A tiny, reservation-only bourbon bar bearing Steph Curry's name has quietly opened inside San Francisco's Westin St. Francis hotel on Union Square, pouring cocktails over a basketball-shaped ice cube and pairing its drinks with a $145, six-course tasting experience built around the Warriors star's own whiskey label. The Eighth Rule seats roughly 40 people across two narrow rooms, with dark wood paneling, gold details and a vaulted ceiling setting the mood for what's being billed as a saloon inspired by a Prohibition-era speakeasy.
A Basketball-Shaped Cube and a Famous Name
The bar was created by Curry in partnership with chef Michael Mina, with the Mina Group operating the business, according to The Eighth Rule's own site. It sits at 335 Powell Street, just across the hotel lobby from Bourbon Steak, a separate Mina Group restaurant that also opened inside the Westin St. Francis, as reported by the San Francisco Standard. The signature pour is Curry's Gentleman's Cut bourbon, and a visiting writer for Time Out described a Manhattan arriving with an ice cube shaped unmistakably like a basketball.
That Manhattan is part of what the bar calls its Gentleman's Cut experience, a lineup of cocktails made with Curry's bourbon that includes a sour with yellow Chartreuse, yuzu, raspberry and egg whites. Food bites on offer reportedly include Stephen's Chicken Bites with lemon pepper ranch crème fraîche, sesame lobster toast with jalapeño, avocado and cilantro, and a caviar parfait with smoked salmon, egg mimosa and crème fraîche.
What's Inside the $145 Tasting
Beyond the à la carte menu, the bar's centerpiece is a six-course, omakase-style cocktail tasting built around Curry's Gentleman's Cut whiskey line, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Standard reports that the tasting costs $145, a price point the outlet's review flagged as among the priciest in the city's bar scene. That same review noted the à la carte list sticks to roughly half a dozen cocktails between $22 and $28, and that food was not being served in that visit.
Beyond the tasting flight, the bar's broader One of a Kind Eighth Rule Tasting Experience is described as including hot plates, cold plates and desserts served in individual portions, with offerings like Maine lobster and melons and a creamsicle shaved ice with lychee, raspberry and coconut whip. The name nods to bourbon's seven rules, with guests creating their own eighth rule, Time Out reported.
Opening Date and Capacity
The Chronicle reported the pair were set to open on October 10, 2025, and ABC7 News reported they were set to open Friday, October 10, 2025. The bar has a capacity of 40, according to its website and the Chronicle. The Chronicle separately described The Eighth Rule as Curry's first brick-and-mortar hospitality business.
Part of a Bigger Union Square Push
The openings arrive as Union Square works to rebuild its nightlife and retail footing. ABC7 News reported that the Union Square Alliance described the neighborhood as having been decimated during the pandemic and the years that followed, with the area now reemerging as, in the alliance's words, the thriving center of San Francisco. ABC7 News also reported that Uniqlo has announced plans to open a new flagship store a few blocks from Union Square in 2026.
Bourbon Steak occupies the former space of Mina's namesake restaurant inside the same hotel and marks the 15th location of that restaurant brand, per Eater San Francisco. The Chronicle reported separately that Mina operates 11 Bourbon Steak locations across the United States.
Mina and Ayesha Curry, Stephen Curry's wife, previously collaborated on International Smoke, a restaurant that went on to open outposts in Houston, Miami and Las Vegas before all of those locations closed except for the San Francisco restaurant, according to the Standard. The Eighth Rule now stands as a fresh chapter in the Curry family's growing hospitality footprint in San Francisco, built around a bourbon with Curry's own name on the label and a cocktail experience designed to be sipped slowly, one basketball-shaped ice cube at a time.
