'Heartbreaking': Iconic Fisherman's Wharf restaurant Alioto's to close after 97 years

[ificandream]

SFGATE (San Francisco Chronicle)/Ariana Bindman

At nearly 100 years old, the landmark Sicilian seafood establishment Alioto’s Restaurant will permanently close its doors, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The institution has a rich, storied history in the famous port of San Francisco — and its closure marks the end of a family legacy.

Founded by Italian immigrant Nunzio Alioto in 1925 — and before it became known as a landmark seafood restaurant — Alioto’s was just a humble fish stand. Eventually, it moved into Stall No. 8 at Fisherman’s Wharf and sold lunch to Italian laborers, hence the illuminated No. 8 on the facade of the building. As business flourished in the 1930s, Alioto combined his fish stand with a seafood bar, selling shrimp and crab cocktails and fresh Dungeness crab. It was the very first building on the wharf.

Even after his death in 1933, his family members carried on the restaurant’s legacy: His surviving wife, Rose, stepped in, becoming the first businesswoman on Fisherman’s Wharf. Once she expanded the restaurant in 1938 and established it as a formal restaurant, it became Alioto’s, the institution that proudly served “the freshest seafood, family Italian recipes, and the finest views” for decades to come. It survived a devastating fire in 1957 and served soldiers in World War II, but it hasn’t been able to reopen its doors since March 2020.

Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/SF-Aliotos-Restaurant-to-close-17069430.php

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Truly sad news. A real landmark in The City.

[JohnSJ]

1. Really sad

[NBachers]

2. Geez, I just drove past there yesterday with my visiting brother and offered to take him there.

I didn’t know they were still closed all this time. Add this to the iconic Cliff House which permanently shut down.

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. I've eaten there a few times over the years, the food was OK but not memorable.

It had become a tourist attraction owned by a very powerful (former mayor’s) family.

[Kid Berwyn]

4. A beautiful place and time.

Even though we were just tourists from Detroit with no reservations, the staff at Alioto’s treated us like royalty. My wife and I enjoyed dinner by the window on the Saturday evening of the Venusian Festival. We had a great time watching the illuminated crews and decorated boats parade by. Dinner and drinks were outstanding. Truly an unforgettable experience.

[rsdsharp]

5. We had a late lunch there after taking the Alcatraz tour.

It appeared they were getting ready for the dinner service. When the crusty old head waiter wasn’t giving wonderful service to some hicks from Iowa, he was exhorting the younger staff to “Stop sitting on your brains, and get to work!”

He called our daughter “princess,” and taught her the proper way to twirl pasta. It was my first time having cioppino. My only negative memory is when I think of me turning that thick, luxurious white napkin into an orange rag.

[TallMike]

6. Ahhh yes.

The cioppino experience. I cooked it all over the city way back ij the 80s. Trust me, you were not alone.