Downtown Orinda's New Evening Spots Are Opening in Order of How Much Building Each One Needs
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
How long does it take to open somewhere for a drink in downtown Orinda? Three projects announced over the past year give three answers. A wine bar moved into a finished storefront and is open now. A bank being rebuilt beside San Pablo Creek has pushed its bistro to 2027. A beloved deli signed a lease and then said there was no hurry. The difference between them has less to do with food or demand than with how much construction stood between each operator and opening day.
Tonight is a good example. Sorso Bar & Bites is closed for a private event on Saturday, October 10, until 7:30 p.m., then reopens to the public. A year ago, that storefront was a Starbucks.
Sorso sits at 2 Theatre Square, in the space Starbucks used to occupy. Owner Daniele Carsano lives in Orinda and helped launch Montesacro and Mint 54 elsewhere in the Bay Area. Diablo Magazine reported that he turned the 1,100-square-foot space into a sleek room built around the bar.
According to Diablo, the menu mixes Italian and French wines and champagne with seafood. The raw bar offers local oysters with granita mignonette, sea urchin on brioche with lemon butter and ikura, and a tuna tostada, and a full seafood tower is listed as coming soon. Small plates include beef tartare, a breaded lamb chop Milanese, and prawns with bottarga and cannellini beans. The signature dish is pizza al padellino, a pan-baked pizza from Carsano's hometown of Torino, offered with six toppings such as nduja, gorgonzola and olives.
"Italian in the spirit and quality of food and service, but modern California urban in the ambiance and variety," Carsano told Diablo. He was more direct with The Orinda News this summer: "I'm trying to sort of put Orinda on the map and create a little buzz."
Sorso's website lists these hours:
The bar-until-midnight weekends matter more than they might seem. Diablo opened its write-up by saying Orinda's nightlife scene, "such as it is," is getting livelier. Sorso opened first because the room already had walls, plumbing and a storefront facing the square. The work was mostly interior.
| Project | Location | What it started with | Latest public timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sorso Bar & Bites | 2 Theatre Square | A finished 1,100 sq ft former Starbucks | Open now |
| CreekHaus | 31 Orinda Way | A 4,712 sq ft former Bank of America branch | Phase one: no date announced. Bistro and lounge: 2027 |
| Morucci's Deli | Near the Orinda Theatre | A signed lease; address not announced | Possibly 2028 |
CreekHaus has taken longer for a reason you can see from Camino Pablo. Orinda developer Ben Zarrin, whose company Paymun builds high-end homes in Wilder, bought the old Bank of America branch in the northside village in 2022 for $2.8 million. The building was not a ready-made restaurant. The Bay Area Telegraph reported that city-approved plans, later revised, expand the 4,712-square-foot bank into a structure of roughly 9,400 square feet. The work includes new upper levels, facade changes, exterior stairs, restaurant infrastructure and outdoor areas facing the creek.
The public timeline has moved with the construction:
The rollout is now split into phases. In Paymun's September progress update in Orinda Living, phase one includes Equator Coffees, Launchpad Learning, the CreekHaus Beer Garden with PizzaHacker pizza, and Paymun's own headquarters. Launchpad Learning was founded by two Orinda moms and will run an after-school math program upstairs. As of late August, Paymun had not said who will run the beer side of the garden, and the bistro and cocktail lounge operators were still unannounced.
No public date for phase one has been confirmed. Talk of a holiday-season opening was speculation in August, not an announcement.
What the finished project promises explains why it has taken longer than a storefront swap. The back of the building will have decks, patios and green space facing San Pablo Creek, which separates the property from Camino Pablo traffic. Each operator gets a separate entrance on the first floor, and all of them share the creek-side deck and a lower patio. Paymun's statement to the Telegraph sums up the trade-off:
"The commitment has not changed: to thoughtfully create a place worthy of the community, built not just for opening day, but for all the days that follow."
The empty Rite Aid next door will probably stay empty for now. The Orinda News reported that CVS considered moving into the larger building but decided to stay at its current location across from the theater.
Morucci's has the slowest timeline of the three, and that is by choice. The Walnut Creek deli, known for its Italian subs, was bought by Terrence Heaps, Anthony Johnson and Parham Mirshahpanah. The Mercury News reported in August that they have signed a lease for a space near the Orinda Theatre. They plan to space out new openings, and the Orinda shop may not open until 2028. A second location at 236 Golf Club Road in Pleasant Hill comes first.
The two reports differ on where the Orinda shop will go. The Orinda News, citing retail sources, suggested a Moraga Way storefront such as 70 Moraga Way, where the Bangladeshi restaurant Atithi used to be. Until the owners name an address, the safest description is "near the theater, eventually."
Until CreekHaus opens, downtown's evenings center on the blocks around the library and the theater. Sorso has added a place to go before or after. Here is what's on the calendar this fall:
Both theater shows fall on Sundays, when Sorso is open 4 to 9 p.m. That makes dinner before the 5 p.m. Eng show easy. If you're going to the late show, you'd be eating at Sorso before it rather than after. For updates on the 2027 bistro and the first CreekHaus opening date, Paymun has pointed residents to the CreekHaus website and its social channels.
At the Estela Sallat & Michael Perry Team, we follow downtown Orinda's openings the same way we follow its homes: what's finished, what's still in permitting, and what that means for the blocks around it. If you're curious how a project like CreekHaus fits into the bigger picture for your part of Orinda, we'd be glad to talk it through. Schedule a Consultation.
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