Here's a look at new San Francisco hotels, conference centers, restaurants, private rooms, and other spaces to open for events this summer. The new and renovated San Francisco venues are available for corporate parties, weddings, fund-raisers, outdoor functions, business dinners, teambuilding activities, conferences, meetings, and more.
Miminashi, an 80-seat Izakaya-style restaurant, or Japanese pub, opened in downtown Napa in early May. Chef Curtis Di Fede serves dishes such as yakitori skewers, ramen bowls, and Japanese soft cream. The restaurant’s wooden seating, bar, and table tops are inspired by traditional izakayas, with two peaked ceilings representing Buddhist and Shinto temples.
The Hilton San Francisco Union Square completed a $25 million renovation project in March, with the final piece a $6 million transformation of its 30,000-square-foot lobby. The hotel’s lobby now is set off by a striking, customized energy-efficient light fixture and includes a 2,800-square-foot Lobby Bar that is large enough to hold nearly 550 people. Overall, the 1,919-room hotel has 134,000 square feet of meeting space, which includes a dedicated conference center. It is the city's largest hotel.Â
The Blue Door opened in March, bringing contemporary Greek cuisine to San Jose’s Saratoga Avenue. Designed by Arcsine, the restaurant’s modern, Santorini-inspired design includes details like a fireplace with stone cladding, a wood pergola, and its namesake blue door. The 5,000-square-foot restaurant offers seating for 194 diners inside and seating for 84 diners on its 1,600-square-foot patio. The private dining room can seat 12 diners.
Cocktail bar the Treasury opened in January in the financial district, offering cocktails, bar snacks, caviar service, and a sherry program. With space for 78 people, the venue can accommodate private parties as well as partial buyouts. The bar’s name is based on the alley it’s adjacent to (Treasury Street) and the Beaux-Arts building it’s located within, which was once the headquarters of the Standard Oil company. The bar’s design retains much of the space’s original architecture, with ornate orb chandeliers, brass detailing, and a massive bar.
Claremont Club & Spa in Berkeley—now part of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts—celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015, and an extensive renovation of the hotel finished in December. That renovation included a refresh and restoration of the grand gallery and lobby. Design firm Gensler updated all 276 guestrooms; the update included the unveiling of a luxurious new Presidential Suite.
Chef Jonathan Waxman and restaurateur Howard Greenstone opened Waxman's in San Francisco's historic Ghirardelli Square in March. The restaurant serves Italian dishes with seasonal Bay Area ingredients and is housed in a 6,500-square-foot former warehouse renovated by Boor Bridges Architecture. Design details include original brick walls from the 1890s, 130-year old Douglas Fir columns, double high ceilings, and two atriums. Waxman’s offers several options for private events. The Walnut Room can hold 40 seated or 60 standing guests. The partially covered patio dining room is open year round and boasts views of Ghirardelli Square, Alcatraz, and the San Francisco Bay. It holds 80 seated guests or 120 guests for receptions. The main dining room and bar seats 140 or holds 200 standing, while the Cafe, the eatery’s casual dining room, holds 140 seated or standing guests. The entire venue holds 750 guests for reception-style events.
New to Chinatown is Mister Jiu’s, chef Brandon Jew’s long-awaited 5,000-square-foot restaurant that opened in April. The dining room seats 88 guests and the bar seats 14, for a total seating capacity of 102 guests. The interior is designed by Boor Bridges Architecture with jade green ceilings, white-washed ash wood floors, and lazy-Susan tables, as well as three brass lotus flower chandeliers saved from Four Seas, the restaurant that once occupied the space. A 5,000-square-foot banquet hall is in the works to open upstairs.
Tiki bar Pagan Idol opened in the Financial District in February, complete with private tiki huts, a fish tank, tiki sculptures, a starry ceiling with fiber optic lights, and a functioning model volcano. For private events, the bar’s Paradise Island space holds 100 guests with a mix of seating on bar stools and benches and in two tiki huts. Paradise Island offers access to the venue’s “steaming” volcano. The Captain’s Quarters space holds 50 guests with booth seating and stools. For a full venue buyout, Pagan Idol can accommodate as many as 175 guests.
Aatxe, a Basque-inspired restaurant at the Swedish American Hall, opened a private dining room in March. The Aatxe Cider House is inspired by the traditions and menus of Northern Spain’s cider houses, and chef Ryan Pollnow and his team offer two multi-course family-style menu options. The Cider House seats 80 or holds 125 for receptions.
San Francisco institution Alfred’s Steakhouse reopened in February after a change of ownership and a design refresh. Now owned by Daniel Patterson Group, the 88-year-old restaurant’s original bar, booths, and chandeliers have been restored, and the space also has new carpeting and fresh red paint. There are two private dining rooms upstairs: the Blue Kit room, which seats 10 or holds 15 for receptions, and the Blue Fox room, which seats 25 or holds 20 for receptions. These rooms have a private landing and can be combined for a cocktail reception and seated dinner. There’s also the semi-private 886 Room on the main level, which seats 35 guests or holds 45 standing, and a bar and lounge for cocktail receptions of 40 guests. A main floor buyout accommodates 140 seated guests or 180 standing guests. The steakhouse is slated to add even more private dining space this summer, with plans for another private dining room for 50 guests and a speakeasy-style lounge for cocktail receptions of 25 guests.
