A long-time favorite of locals and tourists alike, Caesar’s Restaurant announced Saturday that it will close its doors on August 31st.
The restaurant was known not only for its world-famous crab cioppino, but for its place as a regular haunt of the prominenti of the Italian-American Community of San Francisco. Located on the corner of Bay and Powell streets in the Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood of San Francisco, the beloved restaurant first opened its doors in 1956.
The announcement was made on the restaurant’s website. In a letter signed by Matteo Crivello and Roberta Romani—widow of the late Luigi Romani who died unexpectedly on May 22nd at the age of 52—the owners of Caesar’s expressed sadness and regret that the closure was necessary, and invited its loyal patrons to come for one last meal before the end of the month.
The announcement comes scarcely two months after the sudden closure of the Fior d’Italia, the “oldest Italian restaurant in the country.” Both were not only places to enjoy a good Italian meal, they were where the community met for life’s celebrations. Both restaurants were also the regular gathering places of many Italian organizations such as Il Cenacolo, which had met at the Fior d’Italia for decades before moving to Caesar’s this past May, and will now be holding their weekly lunch meetings at Trattoria Volare on Columbus Avenue.