North Beach's New Bars Moved Into Old Rooms. 15 Romolo Is Coming Back to One.

The doors at 15 Romolo have been shut since August 2024. In late October, owner Jon Gasparini told the San Francisco Chronicle that barhoppers were already "rattling the gates" on the steep alley off Broadway. That was weeks before the bar planned to reopen.

In the same article, the Chronicle described weekend lines at April Jean on Grant Avenue and at Vesuvio Cafe on Columbus Avenue. Gasparini said he had assumed lines like that belonged to the bar's early years in the late '90s. The North Beach that 15 Romolo plans to reopen into in mid-November looks different from the one it left. Look at where the new places opened, though, and nearly every one moved into a room the neighborhood already knew.

What opened while the alley was quiet

Here are the openings from the 27 months 15 Romolo was closed, listed by address and by the space each one took over.

• Steps of Rome, 401 Columbus Ave. This Roman-style trattoria had its grand opening in April 2025 in the former Cassava space. The Chronicle called it a revival of an earlier North Beach favorite.
• The Lucky Spot, 1431 Stockton St. Barry John Walsh, who also runs For the Record, opened this San Francisco-themed neighborhood bar on Sept. 5, 2025 in the former Vieni Vieni space, Eater SF reported.
• Long Weekend, 270 Columbus Ave. Future Bars opened this cocktail bar on Oct. 23, 2025 inside the 1923 Italian American Bank building. The last tenant there was the pizza-and-pasta restaurant È Tutto Qua, which closed in 2020, according to the San Francisco Standard. It launched with Havana as its first destination, and 7x7 described it as a bar built to rotate through global cities.
• Equal Parts, 478 Green St. Co-owners Victor Pichardo, Jacob Cortes and Richard Yu opened this bar and restaurant with chef Melissa Perfit in December 2025. It sits on the former Old Spaghetti Factory site, which American Bites occupied most recently, per Eater SF.
• Qua O La, 1318 Grant Ave. Sal Annuzzi and Angela Lazarich opened their family wine bar on April 25, 2026 in the former Portofino seafood restaurant. It pairs Croatian and Italian wine and food, the Standard reported.

Eater SF's North Beach guide, updated Oct. 21, 2026, includes Qua O La and April Jean at 1371 Grant Ave.

Five new tenants in five rooms with history

Each opening on that list took over a space that already had a name attached. One is a trattoria that revives an earlier North Beach favorite. One is a cocktail bar in a 1923 bank building. Equal Parts sits on the site where the Old Spaghetti Factory once stood. Qua O La's family wine bar fills the room Portofino used to fill. None of the five needed a brand-new building, and none of them came with a concept that required tearing a room down to its studs.

Gasparini offered the Chronicle a theory for why this works. North Beach's renaissance, he said, is "a reaction to how tech-driven the city is and how online everyone is. North Beach still feels like an analog, kind of antiquated neighborhood. I think that's refreshing for a lot of people."

The Chronicle also noted how far the neighborhood has come. The same story called North Beach "historically bohemian" and recalled that it was "riddled with commercial vacancies" even before the pandemic. The places that filled those gaps have mostly brought old rooms back to life, which means the neighborhood's character came through the turnover. 15 Romolo's renovation follows the same approach, just with the original owners.

The room that is coming back

15 Romolo is in the 114-year-old building of the historic Basque Hotel. According to the Chronicle, the hotel was once a boarding house for shepherds and other migrants from Spain's País Vasco, and it closed in 1996. When Gasparini and Greg Lindgren opened the bar in 1998, they leaned into that history with an Iberian-themed menu and, later, a sherry-centric cocktail list. In 2010 they brought on Scott Baird and Josh Harris, who went on to found Trick Dog, to redesign the drinks.

The age that gives the building its charm also caused real problems. Gasparini described to the Chronicle years of chasing ceiling leaks, a snug and dusty room with no air conditioning, and dated plumbing, electrical and sound systems. When he and his wife and co-owner, Kelly Anne Gasparini, renewed the lease, they used the renewal to restore the space and closed it in August 2024.

What changed inside

• Air conditioning, upgraded plumbing, and mahogany-paneled walls sanded down.
• Rounded booths seating up to seven each, replacing the long banquettes along the wall. The room still seats about 65.
• A 1951 Seeburg jukebox stocked with 45s the couple collected. Kelly Anne Gasparini named Blondie, Otis Redding and Patsy Cline among them.
• Refurbished bathrooms and hallways to match the speakeasy look.

What stayed the same on purpose

The drinks are moving toward familiar standards, with a pared-down spirit list and the bar's Pimm's Cup, also served by the pitcher. Gasparini described the focus as "classic base drinks with maybe a little bit of technique." He put the whole project this way to the Chronicle:

"The bar is essentially the same, but more functional and nicer. We're rolling into 30 years of being open, which will give us legacy status with the city. We're leaning into being more of an institution. It's not a super high-concept place. It's more of a classic."

The kitchen is the clearest change. The Gasparinis' 24-year-old son, Giovanni, is cooking a new Basque-inspired menu. The Chronicle reports he made a deal with his parents to cook there for about a year before moving into fine dining, and his siblings and cousins plan to help out too. Hoodline also covered the plan.

The bar was set to return in mid-November, and the Chronicle noted that the renovation had pushed the date back more than once. Gasparini said there will be no big launch. "We're just going to pop the doors open and tell people we're open and have it happen that way," he said, adding that if a line forms, "hopefully, people will forgive us."

The same pattern at a larger scale

The pattern shows up beyond bars. On Aug. 13, 2026, Grocery Outlet opened at 350 Bay St. in the NorthPoint Shopping Center, inside the 30,000-square-foot space the Safeway left in 2023. According to the Standard, getting a grocer back into that space took three years and ended with a 15-year lease signed in early 2025. The store is owned by Jacqueline and Joel Lanoie, and the Standard called it North Beach's only major grocery store besides the Trader Joe's a block away.

City rules on storefronts have shifted as well. In October 2025, the Chronicle reported that the Board of Supervisors voted 8-2 to pass Supervisor Danny Sauter's "District 3 Thrives" legislation, which broadens the commercial uses allowed in North Beach, Nob Hill and Jackson Square. Among other changes, it lets storefronts merge into spaces of up to 3,000 square feet. Supporters described the old rules as an obstacle to opening a business. Opponents argued the change could raise rents and hurt small retailers. Under those rules, future openings could look different from this last wave, which mostly moved into rooms the way they already were.

One evening, old rooms only

Here is a route through the places on this list, starting at Broadway and heading uphill.

1. Long Weekend, 270 Columbus Ave. Start in the 1923 bank building.
2. Vesuvio Cafe, Columbus Avenue. This is one of the two places the Chronicle named for its weekend lines.
3. 15 Romolo, 15 Romolo Place. Climb the alley off Broadway to the restored Basque Hotel bar, which was set to return in mid-November.
4. April Jean, 1371 Grant Ave. This is the other spot with lines.
5. Qua O La, 1318 Grant Ave. Croatian and Italian wine in the old Portofino room.
6. Equal Parts, 478 Green St. End at a late table on the old Spaghetti Factory site.

Hours for each stop are on the businesses' own sites, and since the date has slipped before, check 15 Romolo's opening before you head up the alley.

15 Romolo's owners chose to restore what they had rather than reinvent it, and an older San Francisco home with its original character often comes to the same choice before it goes on the market. If you're weighing repairs against a fresh start and want to know which updates buyers in your neighborhood actually pay for, Now Homes can walk you through it. Request a free home valuation and we'll start with the house as it stands today.