Restaurants keep closing, but plenty of new ones are lining up to take their place.
At least 17 new restaurants are in the works in Fresno, Clovis and Madera. This is on top of the two dozen restaurants The Bee told you to expect this year in a story in January. This most recent wave of restaurants ranges from the high-end fine dining of Bulle to Tacos El Cabezon, a taco truck that got attention for its lines in Fig Garden and is opening a taqueria.
True to Fresno’s diversity, the menus include pho, Indian pizza, Southern barbecue — and of course, tacos.
Here’s a look at what’s coming soon.
New restaurants coming to Fresno, Clovis, Madera 
Bulle, at Herndon and Marks avenues, is one of 15 new restaurants opening in the Fresno area. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
bb.q Chicken, a Korean fried chicken franchise, is moving into the former Maria’s Tacos at Kings Canyon Road and Clovis Avenue.
The restaurant has a location on Shaw Avenue attached to Jus’ Jo’s in Clovis.
Its menu features 14 kinds of fried chicken made in Korean flavors, including a Gangnam black pepper sauce and “cheesling” wings dusted in a medley of sweet cheeses.
It also serves tteok-bokki, the popular little Korean rice cakes served in bowls with sauce.
Workers are still remodeling the inside of the building, so it could be a while before this one opens.
Bora Bora Smoothie Cafe is a franchise that’s moving into 6097 N. Figarden Drive, next door to Kabab City.
It serves smoothies, from juice-based drinks to ones made with ice cream and topped with cotton candy. Its menu also has açai bowls and coffee-based drinks. It’s planning to open in about six months.
Bora Bora’s locations are mostly in the eastern half of the United States.
Bulle is a high-end restaurant at the northwest corner of Marks and Herndon that combines California cuisine with European techniques.
It’s very close to opening and aiming to be open to the public — mostly via reservations — by early April.
Owners Thomas and Davita Miller also own the three Press Box Sports Grill locations around town.
Bulle is French for bubble. It rhymes with “pool.” Say it with a French accent and you’ve got the name down.
“The idea for us is that bubbles are everywhere and we want you to have an experience as if you’re in a bubble floating through life,” Thomas Miller said.
They’ve been keeping details of Bulle close to the vest. But they are promising upscale decor, fine dining, premium Cristal Champagne and more.
Bunz-N-Birds is coming to Madera. The chicken restaurant plans to open in the shopping center at Cleveland Avenue and Schnoor Street.
Cali Bros Pizza is building a new location at Marks and Clinton. The Indian and Italian pizza place already has two locations in Fresno. The new one is scheduled to open in August.
Con Azucar Café a Mexican coffee shop, plans to open a location at the main entrance to Sierra Vista Mall. The Instagram-worthy cafe has a location on Cesar Chavez Boulevard in Fresno serving horchata lattes and other Latin American-inspired drinks and food.
It’s remodeling the Clovis location now.
Dutch Bros Coffee is planning a location on Shaw Avenue in Clovis. The drive-thru is in the works for an empty lot just east of Peach Avenue, between I Love Sushi and McDonald’s.
The Bee previously reported on efforts to prevent lines of cars waiting for coffee from spilling onto Shaw Avenue.
B & K Asian Kitchen has closed with Early Birds Cafe offering American-style breakfast soon to open in its place, one of four new restaurants opening in the coming months. Photographed Tuesday, March 10, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
Early Birds Cafe is an all-American breakfast and lunch spot that’s taking over the former B&K Asian Kitchen after it closed recently at First Street and Hedges Avenue.
Expect tri-tip sandwiches, cheeseburgers, specialty burgers and “your typical bacon and eggs, steak and eggs, country fried steak,” said owner Kanitha Soukaseum.
He’s got 27 years in the restaurant industry, all at down-home places such as Carrows. He also opened up the original Yosemite Falls Cafe before becoming director of operations at Uncle Harry’s NY Bagelry & Coffeehouse. He also owns the MinTea boba shop in Sanger.
He’s shooting for an April opening. The restaurant will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Habit Burger & Grill is moving into the former Office Depot building at 498 W. Shaw Ave. in Clovis. It will be the second Clovis location and is expected to open later this year.
Knotty Chix, a mobile seller of pretzels, is opening a brick-and-mortar location in downtown Selma. It has signed a lease to open at the corner of High and Second streets.
Lisa’s Southern Smokehouse and Crepes & Sweet Thangs will soon take over the back portion of Peacock Market at Tollhouse Road and Sunnyside Avenue in Clovis. It will take over the space left by Pickled Deli and The Parlor, which closed in January.
The Lisa in the name is Lisa Seguera, of part of the couple behind Miguel’s Salsa. That’s the taqueria and salsa brand that has a location just inside the doors of Peacock Market.
Lisa’s Southern Smokehouse will be a barbecue spot inspired by the couple’s trips to Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans. Expect shrimp po’ boys, tri-tip, brisket, “Lisa’s famous barbecued chicken,” and sides such as mac ‘n’ cheese, sweet-and-spicy slaw and corn bread.
“We are of course are going to be doing are own barbecue sauces,” she said. That includes a mango-habanero barbecue sauce with Miguel’s award-winning salsa.
Crepes & Sweet Thangs will offer sweet and savory crepes, including the strawberry crepes Seguera grew up with, along with beignets and banana pudding.
She is aiming to open in May.
Neat & Noir, a cocktail bar in downtown Fresno, is opening a second location. The bar has signed a lease to open at the northeast corner of Cedar and Nees avenues, in the same shopping center as DiCicco’s Italian Restaurant and the new Toledo’s Mexican Restaurant, according to a leasing report from Retail California.
PhòEver has signed a lease to open a second location, this one at Riverwalk, the shopping center near Avenue 12 and Highway 41 in Madera.
It’s the same restaurant in Clovis that serves the Vietnamese soup, rice bowls, banh mi sandwiches and more.
As it’s new constrution, this one will take a while. It probably won’t open until spring of next year.
Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. has signed a lease to open in the former Kunisama at the southwest corner of Willow and Herndon, according to a leasing report from Retail California.
Kunisama closed last summer.
Qamaria (pronounced “Kah-MAR-ee-uh”) has a coffee shop in the The Marketplace at El Paseo, near Highway 99 and Herndon Avenue. The Bee profiled the business last summer.
It serves drinks from the birthplace of coffee, often flavored with cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
Tacos El Cabezon, known for its busy taco truck in Fig Garden Village, is planning to open a taqueria near the southwest corner of McKinley and Fruit avenues.
It serves asada meat and al pastor cut off the trompo (the vertical spit), chorizo, tripas and costillas de puerco costia (pork ribs).
The business also recently opened a location in downtown Fresno.
Tacos El Franc is moving into the former Heroes Comics building on Shaw Avenue near Highway 41. It’s a Tijuana taco shop with another location in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter that’s been recognized by the Michelin Guide.
It’s doing a major remodel of the spot and bringing its popular street tacos to Fresno.
Taqueria Yarelis is planning to open its third location. It’s taking over the former Ramen Brothers spot at the northwest corner of Blackstone and Nees avenues. It hopes to open in April.
Some Fresnans may remember the taqueria as the home of the Anaconda burrito. That’s a giant, 3-foot-long burrito that went viral online.
It has locations near Fresno Street and Belmont Avenue and at Willow and Herndon.
Reporter Joshua Tehee contributed to this report.
Work continues in the former Maria’s Tacos near Kings Canyon Road and Clovis Avenue where a new restaurant offering BBQ Korean chicken is being readied, one of four new restaurants opening in the coming months. Photographed Tuesday, March 10, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
The Fresno Bee
Bethany Clough covers restaurants and retail for The Fresno Bee. A reporter for more than 20 years, she now works to answer readers’ questions about business openings, closings and other business news. She has a degree in journalism from Syracuse University and her last name is pronounced Cluff.