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A fast-casual Middle Eastern restaurant chain born in Silicon Valley is moving into the Tri-Valley for the first time, with the owners of Dish n Dash planning to open in Dublin early next year after renovating the building vacated by Applebee’s Bar + Grill this summer.
Nadiah Mshasha, who owns Dishdash Restaurant Group with her husband Emad Ibrahim, said they selected the Hacienda Crossings shopping center for their next expansion location because of the potential the region holds and the demand here for more accessible Middle Eastern dining options.
“Over the years, as many of our family members have moved toward Dublin and the Tri-Valley area, they have mentioned the opportunity for an upscale fast casual Middle Eastern establishment amongst the existing fast food options,” Mshasha told the Pleasanton Weekly.
“We also felt the Dublin, and Tri-Valley area, really shares many of the essential characteristics of the community we serve in the Silicon Valley; ethnically diverse, busy individuals and families looking for high quality, easily accessible, authentic Middle Eastern food and companies seeking professional, consistent, customizable and fresh catering options,” she added.
The Dish n Dash concept developed about a decade after Ibrahim opened his more formal Dishdash Restaurant in downtown Sunnyvale in 2001, according to his wife. The restaurant group now has five of its fast-casual eateries in operation — locations in Sunnyvale, San Jose, Milpitas, Cupertino and Fremont.
A key part of the company’s model is utilizing a central kitchen for certain items, according to Mshasha.
“Realizing the challenge of providing consistent, fresh and high quality food, a unique feature of the Dishdash Restaurant Group, is that we maintain a central kitchen which produces on a daily basis, freshly made-from-scratch hummus, falafel, pita bread and other Middle Eastern specialities like kibbeh (bulghur shell filled with ground lamb and other goodies) that other restaurants purchase frozen or canned,” she said.
Initial Dish n Dash signs are already up on the building at 4808 Dublin Blvd., which also appears to already have some new exterior paint. Renovation crews started working inside and outside not long after prior tenant Applebee’s exited.
Dublin city and chamber officials confirmed Applebee’s last day in the building was June 30.
With Mshasha saying the goal is to open Dish n Dash during the first quarter of 2026, the southeast corner of Hacienda Crossings could remain unoccupied for months more – as work on the unit next door looks to be stalled nearly a year after its new restaurant occupant was announced.
Permanent signs are installed for El Dorado Modern Mexican and Cantina at 4814 Dublin Blvd. – best-known as the former home of the Black Angus Steakhouse that closed for good in 2021 – but the front door remains chained shut and one glass panel had a Hacienda Crossings lease advertisement poster last week. A new alcohol permit application notice has been on the window since Nov. 20.
El Dorado introduced itself to the Dublin community with a Facebook page last October but has not made a follow-up post there since. Emails to the listed address for the El Dorado Restaurant Group out of Concord were not returned as of Wednesday.
Chick-fil-A had been linked to the former Black Angus building, including filing a formal application in 2022, but that project never materialized.
