San Francisco restaurant week newcomer Bettola serves up Italian cuisine
Despite concerns about tariffs and the economy, many restaurants in San Francisco were packed as the city celebrates restaurant week. The 10-day event is heading into its final weekend, and many restaurants say so far, it's been a huge success.
In May of last year, an Italian restaurant and market opened on Clement, a street that's already lined with restaurants. In a short amount of time, it's won over many regulars, but it's a place that customers commonly mispronounce.
"People say Bettola, but we're trying to get the word out there that it's Bettola with an accent on the e," said Carolina Zaid with Bettola.
Zaid says this is a small, family-owned business that specializes in serving up Italian cuisine. Food that is made fresh every day.
"We have homemade gnocchi," she said. "We make the gnocchi every day. It's potato and flour. It's a long process. We also make our ragu every day, our pesto daily."
This year, more than 200 places took part in the Spring SF Restaurant Week. Golden Gate Restaurant Association says that, unlike past years, it had a high number of first-timers to join the event. Bettola is one of 37 new restaurants.
"You can see, it helps," Zaid said. "It helps small businesses, and it helps us actually meet and interact with other small businesses because when I'm not working, I'm going to other restaurants on Clement during restaurant week. So, it's really nice seeing the community being brought together in SF like this."
Customers like Ashleigh Brewer say this is not just their restaurant week spot, but a go-to place for authentic Italian food.
"They have a really good gnocchi and that's what we come for," said Brewer.
With the uncertainty of tariffs and the status of the economy overall, Bettola says it's definitely had its ups and downs. But they're thankful to already have a strong group of regulars.
"I think any little neighborhood spot feels special," Brewer said. "I think it's easy to get into, which is nice in San Francisco, and to have a good meal alongside that is always nice."
Bettola also hopes it was able to attract newcomers with their dishes, recipes that have been part of their family for generations.
"It's just fun to have prix fixes and be able to show people what we love about our restaurant and then the trust in the prix fix and leaving happy and full is really what we're here for," said Zaid.
