The Oldest Restaurant In San Francisco Has A Truly Incredible History
San Francisco’s oldest restaurant is older than California itself. In 1849, during the start of the Gold Rush, three immigrants from Croatia set up what they called a “Coffee Stand” on a pier on the San Francisco Bay, serving fresh fish grilled over mesquite charcoal. With the city expanding, they eventually moved and changed their name to the New World Coffee Saloon. Another Croatian immigrant, John Tadich was hired as a bartender before he eventually took over the place. Read on to learn more about the oldest restaurant in San Francisco.
Over the years, the spot changed names and locations. In 1928, it was sold to the Buich brothers (whose family still owns it). In 1967, it opened on 240 California Street, where it still exists today as Tadich Grill: The Original Cold Day Restaurant.
According to their website: "Tadich Grill is believed to be the third oldest continuously run restaurant in America, preceded only by Boston's Union Oyster House (1826) and New Orleans' Antoine's Restaurant (1840)."
Famous faces who've dined here include sports heroes Joe DiMaggio and Joe Montana and filmmakers George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. You too can throw on a bib and enjoy the fresh seafood just like these Bay Area icons.
A favorite dish is the Seafood Cioppino—a fish stew (including clams, mussels, prawns, scallops, bay shrimp, crabmeat, and white fish) that originated in San Francisco—with a side of buttery garlic bread.
We also recommend the Tadich Platter, which features crab legs, oysters, prawns, marinated herring, smoked salmon, smoked trout, calamari salad, anchovies, and capers.
But our favorite house speciality is the Hangtown Fry (oysters and bacon frittata), a rich dish from Gold Rush times that was popularized by Tadich Grill.
Sporting white jackets and black pants, the waiters help round out the whole retro experience. Be nice to them: They're serving upwards of 700 meals a day, often to a crowd of people who've been waiting patiently to be seated—they take no reservations.
Stephanie is a freelance writer and editor based in San Francisco, California. When she's not tapping at a keyboard, she can be found leading groups on gourmet chocolate walking tours (best job ever) or running the many lovely hills and stairs of the city (to burn off all that chocolate, of course). She also runs a travel blog with her husband at Big & Small Travel (bigandsmalltravel.com).
