Having announced plans for a renovation (opens in new tab)<\/a> in August 2024, the raucous tapas bar and speakeasy 15 Romolo is getting ready to reopen this spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re coming up on 28 years,\u201d owner Jon Gasparini says, noting that the 114-year-old building\u2019s plumbing and electrical systems needed major upgrades. He almost walked away from the project last year when the lease was up, but felt such an affinity for 15 Romolo \u2014 his first bar, which in 1998 took over a space that formerly housed a Basque restaurant \u2014 that he and his wife decided to renew.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve spent months removing wires from old speakers, refinishing the mahogany-covered walls one panel at a time, and generally peeling back the layers to reveal what Gasparini calls Romolo 1.0. \u201cWe\u2019re approaching legacy territory, and we want to give the neighborhood something refined and lasting.\u201d<\/p>\n Just off the busy intersection of Broadway and Columbus Avenue, up a side street so steep the sidewalk has stairs, 15 Romolo has long felt like an open secret. Too elegant and avant-garde to be a dive, it\u2019s a highbrow, hair-of-the-dog kind of joint, where people who stayed out too late the night before might plunge headlong into recovery mode over Pimm\u2019s cups and pitchers of sangria or enjoy a \u201cwaffle shot\u201d made with rum and coffee liqueur (in lieu of maple syrup), dusted with powdered sugar.<\/p>\n Years of hedonism took their toll on the space, Gasparini says, and the dining room has been \u201cseverely beaten up.\u201d He plans to reopen with a more technique-driven food and beverage program and a more distinguished approach to hospitality, envisioning 15 Romolo as a peer of such San Francisco institutions as Buena Vista Cafe, Vesuvio, or Tosca Cafe, all of which have been around more than 75 years. \u201cI almost hate to say this, but it\u2019ll be a bit more adult,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n He\u2019s hoping to welcome customers back by mid-March. \u201cI\u2019m being very aggressive, and my wife is mad at me about that,\u201d Gasparini says. \u201cThere are some behind-the-scenes things we need to work out.\u201d<\/p>\n The 15 Romolo restoration is not the only project he\u2019s working on. With another partner, Gasparini is working to turn part of the longtime SoMa headquarters of his mobile cocktail service Rye on the Road (opens in new tab)<\/a> into a public-facing tasting bar. The concrete-and-timber former warehouse has hosted private events for the mayor and other high-profile clients. \u201cI liken it to Sightglass,\u201d Gasparini says, referring to the airy, light-filled mothership for one of San Francisco\u2019s most high-profile coffee roasteries.<\/p>\n In the meantime, he\u2019s glad that 15 Romolo is reopening as the neighborhood is on a palpable upswing. \u201cI\u2019ve had entities in North Beach for 30 years now, and I\u2019ve never seen it more vibrant than it is now,\u201d Gasparini says. \u201cIt\u2019s the greatest neighborhood.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n 15 RomoloOpening hoursReopening in early spring![\"Shelves](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/-S3840x2552-FPNG.png\"\/)
It was a speakeasy-style bar long before the late-aughts speakeasy craze. | Source: Courtesy 15 Romolo<\/p>\n