Last October, Kostas Saranteas told The Swellesley Report that he and his wife were nearing retirement and wanted "a much smaller operation in the area with less demanding hours." In the same story, he said the Maugus "will remain a breakfast and lunch restaurant." On Oct. 6, 2026, the Wellesley Select Board voted on a request from the same owner to run 300 Washington Street from 7am to 10pm, seven days a week, with all-alcohol service.
Those two statements fit together better than they first seem to. The 10pm license marks the latest the Maugus is allowed to stay open, and it was built to give the owner flexibility. The town paperwork shows a plan for dinner on nights he chooses and private events. It doesn't promise dinner every night. The Maugus that Wellesley Hills knows, with its counter stools across from Clock Tower Park, is still mostly a daytime room.
Three closing times in twelve months
The Maugus has been on this block of Wellesley Hills since the 1930s. The Papakonstantinou family ran it for more than four decades. The Swellesley Report put their ownership at 43 years, and its other stories say nearly 45. Oct. 31, 2025 was their last day, and the Select Board marked it with a resolution recognizing the family. Longtime owner Vaso Papakonstantinou was pictured in that coverage.
Since then, the Maugus has had three closing times:
| When | Closing time | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Late 2025, under the previous name | 2pm | Maugus Restaurant, breakfast and lunch |
| January 2026 request | 5pm, seven days | Renamed Maugus Cafe, kitchen and accessibility upgrades |
| Summer 2026 soft opening | 5pm weekdays, 5pm weekends | Opens 7am weekdays, 7:30am weekends |
| Oct. 6, 2026 license amendment | Up to 10pm, seven days | Dinner service and events allowed, all-alcohol license amended |
The later hours were planned well before this month. In January, when The Swellesley Report covered the rename, the cafe was closing at 2pm and asking the board to stay open until 5pm. The story also said future plans "may include a full liquor license acquisition with possible further extension of the hours of operation." The January plans also listed a new grease trap, better front-door accessibility and a second unisex restroom. That's the kind of work a kitchen and dining room need before they can handle more service.
So the hours grew one step at a time, and the 10pm license is the biggest step yet.
What the Select Board was actually asked to approve
The Oct. 6 Select Board agenda packet is public, and it shows more than the headline does. The staff memo says the restaurant was asking to amend its common victualler and alcohol licenses. "The intent is to introduce dinner service and allow the restaurant to hold events at their discretion." Town staff backed approval, writing that "these evening hours are consistent with other restaurant hours who operate for dinner service."
Saranteas's own emails to the town are in the same packet. On Sept. 18 he asked for approval of hours between 7am and 10pm:
"so that we can have the flexibility to introduce dinner service or host functions also for days of our choice."
When town staff asked for hours day by day, he listed 7am to 10pm for all seven days. He added that, once approved, he expected to be able to run shorter hours as long as he stayed inside that range. He also explained that the point was to stay open later on certain days, naming Fridays and Saturdays as examples, and to host functions outside the old 7am-to-5pm window.
In other words, the approved hours are a range, and the owner told the town plainly that he plans to use only part of it. A Tuesday at 8pm may look exactly as it did in September. A Saturday could be a dinner service or a private party. The license allows both.
On Oct. 7, The Swellesley Report reported that the board had approved the amendments. It said plans for dinner "on select days" were "in the works for the coming months." As of mid-October, the cafe hasn't posted a dinner menu or a start date. Its website still shows the breakfast and lunch menu.
The room was rebuilt for the regulars
Saranteas spent the year updating the Maugus while keeping its familiar layout, and that tells you who the daytime room is still for. In its July visit, The Swellesley Report described the old Maugus as a place where business people talked deals, families fueled up and friend groups held monthly catch-ups. According to that story, here's what changed and what stayed:
- Kept: the counter stools, the booths, and the back seating area for large groups
- Gone: the red carpet
- Added: a counter with stools looking out on Washington Street, plus outdoor tables under umbrellas with potted flowers
- New behind the counter: coffee from Atomic Coffee Roasters and a new espresso machine making about a dozen coffee drinks, from drip and cold brew to lattes
The menu leans more Mediterranean but keeps the breakfast-and-lunch format. The breakfast list runs from steel-cut oats and yogurt bowls to Nutella pancakes and waffles, plus six omelettes. One is a Spanakopita Style Omelette with spinach, feta and a phyllo crumble. At lunch there are burgers and wraps alongside a Souvlaki Bowl, with a lemon-herb chicken skewer, jasmine rice, Greek salad, tzatziki and pita, and a Greek Village Salad. The cafe's full menu also lists Greek egg-lemon chicken soup, a Cubano and a Mediterranean Bowl. Some dishes in the January rename coverage, like Cajun shrimp tacos, a sweet potato bowl and a chorizo burrito, came over from Atlantic Sea Grill, the restaurant the family ran in Acton for 11 years.
None of that requires an evening crowd. The renovation strengthened the daytime business first. The grand reopening on Friday, Oct. 9, with free coffee and half off a special menu, celebrated that version. The cafe had held off on a full celebration until school was back in session. Evenings are the newest add-on to a business that already works by day.
What the Hills already has after 5
Dinner at the Maugus will be occasional, so it helps to know what's already open in the evening on the same stretch of Washington Street. Two places nearby post evening hours on their own websites:
- Mortadella Head, 263 Washington St., lists 10am to 8pm daily.
- Pho Station, 352 Washington St., lists weekday hours of 11:30am to 7:30pm.
Both list closing times earlier than the Maugus's new limit. The Swellesley Report's dining directory, updated this month, lists Coconut Thai Cafe at 257 Washington, JeJes Coffeehouse & Roastery at 259, Quebrada Baking at 272, Comella's at 288, Singh's Cafe at 312, Caffe Nero at 339 and Le Petit Four at 380. Check hours with each business before planning a late meal.
Until Halloween, the evening crowd on this block will have company until 6. The Wellesley Hills Congregational Church pumpkin patch at 207 Washington St. runs every day through Oct. 31, from 10am to 6pm. It's in its 23rd year.
For now, a Maugus visit looks the same as it did this summer. Breakfast starts at 7, the stools are still at the counter, and the first dinner night will be on a day the owner picks and announces.
Here at Rutledge Properties, we keep an eye on Wellesley Hills changes like this one, down to a corner cafe's closing time and the license vote behind it. If you'd like to talk through life in Wellesley Hills, or anywhere else in town, over a coffee at the counter, we'd be glad to. Work With Us.
