Running Man's Route 17 Dining Grew This Year. The Next Wave Is Still in the County's Review Pile.

How many of the new restaurant names on Route 17 can you actually eat at this week? By early October 2026 the honest count is three. Six more names have turned up in county documents, on a "Coming Soon" web page, or on a cleared lot. They aren't at the same stage, and the gaps between those stages are what decide whether "opening soon" means next month or next year.

For the roughly 600 households in Running Man, this matters because Route 17 is where the new options are clustering. The pattern this year is clear. Every restaurant that opened went onto a lot that had been rebuilt or newly built for it, and York County's own paperwork shows how far along the rest are.

The new tables went where something else used to be

The biggest arrival was The Kitchen, The Virginia Beer Company's brewpub on Route 17 in Grafton. York County announced the opening on Feb. 9, 2026, after a Jan. 29 ribbon cutting and a public grand opening the next day. The building is new construction with on-site brewing and the brewery's first full-service brewpub. That's a real change from its original Edge District location, which pairs brewing with rotating food trucks. The county describes the space as a taproom with a full kitchen and indoor and outdoor seating.

A few weeks later came Q Daddy's Pitmaster BBQ, the business's first York County location. It's a complete rebuild of the former Pop's Diner site, and its ribbon cutting was held March 2. The address is 6555 George Washington Memorial Highway, and the business takes Yorktown calls at (757) 872-3224. By its April 7 meeting, the York County Board of Supervisors had noted that both Virginia Beer Company and Q Daddy's were open and popular.

The third was Chick-fil-A Grafton at 5600 George Washington Memorial Highway. It opened Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 6 a.m., and the company's announcement listed about 110 jobs. That opening matters for more than chicken sandwiches. It anchors the lot where the next restaurant is supposed to go.

Where every name on the corridor stands in October

Here is the full list, sorted by how close each project is to serving food. The stage comes from the most recent county or company source available for each one.

The bottom six rows all sound like future openings. They actually sit at four different stages, and the next section explains the difference.

"Coming soon" and "in review" are different distances from a menu

Chipotle is the furthest along of the projects that aren't open. York County's January 2026 development report lists an approved site plan for a 2,325-square-foot restaurant at 5626 George Washington Memorial Highway, approved Dec. 17, 2025. By March, the county reported work underway on the lot next to the new Chick-fil-A. Chipotle's own location page still says "Coming Soon" and gives no date. An approved plan, active work and a branded placeholder page all point the same way. There's still no public date for when the doors open.

Cook Out is one step earlier on the public record. The county's newsletters this year reported that demolition was finished at the former Eastern Floor Covering site to make way for the restaurant. Since that March snapshot, we haven't found a published opening date or street number for it. Demolition clears a lot. It doesn't put a timeline on a building.

Culver's, 7Brew and Meadows Custard are at the drawing stage. As of Sept. 25, 2026, the county's commercial site-plan tracker lists all three as in review: Culver's at 5003 Victory Blvd., 7Brew at 100 Josephs Dr., and Meadows Custard at 6035 George Washington Memorial Hwy. A plan in review means engineering drawings are going back and forth with county staff. It's a real step, but it comes before any ground is broken.

Sheetz shows that even a Board vote doesn't settle the schedule. The Board of Supervisors approved the store near Fort Eustis Boulevard at its Jan. 20 meeting. At the time, the Daily Press reported that construction could start late this year or early next year. Eight months later, the Sept. 25 tracker still lists the 7900 George Washington Memorial Hwy. site plan. It shows the plan was received June 18 and the county's comment letter went out Aug. 5. The Board vote was the land-use decision. The site plan is the construction document, and it's still in the county's paperwork.

The tracker is public and dated by the county. That makes it the most reliable way to see which of these lots will change next, more reliable than the fencing, a sign, or a rumor on a neighborhood thread.

The roads between you and the new dining are half finished

Getting to these lots got easier in one place this year and is still detoured in another.

The finished part is Victory Boulevard. VDOT completed the Route 171 widening between Route 17 and Route 134, taking that segment from five lanes to six. Every lane was open after overnight work on June 2, 2026, including a new second eastbound left-turn lane onto Hampton Highway. Culver's planned address is on this same road, at 5003 Victory Blvd.

The unfinished part is the Route 134 bridge over Route 17. VDOT is rebuilding the Hampton Highway bridge deck, bearings and approaches. One specific movement is closed. Drivers heading north on Route 134 who want southbound Route 17 follow a signed detour through Victory Boulevard. Route 134 north to Route 17 north stays open, and so does the ramp from Route 17 south onto Route 134. In August, VDOT shifted southbound bridge traffic onto the repaired side so crews could work on the northbound side. VDOT's project page, last updated Sept. 3, still estimates the closure will last through late 2026.

If your usual trip to Q Daddy's or The Kitchen used that ramp, the detour runs right over the newly widened Victory Boulevard. For now, those two projects work as one route.

Pairing a new table with the fall calendar

The corridor's restaurants sit between Running Man and most of the county's fall events, so a meal on Route 17 fits easily on the way to or from these dates:

• Oct. 10–11: Yorktown Market Days Fall Festival at Riverwalk Landing, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Oct. 16–19: Yorktown Victory Weekend, townwide, with Yorktown Day on Oct. 19 from 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Oct. 25: Yorktoberfest at Riverwalk Landing, noon to 5 p.m. per the York County Chamber, with a Nov. 1 rain date
• Nov. 7: York County Vintage Market at McReynolds Athletic Complex, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a Nov. 8 rain date
• Nov. 14: Maritime Festival Market Days, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Nov. 21: Harvest Festival Market Days, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Yorktoberfest falls on a Sunday, so call ahead before building the afternoon around a particular kitchen. The county also says event dates can change with the weather, so check the November markets again closer to the day.

Commercial lots along Route 17 are filling in one at a time, and every opening changes what's within a short drive of Running Man. If you're curious how this year's growth on the corridor fits into your home's value, 4 Oceans Real Estate Group can put together a current valuation based on local sales, not a national estimate. Get your instant home valuation and we'll go through the numbers with you.