A new diner is moving into the empty On The Border space at 1519 Silas Deane Highway in Rocky Hill, with state business filings tying the project to a Connecticut family that has run diners for more than five decades. Central Diner was named in records filed with the Connecticut Secretary of the State in September, with George Marnelakis listed as the contact.
On The Border closed its Rocky Hill location in May. The Mexican grill and cantina chain had already shut its only other Connecticut restaurant, at 220 Indian River Road in Orange, in February 2025 without prior public notice, according to i95 ROCK. That left Rocky Hill as the chain's last foothold in the state before it, too, went dark earlier this year.
The closures track with On The Border's national troubles. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2025 and later shut its remaining company-owned locations nationwide amid economic pressures, per Fast Company. The brand was acquired by Pappas Restaurants during the bankruptcy proceedings before the company-owned locations were ultimately closed.
A Family Business Built Over Five Decades
Where On The Border struggled, the Marnelakis family has built staying power. George Marnelakis operates both the Blue Colony Diner in Newtown and the Red Colony Diner in Brookfield, and his family's roots in Connecticut diners stretch back to March 1973, when Greek immigrant Eftihios “Eddie” Marnelakis opened the Blue Colony Diner off Interstate 84, according to the Newtown Bee. Eddie Marnelakis died in late 2016.
The Blue Colony Diner today seats 210 patrons inside a building remodeled in Art Deco style in 2003, sitting along a stretch of Interstate 84 that carries an estimated 125,000 vehicles per day on average, the Newtown Bee reports. The flagship location also features an extensive on-premise bakery counter. That kind of scale and staying power showed itself most clearly during the pandemic: the diner maintained continuous operation throughout 2020 and 2021 without closing even temporarily, adapting through outdoor seating and curbside service, according to The National Herald. It marked the first time in more than 45 years the business had faced that kind of disruption without shutting its doors.
George Marnelakis also operates the Red Colony Diner in Brookfield.
Work is already underway at the Silas Deane Highway site. Building permits issued in October call for exterior new finishes, stainless steel panels, new aluminum windows, and new aluminum doors, while a separate permit from September covered cleanup and demolition of interior finishes. No opening date has been listed in the records reviewed by CT Insider.
Road Work Looms Over the Corridor
Central Diner's arrival comes as Silas Deane Highway itself is under close scrutiny. The corridor in Rocky Hill and Wethersfield is the focus of a federal Safe Streets and Roads for All study launched in 2025 by both municipalities alongside the Connecticut Department of Transportation, evaluating traffic flow, pedestrian safety, and business access, according to Wethersfield's town government. The town's study page lists public informational meetings for December 1 and December 10, 2025.
Separately, a Route 99 signal project includes fiber-optic work through November 2026, according to the agency's project listing. That work is scheduled to continue as Central Diner moves toward opening.
