Ferry Building’s Slanted Door restaurant is getting remodel and staying put

Ferry Building’s Slanted Door restaurant is getting remodel and staying putPhoto Credit: The Slanted Door Group
Wesley Severson
Published on November 16, 2021

Many people worried in the last year that a restaurant loved by tourists and tech workers inside San Francisco’s Ferry Building had served its last dish, but we now have further assurance that that is not true. As the SF Business Times reports, The Slanted Door has just signed a new, 10-year lease with the Ferry Building which anchors itself in that location until at least 2034. The restaurant landed inside the renovated Ferry Building in 2005 after originally debuting in the Mission District, and it was forced to close its doors in March of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. It still hasn’t reopened which fanned rumors that it was out of business for good. 

Owner and chef Charles Phan says the reason for the extended closure is that the Ferry Building space is about to go through a significant renovation with the help of the restaurant’s original architect Lundberg Design. It’s expected to be completed in the summer of next year.

Phan says he was planning to renovate the space before the pandemic started but was having a hard time figuring out how to get it done. “You're always a little nervous when you change something, like getting a new haircut, a new look. It's scary and exciting at the same time. But I think the success of our restaurant has been in constantly evolving and innovating," Phan said to the SF Business Times. 

SFist reported in May, Phan’s Slanted Door spin-off restaurant in Pacific Heights, Out the Door, had permanently closed after an 11-year run. That closure left many people wondering if The Slanted Door would also permanently close. The award-winning eatery has served as one of the Ferry Building’s most lucrative tenants since it moved in. Phan says that an Out the Door takeout counter will return in the Ferry Building renovation and will open when the restaurant opens.

Before the pandemic, the restaurant had around 250 employees.

Meantime, Phan’s other Slanted Door location at City Center Bishop Ranch in San Ramon, which is now a couple of years old, reopened in May and appears to be thriving. He is also planning to open another Slanted Door location in Downtown Napa next spring along Soscol Avenue.