New Penn State-themed restaurant sets opening date in State College. What to know
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- Happy Valley Live hopes will launch with a soft opening starting Oct. 1.
- The three-story venue will offer dining, live music, comedy shows and more.
- The menu features many favorites from Philipsburg’s We Are Inn.
A popular Centre County restaurant will unveil its long-awaited State College location this week.
Happy Valley Live, a restaurant and entertainment venue spun off from Philipsburg’s We Are Inn, will launch with a soft opening starting Wednesday. The new space is opening to the public following months of work at 1031 E. College Ave., the former home of Damon’s Bar & Grill and two shorter-lived restaurants.
During its soft opening period, Happy Valley Live will open at 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, though exact closing times are to be determined. In a post on Facebook, the restaurant encouraged guests to remain patient while new employees find their footing.
Happy Valley Live is expected to offer a larger menu and far more entertainment options than its predecessor in Philipsburg. Owner Pat Romano has already floated plans to offer line dancing nights, mechanical bull rides, live music, DJ sets and comedy shows at the three-story venue.
“That name speaks to everything,” Romano told the CDT in late August. “We’re there to feed people, and when the dinner crowd dies down, we’re going to kick it up a few notches. Simultaneously, in the building, you could be in the bar area doing karaoke while the middle level might have an acoustic artist or two playing and the lower level might have a DJ or band with the mechanical bull going.”
Romano first unveiled plans to expand his business to State College toward the end of 2024. Early timelines for Happy Valley Live pointed to a spring opening, but procedural steps and plenty of work — including painting, decorating and installing new equipment — lengthened the process for opening the restaurant.
Though the venue’s restaurant did not require significant construction, key upgrades include a reworked bar and a large outdoor patio for diners.
Romano said he chose to move forward with the name Happy Valley Live to emphasize its commitment to dining and entertainment as opposed to lodging, which is available at the We Are Inn. The new venue shares a parking lot with a Hampton Inn, but Romano hopes the name change will avoid confusing guests.
Happy Valley Live will serve a wide-ranging menu that includes many We Are Inn favorites, including tailgate-worthy snacks, burgers and sandwiches, plus seafood dishes and Italian dinners influenced by family recipes and Romano’s upbringing near Philadelphia. The restaurant will also add ribs to its menu as a nod to Damon’s, which once occupied the same space.
Just like its predecessor in Philipsburg, Happy Valley Live’s walls are lined with Penn State memorabilia, including game-worn jerseys, signed posters and framed photographs of Beaver Stadium and other campus sites. Some pieces were installed straight out of Romano’s personal collection, while others were donated by Penn State fans and lettermen.
Happy Valley Live hopes to employ between roughly 70 and 80 full- and part-time employees, Romano previously said.
Once Happy Valley Live gets up and running, Romano expects the restaurant to open from roughly 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Nightlife functions and entertainment offerings will generally stretch from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Check out Happy Valley Live’s new Facebook page and website, happyvalleylive.online, to see the new updates from the restaurant.
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 4:16 PM.
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