Can’t hardly wait: 11 restaurants we’re eager to try in 2026
You have to hand it to the Bay Area’s resilient restaurant industry. Despite increases in every budget category, they’re still offering amazing food and exceptional service — and expanding to new communities.
This year, we are looking forward to Mediterranean cuisine from both Turkish and Greek chefs, more Italian, more ramen, an intriguing all-you-can-eat concept and large Asian marketplaces, including a dazzling emporium the likes of which California has never seen. Read on for the details.
ASIA LIVE, Santa Clara
Sushi stations. Tandoori ovens. Dumpling counters.
The many cuisines of Asia will be explored and celebrated when the expansive Asia Live emporium joins Westfield Valley Fair’s restaurant collection. The complex, under renovation now, will be located just steps from Eataly, the three-story ode to all things Italian.
Noted restaurateurs George Chen and Cindy Wong-Chen, who launched the ambitious China Live in San Francisco in 2017, say that Silicon Valley was a natural choice for this project.
“We transformed perceptions of Chinese cuisine in America by highlighting the rich diversity of Greater China’s regional flavors, and now we aim to broaden that perspective to all of Asia,” George Chen said in the project announcement.
Look for the full array of culinary experiences — marketplace, upscale restaurant, bars and dining terrace — to open in February or March.
Details: 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd., Santa Clara. westfield.com/en/united-states/valleyfair
MEYHOUSE, San Ramon
After making a splash in the South Bay and on the Peninsula, the upscale Turkish restaurant Meyhouse is expanding to the East Bay for the first time with its mesquite-grilled lamb, steak and branzino entrees.
Founded as a pop-up, the restaurant moved into a 55-seat space on Sunnyvale’s Murphy Avenue before adding a flagship location in Palo Alto that seats 175 and also hosts jazz concerts.
Owner Koray Alinstoy and Executive Chef Omer Artun plan to offer live music at this Bishop Ranch City Center location, too, when the restaurant makes its debut early this year.
Details: 6000 Bollinger Canyon Road, San Ramon; meyhouserestaurant.com
ELIA, Campbell
Keeping it Greek. That’s the plan for the prime downtown Campbell corner that housed Opa! for so many years. With that local chain declaring bankruptcy, the Elia folks jumped at the opportunity to broaden their reach to the South Bay.
“We’re targeting late January to early February for opening, and I definitely want everything ready before Valentine’s Day,” said co-owner Fatih Ulas, who owns three other Elia locations — in Pleasanton, Walnut Creek and San Carlos.
Elia boasts a large lineup of shareable appetizers, including the showy saganaki, and diners rave about the lamb, octopus, sea bass and seafood paella entrees.
Details: 276 E. Campbell Ave., Campbell; eliarestaurants.com
PHO HA NOI, Berkeley
Helen Nguyen’s Pho Ha Noi empire is expanding. After seeing how many Stanford students packed her Palo Alto place, she decided to give the Cal crowd a taste of her long-simmered soup broths and other Vietnamese fare.
The South Bay entrepreneur is an international trade veteran who added “restaurateur” to her résumé after she and her husband, Harry, opened a pho restaurant in San Jose’s Little Saigon a decade ago, followed by Cupertino, Palo Alto, Milpitas and Fremont locations.
The menu supplements the beef, chicken or vegetable pho with spring rolls, nuoc cham wings, vermicelli bowls and several specialties, such as Vietnamese sizzling steak, a prime filet mignon from Harris Ranch, sliced and served with pate and sides,
Look for the restaurant to arrive about the time the fall 2026 students do.
Details: 2435 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley; phohanoi.com
ROMA ANTICA, San Mateo
Roma Antica, a popular Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s Marina District since 2017, has a new location coming soon to San Mateo.
The restaurant serves pizza the ancient Roman way — also known as pinsa. It’s a flatbread dish featuring a long-fermented crust made of wheat, rice and soy flours. Other popular menu items include cacio e pepe, oxtail ragu pappardelle and branzino.
The planned location is across the street from where Vespucci Ristorante Italiano closed Dec. 31 on Third Avenue — so the block will not be without Italian fare long. The new location will be at 172 Third Ave., San Mateo, and is expected to open sometime in the early spring.
Details: Sample some of the menu favorites at the San Francisco location, open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdasy and 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays at 3242 Scott St., San Francisco.
MENSHO, Walnut Creek
Mensho is a Tokyo-based ramen chain that regularly draws long lines at its Oakland and San Francisco outposts. Founded by chef Tomoharu Shono — a prodigy of broth and noods who’s cooked ramen since high school — it specializes in interesting formulations not seen in many other places, like green-tea ramen and almond-based tantanmen.
Mensho’s soup base is rich and deep, tasting like it simmered for days, and is similar to what’s served at an authentic Japan ramen house. But it’s the luxury that sets the restaurant apart. The signature ramen is a Smoked Tori Paitan with a chicken broth, smoked seasoned egg, smoked Kurobuta pork chashu, smoked A5 wagyu, smoked duck, king oyster mushrooms, charcoal negi and – for even more decadence – “OG truffle sauce.”
This newest Mensho will likely offer such favorites (which includes a popular garlic-five-ways variety), but will also have a “menu entirely unique to Walnut Creek,” as per a report in Diablo Magazine.
Details: Scheduled to open in early 2026 at 1512 N. Main St., Walnut Creek; menshopiedmont.com
FLORA, San Jose
For more than a year and a half, inquiring minds have wondered who would take over that prime Rosie McCann’s space at Santana Row.
Turns out three entrepreneurs behind some very popular South Bay restaurants and bars — Russ Fukushima and Jameson Parvizad of Water Tower Kitchen and Danny Shafazand of Wild Rose and Second Story — have partnered on the project.
The are envisioning an all-day, seasonal restaurant called Flora. “The space will move effortlessly from bright, sun-filled mornings to a vibrant, evening dining experience” — with an evolving menu to match, Fukushima said
The signage has just gone up, and construction may commence as soon as this month or February. Stay tuned for timing updates and details on the food and drink offerings.
Details: 355 Santana Row, San Jose; santanarow.com
OSAKA MARKETPLACE, Pleasant Hill
This third East Bay supermarket specializing in products of Osaka Prefecture (the others being in Fremont and Foster City) is set to colonize the massive footprint of a former hardware supply. It will, in fact, be a “grocerant” — a grocery store that incorporates an eating pavilion for diners to pick up meals for home or chow down in place.
The food court will be partially outside in the former hardware store’s garden center and will feature several mini-restaurants serving up sushi, ramen, fried chicken and bento boxes. On the store side, shoppers can expect to find an “extensive selection of authentic Japanese groceries, fresh produce, seafood, ready-to-eat meals and hard-to-find imported foods and goods,” according to the company.
If it’s anything like its other branches, the Pleasant Hill grocery will also offer weekly specials on delicacies like Japanese roll cakes and imported beers and spirits, as well as hold special events like beauty fairs and summer street-food festivals.
Details: Scheduled to open in late 2026 at 155 Crescent Plaza, Pleasant Hill; osakamarketplace.com
ZAREEN’S, Sunnyvale
Chef-owner Zareen Khan and her wildly popular Pakistani and North Indian fare are heading to the South Bay.
Look for her popular chicken tikka masala, secret-recipe samosas and fragrant cups of chai to make their debut soon along Sunnyvale’s historic restaurant row, Murphy Avenue.
This will be the fourth restaurant for chef-entrepreneur Zareen Khan. She launched her restaurant in 2014 in Mountain View after careers in the corporate world and in catering, then expanded to Palo Alto a couple of years later. The Redwood City location came along in 2020.
A March opening in Sunnyvale is forecast.
Details: zareensrestaurant.com
MAC’S OLD HOUSE, Antioch
When Mac’s Old House came on the market in June, Joe Martinez knew he had to do something to preserve the legacy of the beloved old-fashioned Italian restaurant that had been a staple in Antioch for decades. So Martinez partnered with his friend, Ron Harrison, to purchase, revamp and reopen it sometime around June 2026.
The duo will work with Rick Cook, former manager and head chef at Mac’s Old House, who will share recipes for classic dishes favored by patrons.
Renovation work is in full swing, with plans for new bathrooms, a new kitchen and an expansion of the dining space, including more outdoor seating once permits are in place. Expanded square-footage and parking are also in the works, plus lunch service and a kids’ menu. The restaurant will also begin taking credit cards and offering items via DoorDash.
Once remodeling at Mac’s Old House is complete, Martinez and Harrison will transfer restaurant operations to Sheri Vallero and her children, Terriane Reed and Roger Born, who have experience in the food industry.
Details: macsoldhouse.com
MEZE & KEBAB, Palo Alto
From the owners of the upscale Turkish-Mediterranean restaurant Meyhouse (see above) comes an appealing casual concept.
You’re familiar with all-you-can-eat sushi and bottomless hot-pot meals. How about all-you-can-eat meze and kebabs, with servers roaming the dining room like the gauchos at Brazilian steakhouses?
That’s what owner Koray Alinstoy and executive chef Omer Artun will unveil in late January in the downtown space next door to Meyhouse.
Bonus: With affordability in mind, they’re planning to price cocktails from $10 to $12.
Details: 632 Emerson St., Palo Alto; mezekebab.com
AND COMING IN 2027 TO WALNUT CREEK
While fans of the long-running downtown favorite, the Walnut Creek Yacht Club, may be eager to see a seafood restaurant back in this space as soon as possible, the new owners predict a 2027 opening date for its replacement, Oceania.
— Hema Sivanandam contributed to this report.