Combining bowling and bocce — two athletic pursuits riding a crest in popularity — with a made-from-scratch upscale bistro menu and a safe, inviting space, Walnut Creek’s new Pinstripes is looking to be a four-pin strike.

Located on two floors at 1115 Broadway Plaza, the downtown dining and entertainment venue occupies 25,000 square feet and offers mostly Italian-American cuisine, handcrafted cocktails, eight bowling lanes, two indoor bocce courts, plus flexible seating from tables and booths to lounge chairs and sofas. Two patios on the first floor open up options for outdoor dining.

The Walnut Creek Pinstripes is the operation’s second Bay Area location (with the first in San Mateo’s Hillsdale Mall) and 18th nationwide. Founded by CEO Dale Schwartz in Chicago, the company model is not franchised, ensuring each location is designed and operated to best suit the community it serves.

Notably, Pinstripes has no video games, laser tag, miniature golf, or other elements that might distract from its central purpose: bringing people together in ways that invite conversation, camaraderie and build community connectivity. A specialty of the company is planning, catering and hosting celebrations of signature moments like birthdays and weddings, along with social and corporate events for groups ranging from as small as 15 to several hundred.

Director of Sales Ben Rodny has embarked on the reverse commute from his home in Marin County to Walnut Creek since July 2024. Arriving with extensive experience in hospitality sales and marketing, Rodny began his career at hotels after graduating from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a legal studies major.

“I started working and realized the journey from food and beverages to planning social and corporate events was a lot more exciting and fun than the law,” he said.

When the job opened up at Pinstripes, Rodny jumped onboard immediately.

More than simply a paycheck, it is the company’s culture along with the closely curated cuisine and beverages that attract him most.

“We don’t serve bowling alley food,” Rodny said. “There are no hot boxes in the kitchen where food is made in mass quantities, then sits. Our food is prepared to be served immediately according to what’s ordered.”

In addition to lunch, happy hour and diner menus, Saturday and Sunday buffet brunches introduce the full roster: starters, waffle, omelette and carving stations, salads, chef specialties, a kids table and desserts. Special occasion brunches on five holidays include family-friendly features like a visiting Santa and other theme-related extras.

Rodny says people don’t really change and even before the pandemic revealed the downsides of isolation, community gathering has long been a priority.

“At first, coming out of COVID had shortened the booking window as people caught up on family get-togethers and corporate events, so it was more hectic,” he said. “But it hasn’t really dropped off in Walnut Creek. We’re seeing young families who want to have a safe experience and quality food served by professionals. We’re seeing mahjong groups that come in regularly, want to bowl or do bocce, then have lunch.”

Recently, working with Walnut Creek Intermediate School, Pinstripes hosted over 200 people at a Parent’s Night Out event. “They learned about our food, but also that we’re multifaceted. We run the gamut from hosting their kid’s birthday parties to holding school events, club meetings and conferences, or catering large scale corporate gatherings. At the same time, we’re a place where they can just drop in, play a game, enjoy a good meal with the family, or have drinks with a colleague or friend.”

Asked to speak about what he considers some of the menu’s highlights, Rodny noted, “The Super Salad is a best-selling item. Walnut Creek has a lot of people interested in health.” The salad ingredients — kale, spinach, pecans, figs, veggie chips, avocado, grains, raspberries, corn and Humboldt Fog goat cheese — present sweet and sour flavors and include protein.

“I can’t get enough of that goat cheese, personally,” he said. “But if someone doesn’t eat dairy, we can substitute friend onion chips, Brussel sprouts, or even bread if they want carbo.”

The “Legendary Lobster” pizza is a founder favorite, according to Rodney, but in the new location, the Chicken Avocado Club is proving to be a worthy contender. The combination of applewood smoked bacon, roasted onion, tomato, mozzarella and ranch sauce mimics the classic club sandwich.

“It’s actually kind of humble,” Rodny said. “It comes on flat bread or a pizza. It’s definitely popular.”

Adult beverages on beer and wine lists emphasize mostly local and California sources. Handcrafted cocktails fall under the purview of assistant general manager Brian Curtis, who moved over from the San Mateo location. Rodny detailed everything from the bar follows the same philosophies as the food: high quality, fresh ingredients combined to create drinks that are not harsh on the palette and combine well with the cuisine.

Which brings the conversation back to how Pinstripes’ culture can be maintained as the brand expands. Especially with a company that, at least on the surface, appears to have a fairly fixed structure.

“Take our Winter Ticket that offers unlimited bowling and bocce for three months in the winter,” Rodny said. “Each location is different. The goal is to open strongly, and in Walnut Creek our team is reaching out on social media to parents, sports teams, colleges.”

Because events are a major component of its financial bottom line, special care is taken in training the staff. “It’s not like restaurants that do large events. We’re actually designed purpose-built for large events, but modular enough to be a regular place for value-added dining day-to-day. Before we opened here, they had managers fly in and everyone from servers to event managers got hands-on, one-on-one training.”

As the Walnut Creek team revs up for wedding and graduation gatherings, Rodny mentioned the focus stays centered on people.

“With weddings, the most important consideration is what the couple wants. For graduations, it’s the host,” he said. “And for everyone, it’s creating a community space that’s safe, fun, and has great food and drinks.”

Lou Fancher is a freelance writer. Reach her at lou@johnsonandfancher.com.