On July 28, 2026, Montgomery's city council approved a variance for a 150-foot flagpole on the H-E-B property at 20025 Eva Street. The H-E-B going up at the southeast corner of Hwy. 105 and FM 2854 has an Eva Street address, and Eva Street is where the new national names are filing to open.
The places you can actually eat at this fall are somewhere else. They are spread along Hwy. 105, Old Hwy. 105 W. and Pine Market Avenue, and local owners opened them before any chain arrived.
Eva Street is filling in around the grocery site
Look at the addresses side by side. Three projects in recent filings and news reports sit within a few hundred numbers of each other on the same street:
| Address | Business | Status as of late October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 19970 Eva St., Ste. 102B | Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming | Open since Sept. 24 |
| 20025 Eva St. | H-E-B, with gas station and car wash | Under construction; mayor's 2025 projection was fourth quarter 2026 |
| 20360 Eva St. | Texas Roadhouse | Filed; state construction window runs May to October 2027 |
Woof Gang is the first of the three to open. Community Impact reported that the pet bakery and grooming shop opened its Montgomery store on Sept. 24. If your dog has been riding to Conroe or The Woodlands for a bath, the trip just got shorter.
Texas Roadhouse is the furthest out. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing projected construction from May to October 2027, and Community Impact noted that the company had not released an official opening date. Under that schedule, the earliest steak dinner on that lot is about a year away.
That leaves the anchor in the middle of the block.
Where the H-E-B actually stands
The opening date has been moving between sources for more than a year. Here is the record in order:
- April 2025. Mayor Sara Countryman projected the store would open "during the fourth quarter of 2026," according to Community Impact. The same report said the plan includes a gas station and car wash.
- May 2025. The Houston Chronicle described a 127,186-square-foot store. It said the state licensing estimate put completion in "late summer 2026."
- July 28, 2026. Council approved the 150-foot flagpole variance at 20025 Eva Street.
- Aug. 3, 2026. The city engineer's report to council, filed in the Aug. 11 council packet, said "all public utilities have been installed." It added that the engineer was coordinating with the city and the developer on testing results and a final inspection.
Late summer 2026 has come and gone. The fourth quarter runs through December. The engineer's report covers the public infrastructure serving the site, which the city engineer inspects at the developer's cost. It does not say the store itself is finished. The newest opening window on record is still the mayor's fourth-quarter estimate, so a date from H-E-B itself, or a hiring push, would be the real signal.
Meanwhile, the newest places to eat in Montgomery are on other streets.
What opened this year came from local owners
The three restaurants below are independent, and all three are serving now, well ahead of the chain on Eva Street.
333 Bar & Grill, 26333 Old Hwy. 105 W.
This one started in a building with history. Community Impact's August profile traces it to a former feed store that served ranchers in the Montgomery area starting in the 1940s. The building later served as public housing and became an eatery in 2021. Husband and wife Curtis Barker and Angel Wiener, who also own 333 Tattoo Studio, founded the bar in December 2025.
Wiener told Community Impact the work on the building is a "facelift." In her words, "the old girl has been around so long that in order to preserve her dignity, I don't want to change much."
The menu sources close to home. The Big Boy Smash Burger is half a pound of beef from Stone Cold Meats in Conroe with sautéed onions and American cheese. It comes on a brioche bun from a local bakery. The weekly schedule gives you reasons to come back:
- Thursday steak nights
- Live music on weekends
- Sunday brunch
In summer, the bar served $3.33 frozen drinks on a weekly rotation that ran from frozen margaritas to frozen old fashioneds. During crawfish season, the crawfish comes from Louisiana Cuisine Tomball.
Benny & Hash, 15260 TX-105, Ste. 160
This is a breakfast-and-lunch spot that soft-opened July 14, per Community Impact. Omelets, pancakes and breakfast tacos cover the basics. The plate people will remember is the Big Foot: two eggs your way with barbecue pork ribs, bacon, smoked sausage, toast and a breakfast side. The chilaquiles come with tomatillo salsa, rotisserie chicken and pickled onion. Lunch adds soups, salads, pot roast, and shrimp and grits.
New Bridge Fusion Steakhouse, 759 Pine Market Ave.
This is the newest of the three. It opened Oct. 9 after months of construction, Community Impact reported. Restaurateur Jason Yu and Chef David Moore run it. The menu covers steak cuts, seafood, burgers and salads. There is a fully stocked bar and a social area with darts, and the outdoor patio was designed for live music.
Put these next to the chain timeline and the order is clear. For a Thursday steak this fall, the choice is between Old Hwy. 105 W. and Pine Market Avenue. The national steak chain on Eva Street isn't scheduled to finish construction until October 2027.
Next on Hwy. 105: Grit & Grind Coffee
The next local opening is a coffee shop. Grit & Grind Coffee is planned for 15444 Hwy. 105 W., Ste. C. As of Community Impact's Oct. 7 report, the state filing estimated construction from Oct. 15 to Jan. 15, with an opening expected in early 2027. That puts it on the same highway as Benny & Hash, a few hundred address numbers apart. It's a construction estimate, not a confirmed opening day.
Roads to plan around on the way there
Getting to any of these places this week means checking a few road projects.
Buffalo Springs Drive is closed for paving between FM 1097 and Lonestar Parkway from Oct. 26 to Oct. 30, the City of Montgomery announced. That runs Monday through Friday of this week, so plan on another route until the paving wraps up Friday, Oct. 30.
FM 1097 widening from Blueberry Hills Road to Lake Conroe Hills Drive, two lanes to four, was 96% complete per TxDOT's most recent media update, as reported Oct. 20. The separate culvert-and-shoulder project at Atkins Creek was 95% complete. Community Impact's Oct. 20 roundup lists both on third-quarter 2026 schedules. That quarter ended Sept. 30, so both are wrapping up a little late.
Old Plantersville Road is next. On Sept. 10, Montgomery County commissioners awarded a $3.9 million rehabilitation contract to Larry Young Paving, Inc., funded by county road bonds, with work estimated to start in October 2026. The project widens the road to 26 feet and adds a shoulder without adding lanes. If you take Old Plantersville toward the Briarley community or Hwy. 105, expect work zones in the coming months.
Toward Conroe, Hwy. 105 widening between South Loop 336 and FM 1484 was 98% complete in the same TxDOT update. The segment from 10th Street to South Loop 336 was 65% complete and is scheduled to run into the second quarter of 2028.
Until the H-E-B on Eva Street opens, the 1940s feed store on Old Hwy. 105 W., the breakfast counter on Hwy. 105 and the new patio on Pine Market Avenue are the newest places to go in Montgomery.
If you're weighing what the new Eva Street corridor, or the Hwy. 105 commercial strip more broadly, means for a property you own or are thinking about near Montgomery, Keith Robertson and the team have watched this side of the lake grow for more than three decades and are glad to walk through it with you. Let's Start a Conversation.
