Here's a look at the best new San Francisco restaurants, hotels, party rooms, corporate event venues, conference centers, and private rooms to open this summer. These new and renovated San Francisco venues can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, meetings, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
Palm House, a restaurant that serves tropical comfort food with California influences, opened in April in the Cow Hollow district. The design mixes rich mahogany with soft tropical tones and quirky touches such as a display of LED-lit vintage birdcages hung from the 35-foot ceilings. A collection of Caribbean plants also evokes the tropics. The restaurant has 130 seats including at the bar and on the patio. Its private dining space, called Captain's Quarters, seats 12.
The event space Lot 21 Studio offers 5,000 square feet of flexible space for executive meetings, events, and photo shoots. The venue, which opened in January in the Dogpatch district, has modular wall units and audiovisual equipment, as well as a mezzanine level with a lounge and a full kitchen. It holds 200 for receptions, 150 for banquets, or 60 theater-style.
Catering to the tech-savvy start-up crowd, the 86-room Epiphany Hotel opened in Palo Alto in May. The boutique property includes flexible meeting space designed by IDEO including the 250-square-foot Tinderbox boardroom and the 400-square-foot Accelerator room, which can be combined with the boardroom for receptions of as many as 100 guests. The hotel includes four rooftop hospitality suites that each hold 18 guests boardroom-style or 35 guests theater-style. They can be combined for receptions of 150 guests and are each attached to a terrace with views of Stanford University and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
A new venue at Fort Mason Center, the Interval is a library, bar, museum, and café as well as home to the Long Now Foundation. The quirky space from design-build firm Because We Can includes references to the space's former life as a forge and machine shop such as a concrete floor and a table base made of Geneva wheels. It also has an "ambient painting" from Brian Eno, a foundation board member, that constantly changes patterns and colors in millions of combinations. The space holds about 100 people for receptions but also offers a semiprivate area for 25 people that includes a private booth room with views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The venue has a Meyer Galileo 616 audiovisual system. It opened in June.
Urban Putt, a high-concept indoor miniature golf course in the Mission, opened in June. The whimsically designed 14-hole course is available for groups and holds about 200 people throughout the entire venue, which also includes a restaurant, called UP, a bar, and two private dining rooms.
Pabu Izakaya, a downtown izakaya and sushi bar from Ken Tominaga and Michael Mina, opened in July. The interior design from Bishop Pass incorporates the concepts of air and earth with details such as a suspended installation of Japanese lanterns and earthy materials such as Douglas fir trellises and booths, stone and concrete walls, and oak floors. The main dining room seats 76, while a bar and lounge area seats 80. There is also a 22-person sushi bar. A private dining room seats 22, while a terrace seats 20. Buyouts are available.
The independent event space Terra Gallery & Event Venue in the SoMa district made several upgrades to the 24,000-square-foot property this spring. They include new audiovisual equipment for its in-house DJ services including a Bose surround-sound system with Mic and QSCK12 speakers; a new green-screen photo booth with commercial-quality lighting, projection, and several backdrops; increased bandwidth and more access points to accommodate more wireless devices; and new LED lighting on both floors. Its upper level, the Terra Gallery, seats 400 or holds 725 for receptions. The lower-level space, called Mer, seats 200 or holds 725 for receptions and connects to a landscaped outdoor space that can be tented.
Wente Vineyards debuted the Winemakers Studio, a wine education studio with a tastings bar and a private tasting space, in May. Located in Livermore Valley, the space is available for teambuilding activities or as a breakout option for meetings. The Winemakers Table is a 10-person private area for education sessions on topics such as wine and cheese pairings.
Westbrae Biergarten, an outdoor venue in Berkeley, opened in May. The venue seats 104 at Bavarian-style bench seating and fire pits with Adirondack chairs. It serves draft beers and wines, cider, and a menu from Pedro's Brazil Cafe. Buyouts are available.
Opened this spring in Union Square, Bartlett Hall serves a seasonally driven menu along with barrel-aged cocktails and house-brewed beers. Located in a historic building, the venue has preserved original design elements such as stylized moldings and steel columns and also has a fireplace and exposed brewing equipment. The space contains a lounge and bar area, a dining room, and a private dining space that seats 40. Overall, it seats 140 and holds 200 for receptions.
