Amici's East Coast Pizzeria, a well-known entity in the Bay Area's dining scene, is saying farewell to its last San Francisco sit-down restaurant, which is located in the Marina District at 2200 Lombard Street. Since its opening there in 2007, the pizzeria has garnered a following for its New England-style pizza offerings. According to the San Francisco Business Journal, the company will close this location by September when its lease comes due and pivot to a delivery- and pickup-only model via a ghost kitchen in SoMa.
The closure marks a significant shift for Amici's, which had established a foothold in San Francisco with multiple sit-down locations over the years. The Marina restaurant's space, measuring at an expansive 4,700 square feet, is now seeking new tenants, with marketing managed by Blatteis Realty Co. As the market searches for a new occupant, the significance of the Amici’s brand, which once boasted a presence from the Bay Area to Shanghai, seems to be narrowing its scope.
Amici's decision to shutter this location appears to reflect broader trends in dining, with an evident shift toward takeaway and delivery services. SFGate reports that the co-owner of Amici's, Peter Cooperstein, has voiced that the "younger generation prefers convenient options" and emphasized the financial impracticality in maintaining high-rent sit-down establishments, especially in the wake of the pandemic's impact on dining habits.
This change comes after Amici’s closed another location in Dublin earlier this year and the one across from Oracle Park in 2019, signifying a concentrated move toward an operation less reliant on dine-in customers. The company has pared down from its peak of 16 locations and now operates a blend of sit-down and delivery-focused sites in the Bay Area and a single location in Sacramento. Information about potential plans for another San Francisco restaurant has not been made public by the company's leadership.
