North Italia opens 10th Texas restaurant in Katy with scratch-made pasta

North Italia officially opened its Katy restaurant on June 10 after a soft launch on June 6, giving LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch a bigger, brighter Italian option in the former Baker St. Pub space. The new location at 23501 Cinco Ranch Blvd., Suite #A150 sits between Warby Parker and the blue parking garage, and it is built to function as more than a standard dinner stop, with lunch, happy hour, dinner and weekend brunch service already in place.

The Katy opening is a meaningful one for North Italia’s Texas push. The restaurant is the chain’s 52nd overall and its 10th in Texas, adding to a Houston-area footprint that already includes The Woodlands, CityCentre and Boulevard Place. The company has been leaning hard into this format, and its investor materials show why: North Italia’s house-made cocktails accounted for 23% of sales in fiscal 2025, while average checks landed at about $35.60 for lunch and $45.21 for dinner.

That business model is matched by the room itself. The renovated space covers 8,732 square feet and was reported to carry a $1.87 million renovation budget after work began in early November 2025. North Italia turned the old pub site into a much lighter dining room with an open-kitchen layout, an indoor-outdoor bar, two covered patios and seating for almost 300. It is the kind of setup that works for date night, a family dinner, a weekday lunch or a longer brunch table without feeling squeezed.

The brand has also dressed the Katy opening with more local character than most chains bother to manage. Texas-based mural artist Kyle Wadsworth created custom artwork inspired by the oak trees tied to Katy’s history, mixing local landscape references with Italian mythology. That matters in a center like LaCenterra, where the restaurant now has to compete less on novelty and more on how well it fits the neighborhood.

On the plate, North Italia kept the pitch focused on the same scratch-made formula that built the chain’s reputation. Company materials describe it as a modern Italian restaurant with a neighborhood feel, and the Katy menu continues that with handmade pasta, hand-tossed pizza and desserts including Seasonal Butter Cake, Tiramisu and Hazelnut Torta finished with housemade Nutella, candied hazelnuts and salted caramel gelato. After the soft opening and the June 10 debut, Katy’s newest table stakes are clear: a polished patio room, a scratch kitchen and enough scale to serve the whole west side without losing the feel of a dinner spot.