California's Oldest Existing Restaurant Has Served Up Seafood For More Than 175 Years

In 1849, gold fever had overtaken San Francisco, turning it into an instant boomtown, with 4,000 people arriving by ship each month. The city's population swelled from around 1,000 residents in 1848 to 25,000 by 1850. Into this chaotic scene came three enterprising Croatian immigrants — Nikola Budrovich, Frano Kosta, and Antonio Gasparich — who set up a tent on the busy Long Wharf where hundreds of ships were moored, and began selling grilled fish and coffee to hungry patrons. Back in 1849, the owners simply called their business "Coffee Stand." The humble canvas-covered establishment would, like the city itself, grow, change, and endure. Since 1912, it's been known as Tadich Grill.

The business, opened a year before California became a state on September 9, 1850, is currently located on California Street in the Financial District. And, incredibly, it's still serving seafood to San Francisco's hungry patrons. Tadich Grill is the oldest existing restaurant in California, and the third-oldest in the United States. It may not come close to some of the oldest restaurants in the world, like St. Peter Stiftskulinarium in Salzburg, Austria, which started in 803, but it's still an impressive feat.

The original restaurant saw several name changes, including The New World Coffee Stand and Cold Day, along with various moves and growth before John Tadich bought into the restaurant in 1887. Tadich was a Croatian-American who started as an employee there in 1876. As the owner, he guided it through a tumultuous period that included the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 and the accompanying fire, which destroyed the business. In 1912, he moved the restaurant again and named it Tadich Grill.

Tadich sold the business to two of his employees, Mitch and Louie Buich, who were also Croatian-American, in 1928. And since that time, the restaurant, at its current location since 1967, has remained in the Buich family. More than a hundred years later, Mike Buich, the third-generation owner, continues to serve up fresh seafood delivered to your table by white-jacketed waitstaff in its Art Deco atmosphere. You can still get fish grilled over mesquite coals, the traditional Croatian cooking method that harks back to the restaurant's origins. You can also get a wide range of other dishes, including cioppino, San Francisco's storied seafood stew that's a must-try regional dish. It's practically an essential visit for some excellent seafood with a side of San Francisco history if you're visiting the City by the Bay.