WALNUT CREEK, CA — Downtown Walnut Creek’s dining scene is transforming this summer. Five new restaurants are opening — from a Basque pintxos bar to Korean fried chicken. But the buzz comes with a bittersweet note: one of the city’s longest-running family restaurants is closing after 32 years.
The turnover reflects a downtown core that has largely shaken off the pandemic-era vacancies that plagued it in 2021 and 2022. Locust Street, North Main, and the connecting side streets are now at roughly 90 percent commercial occupancy, according to the Walnut Creek Downtown Association. Restaurants are leading the charge.
5 New Openings Worth Knowing About
1. Txoko Walnut Creek — Opened June 15 at 1375 N. Main Street in the space formerly occupied by Oke Poke. The Basque-inspired kitchen serves pintxos (small plates), grilled octopus, and an all-Spanish wine list in a room designed to feel like a San Sebastián tavern. Owner Javier Mendizabal moved from Bilbao in 2019 and chose Walnut Creek after scouting locations in San Francisco and Oakland. “The downtown here feels like a European plaza — people walk, they browse, they stop for a glass of wine,” Mendizabal said. “In the city, everyone is in a hurry. Here, people linger.”
2. K-Stop Chicken — Opened June 28 at 1523 Giammona Drive in the Encina Grande shopping center. Korean fried chicken with a sauce menu ranging from soy garlic to ghost pepper. The Walnut Creek location is the chain’s fourth in the East Bay and its largest at 2,400 square feet. The dining room features a self-serve banchan bar that owner Sarah Kim describes as “what you’d find in Seoul, not what the American palate expects.”
3. Fig & Fork — Opened July 1 at 1359 Locust Street with a tight Mediterranean brunch menu that runs from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. Shakshuka, labneh toast, and Turkish coffee anchor a menu built around seasonal produce sourced from the Diablo Valley Farmers Market. The 42-seat space was designed by Oakland’s 450 Architects. The exposed brick wall on the east side of the dining room is original to the 1923 building.
4. Ramen Hero — Opening July 12 at 1630 N. Main Street. The Berkeley-born ramen shop’s first Contra Costa County location features a 16-hour tonkotsu broth and a vegan miso option that chef-owner Kenji Tanaka spent six months developing. “We could have done a standard vegetable broth and moved on,” Tanaka said. “But Walnut Creek diners know food. They travel. They’ve had real ramen. We weren’t going to serve them something average.”
5. The Counter Walnut Creek — Opening July 19 at 1699 Mount Diablo Boulevard. A custom-burger concept that had a previous Walnut Creek run from 2008 to 2016 returns with a smaller footprint and a focused menu. The 80-seat location includes a 20-seat bar with eight rotating local taps. The menu offers 12 signature burgers plus the build-your-own option that made the chain famous.
A Long Goodbye on Locust
While new names arrive, an old one prepares to say goodbye. Maria’s Italian Kitchen at 1470 Locust Street — a Walnut Creek fixture since 1994 — will serve its last plates of lasagna on August 15. Owner Maria Castellano, 68, says the decision is about retirement, not business.
“Thirty-two years is enough,” she said through tears at a packed dining room Tuesday evening. “I came here in 1994 with one pasta roller and a recipe from my grandmother. I’m leaving with a restaurant full of people who feel like family.”
Castellano’s landlord confirmed the space has already been leased to an undisclosed restaurant group for a fall 2026 opening. The regulars don’t want to hear about what comes next. On any given night this month, the bar at Maria’s is three-deep with longtime customers ordering one last plate of her grandmother’s gnocchi.
Maria’s departure stings. But it’s the exception in a downtown that keeps drawing new names. Here’s why.
Why Restaurants Keep Choosing Walnut Creek
Walnut Creek’s downtown restaurant boom isn’t happening in a vacuum. The city’s daytime population swells to roughly 110,000 people — office workers, shoppers, and medical staff from the John Muir Health campus — before the dinner crowd even arrives. Median household income in the 94596 and 94597 ZIP codes hovers around $140,000. BART delivers a steady flow of East Bay diners directly to the downtown core.
“Restaurant groups are looking at Walnut Creek the way they used to look at downtown Berkeley or Rockridge,” said Downtown Association executive director Emily Chang. “The difference is parking, safety perception, and the fact that you can actually get a lease here without competing against twelve other bidders.”
Chang noted that the city’s streamlined permit process for food and beverage businesses — implemented in 2024 — has reduced the average time from lease signing to grand opening by roughly 45 days compared to neighboring cities. “That matters when you’re paying rent on an empty space,” she said.
Related: Club 1220: Half a Century of History at Walnut Creek’s Oldest LGBTQ Bar
