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San FranciscoVisited March 2022 Views –

Cafe Zoetrope, San Francisco: Spaghetti and Meatballs in North Beach's Sentinel Building

A gray-green plate printed with CAFE ZOETROPE in green letters, holding torn romaine and croutons under shaved cheese, topped with a seared orange-pink fillet that looks like salmon, with a wine glass and a plate with a bread roll behind it.
The Caesar-style salad on a plate printed with the cafe's name, March 2022.
Address & map

Cafe Zoetrope is an Italian restaurant and wine bar in the Sentinel Building, on the corner of Kearny Street and Columbus Avenue in San Francisco's North Beach. The cafe is named for Francis Ford Coppola's production company, American Zoetrope, and its undated online menu lists spaghetti and meatballs made to Coppola's own meatball recipe.

A salad on Cafe Zoetrope's own plate

The salad in the cover photo looks like a Caesar: torn romaine, croutons and shaved cheese, topped with a seared fillet that looks like salmon, on a gray-green plate printed with CAFE ZOETROPE around the rim. Cafe Zoetrope's website says the building's ground floor once led to Caesar's Grill, an underground restaurant that claims to be the birthplace of the Caesar salad.

Spaghetti and meatballs

A wide white bowl of spaghetti in tomato sauce with two meatballs on top under more tomato sauce, grated cheese and chopped parsley.
Spaghetti in tomato sauce with two meatballs, grated cheese and parsley.

The pasta came in a wide white bowl: spaghetti in tomato sauce with two meatballs on top under more sauce, grated cheese and chopped parsley.

A meatball cut in half on a green-and-white plate with a leaf pattern; the inside is pink-gray ground meat with flecks that look like herbs, with tomato sauce around it.
A meatball cut in half, showing ground meat with flecks that look like herbs.

A meatball cut in half on a separate plate shows pink-gray ground meat with flecks that look like herbs inside. Cafe Zoetrope's online menu, which is undated, credits the recipe to Francis Ford Coppola and lists beef, pork and veal. A Google reviewer in December 2025 found the spaghetti and meatballs good but lacking salt and depth of flavor.

The room

The bar side of Cafe Zoetrope in March 2022: wooden wine racks and bottles above a curved bar, wooden chairs, a red leather corner seat, a mosaic-tile floor and a large red poster for the film Mon Oncle among framed pictures.
The bar side of the dining room in March 2022, with a large Mon Oncle poster on the wall.

The bar side of the room, in my photos from March 2022, has wooden wine racks and bottles above a curved bar, wooden chairs, a red leather corner seat and a mosaic-tile floor. A large red poster for Jacques Tati's film Mon Oncle hangs among framed pictures. Cafe Zoetrope's website says one-of-a-kind mementos from Coppola's film career decorate the walls, and that awnings and heated sidewalks make dining outside comfortable even in foggy weather.

Before you go

  • Cafe Zoetrope lists (415) 291-1700 for reservations on its website.
  • Cafe Zoetrope's hours, according to Wanderlog (checked Nov 14, 2026), are noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The cafe's own Dining page shows shorter hours in text about a phased reopening, so call ahead.
  • A Google reviewer in August 2026 says they love getting a story printed out while drinking coffee at Cafe Zoetrope.

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