
Acquerello
A two Michelin-starred Italian gem in a converted chapel, offering decadent seasonal tasting menus and exceptional wine.

Highlights
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Acquerello

Highlights
Must-see attractions
A two Michelin-starred Italian gem in a converted chapel, offering decadent seasonal tasting menus and exceptional wine.
"This is a must-go for any food lover seeking exceptional food and a sophisticated dining experience."
Book Ahead
Reservations are essential. Book online well in advance to secure your spot at this highly sought-after establishment.
Explore Tasting Menus
Consider both meat and vegetarian tasting menus for a diverse and comprehensive culinary journey.

Quick Facts
Cuisine
Italian
Price
$$$
Phone
(415) 567-5432
Address
NEAR VAN NESS &, 1722 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
Website
acquerellosf.com/Highlights
Discover the most iconic attractions and experiences

Two Michelin-Starred Italian Elegance
Experience unparalleled decadence with innovative seasonal tasting menus and classic Italian dishes served in a transformed chapel.

Signature Foie Gras Pasta
Indulge in the creamy richness of their signature ridged pasta with faux 'foie gras' and black truffle, a true umami delight.

Artful Dessert Creations
Delight in visually stunning and creatively crafted desserts, like the chocolate and raspberry creation, a sweet masterpiece.
Plans like a pro.
Thinks like you
Insider Tips
from TikTok, Instagram & Reddit
Book Ahead
Reservations are essential. Book online well in advance to secure your spot at this highly sought-after establishment.
Explore Tasting Menus
Consider both meat and vegetarian tasting menus for a diverse and comprehensive culinary journey.
Inform of Dietary Needs
Communicate any dietary restrictions or special occasions in advance for a tailored and exceptional dining experience.
Budget for the Experience
Expect to spend around $300-400 per person for the tasting menu, including tax and tip, depending on drink selections.
Tips
from all over the internet
Book Ahead
Reservations are essential. Book online well in advance to secure your spot at this highly sought-after establishment.
Explore Tasting Menus
Consider both meat and vegetarian tasting menus for a diverse and comprehensive culinary journey.
Inform of Dietary Needs
Communicate any dietary restrictions or special occasions in advance for a tailored and exceptional dining experience.
Budget for the Experience
Expect to spend around $300-400 per person for the tasting menu, including tax and tip, depending on drink selections.
What Travellers Say
Reviews Summary
Acquerello consistently delivers an exceptional fine dining experience, lauded for its artistic presentation, impeccable service, and a sophisticated ambiance within a former chapel. While many rave about the signature pasta, creative tasting menus, and extensive wine list, some diners find certain dishes to be hit-or-miss or question the value proposition given the steep price. The attentiveness of the staff is a recurring theme, though occasional service lapses or minor criticisms regarding food execution are noted.
"The presentation for these dishes were 10/10 and the ambience at the restaurant was 10/10. They have a beautiful wine cellar with many wines to choose from. This is an excellent restaurant if you like trying rare and imported wines and excellent food. The service is top notch and everyone is very hard working and attentive to the customers. My favorite dish was the ridge pasta with truffles. It is their signature dish and is delicious. My second favorite dish was the peppered crusted tuna. That was also good. The presentation of my dessert was very creative and it was amazing. I got the panna cotta. Overall, I'd recommend coming here for a nice evening with great wine, beautiful ambiance, excellent food, and service."
Chris Roberts
"I have been to multiple 1, 2, and 3 Michelin star restaurants and I can’t believe this place only has 2 stars. It is a must go for any food lover.
The food was exceptional! The vegetarian substitutions were made with the same, if not more, thoughtfulness. While some aspects were experimental, it was never at the expense of flavor. The pictures do not do the place justice (experience from Oct 2024).
The staff were very friendly and made solo dining a comfortable experience. The pace of dinner was spot on so I didn’t feel rushed nor was I waiting for courses. They explained the complex techniques used to make each dish which was appreciated."
Zaila V
"This was a great location for us to celebrate my wife’s birthday. The service was absolutely unbelievable. Honestly it was so good it almost got annoying. My water glass never was less than 3/4 full and any time you left the table you napkin was refreshed. The food was beautiful and totally different than I had ever experienced. It was good but not like any food I had had before. My only issue was my tuna that I got for my main course was a little over cooked. Definitely a great experience. Also definitely as expensive as I thought it would be. It was easy to walk to from our hotel on union square."
Benjamin Grover
What People Like
What People Dislike
Frequently Asked Questions
It is highly recommended to make reservations online well in advance due to the restaurant's popularity.
Expect to spend approximately $300-400 per person after tax and tip for the tasting menu, depending on drink choices.
Yes, Acquerello offers a dedicated vegetarian tasting menu, and they are known for thoughtfully accommodating dietary restrictions.
No, Acquerello does not serve hard liquor. They offer an extensive wine list, including champagne pairings.
While not explicitly stated as restrictive in all sources, the atmosphere suggests an elegant dress code.
The restaurant has a sophisticated ambiance, suggesting an elegant dress code. One review mentioned a 'restrictive dress code'.
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It’s been over 30 years since Acquerello hit the SF restaurant scene, but there's no denying the two Michelin-starred fine dining experience is still unparalleled decadence. You’ll have a few choices when you dine, including an over-the-top seasonal tasting menu that is quite pricey but worth every penny if you have it, as well as a prix fixe menu with highlights like Kampachi Crudo with Sicilian pistachio and cocoa and oxtail ravioli, that's much less costly and also an excellent option (though it can also get a little pricey if you start adding the oh-so-tempting supplements). Whatever you order, rest assured, you’re in for a memorable dinner that embodies true luxury, from the service to the wine to the cuisine.How to book: Make reservations online.
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With an A-frame ceiling and earth-toned walls, Acquerello is one of the oldest restaurants on San Francisco’s Michelin list, founded by chef Suzette Gresham in 1989. Michelin appreciates her sweets, handmade pastas and art-like plating, such as the carrot and ginger terrine and the “must-order cheese plate [which both] arrive as visual masterpieces.” Also mentioned are friendly sommeliers navigating “one of the deepest Italian wine and Champagne cellars in the country.”. Michelin rating: 2 stars
San Francisco Italian Restaurants - Fodor's Travel Talk Forums
Acquerello has been a tiny gem on the San Francisco dining scene for the past decade. It was just honored as Wine Spectator's second best Italian Restaurant nationally, due in large part to the excellent wine collection. Chef Suzette Gresham used to do the cooking at the acclaimed Donatello. When she moved on to Acquerello, Donatello's promptly closed. Do the math.
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Chef and co-owner Suzette Gresham has elicited swoons over the years with high-end but soulful Italian cooking that is worth every penny. Her cuttlefish "tagliatelle" is a star of the menu, which features both classic and cutting-edge dishes. Dinners are prix fixe, with three, four, or five courses and several choices within each course.
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This two Michelin-star restaurant has been producing top cuisine in Nob Hill for 25 years. The tasting menu of both classic and contemporary Italian food is served in a traditional, elegant dining atmosphere. Guests are treated to the finest service as well.
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Acquerello's mission statement says it best: "At Acquerello, we believe that refined luxury is always in style. Our desire is to provide our guests with an experience of classic and contemporary Italian tastes in an elegant dining atmosphere." Elegant and subdued, this intimate restaurant (whose name means "watercolor") exhibits artistry in both cuisine and appearance. Its serene ambience and its vaulted, beamed ceiling evoke Acquerello's former incarnation as a chapel. Contemporary Italian dishes are the main draw, though, and a frequently-changing menu features dishes like parsley-encrusted pork loin, beef carpaccio with hearts of palm and black truffles, and tuna in a fennel-dill crust with saffron sauce.
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Luxuriate in Acquerello’s elegant setting—complete with white tablecloths, gorgeous flower arrangements, and vaulted, wood-beam ceiling—as you partake in a thoughtfully conceived and well-paced parade of Italian dishes that might include citrusy raw yellowtail with white peach, ridged pasta with black truffle, and juicy quail with a crisped exterior. With Chef Suzette Gresham at the helm, this two-Michelin star, fine-dining restaurant located in Nob Hill offers a four-course prix fixe menu for $150 and a nine-course seasonal tasting menu for $250. A vegetarian tasting menu is also available for $195 as is an extensive, award-winning wine list.
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Exquisite Acquerello, Nob Hill's two-Michelin-starred mainstay, has crafted an entirely vegetarian gastronomical affair. In their Tasting of Vegetables ($195/person), produce gets the white tablecloth treatment in nine courses. Chef de cuisine Seth Turiansky’s Northern Italian–inspired dishes—sprouted chickpea and brassicas with grilled maitakes, fermented shallots, and sesame; dry-farmed new potatoes cooked in smoked seaweed butter with sea grapes, yuzu, and red dulse; and almond mousse with candied Buddha’s hand, lemon curd, and lemon balm—are works of art both on the plate and on the tongue.
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At 30 years old, the restaurant shows its age, with red carpeting, white tablecloths and an ultra-attentive manner of service that has gone out of style since 1989. But chef Suzette Gresham’s French-accented Italian food still registers delight and occasionally even genuine surprise. Her Venetian-inspired dish of marinated eel with salsa rossa, pine nuts and raisins, or her briny risotto with abalone and red dulse (seaweed) show a continued commitment to experimentation within this institution’s old-school confines.
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This beloved Nob Hill restaurant offers tasting and prix fixe menus, merging classic Italian flavors and modern techniques to create a contemporary vision of Italian cuisine. A few examples of dishes from the menus include pasta with faux “foie gras,” black truffle and Marsala, as well as a gorgeous “dry-aged” kohlrabi with polenta, Cipollini onions, Hen of the Woods mushrooms and vegetable Bordelaise. The prix fixe menu at $165 is a great way to get a taste if you don’t want to select the full tasting menu.
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Many come to Acquerello to experience its high-end pasta selection, which is just one part of executive chef Suzette Gresham’s precise and luxurious menu. Cuttlefish is sliced thin into “tagliatelle” and tossed with capers and coral-like chunks of lobster; creste di galli made with spinach are arranged atop a rich Wagyu Bolognese. You’ll get two options here: You can let the chef take the lead with the $275 tasting menu, or choose your courses from the $165 prix fixe.
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Italian food is a date night favorite for a reason, and Acquerello’s double-Michelin-starred cuisine is no exception. Savor a four-course meal at home with its prix fixe takeout menu, selection of cheeses and trio of desserts, or bring home one of its DIY pasta kits for a more hands-on activity with your date. Acquerello has also partnered with The Caviar Co. to offer caviar service for an elevated at-home dinner that you won’t forget.
San Francisco Bay Area’s Michelin-Star Restaurants – The San Francisco Times
Acquerello is a Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood. One of the most seasoned restaurants on San Francisco’s Michelin list (established in 1989), Acquerello, with its earth-conditioned walls, white decorative spreads, and agile new bloom plans, has a downplayed tastefulness. The restaurant features contemporary Italian cuisine, and its menu includes both vegetarian and meat-based dishes.
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This exceptional Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco’s Polk Gulch neighborhood offers a top-notch dining experience. The dining room is elegant and sophisticated, perfect for a special occasion or memorable date night. The ultimate highlight at this hotspot is the creative and sensational Tasting Menu, showcasing outstanding Italian classics that will definitely leave a lasting impression.
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Next on our list of the best upscale restaurants in San Francisco, it’s Acquerello. If you happen to be in the Nob Hill area, Acquerello is one of the upscale restaurants in San Francisco that you won’t regret visiting. Although its beautiful décor, graceful white tablecloths, and glimmering flower arrangements are worth the price of admission, it’s the food that sets this place apart.
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Acquerello's extensive wine list and impeccable service make it ideal for special occasions. The restaurant's tasting menu showcases modern interpretations of classic Italian dishes, with options for wine pairings curated by their sommeliers. The dining room, with its vaulted ceilings and warm color palette, creates an atmosphere of understated luxury, perfect for a romantic evening.
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Address:NEAR VAN NESS &, 1722 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA 94109, United States. In the Nob Hill area, Acquerello offers an elegant dining experience with a focus on contemporary Italian cuisine. With two Michelin stars, the restaurant’s menu highlights the finest ingredients with dishes such as risotto with seasonal truffles and a variety of house-made pastas.
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This 2 Michelin Star restaurant opened in 1981 and has been serving homemade pasta and Italian sweets to satisfied customers ever since. The Michelin guide insists you must order the cheese plate, which is as visually stunning as it is delicious. Finish off the meal by picking bite sized treats of the mignardise cart and you’ll leave feeling satisfied!
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I spent plenty of time recently in San Francisco thinking about how higher-end restaurants must keep morphing to stay relevant for the wealthy and the food-obsessed. Acquerello is the rare exception that succeeds by largely staying the same. Chef and owner Suzette Gresham and co-founder Giancarlo Paterlini opened on Nob Hill in 1989.
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SF's Acquerello is Sorella’s big sister restaurant, offering elevated Italian fare in a beautifully lit, opulent dining room. Regal golds, reds, and glorious dark wooden beams set the scene while suit-wearing waiters and decorated chefs assume responsibility for the next few hours of your life. And a very delicious few hours it is.
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Acquerello has been known to transport the diners back in time to a more sophisticated era of fine dining. The food is elegant yet sticks to the traditional flavours and the simplicity of Italian cuisine. The mid-century dining style urges guests to dress for the occasion, bringing back the glamour and luxury of the dining scene.
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Acquerello was established in 1989 and has earned two Michelin stars. Situated in a historic building in Nob Hill, sets the stage for intimate business dinners. Renowned for its Italian-inspired cuisine and a sommelier-curated wine list, it’s an ideal place for impressing clients or sealing a deal over a sumptuous meal.
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This San Francisco fine dining restaurant is another two-star Michelin pick. Set in a warm, rustic converted chapel, Acquarello has been an SF favorite for more than three decades, and their service is top notch. They offer contemporary takes on tasty Italian dishes with hand-made pastas and the freshest ingredients.
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Acquerello has been awarded two Michelin stars and is an extremely high-end gastronomic destination. The restaurant is purely decadent and serves such delights as a nearly $400 truffle tasting menu. For a more affordable, but still luxurious, option, choose the regular three-course meal.
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A perfect special-occasion restaurant, this hidden gem has somehow remained “hidden” for decades, while offering the city’s most delicious, refined contemporary Italian fare in an elegant and intimate setting. Don’t let its obscure location off somewhat gritty Polk Street fool you.…
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When we heard of Lobster Roll Thursday at Acquerello - one of the top restaurants in the city, we waited patiently to the next Thursday and ordered. It's $22 each which isn't too far from any lobster roll in the city. After eating one bite we decided to warm it up a bit.
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Acquerello is considered the only true fine dining Italian restaurant in San Francisco. Therefore, it is a popular option for either romantic or celebratory meals. It is a formal venue with a dress code, and it is also one of the pricier places to eat in the city.
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Giancarlo Paterni's Acquerello has stood as San Francisco's single most acclaimed Italian destination restaurant for well over a decade. Rustic refinement is the order of the day; Aqcuerello's dining room is all vaulted ceiling, dramatic floral arran...
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- Rating: 4.5 / 5 (357 reviews)- Detailed ratings: Food (4.5/5), Service (5.0/5), Value (4.0/5), Atmosphere (4.5/5)- Type of cuisine: Contemporary, Italian- Price: $$$$- Address: 1722 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA 94109-3619- Read more on Tripadvisor
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Housed in a converted chapel, Acquerello offers a truly awe-inspiring setting for a romantic dinner. The vaulted ceilings and wood beams create a sense of grandeur, while the high-end Italian cuisine and wines transport you to the heart of Tuscany.
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Acquerello is a romantic Nob Hill restaurant that Zagat diners say is "best described as ethereal.". There are two prix fixe menus, including a decadent Truffle Tasting Menu that has a number of surprises from the chef.
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Strawberry smoothie, light cream + sweet strawberries full of jam + delicate smooth milk smoothie! I can't help but eat a few more mouthfuls when I'm full! This must be ordered at the earliest, because it's very slow.
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While many would mention other notable names like Acquerello, Boulevard, Birdsong, Bon Delire, Chapeau, Fog Harbor Fish House, and Liholiho Yacht Club, it's Benu's innovative approach that consistently sets it apart.
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A longtime favorite among San Francisco’s elite, Acquerello serves upscale Italian with a timeless feel. The pasta tasting menu is a standout, and the wine list is nothing short of exceptional.
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What was once a beautifully high-ceilinged chapel on San Francisco's Sacramento Street transformed to become an upscale Italian eatery with two Michelin stars — the restaurant's name?
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NEAR VAN NESS &, 1722 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA 94109Phone: 415-567-5432 Visit Website. View this post on Instagram. A post shared by Acquerello ??
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