Rich Table

Evan and Sarah Rich opened this Hayes Valley room in 2012, and the Chronicle's critics rank it eighth in the Bay Area for 2026. The card turns over with the market, and only a couple of dishes survive every rewrite.

Why go

Evan cooked at Quince and Sarah at Michael Mina, and both were at Coi before it closed. They met working for David Bouley in New York and moved west in 2008. Since the menu turns over, the doughnuts and the sardine chips are the two that never move.

Evan turned a tasting menu down in January 2026, when the pair took a lease around the corner and friends told them the small space was perfect for one.2 What they opened instead is RT Bistro, which does steak and potatoes, lasagna, and a burger and fries.

Order this / avoid

Order: the porcini doughnuts. They are the opening move and they have not changed.1 The sardine chips are the other permanent one.6
Order: the aged beef wonton under the house chili crunch. One to an order, $5 when Julia Chen wrote it up in March 2024.3
The uni pasta splits the desks. The Chronicle's critics count it among the defining dishes1; Chen told her readers to skip it3. Order it if you want uni butter; take the doughnuts either way.
Avoid: planning the night around the off-menu burger. About a dozen went out at this bar most nights, and it now lives at RT Bistro.2

What locals & experts say

MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, March 2026, at No. 8: The restaurant's defining dishes continue to stun, from crackly doughnuts powdered in porcini mushrooms to pasta coated in luxurious uni butter.1
On one dish The Infatuation dissents. Julia Chen scored the room 8.9 and still steered readers off the uni pasta: it doesn't have enough uni flavor to make it taste like anything other than, well, butter. You can skip.3
Evan Rich, to Elena Kadvany for the Chronicle, January 2026, on why the new room is not a tasting menu: It's not us, he said. Also, I don't think San Francisco needs that.2
Evan and Sarah Rich, on their own site, in nine words: Go to the market, see what's good & cook it.5
The MICHELIN Guide California inspector has no distinction to print here and still sends you in: the room books out far in advance, so arrive early to score a seat at the bar.4
Cesar Hernandez, reviewing the Riches' newest room for the Chronicle in March 2026, calls the $30 burger there easily one of the finest burgers in the city. The patty is a custom blend of short rib, brisket, chuck and dry-aged rib cap.8

Good to know

Booking: tables go up on Resy forty-five days ahead, and the bar holds spots for walk-ins every day.6
If you would rather not choose: Chef Picks runs the current card's hits, $110 in March 2024.3
Closed: Sunday and Monday.4
Where: the ground floor of a Victorian at 199 Gough Street, in Hayes Valley.7 RT Rotisserie, the family's third room, is on Oak Street.5

Verdict

must-visit — Take a two-top and let the floor steer you. Book it for the cooking and the service together, because here the second is as good as the first.