"Karak and doodh patti pulled the slow way." That's how Chai Wallah describes itself on its website. The shop opened in 2026 on Eshelman Avenue and says it serves its tea "under the lanterns." On Wednesday, Lomita gets a second karak counter. Karak House Coffee Co. holds its grand opening at 2104 Pacific Coast Highway, about a mile and a half from the first.
Two shops specializing in karak chai in one small city in the same year makes a good story on its own. Their locations matter more. Lomita's newest food and coffee arrivals are opening on its major roads: PCH, Eshelman and Western. Several are designed for people who come by car. Narbonne Avenue, which most people think of as the city's café street, still has the counters that were already there.
The new map, by address
| Spot | Address | Status as of Oct. 5, 2026 | What it serves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karak House Coffee Co. | 2104 Pacific Coast Hwy | Grand opening Oct. 7 | Karak chai, specialty coffee and lattes, Middle Eastern desserts |
| Chai Wallah | 25711 Eshelman Ave #A | Open, established 2026 | Karak, doodh patti, noon chai, samosas, maggi |
| Dutch Bros | 2270 Pacific Coast Hwy, at Cypress St | Approved, no opening date | Drive-thru coffee, freezes and teas |
| Lomi Lomi | 26344 S. Western Ave | Planned for "early fall," not yet confirmed open | South Asian hand rolls, shochu highballs |
| Corridor Flow | 24614 Narbonne Ave | Open, family-owned | Coffee |
| Cream Pan | 24020 Narbonne Ave | Open | Bakery |
| Cara Mia Baking Co. | 2213 Lomita Blvd | Open, started in Lomita in 2019 as The Trim Tart | Traditional, vegan and gluten-free baked goods |
The last three rows are the established spots. Corridor Flow and Cream Pan are both on Narbonne. Cara Mia Baking Co. began in Lomita in 2019 under the name The Trim Tart before it changed its name. All four rows above them are new for 2026, and none of them is on Narbonne.
PCH gets a karak counter next to a breakfast standby
Karak House is opening at PCH and Oak Street, next door to The Pan, the breakfast-and-lunch spot at the same 2104 Pacific Coast Highway address. The Lomita Chamber of Commerce says the karak is brewed from a generations-old family recipe, served alongside specialty coffees, lattes and handmade Middle Eastern desserts.
Here are the details for the opening event:
- When: Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, 5:30 to 7 p.m.
- Ribbon cutting: 6 p.m.
- Where: 2104 Pacific Coast Hwy, Lomita, CA 90717
- RSVP: through the Chamber's Eventbrite page
With a breakfast restaurant and a chai counter side by side, one PCH parking lot now covers an early-morning plate and an afternoon tea.
Eshelman has the chai shop with curbside pickup
Chai Wallah's menu goes past the karak it shares with Karak House. It lists doodh patti, noon chai served in a clay matka, samosas fresh from the fryer and maggi "after dark." The shop's newest service shows the pattern most clearly. You order and pay ahead, give the make and color of your car, and park at the curbside pickup sign. Staff bring the order out, so you don't have to get out of the car. The shop also caters events with hot urns, quoting office breakfasts, mehndis and launches.
Eshelman is also where the city plans street changes next. Lomita's Local Travel Network page, updated in September, says design is underway on traffic-calming and wayfinding work on Eshelman Avenue and around Ebony Lane, Walnut Street and 253rd Street. Construction is expected in spring 2027. A March city update had described this as a fall project. The newer page pushes it back. For now, the pull-up-and-wait routine at Chai Wallah's curb runs on the street as it is today.
The biggest drive-thru is approved, but no opening date is set
The clearest example of a café built around cars is still a bank building. Dutch Bros plans to demolish the 2,187-square-foot bank at 2270 Pacific Coast Highway and build a 1,025-square-foot coffee shop with a drive-thru. The new building will be less than half the bank's size. Most of the site goes to cars. City Hall's announcement, as KTLA reported on Sept. 3, describes a three-lane drive-thru with one drive-thru window and one walk-up window at the southeast corner of PCH and Cypress Street. It will be the first Dutch Bros in the South Bay.
Traffic came up at every step of approval. The Planning Commission approved the project on June 8. At that meeting, residents raised traffic and noise concerns, the applicant called its traffic study exhaustive, and commissioners discussed traffic issues and conditions recommended by staff. In July, the City Manager reported that the appeal period had ended with no appeal and that the applicant could move ahead with permitting. The city also said Dutch Bros had worked with it on traffic safety and traffic management. None of the public records give a construction start or an opening date. As of September, coverage still only said "coming soon."
Western Avenue is waiting on a 60-seat hand-roll bar
The food arrival with the most attention outside Lomita is also on a major road. Eater LA reported in March that Avish Naran, the chef behind Silver Lake's Pijja Palace, plans to open Lomi Lomi at 26344 Western Avenue. Made By magazine's July 24 feature filled in the rest. The space is just over 1,000 square feet in a former churro shop, with about 60 seats across a main room and an outdoor patio. It's planned for lunch and dinner, with more than a dozen hand rolls and a drinks list made up only of shochu highballs. Early menu items include masala-cured salmon, peppery crab Chettinad and fried pakoras. According to the same feature, the name refers to Lomita, not the Hawaiian salmon dish.
The only public sign of progress since then is a city notice. The Lomita Planning Commission set a Sept. 14 hearing on beer-and-wine service for an existing patio at 26344 Western Avenue. The notice doesn't name the restaurant. Both the March and July reports gave "early fall" as the target. As of Oct. 5 there's no confirmed opening day, so treat Lomi Lomi as coming soon and check before you drive over.
Narbonne still has the regular stops
Narbonne still has plenty going on. It has Corridor Flow, the family-owned coffee shop at 24614 Narbonne, and Cream Pan's bakery at 24020 Narbonne, which takes online orders for pickup. City Hall at 24300 Narbonne hosts the Lomita Certified Farmers' Market on the fourth Sunday of every month, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This month that's Oct. 25. The county's listing doesn't carry a date, so check the schedule before you go.
Narbonne is also where the city's big gatherings happen. In June, the street became a two-day downtown festival for Founders Day 2026, with fireworks and the unveiling of a 50-year time capsule. The new cafés are filling in the roads around downtown, and none of them has replaced a downtown spot.
A fall week built on the new map
Here is one way to use the new spots in October:
- Wednesday, Oct. 7: Go to the Karak House ribbon cutting on PCH at 6 p.m. Breakfast next door at The Pan can wait for another morning.
- A weekday afternoon: Order ahead from Chai Wallah and use the curbside pickup on Eshelman, with samosas if you're picking up for more than one person.
- Saturday, Oct. 24: Take a karak to Lomita's Halloween event at Belba Field, 24428 Eshelman Avenue, from noon to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, Oct. 25: Shop the fourth-Sunday farmers market at City Hall, then walk Narbonne to Corridor Flow or Cream Pan.
Still pending: Dutch Bros at PCH and Cypress has its approvals and is moving through permitting. Lomi Lomi on Western has a September patio hearing on file and no announced opening day.
For a cafe in Lomita, a good address now looks like the big intersections around PCH, the strip along Eshelman and the quieter stretch of Western. Karak House's ribbon cutting at 6 p.m. Wednesday is the next date on the calendar.
At Justin Tye Real Estate Group, we follow openings like these because they show how a neighborhood's streets are being used block by block. If you'd like to know how the changes along PCH and Eshelman affect your home's value, ask us for a free home valuation.
