San Francisco’s Delfina Restaurant closes eating for transform
The owners of the popular Delfina restaurant in San Francisco have temporarily suspended seating while they begin work on a huge project that will merge their business with their other restaurant, Pizzeria Delfina next door.
On Monday, owners Craig and Annie Stoll announced this on Instagram, where they said the Delfina restaurant is temporarily suspending field service in its parklet and will only operate for take-out and delivery until March 2022.
“While the parklet is hibernating, there will be no rest for us because we are facing a major renovation!” Read the article in part. “Here is the plan; We’re combining @pizzeriadelfina and @delfinarestaurant in one room, adding a bar and updating our look. “
Craig and Annie had taken a close look at Delfina Restaurant during the pandemic and realized that after 23 years in business, it was time for a renovation.
“Those are dog years when it comes to restaurants,” said Craig. “We opened in 1998 in this tiny little room that now consists almost entirely of a kitchen, and we got the room next door a year and a half later. It was really nice then, but restaurants are tough.”
Once the renovation is complete, the shop will reopen as Delfina Restaurant and have a “developed” menu but retain many of its classic dishes. There will also be pizza on the menu and a takeaway and delivery menu, largely in line with what Pizzeria Delfina has to offer. SFist reported that the liquor license from the former Stolls restaurant Locanda, which closed amid the pandemic, has been transferred to Delfina Restaurant, meaning cocktails will also be available after it reopens.
Craig and Annie Stoll opened Delfina Restaurant on 18th Street in the Mission District of San Francisco in 1998. The couple plan to merge Delfina and the Pizzeria Delfina next door into one.
Steven W. on Yelp
A big reason for the merger, said Craig, has to do with the challenges of running two restaurants side by side. He added that there are too many managers on the team and it makes more sense to run the business with “fewer people”.
“We just have to streamline,” he said.
In March 2020, Annie Stoll told SFGATE that she and her husband made the difficult decision to temporarily close the Delfina Restaurant and Locanda when indoor dining screeched to a halt as an emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic. During this time, the couple kept their pizzeria Delfina going only for take-away.
At the time, the Stolls said they had about 300 employees at the Delfina Restaurant, Locanda, and Pizzeria Delfina locations across the Bay Area, but that they had to lay off about 90% of their employees. Eventually the Delfina restaurant reopened but Locanda was not so lucky and closed after almost 10 years.
Fast forward to the present, Craig is excited about the makeover and believes the update will help provide a better customer experience.
“Delfina was always meant to be a neighborhood restaurant, and the pizzeria did that, but it was tiny,” he said. “[The remodeled Delfina] becomes more manageable and accessible for our guests. “
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include comments from the owner.
