Upper Fillmore Is Filling In From the South End First

"They're showing up and doing what they said they were going to do," Tim Omi, president of the Fillmore Merchants Association, told the San Francisco Standard in August. "The proof is in the pudding." He was talking about the Upper Fillmore Revitalization Project, the group tied to investor Neil Mehta and his business partner Cody Allen. With its summer purchase of 2035–2047 Fillmore, the group now owns eight properties on and around the street, including the Clay Theater, according to the Standard.

As of early October 2026, the places where you can actually sit down and order are mostly not in those buildings. They sit at the south end of the corridor, around Sutter and Post, and small, independent operators run most of them. The 2200 block, where most of the purchases are concentrated, has the longest list of projects and the latest opening dates. The street is filling in from south to north, and the block that got the headlines will be the last to change.

Where the doors are already open

Walk north from Post Street and the first stretch shows what has changed since summer.

1. Tacos El Patrón, 1325 Fillmore. Owner Alberto Pineda took over the former Black Bark BBQ space, which was later Scott's Chowder House, and had opened by the time The New Fillmore's September 8 column ran. It is his third location, after Pleasant Hill and the Mission. With about 50 seats it is also his biggest, and the menu covers tacos, burritos, tamales and guisados, the slow-cooked Mexican stews. "There are no tacos around," Pineda told the paper.
2. Super Duper Burgers, Fillmore at Post. It replaced the old Burger King with the familiar burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, shakes and soft serve.
3. Yuzu, on Sutter near Fillmore. Restaurateur Kevin Chen's newest spot is painted citrus yellow. It works as a takeout counter and small grocery by day. In the evening, a refrigerator door opens onto a 10-seat counter serving a 12-course omakase for $65.
4. Avocado Green, 1800 Fillmore. Chen is also running a tea and coffee shop in the windows of the Nono Baru space on the corner. It was soft-opening in September with matcha lattes, housemade pastries and takeout food.
5. Hello Mart, 2135 Buchanan. It was set to open September 12 with groceries, takeout bento boxes and a coffee bar on an otherwise residential block one street over.

What these places have in common is who runs them. Chen already operated Don Don, Ninniku and Nono Baru nearby before adding Yuzu and Avocado Green. Pineda is a three-location operator who saw a gap on the street. These projects took over spaces that were already built out as restaurants. They moved fast because they didn't need a new kitchen designed, a historic facade reviewed or a theater rebuilt.

Prices are also worth noticing. A $65 omakase on Sutter is a different kind of evening from what is planned up the street. Chen says his buying power on seafood is what keeps the price unusually low. He described the goal as "a very affordable omakase dining experience with a very fun casual setting."

The middle blocks, where the next openings land

Between Sutter and Pine, the next two openings both cook Korean food, and they are the clearest signs of what comes next.

Matdol Tofu is going into the former Pride of the Mediterranean space at the corner of Fillmore and Sutter. Jiman Jang and his partners launched Jevikal, a San Jose food truck serving gimbap and dakgangjeong, earlier this year. Their Fillmore restaurant will center on handmade tofu, with sundubu jjigae, L.A. galbi and deulgireum makguksu, which are buckwheat noodles with perilla oil. The team is also working on allergy-friendly and vegan options. As of September, the target was December or January.

Jang has explained why he chose this corner. In 1908, the Gongnip Association, an organization for newly arrived Koreans, moved its headquarters to 1944 Buchanan Street, a few blocks away. "We felt this neighborhood would truly understand the spirit of what we're bringing with Matdol," he told The New Fillmore.

Monami is a block north at 2001 Fillmore, at the corner of Pine, in the former Noosh space. That corner was once Thai Stick and, before that, Pacific Heights Bar & Grill. Junsoo and Hyunyoung Bae, the co-owners of Michelin-starred SSAL on upper Polk, are building an upscale Korean steakhouse focused on premium beef, with tabletop grills and both à la carte and tasting menus. The last public target, as SFist reported in August, was fall 2026. The San Francisco Chronicle had also reported "this fall" back in January. Treat that date as a goal until the doors open.

Monami is the first Revitalization Project building close to opening. It sits at the southern edge of the group's holdings, so even the project's own openings are moving south to north.

Retail is following the same path. Spanish footwear brand Alohas is taking over the former Rocksbox storefront at 2208 Fillmore, next door to D&M Liquor. Rocksbox opened on the street in late 2024 as a pop-up before going permanent. It closed this year, around the same time Jonathan Adler closed its longtime home furnishings store at 2133 Fillmore.

Why the 2200 block is the slowest

Most of the purchases sit on the 2200 block of Fillmore, around the Clay Theater, and each project there has to clear a hurdle the south end skipped.

2222 Fillmore is the former Starbucks, which left in 2024 after more than 30 years on the street. Pim Techamuanvivit, the chef behind Michelin-starred Kin Khao and Nari, is planning a restaurant there with the working title Khao Soi Ya. Sam Zelver, general manager of Kin Khao, told the SF Business Times that the name may change depending on the menu, and that the kitchen buildout will decide the menu. In other words, city permitting will shape what kitchen equipment can go in, and that in turn shapes what the restaurant serves. No opening date has been announced, and SFist said it expected an update sometime in the new year.

2035–2047 Fillmore, the onetime home of Mio, A-Pizza and Aquatalia, started emptying out in 2022. A group linked to the project bought it this summer for about $8.6 million, according to city records cited by the Standard. All four vacant storefronts are to be combined into one restaurant, which hasn't been named. The Mediterranean Revival building is also going through the city's historic landmark designation process. The Historic Preservation Commission put the case on its August 5 agenda with a preliminary recommendation in favor, and the Standard noted that this could make changes to the building harder. No final designation has been reported.

The Clay Theater at 2261 Fillmore has been closed since early 2020. Its restoration plan passed review by the Historic Preservation Commission on April 1. The plan calls for a single-screen theater open seven days a week, with more than 500 screenings a year of independent and repertory films, 35mm presentations and community events. The design is modeled on New York's Metrograph, with a concession area serving beer, wine and small plates, plus a small new balcony. The latest estimate is completion sometime in 2027. "To have this coming back is almost too good to be true," one neighbor on the block told The New Fillmore.

So the block with the most money behind it is also the block with the most approvals to clear. A chef has to wait for a permit before she can settle her menu. A building in a designation case can't be rebuilt quickly. A century-old theater takes years to restore.

The street, block by block, as of early October

Some of the worries from 2024 have eased. La Méditerranée, which seemed at risk when the group bought its building, has extended its lease to 2028 and is in talks on a longer deal, according to Omi. He also said the project has kept its commitment not to bring in chain stores. Not everyone on the street agrees with the vision. Isabella Uperesa, who works at the footwear boutique Freda Salvador on the same block as the latest purchase, told the Standard that one tech investor gaining so much influence over the corridor "feels icky." For now, the newest dinner spots on Upper Fillmore are a taqueria, a $65 omakase behind a refrigerator door and, if the fall target holds, a Korean steakhouse at the corner of Pine.

On the 2200 block, the signs of change for the rest of 2026 will be construction paper in the windows. Chef Pim's restaurant has no announced date, and the Clay's marquee is not expected to light up before 2027.

Upper Fillmore is a good reminder that empty storefronts, permit timelines and historic designations all shape how a street feels long before anything changes in the housing market. If you live in Pacific Heights and wonder how a corridor like this affects the value of your home, Krystow & Kemp would be glad to talk it through. Request a complimentary home valuation and bespoke listing consultation, and we'll show you what the blocks around your address are doing right now.