Where to eat in Walnut Creek

Where to eat in Walnut Creek

1. Eat

   A Sweet Affair

   A Sweet Affair Bakery and Cafe is a popular, family-owned, local bakery. Opened in 1984, A Sweet Affair describes itself as an "old time" bakery, baking everything from scratch, without preservatives, palm oil, or lard. The bakery offers a wide variety of pastries (e.g., Danishes, scones, cinnamon rolls, croissants), cakes, cookies, and muffins, as well as coffee and espresso. For lunch and dinner, A Sweet Affair serves a variety of sandwiches on thirteen different freshly-baked breads. Also has a second location with limited hours across from the BART station.

2. Eat

   Havana Restaurant

   A modestly priced Cuban-inspired restaurant serving various tapas and other Cuban/Caribbean-style dishes. Located in central downtown Walnut Creek, it's a short walk from Broadway Plaza and the Lesher Center for the Arts. It has an excellent bar that serves a variety of mojitos and other cocktails and it stays open until 11PM on Mondays-Wednesdays and midnight on Thursdays-Saturdays.

3. Eat

   Rocco's Ristorante & Pizzeria

   Deep, deep, deep in the suburbs is one of the best pizza places around. Rocco's is your typical red-checker table cloth suburban pizzeria, serving pasta along with pizza dishes. The pasta isn't worth the trip, but the pizza is (such as Anthony's East Coaster). Go during the special on Sundays and Mondays -- pitchers of beer are half off and Large pizzas are around $12. Otherwise go to the website and use the coupon to save money that you can apply toward the gas you spent driving out there.

4. Eat

   The Hick'ry Pit

   Nothing fancy, just large portions or well-cooked American fare. The menus all feature crayon-drawn pigs from the restaurant's younger clients, which is fitting given the Hick'ry Pit's reputation for bacon offerings. If you want a place that fills you up with good food, and service that ensures your coffee cup never goes empty, this is about as good of an option as can be found in the Bay Area. Prices are just a bit on the high side, but given the portion sizes and the quality of the ingredients it's worth paying a couple of dollars extra.

5. Eat

   Tomatina

   One of the more popular restaurants in town offering high quality food and a casual atmosphere. At its opening, the restaurant was affiliated with award winning celebrity chef Michael Chiarello's Tra Vigne restaurant in Napa, but he is no longer invested in the local mini-chain. One can order brick-oven pizza there with a variety of interesting toppings, or the specialty, "piadine," which is flat bread with a "salad" on top of it. The polenta appetizer is also a must try with baked polenta, parmesean cheese, and tomato sauce.

6. Eat

   Va de Vi

   Walnut Creek's take on small plates done in chef Kelly Degala's California Asian Fusion Style with several wines. This restaurant was once touted by famed San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer as worth a drive from San Francisco for its stellar food and inviting indoor-outdoor atmosphere, although a second location was opened in San Francisco's Presidio District in 2006. Many wines are offered by the glass in addition to flights (tastes of three different wines). Weather permitting, try to eat outside by the oak tree; it's several hundred years old and perhaps one of the oldest remaining wild trees left in all of Walnut Creek.

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Walnut Creek (CC BY-SA 4.0).