The chief of staff for the Saison group opened a passion project at the end of September. Copas is a new all-day cafe in the Castro, now serving cappuccinos and avocado toast in the morning and sparkling copas cocktails and grilled octopus at night.

The Trick Dog team strikes back. Bon Voyage has sadly set sail, but it was replaced with the new Chezchez in August. Which is honestly ideal timing for serving up tinned fish and cool spritz for real San Francisco summer. (Important note: Trick Dog also finally reopened in October, with maybe its most convoluted menu yet, if you want to turn this into a Mission bar crawl.)

Bar Iris is the new sister bar just next door to Nisei fine dining restaurant, located in the former La Folie lounge space). It opened October 14 with fun riffs on high balls and furikake popcorn, starring lots of Japanese whiskey and spirits in the cocktails. 

The Bird Dog team will finally open their upscale seafood slash wine bar on October 22. Le Fantastique is spinning caviar eclairs, luxe bubbles, and vintage vinyl into Hayes Valley.

The Mins group (Tamashisoul, Sushi Hon) debuted its biggest project yet: Sushi Sato opened in November, and it’s only the first of three new Japanese restaurants in one triple combined space in the Tenderloin. Sushi Sato offers affordable tastings in a warm minimalist space, and best of all, it has a full bar pouring more than 80 different types of whiskey and cocktails infused with Japanese ingredients, from black and green teas to shiso leaves and peppers.

Drinks are up at the La Cocina Municipal Marketplace. La Paloma is the new cocktail bar within the food hall, and it’s powered by women: Cocktails from an award-winning female bartender, specifically paired with food offerings from female entrepreneurs, and starring ingredients from female producers. It opened with a short list of tequila and rum drinks on October 15, but watch Instagram for rotating pop-ups and happy hours.

La Bande, that gorgeous green triangular space at the tip of the Proper Hotel, is reopening as a gin-soaked tapas bar on September 21. Pull up a barstool for grilled squid, tomato toast, and gin and tonics.

A trio of industry veterans has opened a subterranean party hideout in the Tenderloin. Persona bar opened in August, and is now serving intriguing cocktails in an underground space inspired by erotica cinema.

Thriller Social Club is a massive new arcade bar that smashed open at the end of October, betting big on the return of tech personalities to SoMa. It boasts two levels and three bars, both arcade games and carnival games, a Skee-Ball champion ruling eight lanes, and “the most expensive golf simulator in the world,” so they say. Oh, and craft cocktails and buttered lobster rolls, of course. Barman Sean Doolan from the Westwood team is crafting the cocktails, so expect a lot more than the arcade beer.

In addition to the whole rooftop scene, 25 Lusk also opened a new bar on the ground floor in August. Traveler aims to whisk drinkers away with rotating menus inspired by different destinations, starting with tlayuda and tequila from Mexico. 

Tribune is a new brasserie within the Tribune building that once housed the eponymous newspaper. Opening its doors in August, it brought mid-century style to those historic digs, and a booze-friendly menu, pairing twists on classic cocktails with trout amandine and steak au poivre.

Star chef Nelson German of Alamar seafood restaurant opened the new Sobre Mesa cocktail lounge only nine days before the pandemic shut down the bay. But the bar reopened this March after a year, and is now finally serving Afro-Latino drinks and dishes, including the eponymous Sobre Mesa with light rum, dark rum, mamajuana, and citrus; there’s also a Zombie Reviver with gin, sherry, passionfruit, and a wash of coconut oil and spritz of absinthe.  

Blake Cole (Hopscotch, Hot House pop-up) and Kimberly Rosselle (Trick Dog, Bon Voyage) opened Friends & Family for to-go cocktails in April 2020, but now drinkers can wander back through the light and airy space in Uptown Oakland. The very reasonably priced cocktails arrive in vintage glassware, and there are fun snacks in the form of marinated beans, house pickles, and fancy grilled cheese. 

Snail Bar is a petit natural wine bar and bottle shop that popped open in Temescal in July. Come for the natty wine, but stay for the escargots stuffed with kumquats and miso cashew butter, as well as other seasonal market-sourced snacks.