15 Romolo

Shut since August 2024 and not confirmed back. Jon Gasparini took the 114-year-old building down to its mahogany panels, and when it returns the drinks will be more technique-driven than the waffle shots and sangria pitchers people came for.

Why go

The San Francisco Standard's Astrid Kane reported in January 2026 that the rebuild had run eighteen months, on plumbing and electrical work the building needed, and that Gasparini nearly walked away when the lease came up.1 He renewed instead. We're coming up on 28 years, he told Kane. The bar was his first, opening in 1998 in a space that had housed a Basque restaurant, up a side street off Broadway and Columbus so steep the sidewalk has stairs. The stated ambition for the return is a specific one: Gasparini wants it read alongside Buena Vista Cafe, Vesuvio and Tosca, all past seventy-five years. We're approaching legacy territory, and we want to give the neighborhood something refined and lasting.

Order this / avoid

Order: what it was known for, as Kane lists it, was Pimm's cups, pitchers of sangria and a waffle shot of rum and coffee liqueur dusted with powdered sugar. Whether any of that survives the rebuild is an open question.
Avoid: the walk up Romolo Place until somebody confirms the doors. The target was mid-March 2026 and nothing since has been read.

What locals & experts say

The San Francisco Standard (Astrid Kane, 13 January 2026): Years of hedonism took their toll on the space, Gasparini says, and the dining room had been severely beaten up. On the reopening: I almost hate to say this, but it'll be a bit more adult.1
Gasparini on the neighborhood, same piece: "I've had entities in North Beach for 30 years now, and I've never seen it more vibrant than it is now."

Good to know

Status: temporarily closed as far as anything read on 16 August 2026 shows. The reopening target reported in January was mid-March. Check Instagram before you go.
Getting there: Romolo Place, off Broadway at Columbus.

Verdict

could-visit — Twenty-eight years old, shut since August 2024 for a full rebuild of a 114-year-old building, and due back with a different drinks program. Gasparini is explicit that what returns will be more technique-driven than the room people remember, so the old case for going does not transfer. The rung reflects a bar nobody can currently drink in; revisit it once somebody reports the doors open.