SAN FRANCISCO – 34TH AVENUE and GEARY BLVD
Lee Heidhues 8.29.2026
It takes a lot of Courage to maintain a successful small business in San Francisco for 52 years.
San Francisco is losing one of its genuine landmark restaurants.
The owners deserve their well earned retirement.
After 52 years serving customers in the outer Richmond District of San Francisco Pacific Cafe will close its doors for the last time on August 30th.
We have dined at this restaurant many times. It’s a sad occasion and a loss for San Francisco.
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 8.28.2026
In recent weeks, customers have lined up for hours, even longer than the usual wait, for a table at Pacific Café in San Francisco, hoping for one last bite of crab-stuffed petrale sole and a final complimentary pour of wine before the Richmond District mainstay closed.
Co-owners Frank Gundry and Ross Warren recently announced that Sunday, Aug. 30, will be their last day of service, after putting the restaurant up for sale for $195,000 this spring so they can retire. At least one potential buyer is interested in preserving the business as Pacific Café, said Gundry, who started as a waiter soon after it opened in 1974 and became co-owner in 2014. But Gundry, 78, and Warren, 80, aren’t willing to wait for negotiations to go through to retire — nor are longtime staff members, host Roy Manabat, 80, and cooks Jian Huang and Roger Li, who are both in their late 60s, Gundry said. Without a buyer in place, the future of the restaurant as regulars know it remains unclear.
“We’ve been so busy and swamped you hardly have time to get your bearings,” Gundry said. “We didn’t realize how popular we were.”
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