Serving Since

San Francisco

Serving since

1908

118 years in San Francisco

John's Grill

Union Square · American

Go here for
Sam Spade's Lamb Chops · Jack LaLanne Salad
Why go
Sam Spade's lamb chops at the Union Square grill that opened in 1908 and appears in Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon.
Local character
Locals + visitors. The Infatuation says it's filled with tourists and families shopping nearby Union Square, plus regulars at the bar.
Directions Official website

Why it matters

John's Grill opened in 1908, two years after the earthquake, and the official site says it was one of the first major restaurants to reopen downtown. It serves steaks and seafood, with live jazz nightly.

Dashiell Hammett ate there often and mentioned it in The Maltese Falcon. Detective Sam Spade orders chops, a baked potato and sliced tomatoes, a meal the menu still sells as Sam Spade's Lamb Chops. Gus Konstin, who bought both the restaurant and its three-story building with his wife Sydna, made it a shrine to Hammett and Sam Spade. A San Francisco Chronicle column for its 110th year said it had had only three owners, and that the Konstin family had run it for the past 50 years.

During the pandemic, the SF Examiner reported, it reopened in July, closed again during the winter surge, and returned in February.

The story

  1. 1908Opens two years after the earthquake3
  2. TodayStill serving San Francisco

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Details

Address
63 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Neighborhood
Union Square
Ownership
Not verified
Status
Open · verified Sep 2026

OldScore

A secondary, editorial measure. The founding year above is the fact that matters most. How it works.

Age33/ 35
Continuity15/ 20
Local significance10/ 20
Local food culture10/ 15
Independence—/ 10
OldScoreNot yet scored

"—" means unknown. We don't publish a total until every part is verified.

Local character: Locals + visitors. The Infatuation says it's filled with tourists and families shopping nearby Union Square, plus regulars at the bar. This is separate from OldScore: a place can be popular with visitors and still belong here.

More like this

Sources

  1. John's Grill (official site) Founding year, Address
  2. John's Grill (official site, Hours & Location) Address, Current status
  3. John's Grill (official site, History) Founding year, History, What to order
  4. John's Grill (official site, Menus) What to order
  5. San Francisco Chronicle, Carl Nolte, "John's Grill in the city's heart for 110 years" Founding year, History, Ownership
  6. San Francisco Examiner, "The restaurant that survived two pandemics in one lifetime" History, Ownership
  7. Wikipedia, "John's Grill" Founding year, History, Ownership · cross-check only
  8. The Infatuation, 'John's Grill' review History