North Water Street's Dinner-and-a-Movie Block Is Getting New Neighbors This Fall

Where do you eat before a movie at Zoetropolis now that Zoetropolis doesn't serve dinner?

Through the end of summer, the answer was the same building. Since August, the answer has been spreading across the 100 block of North Water Street. A Philadelphia hoagie shop was scheduled to debut across the street on Oct. 21. A Thai and Hawaiian restaurant plans to move into the old dining room in mid-November. The theater kept screening films through all of it. One business used to cover a full evening on this block. By Thanksgiving, three will share it, and the handoff falls right as the theater moves into its busiest-looking stretch of the fall.

The restaurant closed and the theater stayed

LancasterOnline reported that Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse's restaurant at 112 N. Water St. served its last day on Aug. 2. LNP quoted the company's Facebook announcement:

"It is with great sadness that we are announcing the closure of the restaurant side of Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse. The laughter and tears of the past eight years will be part of our permanent memory."

According to the same post, the company is putting its focus back on the theater and on its Lancaster Distilleries brand, which runs a stand at Lancaster Central Market and a tasting room in Columbia. The theater describes what it offers today as a curated rotation of indie films and live music.

So the screen kept running, and the kitchen beside it went dark. The question became who would fill that space.

A Southern Market family takes the old dining room

The answer is Cozy Thai & Hawaiian. LNP reports that it's slated to open in mid-November at 112 N. Water St., in the same complex as the theater Zoetropolis still runs.

The owners are Michelle and Michael McKinnell, a mother and son who used to run a stand together at Southern Market. That stand continues as Lemongrass under Michelle, who was also a partner in an earlier restaurant of the same name on Route 30 near the Shops at Rockvale. Anyone who has eaten lunch at Southern Market may already know their cooking.

The menu will feature dim sum, curries and other Thai- and Hawaiian-inspired dishes. Michael McKinnell will manage the restaurant. He told LNP they are applying for a liquor license and hope to add a tiki bar eventually. The space seats 60 indoors and 30 on the patio.

Mid-November is a target, not a set date. Restaurant openings tend to move, and the liquor license and tiki bar are both plans for later. Check the restaurant's own channels before you count on a reservation the weekend it's supposed to open.

Across the street, a hoagie counter behind a garage facade

The other half of the handoff was scheduled to debut on Oct. 21 at 117 N. Water St., according to LNP. Ricci's Hoagies is a South Philadelphia shop, and this franchise location is run by city residents Brendalis Camacho and her husband, Marcus Fontanez. According to LNP, Michael Pagliarella owns the company now. He took over from his father, Rich "Big Rich" Pagliarella, who bought the shop in 2001.

The menu sticks to traditional Italian sandwiches: hand-sliced meats and cheeses on rolls from Liscio's Italian Bakery in New Jersey, from a classic Italian and roast beef to Italian tuna and chicken cutlet. The storefront is 1,400 square feet with 16 seats. Across the street, Cozy is planning 90 seats counting the patio, so the two will play very different roles on the block.

The building matters too. Ricci's sits behind the preserved front of an old one-story garage, part of Gallery 118, a new 72-unit building that runs through the block from 118 N. Prince St. to Water Street. On Prince Street, the building keeps the brick facade of the former Teachers Protective Mutual Life Insurance Co. It rises six stories on Prince and seven on Water. When LNP covered the leasing plans, the Water Street retail space was already earmarked for a deli. Developers Don Herman and Kirk Sears explained their reasons in that same story. "We like the food, we like the architecture, we like the culture, we like the diversity, and we've always wanted to have a larger part in that," Herman told LNP.

For anyone walking the block, the building's south side is the useful part. The design includes a public pass-through park that connects Prince and Water streets, and part of it is set aside as dining space for Passerine, the restaurant next door. That shortcut ties the Gallery Row side of Prince Street to the theater side of Water Street without a trip around the corner.

How a movie night on the block works now

With the food split across separate businesses, the evening has a new order. The theater's ticketing page lays out the basics.

1. Buy tickets ahead. Zoetropolis sells tickets online. Pick them up at the theater kiosk using your confirmation email, QR code, order ID or the card you paid with.
2. Eat before or after. Outside food and drinks aren't allowed in the theater, so a Ricci's hoagie or, once it opens, a plate of Cozy's dim sum is a meal on either end of the show, not something to bring inside.
3. Use the lobby bar for the middle. Food and drinks from the concession stand and lobby bar are allowed in the theater, and Zoetropolis still advertises concessions and cocktails.

That second point is the practical change. A single Zoetropolis ticket used to put dinner and a film under one roof. Now the dinner half belongs to the neighbors, and the theater's own food is down to concessions and the bar.

The calendar the handoff runs into

Cozy's mid-November target overlaps the 2026 Red Rose Film Festival at Zoetropolis, and the theater's schedule stays busy into the holidays.

The documentary You Can See Everything also opens at the theater on Nov. 13. The Saturday of the festival has back-to-back daytime programs at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., which leaves a gap that fits lunch across the street. The Spotlight: Lancaster County program, four short documentaries about local subjects, is the one most tied to the city itself.

One more stop around the corner

The changes reach Prince Street too. Curio Gallery & Creative Supply announced in October 2025 that it would move into the former Lancaster Parking Authority office at 111 N. Prince St., at the corner of Prince and Orange. Visit Lancaster City's guide, updated in April 2026, now lists Curio at that address. With Gallery 118's pass-through in between, an art supply stop on Prince Street and a screening on Water Street make an easy walk in one evening.

Jasmine Kraybill has been following how blocks like this one shift as businesses change hands, and she is glad to talk through what that means for the streets around downtown Lancaster you're considering. If you'd like her view on the area around North Water Street, Jasmine Kraybill is happy to help. Let's Connect.