception with final bidding runs Thursday, Dec. 3, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
- Nov. 27, 6:30 to 8 p.m. The free 4th Annual Lit Tree Lane Stroll at Darien Library, 1441 Post Road, with trees decorated around books, music and refreshments.
- Nov. 28, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Shop Small Business Saturday, with participating local businesses and holiday lights on the downtown lamp posts.
- Dec. 5. The DCA's free Merry Meadowlands Holiday Home & Market runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. From 2 to 5 p.m., Darien Parks & Recreation holds An Old Fashioned Holiday, free and open to all ages, at Tilley Pond Park, 40 West Avenue.
- Dec. 6, 2 to 3 p.m. A Christmas Carol with Michael Langlois at Darien Library.
Shop Small Saturday is the date with the clearest tie to Heights Road. The program centers on independently owned businesses, and that is the group now taking over the block's dining rooms.
If you live near Noroton Heights and are wondering how this year's changes there bear on your own home's value, The Leslie Clarke Team can walk you through it. Request a Home Valuation and we'll show you how it looks from your street.
