You might’ve heard that most restaurants fail in the first year. That’s a myth. The average restaurant survives six years, and a decent percentage are still kicking at 20. Few restaurants can survive for nearly a century and a half, though. San Francisco’s Fior D’Italia, the oldest Italian restaurant in the United States, has beaten the odds. The restaurant, which originally opened May 1, 1886, is just shy of its 140th anniversary.
Fior D’Italia’s current Mason Street home isn’t its original location. Still, the spot exudes old-school ambiance with neatly-folded napkins and live music four days a week. Its Northern Italian menu includes creamy risotto, hearty meat dishes, and plenty of mushrooms.
21st century San Francisco restaurants can’t survive without charging 21st century San Francisco prices, and Fior D’Italia is no exception. Standard prices range from $9 for a plate of roasted potatoes to $100 for a Porterhouse steak, with most items hovering in the $20–$40 range. The restaurant occasionally brings back its 1886 menu, though, with prices ranging from $.05 to $.30 for milestone anniversaries…