Lexington has a superhero. His name is Omar, and his superpower is bringing people together.
There are plenty of superheroes on the shelves at Omar’s World of Comics. But the story I want to tell starts with the person whose name is on the door—and ends, for our family, with James smiling over a basket of fries.
Right in downtown Lexington, Omar and his family have built a place to eat, play, browse, work, and spend time together. It feels as though a wonderful from-scratch kitchen has been magically dropped into the middle of a comic-book universe. Happily, you can get lunch there.
Every superhero has an origin story
Omar Masood loves superheroes. A 2022 Lexington Observer profile describes his much-loved Marvel encyclopedia and his habit of matching people with superhero identities. The reporter got Jean Grey. That detail makes me smile: Omar inviting someone into a world he knows and loves.
Omar, who has Down syndrome, is a graduate of the LABBB special education collaborative at Lexington High School. He and his family established Omar’s World of Comics in 2018. Pixel Paradise, the upstairs gaming space, followed in 2021; the bistro opened in October 2022.
The business employs people with disabilities and partners with LABBB to offer vocational learning opportunities. Omar and his family have created a place where those opportunities are part of the everyday business of running a shop and feeding a community.
His parents, Mona and Sohail Masood, deserve a place in this origin story, too. The Observer’s reporting describes their investment in a larger home for the business and the renovations that made its expansion possible. Omar’s sister, Laila, brought her love of gaming to Pixel Paradise.
As a parent, I keep thinking about that: taking your child’s interests seriously enough to help build something around them, then opening it to the wider community. Their family’s work has given other families a place to gather.
Headquarters has a very good kitchen
Let’s give the food its due. Omar’s is affordable for our family, and that makes it somewhere we can return to for an ordinary meal. The fries are wonderful. The hot sauce is amazing. And the poutine deserves a little fanfare of its own: available vegetarian or with meat, and, in our expert opinion, the best poutine this side of Montreal. We had our first dates in Montreal—a long story for another day—so we do bring some relevant experience to this particular judgment. That is a fairly compelling reason to find yourself on Waltham Street.
The kitchen’s from-scratch approach goes well beyond a nice phrase on a menu. Lexington’s visitor coverage describes daily bun baking, a house-ground burger blend, and spices toasted and ground in-house.
Other diners have noticed the food and welcome, too. Customer reviews collected by Restaurantji praise burgers, fries, vegetarian choices, friendly staff, and value. Those are individual experiences, but the enthusiasm feels familiar after our own meal.
The welcome we felt at our table
For us, the most memorable part was the service: the most neuroinclusive service we have ever experienced.
When your child has significant support needs, a meal out can come with a running assessment in the back of your mind. Is he comfortable? Is this working? How much explaining will we need to do? It takes something away from the pleasure of simply sitting down together.
At Omar’s, we felt welcome. We could enjoy our food and each other’s company. James could be James.
And that welcome included the other patrons, too. The people sharing the space helped make it feel comfortable to be there as a family. A place takes on the character of the people who gather in it; we loved the warmth of this one.
I keep looking at these photographs because I love his smile. An ordinary meal is worth remembering when everyone gets to enjoy it.
As his mother, I also notice who gets to be part of a place: the people working there, the owner, the customers. I want James to grow up seeing disabled people in all those roles. Omar and his family have made those possibilities visible, right here in our community.
A world to come back to
With comics, games, and somewhere to sit down for a meal, Omar’s feels like a paradise for kids of all ages—including those of us who have been grown-ups for some time.
The official event calendar gives people plenty of reasons to return. October listings include Minecraft Club, Pokémon League, trading-card games, and board-game playtesting. Activities have their own ages, costs, registration requirements, and participation expectations; read the individual listing to find a good fit.
The people who create the comics are part of this world, too. Omar’s hosts visiting comic writers, artists, and game designers for signings and other events. Its May 2026 program, for example, included artist George Deep on Free Comic Book Day. Check the current calendar for upcoming guests.
Omar’s also displays local art by disabled artists, giving their work a place in the everyday life of the shop. There is art to look at alongside the comics to browse, games to play, and food to enjoy.
Artists, readers, gamers, families, people coming in for lunch: there are so many ways to enter this community. A shared interest gives people something to talk about and a reason to return.
Our own adventure was a meal together. That was plenty. Omar’s gave us an afternoon we enjoyed and a place we want to come back to.
Before you head to headquarters
Find it: Omar’s World of Comics, Pixel Paradise & Omar’s Bistro, 20 Waltham Street, Lexington, Massachusetts. Check the official website and event calendar for current details; shop, activity, and kitchen schedules may differ.
Parking: If the accessible spaces out front are full, our suggestion is the nearby Waltham Street municipal lot, accessible from Waltham Street or Muzzey Street. Check the town’s parking information and posted signs. Choose the space and route that work for your family.
Our experience: Affordable food for our family, poutine available vegetarian or with meat, amazing hot sauce, warm fellow patrons, and exceptionally neuroinclusive service during our visit.
Specific access needs: Our meal was not a full access assessment. Ask the venue about any particular seating, step-free route, restroom, sound, or support requirements before going. A friendly restaurant visit and participation in a scheduled gaming event are different experiences.
Bring your appetite. Leave time to look around. And if you meet Omar, you’ll meet the person whose love of superheroes helped give this little world its start.
The future I hope James gets to share
What moves me most is that a business built with disability and opportunity in mind has become a gathering place for the whole community. People come for a comic, a game, a signing, a plate of poutine. Disabled people are part of creating the place everyone enjoys.
That is our dream for James: a future with people who know him, places where he is expected, and interests that connect him to others. A place for his contribution, with the support he needs. Friendship, pleasure, and a life in the middle of things.
We cannot know exactly what that future will look like. But sitting at Omar’s, I could picture more of it.
To me, that is what a true superhero does: helps make the world bigger for other people. Omar and his family have made a little more of the future we hope for visible, right here in Lexington.
We’ll be back for another adventure.
History, reviews & visitor sources
Venue information checked October 21, 2026. Our family observations are separate from these sources.
