Walnut Creek, California just got a brand new gelato, chocolate, and pastry shop. One thing about the new shop sets it apart from every other ice cream joint in the city—and there are a lot of ice cream joints in Walnut Creek!
We’ll get to that distinguishing feature in a minute. But first let’s take a look at some ice cream, shall we?
The new store is Tifa Gelato and Chocolate. It’s located at 1545 Locust St, right next to the Lesher Center, in a storefront formerly occupied by a sneaker store.
Here at the Bay Area Telegraph, we were first to break the story about Tifa coming to Walnut Creek. Back in April 2025, we saw a permit application on the door of the location listing an enigmatic company called Lama Desserts LLC.
With a bunch of research on building permits and owners, we determined that the actual store opening there would be Tifa. The “Llama” codename has a connection to the new store, though, which we’ll get to below!
Tifa is a small chain that makes homemade gelato in-house, and also sells a variety of other items, including drinking chocolate, colorful truffles, and various sweets and pastries. I stopped by with my wife and three kids about a week after Tifa officially opened in Walnut Creek.
When I first saw Tifa under construction back in April, the windows of the restaurant were covered in paper to obscure what was going on inside. Turns out that’s because there was a massive renovation to the space!
By Walnut Creek ice cream standards, Tifa is a big store. When you first walk in, you’re greeted by a display case filled with delicious-looking truffles.
These aren’t made locally, but are crafted by a chocolatier in Los Angeles. They feature a rotating set of flavors, including chocolate orange, raspberry, hazelnut, and more.
Around the corner of the counter, you’ll find the star of the show: a giant display case filled with 24 different gelato flavors.
These range from classics like chocolate and vanilla to fancier flavors like strawberry rose, and even a matcha-inspired flavor.
Tifa rotates the flavors seasonally, so there will always be something new to try at the store. The display case looks lovely, mounded up with big piles of ice cream!
One distinguishing feature of Tifa is the fact that it makes its gelato in-house. At the back of the store, there’s a big glass window showcasing their ice cream-making machines.
Tifa encourages visitors—especially kids—to doodle on the glass using markers. It’s a cool way for them to personalize the space and invite the community in.
Behind the window, you’ll see all the equipment they use to make the gelato on-site.
In addition to gelato, Tifa offers high-end drinking chocolate. Essentially, this is a tiny espresso-sized cup of molten chocolate flavored with different spices. Tifa serves a big mound of homemade whipped cream on the side.
It wasn’t quite the season for drinking chocolate during our July visit, but this is sure to be a popular option in the winter!
They also serve cookies, macarons, pastries, and other sweets.
We tried a variety of gelato flavors, including chocolate, strawberry rose, cookies and cream, mint chip, and more.
The chocolate was tasty, if a bit on the basic side, with a rich cocoa flavor.
The cookies and cream was the star, with a delicious sweet cream base studded with chunks of Oreo cookie.
The mint chip was a little too spearminty for my taste, but the strawberry rose was a delicious fruit flavor, complemented by a subtle rosewater that made it distinctive.
The gelato benefits tremendously from the fact that it’s made fresh on-site. We also tried some of the truffles.
These are incredibly colorful and beautiful to look at.
Most of the truffles seem to focus on a chocolate exterior with a flavored ganache inside. That works nicely for flavors like chocolate-orange, but for hazelnut, I would’ve liked to have seen some actual hazelnut pieces or cream integrated into the truffle itself.
Still, in terms of beautiful appearance, these truffles totally stand up!
It’s nice that at Tifa you can order tasty ice cream, but you don’t have to. Not everybody is into gelato, so if you’re visiting with a crowd, there’s always the option to grab a pastry, macaron, cookie, or one of those delicious-looking drinking chocolates.
That makes Tifa a more versatile option than many other local places, especially for coming with a group.
The big thing that really sets it apart, though, is its beautiful and expansive interior.
I love Lottie’s Creamery, Handel’s Ice Cream, and enjoyed the newcomer Annie’s Italian Gelato in Walnut Creek. But all of those restaurants suffer from a limited amount—or even a complete lack—of seating.
Lottie’s has one bench inside, and Handel’s is standing room only!
Annie’s has a few tables, but they can quickly fill up during busy hours. In contrast, Tifa has a large interior that’s pleasantly set up with a variety of tables. It’s air-conditioned, has high ceilings, and is decorated with llama-themed decor.
Again, that’s where the original “Llama” codename comes in! A worker at the store told us that each Tifa store has a “spirit animal,” and a llama happens to be the one for this particular location.
The availability of nice seating so you can sit and eat your ice cream in a leisurely way might seem like a minor thing—but it’s not. It’s actually a really wonderful one.
Especially if you’re visiting with a big group of kids or family members, having plenty of room to stretch out at nice tables—as well as a clean bathroom in the back of the store—makes the visiting experience much better.
Normally, getting ice cream in Walnut Creek requires dashing to an outdoor park to quickly eat before your ice cream melts. At Tifa, you can linger, perhaps get a drinking chocolate or coffee, and have a much more laid-back experience.
Another thing I appreciated about Tifa was the pricing. My kids always want to combine multiple gelato flavors in a single cup, which usually means we end up buying a medium size that costs eight or nine dollars!
Tifa has a small size that’s only $5.95—a relative bargain for Walnut Creek ice cream. And even better, they let you put two different flavors in that small cup.
Again, that might not seem like a huge deal. But if you’re buying ice cream for three kids, yourself, and perhaps a grandparent or two, savings of two to three dollars per cup really add up.
Overall, Tifa is a great addition to an already rapidly growing ice cream scene in Walnut Creek. The chocolates are a nice addition, but the gelato made in-house is really the best thing on offer there.
The pleasant interior makes it easy to stop here, and the parking garage for the Lesher Center right next door means it’s much easier to get in and out.
Stop by and check out the new store. You can take a selfie with one of their many pieces of llama wall art, grab a reasonably priced ice cream, and linger for a while in the pleasant interior.
We’re happy to see Tifa opening up in Walnut Creek, and we also look forward to going back in the chillier winter months to try that drinking chocolate!
