Our History

"It's hard to find any fault with Zatar; it's small, hand-crafted, and run completely on the passion of two people."

(Melissa Kaman, Contra Costa Times)

Cooking has been a lifelong passion for Zatar’s chefs/owners, Waiel and Kelly Majid.  Waiel, raised in the garden oasis village of Bakuba, Iraq, grew up eating food prepared with fresh ingredients plucked straight from the family garden,  local fruit orchards and date palm groves.  As a child, it was Waiel’s morning chore to fetch fresh bread from the village baker’s oven.  Entranced by the baker’s skill, Waiel built his own clay oven in his backyard at the age of nine to bake his own bread. He has been cooking ever since. Kelly, a native Californian, is also a self-taught chef.  Raised in the countryside and a lifelong avid gardener, she taught herself to cook preparing food she cultivated in the garden.

Waiel carving a rack of lamb

Zatar opened its doors in September of 2002.  The Majid’s crafted the tables themselves with Portuguese tiles, brought back leather menu covers from Morocco and Syrian chandeliers from Damascus, Ceramic platters collected from their travels around the Mediterranean adorn the walls alongside colorful murals of the Mediterranean.