What's New on the Lunch Map Around Bannerman and Thomasville Road This Year?

"Yay! We plan to be regulars since you're so close to us now!" That comment showed up under the Tallahassee Democrat's May 20 story about Hopkins Eatery opening in Bannerman Crossings. A few weeks earlier, a Facebook post about a different opening drew this reply: "Yes! Let's bring more food options to Bradfordville!"

Both comments welcome new food in the same part of town, but the two openings behind them are different. If you live in Killearn Lakes Plantation, the places you can eat nearby grew this year in two separate ways. Bannerman Crossings added another established local kitchen to a row of locally owned restaurants. Upper Thomasville Road started attracting national chains that grow alongside the Bradford Hills project. Knowing which is which tells you what has opened, what is only proposed, and where the next new spot is likely to appear.

Rae's Old Space Went to a Name From 1982

Hopkins Eatery opened its doors at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 3431 Bannerman Road, Suite 104, in the Bannerman Crossings Shopping Center. It moved into the space left by Rae's Restaurant, which closed in July 2025. Rae's closed about ten months before Hopkins opened, and the business that took over its space has been in Tallahassee for more than four decades.

This is the fourth Hopkins in the city. The other three are at 1415 Market St., 1660 N. Monroe St. and 1208 Capital Circle SE. Before May, getting a Hopkins lunch from the Bannerman area meant driving to one of those three. The Democrat traces the business back to the late Martha "Dee Dee" Johnston, a single mother of four who started it to serve "her friends and neighbors delicious and fresh food." Her family still runs it.

If you haven't been, these two dishes have built its reputation:

• The guac sandwich, served on rye pumpernickel
• The Chicken Tetrazzini, a cashew chicken salad with linguine, mushrooms, cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion and bell pepper, topped with house dressing

Plan around the hours. The Bannerman location is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It's closed Sunday. On weekdays it works for lunch or an early dinner. On Saturdays it's lunch only.

Hopkins Joined a Row That Was Already Local

Hopkins didn't land in an empty shopping center. When it opened, the Democrat listed the other locally owned food businesses already at Bannerman Crossings:

• Blu Halo
• Dao
• Mom & Dad's Italian Restaurant
• Dog Et Al
• Ma's Diner

Including Hopkins, that's six locally owned food businesses in one Bannerman Road shopping center. When Rae's closed, the space could have gone to almost any kind of tenant. It went to another Tallahassee family business. That keeps Bannerman Crossings a place where most of your choices are local names, and it gives the center another reason for a lunch stop.

The 2026 news farther south on Thomasville Road went the other way. The Democrat's midyear closures report noted that Panda Buffet at 3507 Thomasville Road closed in June after more than 12 years. The Crumbl Cookies on Thomasville Road also closed that month. Restaurants open and close all the time. Still, this year a local business took over the former Rae's space at Bannerman Crossings.

Up Thomasville Road, the Growth Looks Different

North of Bannerman, the 2026 openings are national brands.

Culver's opened on April 13, 2026, at the corner of Wolfpack Way and Thomasville Road. The company lists the address as 3425 Wolfpack Way and the hours as 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. That makes it the latest-closing of the places in this post. It's the third Culver's in Tallahassee. The first opened in 2021 at 2439 N. Monroe St., in front of the old Tallahassee Mall. The second is at 1311 Executive Center Drive, just off Apalachee Parkway in the Koger Center. Before April, people in the northeast drove that far for one. One commenter told the Democrat, "We drove all the way to the Apalachee location yesterday!"

The Democrat reported that fans reacted to a Facebook update from Commissioner Brian Welch about his meeting with local franchisee Milan Patel and the expected opening date. The paper also noted that students at nearby Chiles High School are among the people the new location will serve. Besides ButterBurgers and frozen custard, the menu has chicken tenders, sandwiches and fried fish.

The bigger driver along this stretch is Bradford Hills, a mixed-use development of nearly 150 acres. As of April, the Democrat reported plans for more than 750 apartments and 34 townhomes. Plans also include an assisted living facility, medical offices, a daycare and a dog park. The other restaurant names linked to this part of Thomasville Road are all in the planning stage.

As of the Democrat's April 7, 2026 report, here's where each one stood:

The Waffle House would be the eighth in Tallahassee. We haven't found any reporting since April that confirms an opening date for the Waffle House, Chipotle or Dutch Bros. Treat all three as proposals until a sign goes up.

Where the Bannerman Road Work Fits In

New restaurants also bring more traffic, and Bannerman Road itself is due for construction. Blueprint's project snapshot, dated October 1, 2026, says the Northeast Corridor Connector will widen Bannerman to four lanes from Quail Common Drive to Preservation Road. It will add a median with turn lanes from Quail Common Drive to Meridian Road, plus new walking and biking facilities along the corridor.

The work comes in phases, and each phase touches a different part of the road:

1. Phase 1: intersection improvements at Bull Headley Road and Bannerman Road, and a stormwater pond at the eastern end of the corridor. Construction is expected to start in 2026 and finish in late 2027.
2. Phase 2: widening Bannerman from Quail Common Drive to Preservation Road, plus a Tekesta Drive sidewalk from Bannerman Road to Deer Lake. Construction is expected to start in 2027 and finish in 2030.
3. West of Preservation Road: begins after Phase 2 is done, with no completion year published yet.

Blueprint says it's phasing the work to reduce traffic and utility disruptions and to keep access open for drivers and residents. The snapshot doesn't include a lane-closure schedule. Leon County's road closures page links to a live map that will show closures as they happen. Check that map before a weekday lunch run once crews start work.

Put the restaurant news and the road schedule together and you get the next few years in this corridor. Bannerman Crossings has its row of locally owned kitchens now, including a 44-year-old Tallahassee name that arrived in May. Upper Thomasville Road has a Culver's open until 10 p.m. and a short list of proposed chains tied to Bradford Hills. Bannerman Road between them is scheduled for widening work from 2027 to 2030.

New openings near your street can change how buyers see a home, and that shows up in pricing. If you're thinking about what that means for a house in Killearn Lakes Plantation, Damian Costantino and The Costantino Group can show you how the Bannerman and Thomasville Road corridor is pricing right now. Let's Connect.