San Francisco’s restaurant industry has already absorbed the abrupt collapse of a 32-year-old Bay Area restaurant group. Now one of the city’s oldest dining institutions is fighting to avoid becoming the next loss.
Tommaso’s, North Beach’s oldest Italian restaurant, received a three-day notice demanding $40,800 in unpaid rent or possession of its Kearny Street building. The notice covered four months of missed payments, according to SFGate.
The 91-year-old restaurant has not announced a permanent closure. Owner Maureen “Mo” Donegan said she intends to remain open for as long as possible while trying to raise enough money to resolve the debt.
A landmark with a famous oven
Tommaso’s opened in 1935 and became known for its wood-fired pizzas and historic brick oven, which may be the oldest oven of its kind on the West Coast. The restaurant’s guest list over the decades has reportedly included Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Jerry Brown and columnist Herb Caen.
Its current financial trouble follows a major ownership change. Donegan took over in 2025 after the Crotti family retired from running the restaurant. Members of that same family remain the landlords and had operated Tommaso’s for more than half a century.
Equipment problems and weak traffic piled up
Donegan told SFGate that slow customer traffic, expensive repairs and disruptions involving the restaurant’s aging equipment pushed the business behind. Tommaso’s lost weeks of sales while its pizza oven underwent maintenance, then encountered failed refrigeration equipment and spoiled inventory.
Business reportedly improved for a time before falling sharply again in May and June. Donegan said the restaurant also has not regained all of the loyal customers who frequented it before the ownership transition.
A fundraising campaign was launched to help cover the back rent, but it remained far below its goal when the eviction threat became public. The passing of the three-day deadline does not itself mean Tommaso’s has closed; the landlord would still need to pursue the next legal steps if the dispute is not resolved.
For diners hoping to support the restaurant, the most important detail is that Tommaso’s remained open when the situation was reported. Its future may now depend on whether the owner, landlord and community can find a solution quickly enough to preserve a North Beach institution that has survived for more than nine decades.
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