Moraga Way in Soft Launch: A Glorietta Neighbor's Fall Guide to What's Open, What's Pending, and What's Still Open to Comment
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
"We lost a cook!"
That was Ben Rojas, posting about the first week at Wayside Social, the burger place he opened in September at 1419 Moraga Way. Diablo Magazine called the posts an "amusing and honest rundown" of opening week. The line fits the whole stretch of Moraga Way south of Glorietta right now. Plenty is moving, and almost none of it is done. A restaurant is open without its full concept. A building has been approved for demolition with no date. A parks plan has drafted a long list of ideas and funded none of them. A safety study and a path extension exist only on paper.
For anyone who drives, bikes, or walks Moraga Way from Glorietta into Moraga, the unfinished state is the useful part. The open questions are the ones you can still weigh in on, and two of them have public meetings in the next six weeks.
La Finestra Ristorante served its last dinner at 1419 Moraga Way on Sunday, June 14. Chef-owner Jeff Assadi pointed to rising costs for labor, food, utilities, licenses and insurance. By early August, Rojas had told Bay Area Telegraph his plans for the space: "I'm taking over the old La Finestra and turning it into a burger joint with an arcade." Rojas also owns La Chamba Taqueria at 484 Center Street, so this is a second Moraga storefront from an owner who already runs one in town.
The sign that went up over the summer advertised burgers, fries, shakes, soft serve, alcohol and an arcade. At the soft launch, the menu was burgers, hot dogs and fries. Rojas has said beer and wine and a kids' arcade area will come later. So if you're planning a Friday dinner with kids who've been promised games, check first. The kitchen is open. The arcade is still a promise.
The corner itself has changed more than the menu. A white-tablecloth Italian room is now a casual, family-oriented counter. That matters in a shopping center where the Town is still trying to get things moving. In February, Lamorinda Weekly reported that the Town Council had hired Kosmont Companies for on-call economic-development advice, with an initial cap of $60,000. The goal is to reach property owners and figure out what's keeping underused parcels from being developed. A local owner signing a lease and opening in the same year is the kind of activity that effort is meant to produce.
A short drive farther on, Hacienda de las Flores has the same split. The Town Council approved demolishing La Sala, a deteriorating building that had already closed because of water damage. The preliminary estimate is $150,000 to $250,000. According to the most recent coverage, from Aug. 12, staff hoped to take the building down before the rainy season. The Town Engineer said the timing wasn't definite because the Town still had to coordinate with Wedgewood Weddings and others. I haven't found a later date. For the near term, staff have suggested decorative landscaping on the site. Longer-term planning goes to the parks master plan.
Meanwhile, the Hacienda's Halloween night is set. Moraga's Haunted Hacienda, billed as "not so" haunted, runs Oct. 30 from 5 to 8:30 p.m. An outdoor screening of Freaky Friday follows at dusk. If La Sala comes down this fall, that evening may be one of the last times the grounds look the way they have for years. If it doesn't, the building will still be standing, fenced off, through another winter.
The question of what eventually replaces La Sala connects to the biggest open decision on this stretch. Moraga is updating its Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan, and consultant WRT presented draft recommendations at a joint Town Council and Parks & Recreation Commission session on Sept. 9.
For Moraga Commons, the draft focuses on reinvesting in what's already there. It suggests replacing the splash pad, improving the basketball court and teen gathering space, and adding parking, shade, seating and walking connections. For the Hacienda, it doesn't pick a redevelopment concept. It calls for a separate site-and-facility master plan first. The document also says plainly what it doesn't do. The recommendations "do not authorize individual projects or expenditures and do not commit the Town to funding or implementing every recommendation."
So a new splash pad at the Commons is a recommendation, not a project. Two meetings remain before the plan is final:
Public comment can change these plans. In July, about 10 residents near Rancho Laguna Park opposed pickleball courts or sports fields there, and council members raised objections to pickleball, stadiums and stadium lighting at that park. At past meetings, the Town has taken comments in person, by Zoom, and in writing submitted by email or hand delivery at least two hours before the meeting. Check the Oct. 12 agenda on the Town of Moraga's site for that meeting's remote-access instructions.
These are Moraga's parks, but plenty of Glorietta families use the Commons and the Hacienda. Anyone can comment at a public meeting.
The road between Glorietta and all of this is in the same state, just earlier. Earlier this year, Moraga and Orinda received a $508,000 federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant for the Moraga Way Safety and Connectivity Study. The study covers 4.7 miles, from Moraga Road to the Orinda BART station. It will also look at a shared-use path that could double as emergency access during an evacuation. The City of Orinda calls it "planning-only," with no final design or construction. When the grant was announced, Orinda Mayor Brandyn Iverson said the road can't be widened. Retired Moraga Town Engineer Shawn Knapp said he started developing the idea in 2018. The City said community meetings would be announced once the study began. As of early October, I haven't found any announced dates.
Orinda is also preparing plans for two extensions of the separated walking path, both mainly funded by Transportation Development Act grants. One runs along the west side of Glorietta Boulevard from Overhill Road to the north city limits. The other runs along the west side of Moraga Way from Altamount Drive to the north intersection of Ivy Drive. The new segments would use raised precast concrete curbs to separate walkers from the roadway and bike lane. They would extend the Glorietta Boulevard path that went in during summer 2019 from Rheem Boulevard to Overhill. That segment was built as a safe route to Glorietta school, separated by raised berms with reflectors, as part of Orinda's 2019 paving project by DeSilva Gates Construction. No construction contract or start date has been published for either extension.
| Item | Status as of Oct. 5, 2026 | Next known step |
|---|---|---|
| Wayside Social, 1419 Moraga Way | Soft launch in September; burgers, hot dogs, fries | Beer, wine and kids' arcade, no date |
| La Sala at Hacienda de las Flores | Demolition approved | Timing depends on coordination |
| Moraga PROS Master Plan | Draft recommendations, no funding committed | Oct. 12 commission review; Nov. 18 council vote |
| Moraga Way Safety and Connectivity Study | Funded, planning only | Community meetings not yet announced |
| Glorietta Blvd path, Overhill to north city limits | Plans in preparation | No construction date |
While those decisions play out, the fall calendar is fixed. These are the dates on the books between Glorietta and both downtowns:
The Nov. 18 council vote on Moraga's parks plan falls between the Tree of Lights and the tree lighting. By the time the Commons tree is lit, the Town will have decided what the plan says about that park.
I keep a running list of what's open, pending and scheduled along Moraga Way, and I'm happy to share it with any Glorietta neighbor who asks. If you're also wondering how this year's changes on the corridor affect what your own home is worth, Alexis Thompson can put together a free home valuation and walk you through it.
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