After renovations, Maggie McFly’s to reopen

When Maggie McFly’s Brookfield location reopens next month, guests can expect a fresh new look: an expanded dining room, new large patio and new exterior signage.

After nearly 14 years, owner Ray Harper thought the Federal Road location — the third of eight Maggie’s restaurants in Connecticut, New York and Virginia — needed an update. His team is working with Sousa Design Architects of Boston, which designed the newer Maggie’s locations, to complete the project.

The Brookfield renovations will most closely resemble the design of Maggie’s Albany, N.Y., restaurant, Harper said.

“This lease came up and I said either I leave, run it the same, or work with the landlord,” he said. “We decided to shut down for a couple of months and give it a full rehab.”

The Brookfield restaurant closed temporarily April 5, and Harper is targeting a June 7 reopening. Among the highlights are an expanded, more open indoor bar space and a new patio at the front of the restaurant, which will connect to the existing side patio space. Bar doors will open to the outdoor area, which will include a fire pit.

“With COVID and nobody knowing the future... outside seating is obviously a premium,” Harper said. “The town of Brookfield was very, very helpful with us to get that approved.”

Updated exterior signage includes a “big tower” for the entrance to try to better catch the sight of drivers and passersby, Harper said. The Brookfield location, which also offers suites for virtual golf, will now incorporate the golf check-in space into the restaurant.

Harper said he decided to go ahead with the Brookfield renovation after a planned deal fell through to open a Maggie McFly’s at Westfarms Mall in Farmington. Maggie’s announced the project in February 2020, with the intent to start construction in mid-March, he said. But roadblocks arose with COVID-19’s impact on business and a complicated merger between Westfarms owner Taubman Realty and Simon Property Group.

The deal is “tabled for now,” Harper said, but he’s hoping to revisit it in the next couple of years. In the meantime, he used the allocated funds toward the Brookfield project.

Maggie’s extensive menu, with a something-for-everyone approach featuring appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, pizzas, tacos, pastas and chicken, seafood and beef entrees, will remain the same across all locations, Harper said. The restaurant group makes a concerted effort to source local products in each of its markets.

With Connecticut’s restaurants able to return to 100 percent capacity as of May 19, Harper said he and his team will have to “take a hard look” at whether they’ll consider seating full restaurants. He plans to keep Plexiglas barriers up at each location, and the Brookfield restaurant will have permanent glass panels between booths.