Under a cheery blue and orange awning on the corner of Clement Street and Arguello Boulevard, the smell of freshly baked dough and melting mozzarella cuts through the Inner Richmond fog. The neighborhood’s buzziest new addition is already drawing crowds: Rose Pizzeria served 3,000 customers in its first week.“It’s been very busy,” co-owner Gerad Gobel told SFGATE. “It’s been, so far, exceeding our expectations.”
Gobel and Alexis Rorabaugh opened the first Rose Pizzeria in Berkeley in 2021 as a tiny, adorable eatery with a patio overlooking a rose garden. The restaurant quickly gained national acclaim: The New York Times named it one of the top 22 best pizza places in the United States in 2024; last year, Italy-based ranking guide 50 Top Pizza also recognized Rose, highlighting its “fresh and seasonal, always of high quality” menu. The success propelled the couple to open Italian cafe and wine bar Cafe Brusco in Berkeley last year, and they’ve also been tapped to create the food menu for Downtime, a new nightclub from the owners of Bar Part Time that is set to open in the Mission this year.
The Pepp & Basil pizza with pepperoni, mozzarella, tomato sauce, pecorino, fresh basil and Sicilian oregano at Rose Pizzeria in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
Co-owner Alexis Rorabaugh appears inside her new restaurant, Rose Pizzeria, in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
But Gobel and Rorabaugh’s decision to expand to San Francisco precedes all the hype. A few years ago, the couple fell in love with this corner of Clement while visiting the neighborhood for the popular Clement Street Farmers Market. They noticed that the previous business at 1 Clement St., Village Pizzeria, had closed.
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“I drove by once a week for like two years, just waiting for a new sign to go up,” Gobel said.
The Richmond has been having a moment lately, with the New York Times dubbing it “arguably San Francisco’s most exciting, varied and affordable food scene.” Following the recent openings of cafe Hologram and gluten-free Italian restaurant Clementina, another wave of new businesses is slated to arrive soon: the Evermore cafe and Cafe Réveille, as well as Kitchen Commons, a culinary supply store from the owner of Liholiho Yacht Club.
A member of the kitchen staff spreads cheese on a pizza before it’s placed in the oven at Rose Pizzeria in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
Customers dine at Rose Pizzeria in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
The new Rose is twice the size of the 750-square-foot Berkeley restaurant, with a larger pizza oven that can bake double the amount of pies at once. The forest-green walls, warm wood furniture, green-and-white checkerboard tiling and wallpaper of the Via Appia (one of the oldest Roman roads) create a cozy, neighborhood feel to the restaurant, where empty cans of crushed tomatoes double as napkin holders.
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“Rose is a destination now, which is weird,” Gobel said. “But we’re really just trying to build the neighborhood pizza spot. That’s all we want to do.”
I stopped by the new eatery for lunch in its second week. Even on a Tuesday, the hype was far from slowing down. The dining room was close to full at noon, but I still managed to walk in and slide into a barstool overlooking Clement Street. If I turned my head to the left, I could watch the pizzas being prepared in the open kitchen, a mesmerizing choreography of cheese showers and olive oil drizzles. Throughout my lunch, piping hot pies were airlifted endlessly from the busy oven, each with beautifully blistered crusts.
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In the larger space, Gobel and Alexis Rorabaugh can not only serve more pizza but also expand their menu.
Chef Jesse Alejandrez slices up a pizza at Rose Pizzeria in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
Kalani Cecaci places burrata on top of the She Wolf pizza at Rose Pizzeria in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
For one, the San Francisco location has a new sauce: the “East Bay Grn Sauce,” an ode to the tangy, herbaceous green sauce you’ll find at the Cheeseboard Collective and Arizmendi Bakery. (Both the Berkeley and SF locations offer sides of ranch and anchovies as well.) They’re also allowing customers to customize their cheese pizza for the first time — you can add mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage, red onion or pickled chiles.
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The dessert menu has expanded beyond the killer tiramisu to include house-made gelato; they’ll also be able to accommodate more takeout orders than the Berkeley eatery.
Otherwise, the menu is pretty similar: You’ll find the same 14-inch, thin-crust pizzas, starters like Rancho Gordo white beans with celery and green olives, and their famous spicy Caesar. So far, the main differences that Gobel has noticed with the crowd across the bay are that San Francisco drinks more beer and that “Berkeley has very leftist Berkeley servers,” he joked.
A server delivers a pizza to customers at Rose Pizzeria in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
The champion pizza with roaster mushrooms, mozzarella, black pepper, pecorino, cream and leeks at Rose Pizzeria in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
On my visit, I ordered the Champion, a white-sauce pizza with roasted mushrooms, mozzarella, black pepper, pecorino, cream and leeks ($26). The savory ribbons of leeks and thinly sliced, pepper-doused mushrooms against the rich, creamy sauce reminded me of Thanksgiving, which is to say I have a new favorite pizza. I dunked each bite in my side of green sauce ($4), cutting through the richness with a jolt of acidity. The Neapolitan-meets-New York crust was perfectly crispy and charred but had a soft interior. I only managed to eat half the pizza before I conceded defeat, requesting a takeout box for the leftovers.
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Rose has only been open on Clement Street for a few weeks now, but it already feels like a neighborhood mainstay.
“The restaurant feels mature,” Gobel said. “It doesn’t feel like a new restaurant, even though it’s only 10 days old.”
The tiles form a rose design at the entrance of Rose Pizzeria in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
The exterior of Rose Pizzeria in San Francisco on May 8, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
That’s because neighbors are already coming back to eat at Rose multiple times, Gobel said, and they’ve hired high school and college-age kids from the neighborhood. Ultimately, gaining the trust of the neighbors is what matters to them: National press hype fades, but loyal regulars are forever.
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“I’m standing by a brick wall, so I’m not going to knock on wood,” he said. “But I think we got this one right, maybe.”
Rose Pizzeria, 1 Clement St., San Francisco. Open Monday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.