Two Stone Oak Restaurant Spaces, and the Restaurants There Now

The San Antonio Report reported that Skip Robinson had already sold four liquor stores in Colorado and six in South Texas before he decided to open a restaurant in a Stone Oak space that had seen six concepts come and go. "I had concerns," he told the San Antonio Report. "When people try something and are not successful, you've got to go in with your eyes wide open." He opened Stone Terrace Gastropub anyway. A few miles away on Stone Oak Parkway, another owner was opening a restaurant at 18740 Stone Oak Pkwy, the former Frida space. Both restaurants have opened. Both spaces have seen repeated restaurant openings and closures over the years.

If you've lived here through the last few restaurant turnovers, you already know the corners. What you may not have connected is how the spaces' restaurant histories compare with the restaurants now operating there.

Restaurant changes at Stone Oak Plaza

Stone Oak Plaza, at the corner of Stone Oak Parkway and Loop 1604, had one real hit. The San Antonio Report reported that Reggiano's ran there for roughly a decade before closing in 2009; longtime residents still bring it up first. After that, the lineup changed several times. Watermark Grill came and went. So did Drew's American Grill and Buckles & Buns. CoCo Bongo lasted about a year. Frida Mexican Restaurant & Bar held on the longest of the post-Reggiano's group, four years, before closing in September 2024.

By the time Katerina signed the lease, the San Antonio Report had noted that the nearly 10,000-square-foot space had seen one concept after another over 16 years. Katerina opened quietly on February 9, 2026, backed by co-owners Dick Jones and Katerina Akimova and a kitchen led by chef Greg Carter, who has worked in Michelin-starred kitchens with Thomas Keller and José Andrés, and chef Justin Manzi, a Culinary Institute of America graduate with steakhouse experience at Morton's. The restaurant was already booked out for Valentine's Day and a wedding before its first month was over.

Katerina drew early interest, as Frida had before it. As of this summer, OpenTable reviews still describe the restaurant with the same energy it opened with, calling it a "beautiful atmosphere" with "outstanding service," and Yelp reviewers are naming specific bartenders by name and coming back for happy hour, which runs Monday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. These reviews offer a snapshot of customer feedback.

Another Stone Oak restaurant space

The San Antonio Report reported that the space now occupied by Stone Terrace Gastropub has had six concepts since 2008: Ciel/Caio2, Cabo Seafood + Bar, Knife & Fork Gastropub, 1718 Steakhouse, Ace of Steaks, and White Rabbit. Ace of Steaks drew attention for a $1,000 gold-plated Tomahawk steak and lasted less than a year.

Robinson, a Navy veteran, took the space anyway and built the menu around food flights rather than a single signature dish. The pasta flight pairs filet mignon with mushroom ravioli, chicken parmesan mac and cheese, and a crab cake with mac and cheese. The beef Wellington, a dish that requires the pastry, the mushroom paste, and the tenderloin to all land correctly or the whole plate falls apart, has become one of the restaurant's most ordered items. Robinson told the San Antonio Report that word spread less through advertising and more through a local Facebook group, where he says roughly half his early tables mentioned seeing a post about the restaurant before their first visit.

Two restaurant spaces a few miles apart have histories of turnover and now house Katerina and Stone Terrace Gastropub.

What the restaurant histories show

Reggiano's ran at Stone Oak Plaza for roughly a decade before closing in 2009. Ace of Steaks drew attention for its $1,000 gold-plated Tomahawk steak and closed in less than a year. Together, they provide two markers in the longer timeline of restaurant changes at both addresses.

The current restaurants offer different approaches. Katerina built a menu wide enough to cover a date night, a happy hour, and a private dining event, and gave the space an atrium with a central tree and skylights that reads as an occasion without requiring one. Stone Terrace built a format, the flight, that's inherently repeatable because it lets a regular try something new without committing to a whole new dish.

Neither owner is claiming to have solved the corner permanently. Robinson told the San Antonio Report that it was "a hard balance" between quality and cost. The two restaurants offer distinct menus and formats.

What this means for a Tuesday night in Stone Oak

For residents, the practical upside is straightforward. Two addresses that spent years cycling through restaurant openings and closures now have restaurants operating there. Katerina's patio and bar area get lively on weekends, but recent reviews describe Sunday evenings in the main dining room as the quieter option. Happy hour runs Monday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m., which gives regulars a lower-cost way to test the menu before committing to a full dinner.

Stone Terrace leans more toward the group hangout than the occasion dinner. The flights format is built for sharing, and Robinson's own read on the neighborhood is that people want quality ingredients without a markup for flash.

None of this guarantees either restaurant survives the next five years. Restaurant math is unforgiving everywhere, and both spaces have seen frequent turnover. Both spaces now have restaurants showing early signs of customer interest. That's worth knowing if you live nearby and have been waiting to see whether either place is worth a second visit, and it's worth knowing if you've simply wondered, the way most of us do when we drive past a familiar building with a new sign, what actually changed this time.

If you're the kind of Stone Oak resident who tracks these things, you already have your own list of what used to be where. Reggiano's regulars still talk about it. Frida had its own following before it closed. The corners remember more restaurants than most of us do, and that's part of what makes watching the next chapter worth doing.

M. Stagers Realty Partners works throughout Stone Oak and the surrounding Hill Country communities, and we like tracking the small changes that tell you a neighborhood is settling into something rather than just cycling through it. If you ever want to talk about what's changing here, or anywhere else we work in San Antonio, Start Your Journey with a conversation.