This year saw the opening of many significant event and meeting venues in San Francisco. Here's a look at the best restaurants, party rooms, hotels, corporate event venues, conference centers, and private rooms to open in 2015. These new and renovated San Francisco venues suit groups large or small for private and corporate events, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
The Strand Theater reopened in the spring after a $32.5 million renovation from the American Conservatory Theater, which purchased the vacant venue in 2012. Design firm SOM handled the revitalization of the historic theater, restoring the original 1917 façade. The Central Market Arts District venue includes a theater that seats 283 guests or 175 cabaret-style, a 140-seat performance and event space, and a new café. Overall the renovation covered 20,000 square feet of space.
Davidson Hotels & Resorts completed a revamp of the Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf this spring, transforming the waterfront hotel into an upscale property called Hotel Zephyr. With 361 waterfront guest quarters, the hotel’s redesign by Dawson Design Associates includes unexpected materials like recycled corrugated metal, cargo containers, upcycled nautical materials, and shipping crates. The meeting space, known as the Yard, also received an upgrade. The event space holds 350 people for receptions or seats 230. A game room can be used for meetings of about 50 seated guests. The Yard combined with the game room and a new covered lobby space is about 11,600 square feet.
A renovation to Silicon Valley’s Hotel Valencia Santana Row added design accents reminiscent of Old World Spain such as plaster wall treatments, wrought-iron chandeliers, and reclaimed wood. The hotel also debuted the new Terrace event space as well as changes to the entrance and courtyard. The venue offers 4,000 square feet of meeting space, including the 2,268-square-foot Valencia room, which seats 170 guests banquet-style or 285 guests for receptions. This space can be divided in half with a portable wall. The 768-square-foot Santana room seats 50 guests for banquets or holds 80 guests for receptions. The executive boardroom seats 10, while the Bella Vista room holds 45 for receptions or seats 30 in a theater-style setup. The 3,996-square-foot open-air courtyard holds 250 guests for receptions, while the Cielo rooftop holds 100 for receptions.
The highly anticipated bar and restaurant Dirty Water opened in June on the ground floor of the Twitter building in Market Square. The 6,252-square-foot spot from restaurateur Kristian Cosentino has distinct bar, lounge, and dining areas, designed by Arcsine. The menu includes paleo-style cuisine with rare game and foraged vegetables, as well as craft cocktails, an extensive selection of wine and whiskey, and 52 beers on tap, including five ales brewed on site. A wood-burning stove is a focal point of the space, while materials featured in the design include leather, dark wood, and colorful glass. The main dining room seats 80, and an intimate private dining room seats 10 guests or holds 25 for receptions. Total seating is about 200 for the venue.
Tapas restaurant Teleféric from Barcelona’s award-winning, family-owned restaurant group Teleféric opens in mid-December. The Walnut Creek, California, restaurant is the group’s first outlet outside of Spain. Located on the second floor of a newly constructed three-story building, it has indoor seating for 130 guests and a 35-seat outdoor terrace dining area. A private 20-seat dining room is accented with a glass-enclosed wine storage wall paired with a suspended three-tone wood ceiling. Design details include patterned metal screens, large operable windows, an open kitchen, wood tables, and a central bar.
Bespoke Events at Westfield San Francisco, an event and co-working space, became available as a private event venue in February. Its event space holds about 879 guests for receptions or seats 850 theater-style, 633 banquet-style, or 535 classroom-style. There are three modular air walls that can divide it into four sections depending on group size, and there’s also a greenroom, a catering kitchen, and three freight elevators. Bespoke’s technological capabilities include a digital entry, projectors and screens, high-speed Wi-Fi, and projection-capable walls.
San Francisco’s historic Palace Hotel just completed a multimillion-dollar renovation of its guest rooms and public spaces. The renovation, which finished in stages this summer, included the hotel’s guest rooms, pool, fitness center, lobby, promenade, the Garden Court restaurant, and GC Lounge. Spearheaded by Beatrice Girelli of Indidesign, the circa-1875 hotel now features a contemporary design while spotlighting historic details. Its meeting space includes three ballrooms and 45,000 square feet of function space with 23 meeting rooms and four executive boardrooms.
Chef Sachin Chopra and wife Shoshana Wolf opened All Spice San Francisco in March. It is the second location of the couple’s Michelin-starred San Mateo restaurant, also named All Spice. The restaurant boasts a wine room that seats 12 for private events. There are 60 seats in the dining room, eight seats at the bar, and 14 seats in the cocktail lounge. The decor includes white tablecloths, a leather banquette, and a striking striped accent wall.
The Dorian opened in September in the Marina district. Designed by Shelly Amoroso, the restaurant serves American classics in an atmosphere meant to evoke a Victorian home. Decor includes rich colors and textured wallpapers, brass accents, and antiques. The restaurant is divided into three distinct spaces: the State Room, Drawing Room, and Study. For receptions, the Study holds 50 guests, the State Room holds 80 guests, and the Drawing Room holds 80 guests; it seats 50 guests for dinner. The Study and the State Room are available together for receptions of 120 guests. The entire restaurant is available for full buyouts of as many as 200 guests.
Co-working community Eco-Systm opened in SoMa in September, offering work space in an eco-friendly environment. Green features include energy-saving lightbulbs, motion-sensor lighting throughout the floor to conserve energy, a recycling and composting program, office supplies made from recycled products, environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, healthy snacks and beverages, and access to yoga, nutrition, and fitness classes. The venue’s largest conference room holds as many as 12 people.
