Tech investor turned restaurateur Eduardo Rallo is steering his next project straight into one of San Francisco’s busiest tourist choke points. This summer, he is set to open Il Porto, a new waterfront café at Pier 31’s Alcatraz Landing, with sit-down service and outdoor seating aimed squarely at ferry riders and Embarcadero wanderers. The pick of operator signals a city-backed effort to raise the bar on food along the tourist-heavy waterfront.
What’s coming to Pier 31
According to The San Francisco Standard, Rallo, the founder of Brainstorm Ventures and the restaurateur behind Colibrí and Il Parco, is targeting a June 2026 opening for Il Porto. The Standard reports that the lease requires the café to open at least 45 minutes before the first Alcatraz ferry departure, typically around 8:40 a.m., and stay open until at least 30 minutes after the last boat returns. The operator will pay an annual base rent plus a slice of sales above a set break-even point. Rallo is also working to secure a Type 47 liquor license, which would allow Il Porto to serve beer, wine and spirits.
Space carved by the Parks Conservancy
The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy has been managing the broader Alcatraz Embarkation expansion and has carved out roughly a 3,760-square-foot restaurant shell at Pier 31 that comes with shared outdoor dining space and public restrooms. The Parks Conservancy has said the site is expected to attract thousands of visitors each day and brought in Maven Commercial to find an operator. The group has pitched the restaurant buildout as part of a longer-term plan to make the embarkation plaza feel like a true gateway to Alcatraz rather than just a ferry queue.
Rallo’s local track record
Rallo is a serial restaurateur and investor who co-founded World Wrapps and serves as a managing partner at Brainstorm Ventures, which lists early investments that include OpenTable and Zappos, per Brainstorm Ventures. His local restaurant footprint already stretches into the Presidio, with Colibrí’s 2022 move to the Presidio Officers’ Club and Il Parco, the Presidio Tunnel Tops café and pizzeria that opened in 2024, according to the Presidio.
What visitors can expect
The Il Porto buildout includes a public patio along the north side of the space and a smaller terrace closer to the Embarcadero, plus a layout designed to absorb ferry queues without losing casual walk-up traffic. The San Francisco Standard notes that the hours must track ferry schedules, which could translate into early breakfast service and some late nights when tours run long. If the Type 47 license comes through, visitors can expect sandwiches and pizza paired with a fuller bar program.
Timeline and local context
The Pier 31 Embarkation project has been in the works for years, with multiple rounds of discussion and redesign aimed at modernizing the Alcatraz ferry experience. The new restaurant shell is one of the clearest, bricks-and-mortar outcomes of that process. Heller Manus and the Parks Conservancy have highlighted the site’s historic setting and strong transit connections as selling points for potential operators. If Il Porto does open on schedule in June, it will serve as an early test of whether more ambitious, full-service dining can truly take hold on this stretch of the Embarcadero.
