Maugus Cafe Can Now Stay Open Past Dark. What Wellesley Hills Looks Like After 5 in the Meantime

On a weeknight in Wellesley Hills, which room on Washington Street is open latest? Across from Clock Tower Park, the storefront at 300 Washington St. has held the Maugus since the 1930s, and today Maugus Cafe serves breakfast and lunch there. It now has town approval to stay open until 10 p.m. every day of the week. If it uses all of those hours, it would close later than every dinner restaurant on the block whose hours are posted. For now, its door still says 5 p.m.

That gap is a good way to understand the strip. Between roughly 245 and 380 Washington Street, the businesses mostly open early and close by late afternoon. A few kitchens carry the evening. Maugus is the place most likely to change that pattern.

The Counter Across From Clock Tower Park

Kostas Saranteas took over the old Maugus Restaurant in 2025. A year later he reopened it as Maugus Cafe at 300 Washington St. In its July soft-opening visit, The Swellesley Report said the red carpet was gone while the counter stools, booths and back seating area stayed. New additions include a counter with stools overlooking Washington Street and an outdoor area with umbrella-shaded tables.

The menu leans Mediterranean. Coffee comes from Atomic Coffee Roasters, and there are six omelette styles. On the cafe's own site, the Spanakopita Style Omelette is listed at $16, the Souvlaki Bowl at $22 and the Greek Village Salad at $14. The cafe soft-opened over the summer and held its grand reopening on Friday, Oct. 9, after schools were back in session.

What the License Allows, and What the Door Says

The cafe's evening plans were approved in two steps. At its March 24, 2026 meeting, the Wellesley Select Board approved an all-alcohol license for Maugus Cafe at 300 Washington Street. Under that license, alcohol could be served from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, matching a business that closed at 5. The meeting minutes are on the town's site.

The second step came in early October. As The Swellesley Report noted in its Oct. 7 business roundup, the Select Board approved amendments to the common victualler and all-alcohol licenses so the cafe could add dinner service and some special events after 5 p.m. The allowed window went from the cafe's daytime schedule to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.

The posted hours have not changed yet. The cafe's contact page lists Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The same October report describes dinner "on select days" as a plan for the coming months. The license sets the outer limit, and the posted hours show the cafe's current schedule. Before planning a weeknight visit, check the hours on themaugus.com.

How the Strip Runs, by the Clock

Each business's posted hours show how the stretch is set up. Here is a weekday in order:

1. 6 a.m. Quebrada Baking, 272 Washington St., opens first. It stays open until 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and until 4 p.m. on Sunday.
2. 6:30 a.m. Le Petit Four, 380 Washington St., opens Tuesday through Friday. On weekends it opens at 8:30.
3. 7 a.m. Maugus Cafe opens its counter.
4. 8 a.m. JeJes Coffeehouse & Roastery, 259 Washington St., opens Tuesday through Friday, and at 8:30 on Saturday.
5. 10 a.m. Mortadella Head, 263 Washington St., opens under hours it introduced October 1.
6. 11:30 a.m. Lunch begins at Comella's, 288 Washington St., at Pho Station, 352 Washington St., and at Yama Japanese Restaurant, 245 Washington St.
7. 3:30 p.m. JeJes closes.
8. 5 p.m. Maugus and Le Petit Four close. Yama reopens for dinner on weekdays.
9. 6 p.m. Quebrada closes.
10. 7:30 p.m. Pho Station closes on weekdays.
11. 8 p.m. Mortadella Head closes, and so does Comella's on Sunday through Tuesday.
12. 9 p.m. Yama closes, and so does Comella's on Wednesday through Saturday.
13. 9:30 p.m. Singh's Cafe, 312 Washington St., ends dinner Monday through Saturday. On Sunday it closes at 9.

Most of the list falls before 5 p.m. The bakeries and coffee counters open between 6 and 8 a.m. The latest posted dinner closing on the stretch is 9:30 p.m. A 10 p.m. close at Maugus would come half an hour after Singh's and an hour after Yama.

Where Dinner Already Happens

Three restaurants handle sit-down dinner on this part of Washington Street.

Yama Japanese Restaurant at 245 Washington St. has dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 4:30 to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. It also serves lunch Monday through Saturday and from noon on Sunday.

Comella's at 288 Washington St. stays open from lunch through the evening, starting at 11:30 a.m. every day. It closes at 8 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and at 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Singh's Cafe at 312 Washington St. starts dinner earliest, at 4 p.m. every day. Dinner runs until 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 p.m. on Sunday.

Two more places cover the early evening. Mortadella Head's daily 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. schedule fits a weeknight pickup on the way home. Pho Station is open until 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, closes at 4:30 on Saturday and is closed Sunday.

Singh's at 312 and Comella's at 288 are on either side of Maugus at 300. If Maugus starts dinner, it will be open in the evening between two restaurants that already are. It will also serve dinner in the same room that opens for breakfast at 7 a.m.

Saturdays at 4, Two Doors From the Evening

The Hills also has an evening draw that isn't a restaurant. Wellesley Hills Congregational Church at 207 Washington St. runs a Saturdays at 4 concert series. Each program lasts an hour, from 4 to 5 p.m. November has two dates:

• Saturday, November 14: Mission Ammonia, at 4 p.m. The concert is also listed on the Town of Wellesley calendar.
• Saturday, November 21: New England Baroque, 4 to 5 p.m.

Details for both are on the church's events page. A concert that ends at 5 lines up with the start of weekend dinner along the strip. Singh's has been serving since 4, and Yama starts weekend dinner at 4:30. Comella's is open until 9 on Saturdays. Maugus closes at 5 on Saturdays under its current posted hours, the same time the concerts end.

The church's Pumpkin Patch at 207 Washington St. ran daily from Oct. 9 to 31 this fall, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., in its 23rd year. Whether the strip stays open into the evening will depend on the hours Maugus actually posts.

Our family-led team at Taylor Yates follows how Wellesley's village centers change across the year, from new hours on Washington Street to the Saturday programs on the church calendar. If you're weighing what changes like these mean for life in Wellesley Hills, request a complimentary concierge consultation. We'll talk it through with you calmly and with local detail.