New Restaurants on Camarillo's Ventura Boulevard: October 2026

"This is a milestone moment for Camarillo," City Manager Greg Ramirez said after a state appeals court ruled for the city's Costco approval in February. Now the milestone has a date. Costco's warehouse at 431 W. Ventura Blvd. holds its grand opening on Oct. 30, eleven days after Texas Roadhouse opens its first Ventura County restaurant at 650 E. Ventura Blvd.

The two openings land on the same road, and they finish a pattern that has been building all year. Until now, Camarillo's Costco members drove to warehouses in Oxnard, Simi Valley or Westlake Village, according to the Camarillo Acorn. Anyone who wanted a Texas Roadhouse had to leave the county. By Halloween, both trips can stay on Ventura Boulevard. Several of the smaller, owner-run places nearby opened first.

The October calendar, address by address

Five of these seven addresses sit on one road, and the two chain anchors are the last to arrive.

A field that waited nearly two decades

The Costco parcel looks new, but its entitlements are not. City planning documents describe the site as a vacant former row-crop field that had not been farmed since 2007. It was already approved as part of a much larger commercial center called Paseo Camino Real, later Amara, with approvals in 2007 and site-plan changes in 2011 and 2016. That center was never built. The four-lane extension of Ventura Boulevard to West Ventura Boulevard, the road you'll use to reach the warehouse, was finished in 2008 for that earlier project.

Costco applied in 2022. In a November 2022 release, the city forecast an opening in mid-to-late 2024. The Planning Commission approved the project 4-1 in December 2023 over objections about traffic, air quality and wildlife, burrowing owls among them. The City Council upheld that approval in February 2024. A group called Ventura County Citizens Against Mega Gas then sued under the California Environmental Quality Act. The Superior Court ruled for the city, and in February 2026 a three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal did the same. The group did not take the case to the state Supreme Court. Construction had started in August 2025, while the appeal was still pending.

That history explains why the October date reads as a finish line to people who followed the case.

What the new warehouse changes for a Camarillo household

The most concrete difference is the receipt. The Acorn reports that the Oxnard Costco is less than five miles away, but purchases there carry Oxnard's 9.25% sales tax. In Camarillo the rate is 7.25%. On a $500 stock-up run, that two-point gap comes to about $10.

The approved plan calls for a 163,177-square-foot, one-story warehouse with a bakery, pharmacy, optical and hearing-aid centers, a photo center, an indoor food court and a tire center with up to five installation bays. The Acorn also reports that the store is expected to sell freshly prepared sushi, which older Costco locations do not offer. The site plan shows 901 parking spaces. Of those, 181 are designated for electric vehicles, and 46 were to have chargers when the store first opened.

Getting in and out works on two sides. Shoppers use two driveways off Ventura Boulevard, and there's a connection to Overland Road at the northeast corner. Warehouse deliveries are routed through Overland, and fuel trucks enter from Ventura Boulevard. The gas station, open since May, has 32 fueling positions and room for 42 cars to queue on site.

Traffic was the main argument against the project. Opponents and some residents raised concerns about congestion around Ventura Boulevard and Springville Drive. The city's 2023 trip memo estimated 5,963 weekday primary trip ends for Costco. It also estimated 4,591 fewer daily vehicle miles traveled for Costco plus the rest of the approved center than for the larger Amara center approved on the same land before. Those figures are model estimates. Nobody will have measured counts until the doors open, and the sources reviewed for this post include no city traffic plan for opening week.

Hours are still unsettled too. The city's 2023 environmental document listed planned warehouse hours of 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on weekdays. As of early October, Costco's Camarillo page still shows the warehouse as coming soon with no posted hours. Check that page before planning a first visit.

The Greek kitchen down the block opened first

Six months before the warehouse, Stephen's Market & Grill held a grand opening in the former Souplantation at Camarillo Town Center, 375 W. Ventura Blvd. The owner is Gregory Katrakazos, 78, known as Chef Kazos. In early August he closed his Ventura restaurant on East Main Street. The Ventura County Star reported that the Camarillo location stays open, which makes it the business's remaining dining room.

The menu is Greek and Mediterranean. It includes spanakopita, grilled octopus, lamb, beef, pork and chicken souvlaki, stuffed shrimp, moussaka and pastichio. The opening announcement listed Sunday brunch from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with the regular menu served until 9 p.m. Those hours were set at opening and may have changed since.

The Promenade adds a steakhouse

Toward the Camarillo Premium Outlets, the Promenade picks up Texas Roadhouse on Oct. 19 at 650 E. Ventura Blvd., near Finney's Crafthouse. The restaurant expects to employ 220 people. A smaller opening came a month earlier. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf opened an Outlets café on Sept. 12, run by franchisee Tae H. Kim.

Between the anchors

Farther east, at Arneill Road, Carrara's Italian Cafe has opened at 2290 E. Ventura Blvd. It's a Camarillo branch of the Moorpark pastry shop that brothers Damiano and Massimiliano Carrara, natives of Lucca, Italy, founded in 2011. The cafe's own page lists pastries, custom cakes, espresso, paninis, flatbread pizzas and salads. It's closed Mondays, opens at 8 a.m. the rest of the week, and stays open until 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Visit Camarillo describes the business as family-owned with "new custodians."

One short turn off the boulevard, Poke & K-Roll soft-opened Aug. 28 at 455 Carmen Drive in Carmen Plaza, in the former Poke U & Me space. Its owner is opening her first restaurant. Bowls start at $13.99 for two scoops and go up to $17.99 for four. The K-roll is a Korean kimbap-style roll cut into thick rounds with a crunchy topping.

The In-N-Out at 1316 Ventura Blvd. closed Aug. 17 so the lot could be expanded with more parking and room for the drive-through line. In August the city estimated it could reopen in late September or early October. As of Oct. 5, the company's location page still shows a temporary-closure notice, so the reopening is not confirmed.

Still pending

A few announced projects have no confirmed opening date yet:

• Starbucks drive-through at Village at the Park Drive and Westpark Court, under construction with no opening date as of Sept. 19.
• Slice House by Tony Gemignani at 2390 Las Posas Road, in the former PizzaMan Dan's, still listed as coming soon. Its Ventura shop in Montalvo Square opened Aug. 8.
• Costco warehouse hours, which are not yet posted.

Expect heavier trucks on some cross streets for the rest of the year. The city has warned of more Pacific Rock Mine truck trips on Pleasant Valley Road, Lewis and Hueneme roads, and Las Posas Road, generally 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, through Dec. 15, to support emergency repair work in Malibu.

If the new warehouse has you rethinking your errands, the city around it is worth a fresh look too. When you're ready to see how this year's openings along Ventura Boulevard affect your Camarillo home, Hitchcock & Associates will prepare a complimentary home valuation with the same street-level detail.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.