WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA – It’s been a long wait, but the new Original Joes restaurant in Walnut Creek, California has finally announced an opening date.
Original Joes started construction over a year ago. The restaurant was originally scheduled to open in early 2025. We stopped by in April, though, and found that the interior was entirely gutted, there was extensive work going on outside, and permits were still being filed.
In short, it was clear that Original Joes wouldn’t be opening in the Spring as originally intended! Since then, we’ve been following the restaurant’s progress closely–as have thousands of other people in the 925.
We shared everything we know about the new restaurant and its menu. And a bit under a week ago, we learned through multiple sources that the restaurant had secretly held a soft launch and chosen an opening date.
Those were just rumors at the time, and our contact at Original Joes wouldn’t confirm them. Now, though, the cat is out of the bag: Original Joes has confirmed that its Walnut Creek restaurant will open this Thursday, August 14, just as we predicted last week.
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It’s the first East Bay outpost for the nearly 90-year-old San Francisco institution. The restaurant is moving into the prominent corner at 1300 S. Main St. at Broadway Plaza, in the former Stanford’s space—prime real estate that helps explain why the project has been one of the most watched openings of the year for local diners.
City records tie the build-out to that address, and reports note the transformation of the site into a high-end, old-school Italian-American dining room.
If you’ve eaten at the original North Beach flagship, you’ll recognize the vibe. The Walnut Creek restaurant is designed with classic Joe’s touches—green leather booths, marble floors, memorabilia—along with two outdoor patios, a 50-seat cocktail lounge, and seating for roughly 300. It’s a sizable footprint intended to function as a new “clubhouse” for the East Bay.
There will apparently be a ribbon cutting on Thursday. Reservations will be at https://www.opentable.com/r/original-joes-walnut-creek but haven’t gone live yet as of press time. Reports say the restaurant will open to the public at 11am on Thursday, so it may be walk-in only initially.
We’ll continue to follow the story and report back. Again, we predicted the opening date correctly last week–if you want more of our coverage of local restaurants in the 925, make sure to join our free 925 News newsletter.
