The corner of East Campbell and South Central avenues has had three tenants with three different ideas, and a fourth is on the way. Socialight came first. Flights followed, then Lira, and next comes a cocktail bar called Trial | Error. It's the clearest view of how downtown Campbell's dining is changing this year. Each concept that held the corner before was built on one big hook. The one moving in now, and the one that just opened around the corner, are smaller formats built around drinks and small plates, with menus kept deliberately narrow.
Most of 2026's turnover downtown happened within a short walk of that intersection. If you eat downtown, the street you walk this winter will look different from the one you walked last winter.
Four ideas at one address, counting the one on the way
The building at 368 E. Campbell Ave. has a short history, but each tenant tried something distinct.
| Tenant | The idea | How it ended or where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| Socialight | Earliest tenant on record at the address | Replaced by Flights |
| Flights | Trios of drinks, appetizers and desserts | Replaced by Lira |
| Lira | A chef-led restaurant with a "Next Level Chef" season 2 winner at the helm, opened January 31, 2025 | Closed after New Year's Eve, at the start of 2026 |
| Trial | Error | Cocktail bar with small plates for sharing | Announced, with a hoped-for October opening |
Flights' hook was its format: everything came in threes. Lira's was a chef with a national TV profile. As the Mercury News reported in January, the founding chef and the owners split less than five months after opening. The owners kept the restaurant going while they worked on a new identity, then closed it after New Year's Eve.
That made the corner one of downtown's most watched vacancies for most of the year. The Mercury News opened its July story on the new tenant by calling the space "an oft-heard question among South Bay foodies."
What Trial | Error is building around
The new tenant is Jason Seele, a Los Gatos bartender who became a restaurant owner. Seele has won a number of cocktail competitions. He ran Jack Rose Libation House in Los Gatos until that property was sold for housing, and he has owned Los Gatos Soda Works for the past several years. The bar's name was already on the front door by late July.
Seele has kept the concept deliberately small. Speaking with the Mercury News, he called it a "modern, technique-driven cocktail bar centered around experimentation, creativity and the process of developing something unexpected." He also explained what the bar would leave out:
"We made a deliberate decision to stay focused on what we know and do best: an ambitious cocktail program paired with creative, delicious food designed for sharing."
Executive chef Manuel "Manny" Santillan runs the kitchen. In its July preview, Palo Alto Online reported more of the plan:
- Cocktails made with ingredients sourced from around the world, served with theatrical presentation
- Shareable dishes in a tapas style
- A lobster corn dog with sweet corn bisque, still in development at the time
- Tentative hours of 4 to 11 p.m., with the menu still being finalized
Those hours fit a bar that aims to cover the stretch from after work to after dinner, not a dining room built around one seating. Flights and Lira each relied on a single selling point. Trial | Error is betting on a cocktail program and a short menu of plates meant to be shared.
The timing is still open. October was always described as a hoped-for opening, and in mid-October the bar's website, trialanderrorcampbell.com, still showed only "Coming Soon." If you plan to walk over for a first drink, check the site or the door before you go.
The same shift, one block over
The Lira corner is the most visible change, but it isn't the only one near that intersection.
Around the corner at 33 S. Central Ave., Honō Izakaya & Sushi has taken over the former A Bellagio space. The Silicon Valley Business Journal reported the opening in September. An izakaya is a Japanese pub format built around drinks and small plates, much like the model Seele describes for his bar a few steps away. Honō's reservation page has lagged behind the news, so if you're planning a specific night, call ahead.
A short walk away at 379 E. Campbell Ave., Distrito Federal has closed. The Silicon Valley Business Journal reported the closure in late August, after the restaurant had been under court supervision since February.
So the changes downtown this year cluster within about a block of East Campbell and Central:
- Lira closed at 368 E. Campbell Ave. at the start of the year, and Trial | Error is preparing to open there.
- A Bellagio's space at 33 S. Central Ave. became Honō Izakaya & Sushi, which opened in September.
- Distrito Federal at 379 E. Campbell Ave. closed in late August.
Both businesses moving in are drinks-and-small-plates formats. One comes from an operator whose track record is in Los Gatos bars. Downtown Campbell has always had a bar scene. What's new is that the spaces opening up at this intersection are being filled with smaller, drinks-forward formats.
What's on downtown's calendar while the corner gets ready
Until Trial | Error opens, East Campbell Avenue's calendar is full through the holidays. These listings fall after this post's Thursday publication date:
- Tessora's Halloween Party, Saturday, October 31, 7 to 11 p.m., at Tessora's Wine Bar, 234 E. Campbell Ave. Free, with music and a costume contest.
- Shrek the Musical Jr., November 5 to 7, at Campbell Heritage Theatre, 1 W. Campbell Ave. A Campbell Union School District production, with tickets listed at $10 plus a facility fee.
- Hollywood Holiday at the Ainsley House, November 12 to December 20, Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 300 Grant St.
- World Ballet Company: Swan Lake, Thursday, November 19, 7 p.m., at Campbell Heritage Theatre.
The Ainsley House season deserves its own note. This is the house's 32nd year of holiday celebrations. This year's theme fills each room with scenes from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Elf," "The Polar Express" and "It's a Wonderful Life." Visitors tour on their own, and a holiday boutique sells ornaments, jewelry, scarves and home décor during visiting hours. Admission is $12 for adults 18 to 64, $10 for seniors 65 and up, $8 for youth 7 to 17, and free for museum members. The house is closed on Thanksgiving Day.
Campbell Heritage Theatre sits at 1 W. Campbell Ave., the west end of the same avenue that runs past the Lira corner, Tessora's and the Distrito Federal space. A Swan Lake evening on November 19 puts you a few blocks' walk from both new drinks-and-small-plates rooms. If Trial | Error opens on its stated timeline, that will be one of the first big theater nights with the corner lit up again.
At VKG Real Estate Group, we follow downtown Campbell block by block, because changes like the new tenant at 368 E. Campbell Ave. affect how buyers see the streets within walking distance of it. If you own a home near downtown and want to know what it's worth in today's market, ask us for a free home valuation.
