Staff is stirring at Towne Tap & Grill, the new restaurant replacing Happy Days Diner at Mayfaire Town Center on Military Cutoff Road in Wilmington.

Owner Ash Aziz staged a soft opening Monday night (May 14) for “friends and family.” Aziz said he was planning a public opening one day this week.

The formerly white-tiled space with a 1950s vibe has been transformed into a dark wood pub.

Towne servers’ black slacks and pencil skirts replace red poodle skirts Happy Days waitresses wore. Gone, too, are red swivel stools around the bar. Patrons, instead, pull up well-padded dark brown stools, cozy seats for sipping one of Towne’s 24 draft or 13 bottled beers.

Suds include Carolina Blonde cream ale, Bells Oberon wheat ale and Dogfish 90 Minute IPA. Towne also offers 11 white and 10 red wines as well as cocktails.

American pub fare dictates the menu, with most selections in the $7-to-$11 range. Think pulled pork nachos and brisket sliders.

Shrimp and tasso are the filling for Lowcountry Spring Rolls served with peach marmalade ($7.50). The Eye Opener burger sports bacon, a fried egg and potato sticks ($10.95). Steak, bacon, potato, cheddar, scallions and sour cream top the Villager flatbread ($9.50)menu.

The Grill ’n’ 2 menu ($13.95 to $17.95) allows diners to pair a grilled meat or seafood, including salmon, mahi, rib-eye and sea scallops, with two sides, macaroni and cheese among them.

Changes have been happening, too, at Aziz’s downtown Circa 1922, 8 N. Front St.

Light pours into recently installed window/doors upstairs and downstairs. Patrons also may dine at new outdoor tables fitted with umbrellas.

More good news at Circa 1922: The restaurant recently distributed $5,980 to charities via GiveIt4Ward (http://www.giveit4ward.org), a locally-based nonprofit group that helps for-profit organizations donate to non-profit efforts.

From March 13 to April 30, Circa 1922 donated 4 percent of revenues to charity but let diners decide where the money would go. Among top beneficiaries were Cape Fear Hospice and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, better known as the Humane Society or ASPCA.

GiveIt4Ward disperses the donations.