San Francisco's Newest Cocktail Bars: Yabani, Jupiter Room and Bruma at the Ritz-Carlton

Nob Hill's two new rooms

Bruma opened on 12 October inside the Ritz-Carlton at 600 Stockton Street, at the top of Nob Hill. The name is the Spanish word for fog. It's the most polished room of this year's openings, a long bar and lounge inside the hotel's 1909 building, and the crowd dresses for it. The list splits in two: bright citrus-forward drinks on one side, martinis and stirred classics on the other. $$$$.

Live jazz plays on Friday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., and a Latin band takes Saturday at the same hour. The room is big enough that nobody has to shout over it. Golden Hour aperitivo runs on Wednesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. if you want the quieter version. The lounge is open from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., and to midnight on Friday and Saturday, so plan it as a first drink of the evening. You can book a table online. There's afternoon tea, lunch and dinner too.

Also on Nob Hill, Olde Fashioned opened in October at 1548 California Street, in the space that was the dance bar Zhuzh. The list is short and classic, old fashioneds, daiquiris and sazeracs, and the negroni arrives in a flower-patterned teacup with a gold rim. Cocktails were $13 when it opened, which makes this the cheapest good drink of the new crop. It opens at 2 p.m. and runs to midnight, though the hours are still expanding, so check before you go.

Yabani, and a warning about the Mission

Yabani is the most interesting opening in the city right now. It opened on 6 November at 1779 Folsom Street in the Mission, in the old Nihon Whiskey Lounge space. The drinks cross Arab and Japanese traditions, so there's arak, a long list of highballs, and the Habibioni, a negroni rebuilt on shochu and a house date aperitivo. Nobody else here is doing this. $$$.

The catch is getting in. For now it opens on Friday and Saturday only, 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., with wider hours planned for January, so a midweek trip misses it entirely. There's no food yet either, and a menu is promised for early next year. Eat before you come.

Also in the Mission, Lore on 16th Street hides its cocktails inside an escape room, a short walk from the 16th Street BART station. Tickets start at $86.50 a head and include three drinks. A live actor runs the session. For the drinking itself, go to Yabani.

Early drinks in Russian Hill

Torino opened quietly this autumn at 2360 Van Ness Avenue at Green, in the old Ho's Bootleg Bar & Kitchen space. Spritzes lead the list, Aperol and Hugo, with classic cocktails and a wine list leaning natural. The seating is mostly dark booths, which suits a drink that turns into 45 minutes. It opens at 4 p.m., closing at 10 p.m. early in the week and midnight at the weekend.

Bar Iris is on Polk Street, next door to the Japanese restaurant Nisei, whose kitchen cooks the izakaya-style food served at the bar. The cocktails lean on Japanese whisky, sake, umeshu and shochu. Two of you can walk in, but the indoor tables need a reservation. There's a parklet out front as well as seating inside. Expect $31 to $50 a head.

SoMa and Mission Bay

Bar Malone's opened in June at 216 Townsend Street in SoMa, a block from Oracle Park, in the long-running District space. It's a former warehouse with exposed brick and a horseshoe bar in the middle of the room. The list is built on martinis, and the Scoundrel skips citrus completely, gin or vodka with house brine, an olive and a pickled onion. There's a 50-50 martini and a maple old fashioned beside it. The kitchen does shrimp cocktail, steak frites and black cod with ginger beurre blanc. Happy hour brings $2 oysters and $4 oyster shooters, and Sunday brunch started in July.

Golden Rule, for Chase Center nights

Golden Rule is the one to know if you have tickets at Chase Center. It opened in May at 720 Terry A. Francois Boulevard in Thrive City, beside the arena in Mission Bay. There are TVs inside and a patio on the pavement. Full-size cocktails are $19 to $20 and the miniatures $12 to $15, so you can try two before the doors open. Small bites stay under $8 and there's a full non-alcoholic list. No bookings, walk in. It opens Thursday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and on every event day at the arena.

A loud night downtown

Shotski's Alpine Lodge opened in May at 239 Kearny Street, in what was the disco bar Nightingale. It's done out as a ski lodge, with faux-wood panelling, taxidermy and skis on the walls. The drinks are better made than that suggests, and nothing goes above $13. The Death Cookie is an old fashioned riff with bourbon, amaro and Stroh, served with a biscuit. A $10 spin of the prize wheel returns a bucket of beers, a flask of Fernet or a shotski. That last one is a vodka shot mounted on a ski, and four people have to drink it together. It's 21 and over, and it's the wrong room for a quiet conversation.

Two rooms from 2025

Bar Shoji at 140 New Montgomery Street in SoMa is a coffee and matcha counter by day and a bar from 5 p.m. The San Francisco Chronicle named it the Bay Area's best new bar of 2025, and the drinks are still the most carefully made of any recent opening. Japanese takes on classics run $18 to $20, and the Cold Noodle is the one to order if you aren't drinking. The bar food crosses Japanese with Isan and northern Thai flavours. Evening reservations are taken, though check which nights it opens before you plan around it.

Bar Maritime has the old Burritt Room on the second floor of the Palihotel at 417 Stockton Street, near Union Square. It's martini-led, with a house martini of vodka and Tokubetsu junmai sake, and oysters and seafood snacks to go with them. Every night the ship's bell is rung at last call and the whole bar is asked to join a free toast. It opens at 4 p.m. most days, 2 p.m. on Saturday, and closes at 11 p.m., midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Days, doors and booking

Bar Maritime is closed on Monday and Torino doesn't open until Tuesday. Bruma takes bookings online, and the indoor tables at Bar Iris need a reservation.

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