DANVILLE, CALIFORNIA – Downtown Danville is getting a new Southern Italian restaurant, and the team behind it is already hiring staff, locking in a liquor license, and taking over one of the most visible restaurant spaces in town.
The new spot is called Taverna Sorrentina, and it is preparing to open at 100 Railroad Ave in downtown Danville, in the former Isola Osteria space.
According to a recent license filing with California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the group behind Taverna Sorrentina has applied for an alcohol license at that address.
Early details suggest this will not be a basic pasta-and-pizza red sauce place. The team is promising a menu built around seafood from the Sorrento and Amalfi Coast tradition, steaks, and handmade pastas, plus tableside show moments like flame-finished steaks, pastas tossed in front of guests, and even tiramisu assembled to order. The bar program is expected to highlight classic Italian cocktails and a wine list that mixes Italian imports with Northern California bottles.
The ownership team includes veterans of the local Italian dining scene who have worked in Danville restaurants for years. Reports indicate a late 2025 opening date, perhaps as soon as November.
If you want a sign that this is real and not just talk, here’s a big one: Taverna Sorrentina is already staffing up in Danville.
Multiple active job listings on Indeed and Glassdoor describe Taverna Sorrentina as “a brand-new Italian restaurant bringing authentic flavors and warm hospitality to downtown Danville” and list the work location as 100 Railroad Ave in Danville, CA 94526. The restaurant is hiring bussers, food runners, hosts, and line cooks.
That is unusually transparent for a pre-opening. Most new restaurants will post generic “Upscale Italian restaurant opening soon in the East Bay” listings. Here, the team is naming the concept, naming the GM, publishing a local phone number, and saying flat out that the restaurant is in downtown Danville.
There’s also already a local business listing for “Taverna sorrentina” on Nextdoor. That listing identifies the restaurant as an Italian restaurant at 100 Railroad Avenue in Danville and even pins it on the map, which means the name is now circulating at the neighborhood level, not just in trade press
Meanwhile, the space itself is clearly in transition. It was formerly Isola Osteria, which we loved–but which closed very soon after opening.
Isola Osteria itself was a Sicilian-focused, family-run restaurant that opened on Railroad Ave and drew attention for outdoor dining, seafood, and recipes tied to the founder’s Sicilian mother. The owners said in late summer that they were stepping away for personal reasons, not because Danville rejected the concept. That closure left a prime, patio-heavy space in the heart of downtown Danville sitting empty.
To locals, that corner of Railroad Ave matters. It’s steps from Hartz, it’s walkable from the downtown parking lots, and it has outdoor seating that fills quickly any time the weather is decent. Before Isola, it was a coffee shop named Coffee Shop (see our photos above.)
If Taverna Sorrentina opens on the timeline the owners are aiming for, it will land right in the holiday dining rush. That’s peak season for Danville date nights, office dinners, and family get-togethers before people disappear for Tahoe or Hawaii. It’s also a moment when downtown Danville restaurants tend to book out for Friday and Saturday seatings.
Bottom line for diners: barring delays, expect another Italian restaurant in that exact 100 Railroad Ave space — this time with Amalfi Coast energy, tableside pasta, and a serious cocktail and wine program — under the name Taverna Sorrentina.
