New Italian Restaurant Heavyweight is Heading for Walnut Creek

WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA – Upscale-casual chain North Italia has filed ABC paperwork and city permits to take over the former Tilly’s space at 1276 South California Boulevard in Plaza Escuela, adding another national dining name to Walnut Creek’s fast-growing restaurant cluster.

City Economic Development officials confirmed the lease in an April news brief, calling it part of the brand’s Bay Area expansion.

What to expect on the menu

Backed by Fox Restaurant Concepts (a subsidiary of The Cheesecake Factory), North Italia is known for:

• Hand-rolled pastas like short-rib radiatori and squid-ink mafaldine
• Artisanal pizzas cooked in a gas-fired stone deck
• Seasonal entrées (think chicken parmesan with aged provolone)
• A bar program built around Italian-leaning cocktails and an all-California wine list

Portions trend shareable, and most Bay Area locations offer weekday happy-hour pricing on small plates and spritzes.

Timeline and hiring

No official opening date is posted, but an ABC license notice appeared on the storefront May 20—typically a sign that interior build-out is under way. Beyond the Creek reports the restaurant is targeting a late-2025 debut, pending construction and state liquor approval.

North Italia generally hires 150-plus staff per location; job listings for servers, bartenders and line cooks are expected to go live on the company’s careers portal later this summer.

Filling a pasta gap downtown

Plaza Escuela and surrounding streets already host fast-casual spots like Habit Burger, but casual Italian food has been scarce (beyond excellent pizza options like Slice House). Economic-development officials say North Italia should draw evening foot traffic that spills over to nearby retailers.

We’ll update with construction photos and opening-day details as they become available. For now, pasta lovers can mark North Italia as “coming soon” on their dining radar.