Acquerello
“Two stars held for a decade in a former chapel: Suzette Gresham's $250 Italian tasting. Book it for an anniversary.”
About Acquerello
The dining room at 1722 Sacramento Street was a chapel once, and the vaulted wooden ceiling still gives dinner there a hush no designer could fake. Suzette Gresham and Giancarlo Paterlini opened Acquerello under it in 1989, she running the kitchen and he the floor, and their partnership has outlasted every trend in San Francisco dining. Michelin gave the restaurant a star in the first Bay Area guide in 2007 and a second in 2015, and neither has moved since.
Gresham cooks Italian food at fine dining altitude without turning it into something else. The signature ridged pasta with foie gras remains the single dish most often cited by the city's chefs as a personal benchmark, and the Parmesan budino carries the same authority in one spoonful. The seasonal tasting runs $250, a fully composed vegetarian tasting runs $195, and the classic wine pairing adds $165 from a cellar profoundly deep in Italy.
Nothing about the operation chases fashion, which is precisely the appeal: tuxedoed captains, silver that gets polished, a cheese cart that gets wheeled. Reservations are taken directly with the restaurant up to three months ahead, and a 20 percent service charge plus the city's 4 percent mandate appear on the bill in place of tip mathematics, which keeps the final number close to the menu's promise.
The Room
A vaulted former chapel dressed in warm apricot tones, white linen and quiet carpet: arguably the most romantic serious dining room in San Francisco. Tables are spaced for confidences and the acoustics keep even a full Saturday gentle. Jackets are the norm and the room rewards them. This is old school in the sense of craft, not dust.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
Book the right occasion and Acquerello repays the effort twice over. These are the right ones.
For the anniversary measured in decades, not years
A restaurant run by the same two people since 1989 understands long partnerships at a cellular level, and the room, a candlelit former chapel, does half the ceremony for you. Tell Giancarlo's team the occasion when you book; the staff has marked thousands of anniversaries and calibrates perfectly. The $250 tasting with the $165 pairing keeps the evening at three unhurried hours.
For terms that want gravity without theatre
Some negotiations need a room that has seen serious business conducted quietly for decades. Acquerello's spacing, acoustics and tuxedoed service create the privacy a term sheet conversation actually requires, and the direct reservation line means you can request a specific corner table from a human. The Italian cellar gives the wine gesture range from a modest Barbera to statement Barolo.
For the guest who finds novelty exhausting
Not every client wants foams and firsts; many want proof of judgment, and two stars held for a decade in the same room is exactly that. The vegetarian tasting at $195 quietly solves the mixed dietary table at full ceremony. Book by phone, mention who the dinner is for, and let the cheese cart's arrival close the evening with old world confidence.
What to order
The menu offers composed tastings and a cellar built over thirty five years. These are the calls that shape the evening.
- The ridged pasta with foie gras
The signature the city's chefs cite as a benchmark: pasta as luxury without apology. If the season's menu carries it, the decision is made.
- The Parmesan budino
A single spoonful of the kitchen's thesis, aged Parmigiano rendered into silk. It shows why two stars have stayed put for a decade.
- The vegetarian tasting at $195
Not a consolation menu: a fully composed Italian tasting that happens to be meatless, and the best value at this level in the city.
- The Italian cellar over the pairing, for wine people
The $165 pairing is excellent, but the list's depth in aged Barolo, Barbaresco and southern rarities rewards the table that wants to choose. Ask for the sommelier and give him a region.
Practical
- Address
- 1722 Sacramento Street, Nob Hill, San Francisco
- Reservations
- Direct with the restaurant · up to 3 months ahead
- Tasting
- $250 seasonal · $195 vegetarian
- Pairing
- $165 classic wine pairing
- Charges
- 20 percent service charge · 4 percent SF mandate
- Dress
- Jackets the norm; the room rewards effort
- Days
- Dinner Tuesday to Saturday
- Duration
- About 3 hours
Questions diners ask
Is Acquerello worth it?
Yes, and it is quietly the best value among San Francisco's starred temples. Two Michelin stars held since 2015, a seasonal tasting at $250 and a vegetarian tasting at $195 undercut the city's three star rooms by hundreds while delivering a room, the former chapel, that none of them can match for romance.
How hard is it to book Acquerello?
Refreshingly civilized. Reservations are taken directly with the restaurant up to three months ahead, and because there is no ticket platform scramble, a phone call a few weeks out lands most weeknights. Saturdays deserve the full lead time. Speaking to a human also means table requests are actually honored.
What is the dress code at Acquerello?
Jackets are the standard and the vaulted room genuinely rewards dressing for it. This is one of the last San Francisco dining rooms where the old ceremony survives intact: linen, silver, tuxedoed captains. Come dressed as if the evening matters, because everything about the service assumes it does.
What does dinner at Acquerello cost?
The seasonal tasting is $250 and the vegetarian tasting is $195, with the classic wine pairing at $165. The bill adds a 20 percent service charge and the city's 4 percent employer mandate in place of tipping. Two people taking the full tasting and pairing should plan on roughly $1,050 all in.