Our History

Alfredo Bacchini, a well-liked waiter in San Francisco, decided to open a storefront restaurant at 886 Broadway Street in 1928. Alfred's was soon serving the who's who of the city. During the bleak days of prohibition, the restaurant was closed down for a brief, very brief, time - politicians still wanted a good drink and a great steak!

Historical moments came and passed. The Golden Gate and the Oakland Bay bridges were built, helping bring in business from the East Bay and Marin. World War II rushed in with thousands of troops stationed in the Bay Area or waiting embarkation on troop ships. While in San Francisco, many of the troops and officers came to know Alfred's atop Broadway. Many still return from all parts of the world to enjoy Alfred's warm hospitality and world-renowned steaks once again.

Broadway saw many changes as the years passed.  The Broadway tunnel was built; the beatniks put North Beach on the map; Finocchio’s, Vanessi’s and Carol Doda brought the tourists.

In 1973, Art Petri and his son, Al, purchased the restaurant. They worked diligently to bring the restaurant into the 21st century without compromising the traditional qualities that have made Alfred's such a respected restaurant.  1997 was a big year for Alfred’s and the Petri Family.  After losing the lease for the coveted valet parking lot across the street, the decision was made to move.  Art Petri passed away in June so he missed the move from Broadway to Merchant Street, the former location of the Blue Fox.   It took more than five months to reconstruct the comfort and ambience of the old Alfred’s in such a different and larger space.  Will Growney, Al’s brother-in-law, joined the team that same year.  In 2000, Marco Petri, Al’s son became the third generation of the Petri family to manage Alfred’s.

Originally, Alfred's steaks came from beef fattened on sugar beet pulp from Manteca and grain-fed beef from Idaho. In the 50s, Alfred's changed to golden corn-fed beef. Today, Alfred's uses exclusively corn-fed beef with just the right amount of marbling to insure good flavor and juiciness without a fatty aftertaste. The beef is brought in as primal cuts: short loins, ribs, tenderloins, and boneless New Yorks. These cuts are aged up to four weeks to guarantee tenderness. The final touch is cooking these wonderful steaks over Mexican mesquite charcoal, the iron wood of the West, to mouthwatering perfection.

After ten years in the new location, the Petri family instituted a service charge that would be added to each and every bill in the restaurant, regardless of the amount of guests or size of the check.  This has been done in an effort to correct the financial disparity between the tipped (servers, bussers, bartenders, hosts) and the non-tipped (janitors, dishwashers, cooks) employees, and to meet the escalating costs of running a restaurant.  It gives the opportunity to reward all employees for their dedicated hard work. Legislation emanating from local (indexed minimum wage increases, health benefits, and payroll tax) and state (no tip credit, sales tax, control of distribution of tips) government has widened the income gap between the tipped and non-tipped employee.

It has been very encouraging to see the patrons of Alfred’s supporting this service charge, seeing this as a  way to remain competitive in the long term. This has allowed Alfred’s to be one of the few restaurants in The City that rewards kitchen and back-of-house staff for all their hard work.