It all started with a craving for home.
Back in the 80s, Walid “Wally” left Lebanon to study dentistry in Europe. Far from his family and the food he grew up with, he missed the comfort of homemade meals. So, he turned to the kitchen and began experimenting on his own.
What began as a way to ease homesickness quickly became a passion, one that would shape the rest of his life.
Wally opened his first restaurants in Paris and Bulgaria, where people got their first taste of his Lebanese-inspired cooking. But in the early 2000s, he set his sights on California, where his brothers and sisters were living.
He wanted to chase his own American Dream – and the way he knew best was through food.
He started with restaurants in Fremont and Capitola near Santa Cruz. Then in 2007, he decided to open Wally’s Cafe in Emeryville, tucked away in the back of a bar called the Bank Club Cafe.
The spot wasn’t even visible from the street. Many thought it was a risky move. But what might have seemed like a gamble turned into a success story.
Locals fell in love with the hidden kitchen serving traditional Lebanese dishes packed with flavor and soul. They started spreading the word, calling it one of the Bay Area’s best-kept secrets.
That word-of-mouth momentum never stopped. Over the years, Wally’s Cafe has grown into a name recognized far beyond Emeryville.
Today, it’s a 4-time Yelp Top 100 restaurant, and it just ranked #6 in the entire United States – a massive recognition for what started as a family-inspired dream.
Wally’s Cafe now has three locations across California: Emeryville (opened in 2007), Rocklin near Sacramento (opened in 2017), and, most recently, Costa Mesa in Orange County, which opened at the end of 2024.
For Wally, it’s never just been about the food. It’s about carrying a piece of Lebanon across continents, sharing it with new communities, and proving that even a hidden little kitchen can grow into one of the top restaurants in America.
