It’s sweater weather once we get past the required September heatwave(s), and with the chiller temps comes a new Fall 2026 class of restaurants. Among the forthcoming openings is a modern Japanese restaurant with Michelin-starred cred, an all-day Southern Italian restaurant from the A16 team, plus a stunningly remodeled bar in Nob Hill. These are the most anticipated restaurant openings in the Bay Area this fall.
Kristen Loken
Filmmaker Romi Trower grew up with grab-and-go hand rolls in Melbourne, but she couldn’t quite find an equivalent when she moved to San Francisco. Trower is now opening her own dream version of those hand roll shops with the debut of Handroll Hawker, arriving in Russian Hill this September. Trower’s tapped chef Tai Trinh, formerly of omakase restaurant Robin, to lead the restaurant, with hand rolls available for dine-in or to-go. 2360 Polk Street, San Francisco
Opening: Late September/early October
The team behind San Francisco neighborhood favorite Black Jet Bakery is expanding to the Outer Sunset with Black Jet Luncheonette. There will be some ties to the original shop, with a selection of baked goods like the celebrated pop-tarts and cakes, but owners Gillian Shaw Lundgren and Max Newman will also bring a selection of sandwiches to the menu. As they told SFGATE back in March, diners can expect four rotating sandwiches a day, such as meatball grinders, chicken salad, and more, all served on homemade bread. They’ll also serve a breakfast sandwich in the morning, and plan to bring pan pizzas to the shop in the coming months following the debut. 4033 Judah Street, San Francisco
Shinka
Shinka is a new restaurant from chef Fumio Yonezawa, bringing modern Japanese and French cuisine to the Jay hotel in the Financial District. Yonezawa hails from three-Michelin-starred Jean-Georges in New York, Jean-Georges Tokyo, No Code in Tokyo, and more, and now he brings a kaiseki-inspired menu made with California ingredients. The restaurant launches in October with a tasting menu and bar menu, with an a la carte menu to follow. Diners can expect dishes such as chawanmushi, an egg custard dish flavored with house-made black truffle dashi and topped with crab. The bar will offer signature cocktails, with a wide sake collection and rarer Japanese whiskeys. 333 Battery Street, San Francisco
The team behind A16 brings a new addition to the Ferry Building with the debut of Lucania, a restaurant leaning into Southern Italian dishes. Taking over the former MarketBar Cafe space, the all-day restaurant will serve pizza, pasta, and salads, per the San Francisco Standard, with a seafood section highlighting anchovies, sardines, and mussels, and local produce throughout. The restaurant will feature a massive patio that seats up to 140 diners. 1 Ferry Building, San Francisco
The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco
The Ritz-Carlton is set to debut its new bar, Bruma, inside the landmark hotel in Nob Hill this October. The bar area’s gotten a full makeover from the design firm Fettle, with a custom mural that nods to the neighborhood and wraps around the entire space. The cocktail menu splits into four sections: World’s Edge features citrus-forward drinks; Open Water’s section highlights “layered and globally influenced drinks shaped by the pull of the Pacific,” per a press release; Golden City leans into California produce with fruit-forward cocktails; and High Ground is for the bar’s martinis and stirred drinks. (It doesn’t hurt that there is tableside martini service chilled with liquid nitrogen.) There will also be low-ABV and nonalcoholic drinks as well, and a bites menu that includes dishes such as a wagyu smash burger and Dungeness crab rolls. 600 Stockton Street, San Francisco
Chef Manuel Bonilla’s been cooking around Oakland for years, creating the cult-favorite burger at the Kon-Tiki, opening cocktail bar and steakhouse Palmetto, and touting his Filipino and Salvadoran background with his pop-up Chisme. Now Chisme is finally settled into its new home in Oakland — fittingly, the former Kon-Tiki space where Bonilla once worked — and opening as Bar Chisme this fall. Expect some of the favorites that Bonilla’s been touring around at his pop-ups (and at his 2024 residency at Oakland’s Low Bar), and with any luck, diners will soon be eating Bonilla’s version of the Frito Pie, wedge salads, pupusas, perhaps another burger, and some crushable drinks. 347 14th Street, Oakland
Gino De Grandis
Tejer is the newest opening from chef Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar’s restaurant group, Cal-India Collective, located inside San Jose’s Hotel De Anza. Tejer debuts in December, following the September opening of the Hedley Club and Palm Court, with chef Enrique Gonzalez leading the kitchen in collaboration with Gopinathan. Slated as a Cal-Mexican restaurant, the duo have a lot of plans in place following a trip to Mexico where they cooked with Gonzalez’s mom, Margarita, and walked local farmers markets together for inspiration. Expect Mexico City-style seafood platters, barbacoa, homemade salsa macha and fermented chile sauce, moles, and more. 233 West Santa Clara Street, San Jose
Opening: Late fall/early winter
Chef Floyd Nunn and partner Angelyne Tompkins open Moonchild, debuting in the former Fog City Diner space along the Embarcadero. Nunn comes from a Michelin-starred background, hailing from San Francisco’s Benu and Quince, and now he’s branching out on his own with a restaurant highlighting the state’s coastlines and farms. Diners can expect seasonal cooking throughout the year and a (likely) stellar wine selection, thanks to Tompkins, who’s worked at Sonoma’s Scribe Winery for eight years. 1300 Battery Street, San Francisco