Mallard’s Restaurant and Event Center is returning to Modesto on Pelandale Avenue, with an opening expected in mid-2028. Founder Dan Costa confirmed to What Now Sacramento that the project is in its early stages.
“I would say it’s middle of ’28,” Costa said. Construction hasn’t started yet. “We’re just getting approvals.”
The new Mallard’s will include a restaurant and a large event center with banquet space for about 500 people, separated by a courtyard and patio for weddings and other gatherings. Costa said the restaurant’s menu is still too far off to discuss.
The Modesto Bee first reported the revival. Costa originally opened Mallard’s in 1986 at McHenry Village, and the restaurant closed in 2007 after he had sold it two years earlier. He later reacquired the brand. The new version will be smaller than the 10,000-square-foot original and is planned to serve lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch, with a sushi bar in place of the old oyster bar.
Mallard’s will sit on roughly four acres of a 13-acre lot across from Lowe’s and next to Save Mart, near the NorthPointe Shopping Center. A high-end apartment project called The Orchard is planned for the back of the lot, and fruit trees will be planted throughout the property.
Costa also wants the project to employ young people. He plans to hire teenagers as young as 14 and train them in skills such as horticulture, from planting and caring for the fruit trees to turning the harvest into pies and jams, along with property upkeep at The Orchard apartments.
“There’s gonna be a restaurant. There’s gonna be a big banquet space for 500 people,” Costa told What Now Sacramento.
