On September 21, the restaurant space beside Las Vegas Ballpark reopened as a place built for watching games. It had been empty for more than three years. A week later, La Neta Cocina y Lounge on Festival Plaza Drive, a five-year tequila-and-brunch spot, closed with no warning. Taken together, the two changes put more of Downtown Summerlin's everyday dining near the ballpark, at a time of year when the stadium itself is quiet.
The corner that waited three years
Finney's Crafthouse opened at 10955 Oval Park Drive in the space that Wolfgang Puck Players Locker left in July 2023. From that closing to the September 2026 opening is about 38 months. That's a long vacancy for a storefront on one of the district's main sports blocks.
The operator is new to Nevada. Finney's is a group of 16 neighborhood taverns in Central and Southern California, founded in 2016 by brothers Greg and Brad Finefrock. The Summerlin location is its first restaurant outside California, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in July. In the same article, Greg Finefrock gave the reason for the location: "Las Vegas has one of the most passionate sports cities with some of the best fans in the country, and we can't wait to be part of it."
The brand's name is a family joke. "Finney brothers" was the siblings' high school nickname, taken from the way their last name is pronounced.
Built for the other 300 nights
The Las Vegas Aviators play at the ballpark next door, but a minor league home schedule leaves most evenings without a game on that block. Finney's covers those nights with screens. On its Summerlin location page, the restaurant says it's set up for Golden Knights, Raiders, Aces and Aviators games.
The practical details:
- Screens: 20 HDTVs across the dining room, bar and patio.
- Capacity: about 230 guests indoors and outdoors, with a dog-friendly patio.
- Two kinds of outdoor seating: one patio is enclosed with operable windows, and the other is open-air with misters and umbrellas, according to a Summerlin.com interview with the founders.
- Hours: Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., per the restaurant's own location page. The Summerlin directory lists an 11 p.m. close on Fridays and Saturdays, so check before planning a late night.
- Happy hour: Monday through Friday, 3 to 5 p.m., dine-in only. Draft beer is $6, cocktails and wine are $7 to $9, and small plates and a burger or chicken combo are included, according to the location's happy-hour menu.
The menu has more than 50 items, and many are meant for sharing on game day. The Review-Journal's July preview featured an A5 wagyu burger, buffalo cauliflower in yuzu-blue cheese sauce and mahi-mahi tacos. Its opening-day coverage added Gary's oval pepperoni pizza, steak fajitas, a Norwegian salmon sandwich and a Southwest chicken bowl.
The restaurant is three weeks old. Eater Vegas added it to its new-restaurants map in an October 1 update.
Meanwhile, on Festival Plaza Drive
The newest space to go dark is on the other side of the district. La Neta Cocina y Lounge, at 1770 Festival Plaza Drive, Suite 200, closed suddenly on a Tuesday at the end of September. The restaurant confirmed the closing to the Review-Journal's Neon in a statement that read, "After 5 incredible years, we've made the difficult decision to close La Neta at Downtown Summerlin."
The same report said La Neta was known for its large tequila collection and for dishes such as guacamole with chicharrones, pozole verde and a Truff lobster quesadilla. As of this writing, no replacement for the space has been announced.
Festival Plaza Drive also gained a restaurant this year. In February, Marufuku Ramen, a San Francisco ramen shop, opened at 2010 Festival Plaza Drive, Suite 170, in the former SkinnyFats space. The Review-Journal described Hakata tonkotsu and chicken paitan ramen, kushiyaki skewers and a terrace.
Here are the year's Downtown Summerlin dining changes so far:
Restaurant | Address | What changed | When |
|---|---|---|---|
Marufuku Ramen | 2010 Festival Plaza Dr., Suite 170 | Opened in the former SkinnyFats space | February 4, 2026 |
Finney's Crafthouse | 10955 Oval Park Dr. | Opened in the former Players Locker space, vacant since July 2023 | September 21, 2026 |
La Neta Cocina y Lounge | 1770 Festival Plaza Dr., Suite 200 | Closed after five years | Late September 2026 |
So two empty spaces were filled this year and one new vacancy opened. Of the two openings, Finney's is the one built around the sports side of the district, a few steps from the ballpark gates.
Four parade nights left
This month's other draw is outdoors. Downtown Summerlin's Parade of Mischief, now in its eighth year, runs along Park Centre Drive at 6 p.m. It's free, presented by Universal Horror Unleashed and produced by BESTAgency. Four of its eight nights have already passed. The remaining dates are:
- Friday, October 16
- Saturday, October 17
- Friday, October 23
- Saturday, October 24
Summerlin's announcement says more than 60 local young performers take part. Floats and acts draw on Wicked, Harry Potter, Cruella, Hocus Pocus, The Addams Family and Día de los Muertos. Halee Harczynski, Downtown Summerlin's senior marketing director, said in the release that the district's "wide, roomy sidewalks and private streets easily accommodate community celebrations like these."
Two of the remaining dates are Fridays, and Finney's happy hour runs on weekdays until 5 p.m. That leaves an hour between the end of happy hour and the start of the parade on October 16 and 23. The happy-hour menu runs only Monday through Friday, so it isn't offered on the Saturday parade nights.
One more opening just outside the district
The closest notable opening outside Downtown Summerlin is at Tivoli Village. Yu by Sijie opened August 7 at 400 S. Rampart Boulevard. In its October restaurant map, Eater Vegas points to Peking duck and dim sum as the main draws. It isn't a game-day spot. It does give the Rampart corridor something new this fall, alongside the changes in Downtown Summerlin itself.
For now, the open question is the La Neta space at 1770 Festival Plaza Drive, Suite 200. The most active part of the district this fall is the corner by the ballpark, now with a tavern open seven days a week.
At Joey Andron, we follow which storefronts fill, which go dark and how long they stay empty, because that history shapes how a district works day to day. If you live in Summerlin and want to talk about what these changes mean for your part of town, let's connect.
