Eat Here Now is a first look at some of the newest, hottest restaurants around — the ones we think are worth visiting. We dine once, serve forth our thoughts, and let you take it from there.

A bartender at Beretta pours cocktails into snazzy footed glassware. Platters emerge from the open kitchen, laid out with meaty Italian delights like coppa and prosciutto di San Daniele — aged for 24 months and soft enough to rival mighty jamón Ibérico. Every table seems to have a pizza on an elevated rack.

The scene could have been from 2008, when Beretta debuted and San Francisco was staring down a fearsome economic slump. But it is 2025, and the stylish emblem of Valencia Street cool has just reawakened after a seven-week restoration with an updated menu, an enlarged bar, and an op art interior heavy on metallic hues. 

Beretta has always been a reliable spot for a casual date or lively nightcap and a bite. That hasn’t changed, but now there are plenty of other reasons to revisit it, especially at the peak of summer produce. The heirloom tomatoes in the $15 panzanella salad are flavorful, and fresh mint rises above the red wine vinegar in the $7 zucchini scapece. Nothing on the menu is revolutionary, but sexy surprises can be found, including the absinthe-forward Improved Whiskey cocktail ($15). And the ramekin that comes with those cured meats and bread? It’s filled not with butter but with a snappy gorgonzola dolce spread.

Overall, the approachable, pan-Italian menu has been updated but not dramatically altered. That’s in part because a few things had to stay, including soppressata pizza, crab arancini, and polpette (meatballs) in a spicy tomato sauce. Burrata is sacrosanct. “We can’t remove it,” says Adriano Paganini, founder and CEO of Beretta’s corporate parent, Back of the House Inc. “People would be up in arms.”

Although pizza ($18 to $25) has always been the focus — a garlicky mortadella pie with stracchino, pistachio, and escarole is a newcomer — Beretta’s center of gravity has shifted over time toward pastas. That started as a survival mechanism during the pandemic, when takeout orders swelled and customers sought items that, like pizza, would keep after a ride in the car. Thus a restaurant whose pasta options previously consisted solely of risotto, now offers linguine with prawns and nduja, spaghetti cacio e pepe, and agnolotti with roast chicken. Still, sticking with a rice base is a fine idea. A $28 bowl of risotto alla zefferano arrived with lemony gremolata and osso buco that had been removed from the bone — a wintry dish, for sure, but nevertheless comforting on a misty August night.

One notable addition is the $7 “antipastini” section, which features small bites like cauliflower with romesco sauce or ricotta with black mission figs and honey. Paganini and a now-deceased business partner had once discussed such a category, but it never came to fruition, for reasons he cannot recall. Now it’s on the menu now, a tribute to the partnership.

The time was simply right to invest in a refresh of the menu and the space. “Few restaurants last for 10 years,” Paganini says. “Seventeen is a long time.” 

Indeed, Valencia’s fortunes have waxed and waned precipitously over that period. Ambitious projects have come and gone, yet Beretta remains. It’s not only because of its enduring reputation as a late-night hangout with a youthful clientele and a big industry following — the 11:30 closing time on Fridays and Saturdays qualifies as late-night, at least by this city’s standards. It’s also because of an emphasis on value, something that was as important on the cusp of the Great Recession as it is amid today’s uncertain economic climate. At a time when the $30 mark is becoming San Francisco’s floor for entrees, every dish at Beretta stays below it. 

Today, the Back of the House empire contains a dozen concepts — Super Duper Burgers, Delarosa, and Starbelly among them. (BarVale, a Back of the House tapas restaurant on Divisadero Street, became another Beretta in 2020.) But Paganini downplays the suggestion that Beretta is the company’s flagship, though it remains a cut above the rest — and the one he’s most attached to. 

Beretta was his first project after he unloaded the ailing Pasta Pomodoro, a once-flourishing local chain of Italian restaurants. And it was an instant success. “I was fortunate,” he says. “Once you start over, if your first restaurant doesn’t work, you really have a problem.” 

So this Beretta is the comeback to the comeback, ready to greet patrons with its freshly repainted exterior. At some point during the renovation, the designer, tasked with making a splash, got cold feet and reverted to mundane burgundies and browns. So Paganini stepped in. “I said, ‘No, let’s do gold!’ You’ve got to stand out.”