Three Restaurants Opening in San Francisco This Fall Worth Knowing About

San Francisco’s restaurant scene turns over fast, and this fall three openings are getting real attention from people who actually live there, not just the tourist newsletters.

Lucania is taking over the long empty MarketBar space in the Ferry Building, from Shelley Lindgren, who has run A16 for almost three decades. It is Southern Italian, pizza, pasta, local seafood. The Ferry Building itself is already a stop I put on almost every San Francisco itinerary because it has a farmers market, bay views and enough food stalls that a picky family can each pick their own lunch, so a real sit down option there is a genuine upgrade.

Sutro Hall opened in the old Mourad space downtown, a California Mediterranean brasserie with a chef who actually worked in that same kitchen under its previous name. And Moonchild took over the historic Fog City Diner spot at the Embarcadero, run by two chefs who trained at Benu and Quince, focused on California coastline and farm ingredients.

Here is my honest read for a family trip. None of these three are built with kids in mind, they are the kind of restaurant a couple books ahead for a date night if grandparents have the kids for the evening, or a place to eat well on a trip without little ones. If you are traveling with kids, the value in this list is really just the Ferry Building news, because that is a spot your whole family will already be walking through.

What I would actually spend a family dinner on in San Francisco stays the same regardless of what just opened downtown. Fisherman’s Wharf for the sea lions and the chaos kids love, Chinatown for dumplings, and a sourdough bread bowl somewhere near the water because it is the one food souvenir that actually holds up to the hype.

New restaurant openings are fun to know about, but they are rarely the thing that makes or breaks a family trip to San Francisco. The hills, the fog, and how you actually get from Alcatraz to Chinatown to the bridge without wearing everyone out are the parts I actually plan around. I go through all of it in my San Francisco family travel guide.