Dasbierhauz poured its last pint on the final Tuesday of June, and by most accounts it was one of the busiest nights the German beer garden ever had. The Middlefield Road address wasn't struggling. Co-owner Mehmet Vural has said the closure came down to his business partner moving away, not a lack of customers. That detail matters more than it looks, because it means downtown Redwood City lost a popular spot for a reason that had nothing to do with demand, and the replacement moving into 830 Middlefield is already staffing up.
That single closing and its quick replacement is a small window into something bigger happening around Courthouse Square this year. The dining scene hasn't just added restaurants. It has reorganized itself into something closer to a real weekly rhythm, one where a specific kitchen now pairs naturally with a specific night on the city's long-running events calendar. Two years ago that pairing didn't really exist. This summer it does.
Three Grills, One Fifteen-Minute Walk
Walk the stretch from Broadway to Veterans Boulevard and you're covering three distinct flame-grilled traditions inside about fifteen minutes on foot. Mazra has held down the wood-fired kebab and shawarma corner on Broadway since reopening in October 2024, after a kitchen fire had closed it that June. Limón, the Peruvian spot, opened its Redwood City location the same October. And on June 29, Reef Zaman soft-opened in the former Sizzler space, adding a third grill-forward menu to the same short walk.
Reef Zaman's owner, Faris Alqabass, had actually planned to open this concept in New York, where he already runs Yemeni Restaurant and Mandi House. He pivoted after finding what he considered the right space in Redwood City instead, which says something about how the corridor reads to people scouting locations from outside the Peninsula. Running the kitchen is chef Mohammed Al-Omari, who came over from Mazra, so the connective tissue between these restaurants isn't just geography. It's staff.
The name Reef Zaman translates to "countryside of the past," and the menu leans into that with flame-grilled branzino, lamb chops, and kebabs, plus a falafel veggie platter running $24 and wraps between $13 and $15. It's a big room, seating around 280 people, with a 2,000-square-foot patio in the works that Alqabass expects will add another 300 seats within a few months. That patio timeline matters for anyone planning a fall gathering downtown, since it puts the expanded space online sometime around early autumn.
Meanwhile, Gourmet Haus Staudt now holds the German dining lane on its own. With Dasbierhauz gone, there's no longer a second beer garden competing for that particular craving downtown, which is a small but real shift in what a Tuesday night out actually looks like here.
What's Moving Into the Beer Garden's Old Address
The restaurant taking over 830 Middlefield is Gangsan, a Korean kitchen whose posted window menu points to galbijjim, seolleongtang, and kalguksu, along with a sizzling bibimbap. Early pricing has appetizers running $15 to $24, beef soups in the $19 to $32 range, and kalguksu between $25 and $35. For a downtown that already had Mediterranean covered twice over, a Korean option on the same block changes what a resident can string together in one evening without repeating a cuisine.
A Redwood City Native's Path to Woodside Road
Not every new opening sits inside the Broadway grid. Bay Burgers, at 976 Woodside Road, opened its first brick-and-mortar location this past March, and the backstory is worth knowing if you haven't already had one of chef Xavier Pereznegron's smashburgers. Pereznegron grew up in Redwood City, worked his way into fine dining, and eventually stepped back after a back surgery that required a full year of recovery. He and his now-wife started grilling smashburgers on a Blackstone at Hoover Park before moving the operation into a tent in an industrial area for the summer of 2024.
"I'm opening a restaurant because I love food, not because I want to make money," Pereznegron said. "I'm opening it because I actually love cooking."
The menu keeps that same informal, high-effort spirit: smashburgers alongside rotating specials that include smoked meats, loaded fries, agua frescas, and milkshakes.
Matching Dinner to the Calendar
Courthouse Square's summer programming didn't pause for any of this. The lineup is now in its 20th year, and it still runs across four nights of the week through early September. Here's how the new dining options line up against it.
| Night | What's Happening | A Nearby Option |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Movies on the Square, family film at 6pm, feature at 8:30pm, running through September 3 | Bay Burgers for something quick before the family film, or a boule from The Baker Next Door to carry in |
| Friday | Music on the Square, free concerts from 6 to 8pm, running through September 4 | Reef Zaman once the group count runs past six and the 280-seat room becomes useful rather than excessive |
| Saturday | Pub in the Park and Kids Rock! | Gangsan for something different, or Gourmet Haus Staudt for the German standby now that it has no local competitor |
| Weekends in August | Shakespeare in the Park at Red Morton Park | Whichever Broadway kitchen, Mazra or Limón, doesn't have a wait that night |
Music on the Square's Friday slate this year has run from Carnaval, a Santana tribute that opened the season on May 29, through acts like Sounds of Skynyrd, Native Elements, and Careless Whisper in July, with the season wrapping September 4 with Pride & Joy. Art on the Square has held four Friday markets across the season, on Hamilton Avenue at the square, with the final one landing August 28. If classical music is more your evening, Redwood Symphony marked its 41st season with a Classical on the Square performance in June, conducted by Eric Kujawsky and Kyle Baldwin.
None of this is new to anyone who's lived here a few summers. What's new is that there's finally enough dining variety within walking distance to make a full evening out of it without driving to San Mateo or Palo Alto first.
Beyond Dinner
If you're downtown before a show and want to browse rather than eat, Fireside Books & More opened at 2421 Broadway Street in February 2025, founded by Andrew Johnson and Taylor Kubota. Alongside books, it carries cards, stickers, and locally made goods, including birdhouses from LeighLee's Garden and jewelry from Wandergrove. It's a natural stop before a Friday concert or a Thursday movie, especially if you're trying to fill the hour before the music starts.
For anyone driving in, the city's downtown garages at 750 Marshall and 850 Jefferson offer all-day parking, while 900 Jefferson opens up after 5pm. All three give 1.5 hours free, which is enough time for dinner and a stroll before you need to feed the meter again.
Planning a Full Evening Without Repeating Yourself
The practical upshot for anyone who already lives near the square is simpler than a running restaurant count. A Friday concert now has a room built for a group of eight. A Thursday family film has a burger stand that gets you in and out before the 6pm start. Saturday has a Korean kitchen to try instead of defaulting to the same taqueria. Stack those against Music on the Square, Movies on the Square, and Shakespeare in the Park, and you can go five weeks without repeating a cuisine or a venue, something that wasn't true the last time this event calendar ran.
If you're the kind of resident who already has Music on the Square marked on the calendar every Friday through Labor Day, this is the summer to finally try the room at Reef Zaman or see what Gangsan does with its opening menu. And if a friend or family member ever asks you what it's actually like to live near Courthouse Square, from the food to the free concerts to the walk home, you'll have more to tell them than you did two summers ago.
For everything else about calling this neighborhood home, from market timing to what a particular block is worth, the Lyn Jason Cobb Team has spent years watching Redwood City change one block at a time. Schedule a Consultation whenever you're ready to talk through what that means for your own next move.
