South Kingstown's Seafood Map Moved Inland While Potter Pond Waited

It has been almost seventeen months since fire destroyed Matunuck Oyster Bar on Succotash Road. The September reopening its owner aimed for has passed, and no date has been announced. Over the same stretch, South Kingstown gained a second Raso restaurant on Old Tower Hill Road. A Providence restaurant group agreed to buy the steakhouse a short way up the road. And downtown Wakefield got an oyster bar of its own. The rebuild on the pond hasn't finished, but the places that filled in around it look permanent.

Where the Rebuild Stands in Mid-October

The dates below come from local reporting over the past year. The most recent firm target was September, and nothing published since then confirms the restaurant has reopened.

In May, Perry Raso told WJAR he wanted inspections finished by Aug. 31 and the doors open sometime in September. By July his words were looser. He told Ocean State Media that he wanted the work done quickly but "really well." The October 7 edition of Rhode Island Monthly's Diner's Update covers openings across the state and has no Matunuck news. For now, the flagship's return is a target.

A Stopgap Built Like a Second Address

Matunuck Atelier usually gets described as the restaurant Raso opened while the original was out. The way it was built suggests he planned for it to last.

Rhode Island Monthly reported in February that the Atelier sits across from the Wakefield strip mall on a busy road. The magazine said the location bears "no comparison" to the pondside stretch the original occupied. The magazine called the restaurant phase one, with a food market planned as phase two. Raso told the magazine the market was originally meant to open first, but its equipment arrived late, so the dining room opened ahead of it. The plan for the market is fresh pasta, bread, oysters, seafood and sandwiches to take home. As of this writing, no published source confirms the market has opened.

The menu points the same way. Rhode Island Monthly's July seafood guide says many raw bar favorites carried over from the original. The Atelier adds more ceviche, crudo and sushi, house-made pastas and seafood-stuffed ravioli, plus an American Wagyu bavette and a Prime Tomahawk. Pastas and breads are made at the back of the restaurant by Italian-born artisan Gabi Napoli, using her family's recipes. Valets meet cars out front. That's a kitchen built around its own identity, and WJAR described the Atelier as a restaurant with a different concept.

191 Old Tower Hill Road Changes Hands

A short distance up the same road, an established Providence operator is buying in. On Aug. 24 the Providence Journal reported that Joe and Esther DeQuattro's group had agreed to buy the Chophouse Grille, a casual American steakhouse at 191 Old Tower Hill Road. They plan an Italian restaurant there called Acqua Pazza, which translates to "crazy water," and the paper called it a new concept for the couple.

The group's other restaurants show what kind of buyer this is. Rhode Island Monthly lists Pane e Vino on Federal Hill, two Massimo locations, one on Federal Hill and one at Legacy Place in Dedham, plus the Crow's Nest in Warwick and Bar 'Lino in Johnston. Acqua Pazza will be its first South County restaurant. Neither the Journal nor the magazine has given an opening date or menu details beyond Italian cuisine, so the Chophouse's own posted hours may be out of date.

With these two restaurants, the road across from the Wakefield Mall now carries a contemporary seafood room and a planned Italian one, run by two separate owners. A year and a half ago neither project had been announced.

Downtown Wakefield Got Its Own Raw Bar

The shift reached Main Street too. Chef Matt Brown and his partner, Freida Sahady, already run Purslane at 318 Main Street. This spring they opened St. Charbel next door, an oyster and cocktail bar. According to the Boston Globe, the address is 254 Robinson Street. The menu runs to seafood towers, crudos, local oysters, deviled eggs, karaage topped with caviar, smoked salmon dip and confit calamari from Point Judith. The decor leans on paintings of old ship captains and schooners.

On a weeknight, a few details matter. The Globe reports St. Charbel is open Wednesday through Sunday, with a daily happy hour from 4 to 5 p.m. Rhode Island Monthly suggests the happy hour as a first stop before dinner at Purslane, where the seafood platter brings a dozen oysters, tuna crudo, bluefish dip and scallops aguachile to one table.

Together, the Atelier and St. Charbel put two raw bars within a short drive of downtown Wakefield, and both opened during the months the Succotash Road building sat empty.

What the Pond Gets Back

When the flagship does return, its owner says it will look much like the one that burned. Raso told WPRI in May that the first-floor ceilings will be slightly higher, for a better view of Potter Pond, and that the rest of the building will be "similar, if not exactly the same."

"The contractor said, 'now is your chance to make [the restaurant] exactly how you want it,'" Raso recalled. "I was like, 'I had it exactly how I wanted it.'"

The site matters for the oyster farm as much as the dining room. Raso told Ocean State Media he bought the property in 2008 and 2009 because he needed the commercial docks behind it for his oyster boats. He also said the original restaurant was meant to close for its first winter to fix early problems, and it never did because people kept coming. The docks are the reason the restaurant sits on the pond, and the new building returns to that site.

In the meantime the tent has kept the brand on Succotash Road. Rhode Island Current reported in June 2025 that lawmakers amended the state's outdoor dining law so restaurants closed by fires or floods could serve outdoors for 18 months, or until the building is "fit for occupancy." The town has to sign off on each plan. That emergency provision expires June 30, 2027. WJAR reported that community fundraising after the fire raised more than $400,000 for over 300 employees.

So in the end, the pond gets back a rebuilt version of the restaurant it lost. The town's other raw bars, on Old Tower Hill Road and next to Purslane, were all built during the closure and have no reason to leave once it ends.

This Saturday in Wakefield

Two events this Saturday, October 17, sit within a short drive of the restaurants above:

• 11th Annual Wakefield Octoberfest, noon to 11 p.m. at Birch & Bay's Sunset Stage, 323 Main Street. Main Street Productions and Birch & Bay present live music, seasonal beer and food. Tickets and the schedule are on the event listing.
• Arts & Eats, noon to 6 p.m. at Sons of Liberty in South Kingstown. Curated by Field of Artisans, with food from PVD Food Truck Events.

Both run in the afternoon, so you can stop at a raw bar before or after. St. Charbel's 4 p.m. happy hour falls inside the Octoberfest window. For more of the town beyond its dining rooms, see our South Kingstown neighborhood page and our earlier coastal weekend guide to South Kingstown.

Restaurant openings and reopenings like these are part of how Chanel Chung follows South Kingstown, along with what that activity means for owners of nearby homes and seasonal rentals. If you're curious how the latest changes in Wakefield and Matunuck affect your property, schedule a complimentary consultation.

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