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The Queen Anne’s Revenge cocktail is inspired by the largest pirate ship to sail the Caribbean.

It’s difficult to figure exactly what to focus on upon entering Lita.

There’s the glowing underlit marble bar packed with dressed-to-the-nines patrons shouting to be heard over a bumping reggaeton soundtrack. There are the outrageously creative tropical cocktails, including the Coco-naut, a chest hair–inducing mixture of gin, coconut and herbal liqueur, tropical fruit juice, and a rum floater finale that’s torched afire table side. There’s the energetic young staff, pumping out food and drink at breakneck pace while wearing Caribbean pirate–inspired aprons that would make Jack Sparrow blush. There’s the maximalist design that manages to blend a veritable jungle of plant life, antique mirrors, a Vegas-worthy neon art installation, colorfully embroidered booths, and sheer golden curtains that could double as metal mesh fireplace screens. There’s … well, there’s a lot going on, all of it adding up to make this one of the hottest restaurant debuts in downtown Walnut Creek in recent memory.

The restaurant’s splashiness was very much intentional, says Sofia Ghaben, who spearheaded Lita’s launch along with members of her extended family (the Ghaben clan is the longtime Contra Costa restaurant dynasty behind such eateries as the Mel’s and Hubcaps diners back in the day and Broderick Roadhouse and Batch and Brine presently).

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Lita’s bright, plant-filled dining room includes an ample seating area and a full bar.

“I grew up in Danville but I lived in Dubai for eight years, and I’ve traveled around a lot—my cousins have too—and we all wanted to do something different. So when it came time to decide on a style I was like ‘We need neon, and I want a lighted bar!’” she says with a laugh. “We wanted to give Walnut Creek something it really didn’t have. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever worn a dress to go out in the East Bay. I wanted a place where you can get dressed up in heels and enjoy a night out with friends or your husband or whatever. A place where you can celebrate and take pretty selfies.”

Mission accomplished. But Lita is much more than just an Instagram destination, as the food and drinks hold up to the flashy façade. Boasting a Latin-Caribbean theme, the dinner menu is divided into sections to both encourage sharing and facilitate a dining experience that can range from a half jerk chicken or a whole fish shared family-style at the table to a light ceviche that can be enjoyed with a cocktail.

Speaking of which, do enjoy a cocktail. We last heard from Alex Arriaga in the pages of Diablo a couple years ago when we raved about the young mixologist’s use of fresh fruit purees and handmade syrups to level up the bar program at Lafayette’s Peruvian eatery, Barranco. Handed the keys to the drinks program at Lita, Arriaga revs his creative engine into overdrive, crafting a Caribbean-inspired cocktail section infused with small-batch spirits (particularly rum, which Arriaga learned about firsthand during a stint at Trader Vic’s), tropical fruits, island spices, and sense-piquing accents of smoke and fire. The Coco-naut is the most obvious example, but hardly the only one. We especially liked the Jamaican Tody, which seamlessly blends elements of bitter (Aperol), sweet (pineapple), sour (lime), and heat (spiced honey) with a funky pot-still rum (Doctor Bird) that adds lovely complexity. It’s served in a coupe glass, and we downed it in under a minute.

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Entrées like the black pepper shrimp with coconut rice, pinto beans, plantains, and charred pineapple-mango salsa, and starters, like the lobster corn dog with spicy Caribbean ketchup, are elaborate and delicious.

Executive chef Nick Peters’s menu, meanwhile, is a fun mishmash of flavors reflecting the global diaspora found throughout the Caribbean islands. It’s a culinary diversity that Ghaben became enchanted with while working in a Caribbean food truck as a side gig during her time attending Le Cordon Bleu in Los Angeles.

“Caribbean food in general has a mix of everything—there’s African, Asian, Middle Eastern, [and] Indian influences,” she says. “It really is the epitome what we have in the United States in that it’s this major melting pot. There are so many great flavors, all of which I was introduced to serving drunk people at 2 a.m. in downtown L.A.”

A ceviche sampler trio offers a nice gateway into the menu. The kampachi sports a tropical guava marinade and fresh coconut milk and the ahi exhibits an Indian bent mixed with a tamarind-tomato chutney, while the shrimp gives off a classic Latin vibe courtesy of a refreshing mojito-lime vinaigrette, avocado, cool cucumber, and crunchy corn nuts. All are interesting, but we’d go for the last if forced to choose one—and also highly recommend the side of house-made yucca and plantain chips. The eye-popping $35 lobster corn dog starter was tempting, but ultimately we decided to diversify our funds between three “shareable” appetizers. The Caribbean street corn was the most visually striking—cobs come out standing on end, with charred husks waving above like a billowing headdress—but also the most disappointing. Perhaps because it was February, the corn itself was mushy while the sweet spiced coconut crumb coating proved a poor substitute for the standard salty Mexican cotija cheese. We were, however, wowed by the other two dishes.

The blue corn quesadilla proved the perfect vehicle for the kitchen’s rustic scratch-made tortillas, filled with meaty jerk-spiced maitake mushrooms, grilled to crispiness in redolent allspice-thyme butter and topped with a zesty tomatillo sauce. Better yet were the salt cod fritters. These hush puppy–esque creations showcased a center of moist, mild shredded salt cod spiked with diced peppers, enmeshed in fried dough and accented with a lemony jerk aioli. Delicious. We also tried a taco, which—while less successful as a whole dish—offered a bounty of wonderfully rich, jerk-seasoned grilled dark chicken. Our meal ended on a high note with our favorite dish of the night, the Double Mojo skirt steak. The meat itself was exceedingly tender and flavorful, without a hint of the chewiness typically associated with the skirt cut, and grilled perfectly medium rare. We oscillated between the spicy tang of the verde sauce and the deeper steak-sauce notes of the rojo red sauce, both of which offered excellent counterpoints to the meat. Sides of fried plantain, coconut rice, and an excellent sweet, stew-y serving of pinto beans add up to a generous portion for the $28 price tag.

While it’s not inexpensive, Lita delivers a super-fun atmosphere with interesting, satisfying food and drink that don’t break the bank. You might even have enough left over for a new set of heels. litawalnutcreek.com.