When Piccino took over the former Sessions space in the Presidio, it gained more than square footage. It inherited one of San Francisco’s most dramatic backdrops and answered with a restaurant that feels both recognizable and refreshed. The food is true to Piccino’s roots—Italian by influence, Californian by instinct—but here it plays out on a much grander stage.
A Setting with Breathing Room
Piccino’s Dogpatch flagship has long been a neighborhood anchor, surrounded by warehouses and start-ups. The Presidio could not be more different. Where Dogpatch is compressed and urban, the Presidio is all air and expanse: lawns, trails, historic brick, and the kind of tree-lined views that make you forget you’re still within city limits. That contrast alone reframes the Piccino experience.
The Experience of Scale
Size is the most obvious shift. The dining room holds more than 200, yet manages to avoid the anonymity of a banquet hall. Wood-slat ceilings and globe pendants warm the space, while a moss-green mural gestures toward the surrounding park. The central bar, decked with fresh flowers, anchors the room and hums with activity—part cocktail lounge, part gathering spot.
Private dining rooms create intimacy where needed, and the open kitchen adds just enough theater without distracting from the meal. Step outside and the restaurant expands again: a broad porch and 90-seat patio bordered by palms and redwoods. In a city where outdoor dining often means pavement and passing cars, this patio feels like an escape.
On a recent Wednesday night, the room was packed, the bar three-deep, yet the service stayed composed. The staff moved quickly but without frenzy, proof that the restaurant’s size doesn’t come at the expense of its tone. Filling a room on weekends is expected; filling it midweek suggests staying power.
A Menu with Familiar Bearings
The cooking remains grounded in Piccino’s philosophy: ingredient-first, seasonally driven, Italian in outline but flexible in execution. Vegetables are given priority, whether in a shaved fennel and endive salad with saffron vinaigrette or a pizza layered with roasted mushrooms, garlic, and parsley. Pizzas arrive with blistered edges, pastas are made in-house, and larger entrées showcase the kitchen’s expanded firepower: confit duck leg, a bone-in pork chop, or whatever fish is best at market. The cooking avoids fuss, relying instead on precision and restraint—the kind of food that reads simply on the menu but delivers more nuance on the plate.
Behind the Bar
The bar is more than a design centerpiece—it’s central to the experience. Cocktails are thoughtful and creative, yet they’re calibrated to enhance the food rather than upstage it. The wine list follows the same ethos: broad but intentional, with a strong showing from organic and biodynamic producers. California and Oregon are well represented, but Europe remains a steady through-line. It’s a list designed to reward exploration, whether you’re ordering by the glass or pulling something unexpected from the cellar.
Continuity and Contrast
For regulars of Dogpatch Piccino, the DNA is instantly recognizable: the focus on produce, the Italian backbone, the unfussy hospitality. What’s different here is the scale. Piccino Presidio is built to handle every occasion, weeknight dinner, corporate lunch, family gathering, celebratory evening, without losing its center. The setting changes the dynamic too. Dogpatch feels urban. Presidio feels outward-facing, its patio and porches opening into parkland. The food may be the same at its core, but the surroundings reshape the experience.
Piccino’s Place in the Presidio
The Presidio has never lacked for good restaurants; its dining scene has steadily matured alongside its museums, cultural venues, and outdoor spaces. Piccino Presidio adds another strong player to the culinary landscape. With its expansive footprint, confident cooking, and a bar that doubles as a social hub, it broadens the repertoire of what’s already here.
The packed dining room and terrace on a Wednesday night speaks volumes. This isn’t simply a Dogpatch transplant; it’s a fully realized expansion, larger, livelier, and distinctly its own, yet still grounded in the clarity of Piccino’s original vision.
Photos courtesy of Piccino Presidio