In a rarity, highly anticipated SF restaurant opens and restricts media access |
My heart thumped as I ascended the gleaming steps of the palatial Huntington Hotel and made my way into the dark foyer of its restaurant, the Big Four. Covered in sweat, I had walked instead of Ubered up to Nob Hill from my downtown office, in the 80-degree heat, to save a shekel and hopefully work up an appetite for the restaurant’s signature pot pie.
This 104-year-old hotel, located across the street from Pacific-Union, one of San Francisco’s oldest and most elusive private men’s clubs, had reopened its doors after a six-year hiatus. I was there to find meaning in its return.
To be honest, the hotel restaurant that bills itself as “the Officially Unofficial Club House of Nob Hill” — it’s named after four railroad tycoons whose mansions once graced the hill — had never really caught my attention. It opened in 1976, was known for moneyed guests, and closed when the pandemic hit in 2020. Since then, the property has switched hands and undergone a lengthy restoration. But the restaurant’s 50-year-old interior and the spirit of the American classics menu has been restored to its bygone days.
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The Huntington Hotel is located atop Nob Hill at the intersection of California and Taylor streets.
The Big Four, located on California Street at the top of Nob Hill in San Francisco.
In anticipation of this story, I did what I’ve done for the past 20-plus years: called the restaurant in advance for permission to bring a photographer.
That’s when things got weird. I was told that because of the high-profile nature of the hotel’s guests, we would not now nor ever be permitted to shoot inside the restaurant during service, with actual humans eating food. Hotel general manager Matthew de Quillien shared that this was standard practice at the members-only London clubs where he once worked. Privacy is important, I thought, but wasn’t the Big Four open to the public, unlike its elite neighbor?
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Days later, when we acquiesced to capturing food close-ups on a soulless table akin to a Resy ad, we were told that beefed up security due to a VIP guest meant we couldn’t even shoot the restaurant when it was closed. We’d have to wait until this person was gone.
The dining room of the Big Four is lined with green leather booths, in San Francisco on March 27, 2026.
The opulent bar at the Big Four, located inside of the Huntington Hotel, in San Francisco on March 27, 2026.
I pondered these restrictions with a bit of an eye roll and settled into a deep green leather booth with my dining companion. Designer Ken Fulk and his team have restored the handsome dining room, with its wood-paneled walls, polished brass and shiny wood floors.
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Original artwork is everywhere, as is stained glass. Two returning pianists — Michael Udelson and Dick Clark, along with one new addition, Hardy Hemphill, play the grandest of pianos seven nights a week.
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As we perused the menu, I thought about the many, many restaurants in San Francisco with similar classic fare — char-grilled steaks, seafood, Caesar salad — that have been around far longer. Aside from its storied location, how does the Big Four stand apart? I’d soon find out.
Resurrecting the menu fell on the shoulders of executive chef David Intonato, who previously worked at Appellation Healdsburg in Sonoma County. He kept it tight: 10 entrees, including a $28 burger, three classic cuts of beef and a San Francisco cioppino, with a few modern additions. The restaurant also serves Hog Island oysters, a mushroom pot pie and Mount Lassen trout, which has become as ubiquitous as Mary’s half chicken on SF menus.
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The cioppino at the Big Four, in San Francisco on March 27, 2026.
The chicken pot pie at the Big Four in San Francisco on March 27, 2026.
But first, that cioppino ($58). The presentation was striking: saffron-tinged soup poured tableside into a shallow, forest-green bowl dotted with clams, calamari and yellowtail. Unfortunately, the tomato-based broth had a harsh taste, likely the result of white wine that didn’t properly cook off. It was unpleasant, and overshadowed the other flavors.
By contrast and, as expected, the organic chicken pot pie ($35, the same price as six years ago) was a home run, with its abundance of peas, carrots, pearl onions and potatoes. It was crowned in a magnificent puff of buttery golden crust that got lopped off and divided tableside. To counter the creaminess, we went with a Louie wedge salad, despite its surprisingly steep price of $24 (it’s iceberg lettuce without protein, people).
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The lettuce head was cut in two and topped with thick, garlicky Louie dressing, asparagus, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, avocado and radishes. Tasty, but for only five bucks more you can order an entree: the creamy, hand-rolled ricotta cavatelli ($29) with burrata, artichokes and peas — spring in a bowl.
The Louie salad at the Big Four in San Francisco on March 27, 2026.
A Negroni from the Big Four in San Francisco on March 27, 2026.
Our server, who came to the Big Four from the Rotunda in Neiman Marcus, split the salad onto two plates for us. Overall, service was thoughtful in this way and moved at a clipped pace. She had great vibes and shared us with other team members who came by throughout the evening, including server Eder Garcia, one of three staffers that has returned to the Big Four.
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Garcia worked as a barback for 12 years at the Big Four and was happy to be back, he said. In training the staff, the Big Four invited now-retired head server and historian Ron Henggeler to educate newbies on the property’s heritage, general manager Kelsey Tucker told me later via email.
Ironically, the best thing I ate at the Big Four — what perked my taste buds most and felt bold and innovative for a classic SF restaurant — was an amuse-bouche of fresh kanpachi stuffed into a savory black cone, which I took to be made of squid ink. Dusted with what tasted like shiso leaf, it was far more memorable than even the famed pot pie. Back at my desk, I asked for more details on the dish but did not get them in time for publication.
Food aside, I will say one thing about the Big Four: I have never been in a quieter San Francisco restaurant. Despite an almost full house and nightly live piano, the volume in the dining room and bar was so low I almost thought people could hear my conversation with my colleague. Not once did we have to semi-yell over a neighbor’s cackle or wait for the clanging of plates to pass before we spoke. There simply was no noise.
The Big Four, inside of San Francisco’s Huntington Hotel, reopened this month after closing during the pandemic.
A portrait of Collis Potter Huntington, the hotel’s namesake, at the Big Four, in San Francisco on March 27, 2026.
I asked a Big Four spokesperson about the sound dampening and was assured it is “nothing too special, just padded carpet and acoustical felt ceiling panels,” she said via email. I reached out to Fulk, the designer, to learn more but did not hear back in time for publication.
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Ultimately, this is what sets the Big Four apart. The quiet is inherently exclusive, whether that’s intended for Nob Hill’s upper crust, the men of Pacific-Union Club, or downtown-schlepping me.
The Big Four, 1075 California St., San Francisco. Open daily, 7-10 a.m. for breakfast and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for lunch. Open for dinner Monday through Friday, 5-9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 5-10 p.m.
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