How do you know when a "coming soon" sign on Main Street actually means soon?
Polson runs on two calendars right now. One is the calendar of announcements: the press release, the ribbon-cutting photo, the "opening this summer" quote in the Lake County Leader. The other is the calendar of what you can actually walk into and order off a menu tonight. Most weeks those two calendars line up fine. This year, along the stretch of Highway 93 and Main Street where Polson does most of its eating, they have drifted apart enough that it's worth sorting out which restaurants are open, which are close, and which are still waiting on paperwork that has nothing to do with the food.
The One Everybody's Still Asking About
Tour of Asia has been "almost open" for nearly a year. Swan Aung and his family bought the building on U.S. 93 that housed Hot Spot Thai for 23 years, run by Gop Lambson with help from her son Perry. The plan was ambitious for a first storefront: a dine-in restaurant serving Thai, Chinese and Indian food, a drive-through, and a vacation rental upstairs. Aung's family already runs Sushi Palace and Dessert Palace in Missoula, and his parents grew up in Myanmar before the family immigrated to Billings in 2005, so the cooking experience isn't the question mark here.
The timeline is. When the project was first announced in December, the goal was a drive-through opening before the holidays and a full dine-in launch by summer. By late March, summer was still the target, but nothing was locked down. Aung put it plainly:
"It's just like a slow process. We're trying our best, but we don't have a set opening date yet."
That's the honest version of a restaurant opening in Polson: not a broken promise, just a building that needs equipment, permitting and money to line up before the sign in the window changes from "Coming Soon" to actual hours.
The One That Beat Its Own Announcement
Not every renovation drags. The Durham Kitchen and Cocktails closed for a short stretch this spring and came back faster than most locals expected. Bar manager Liam Barrett used the closure to redo the music room, and it now doubles as a small gallery for local musician Ted Saurman's guitars. Thirty percent of every guitar sold goes to the Travis Dolphin Dog Park. That's a nice detail for a bar that could have just reopened with new paint and called it done.
If you've been avoiding the Durham because you heard it was "under construction," it isn't anymore. It's back, with a bigger bar shelf and a wall of guitars that raises money for a park most dog owners in town already use.
Two Names You Might Not Recognize Yet
Two other spots are new enough that you can be forgiven for not knowing them.
Mr. Burritos took over the old Starbucks location off Highway 93. It's a Montana chain, not a national one, started in Bozeman by Mario Rodriguez, who has called Montana home for 27 years. He's opening the Polson location alongside a second new spot near Billings this year, and because the building was already set up as a coffee shop, the buildout has mostly been paint, signage and kitchen equipment rather than a gut renovation. Rodriguez told the Leader, "We're excited. And we prepare really good food. It's always fresh and has good flavor." A June opening was the plan when that story ran, which puts it well within reach by now if the buildout stayed on schedule.
Salt Cafe has had a longer road. Owner Andrew Perkins is renovating the 1912 building on Main Street that used to house Polson Home Floor Covering, and the project has been tangled in a Tax Increment Finance District grant since 2023. Perkins applied for four extensions before the TIF district itself expired in 2025. Part of the holdup was a Montana Department of Transportation encroachment permit, and part of it was a requirement to rebuild the sidewalk and add an ADA ramp before the city would release the money. In March, the Polson City Commission finally approved the full $64,800 reimbursement for the exterior remodel, new bathrooms, ADA ramps and rewiring. The goal now is to open before Polson's busiest summer stretch, which means by September this one should be either open or very close.
The Scorecard, As Of September 2026
| Restaurant | First Announced | Status As Of This Fall |
|---|---|---|
| Tour of Asia | December 2025 | No confirmed opening date as of the last public update |
| The Durham Kitchen and Cocktails | Spring 2026 renovation | Reopened, new music room and bar |
| Mr. Burritos | Early 2026 | Targeted a June opening in the former Starbucks spot |
| Salt Cafe | 2023 grant, 2026 funding release | Grant finally funded in March, opening timed to summer |
Why The Gap Between Announcement And Open Matters
None of these delays are about food quality or business failure. Every one of them traces back to permits, grant funding, or a building that's older than most of the people renovating it. Polson's Main Street buildings weren't built for drive-throughs or ADA ramps, and retrofitting them takes longer than a press release suggests. If you've been holding off on a first visit to Tour of Asia because you assumed it opened months ago, or you drove past Salt Cafe last spring and figured it was still just an empty floor covering shop, the announcement date was never the right thing to trust.
A few things are worth checking before you plan a night around any of these:
- Look at the restaurant's own social page for a posted date, not the article that first announced the project. Announcements get old fast; a business's own page usually reflects what's actually happening.
- Watch for the physical sign change. A "Coming Soon" banner swapped for posted hours is a better signal than any quote in a news story.
- If you're not sure, a quick call beats a wasted drive, especially for anything on Highway 93 where a "closed Wednesdays" schedule like Richwine's Burgerville can catch you off guard even after 60 years in business.
The One Calendar You Can Actually Set Your Watch By
While all of that has been sorting itself out, the Polson Farmers Market hasn't missed a beat. It's the oldest running farmers market in Lake County, and it's still doing exactly what it said it would: Fridays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., on 3rd Avenue West in front of the Cove Deli, with more than 50 vendors selling everything from honey and jam to pottery and cut flowers. This year's run closes on the second Friday in October, which lands on October 9. That leaves three more Fridays this season, including this coming one.
Restaurants in Polson are catching up to their own announcements at different speeds this year. The farmers market never needed to. Knowing which parts of downtown run on a fixed schedule and which parts run on hope is the difference between planning a good Friday and driving across town for a sign that hasn't changed yet.
I keep an eye on these storefronts the same way I keep an eye on everything else changing hands in Lake County, because a town's Main Street tells you as much about where it's headed as any listing sheet does. If you're curious about a specific building's history on Main Street, or you just want to talk through what's next for a favorite spot in Polson, Nelson Schwab is happy to compare notes. Schedule a free consultation whenever you're ready to talk Lake County living, no restaurant reservation required.
