The Ritz-Carlton San Francisco

Despite a renovation, this landmark hotel in wealthy Nob Hill feels like an old classic. The 17-column, nine-storey neoclassical building and its large, landscaped inner courtyard add a touch of historic pomp to future-facing, tech-obsessed San Francisco: call it the city’s grande dame.

Telegraph Review

Save review Laura Chubb, Travel writer

Location

A self-styled 'urban retreat', the Ritz-Carlton sits in the heart of San Francisco: although surrounded by Nob Hill mansions, rooms also overlook neighbouring Chinatown pagodas and Financial District skyscrapers. Two blocks downhill, tourists swarm designer shops and theatres around commercial hub Union Square, half a block uphill, the 19th-century cable car whisks the city-weary to crab shacks and water views at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Style and Character

Design giant Hirsch Bedner Associates’ modern interiors are a counterpoint to the hotel’s stately exterior, and hope to evoke a sense of place. They are, however, abstract: in corridors and rooms, blurry art insinuates the San Francisco ballet, steely greys and blues are meant to recall the chilly bay and its distinctive fog. Furnishings are rendered in textiles inspired by fine menswear (tweed chaise longues, velvet-like headboards), a nod to the dapper style of beloved former Mayor Willie Brown. The outcome is contemporary, luxurious and sleek – but not obviously San Franciscan.

The hotel’s centrepiece is its red-brick courtyard, where decorative fountains and sculpted hedges offer serene sanctuary from the busy city outside.

Service and Facilities

The hotel holds the country’s first Spa L’Occitane, featuring Bay Area-specific treatments (a 'Tech Tension Relief' massage soothes laptop-damaged physiques). Guests can explore California wine country in the JCB Tasting Lounge, an explosion of purple velvet and leopard print, curated by flamboyant French vintner Jean-Charles Boisset. The basement pool has been filled in, however: it’s now a spacious gym.

Service is thoughtful, but not fawning. Staff encourage exploration, and are ready with recommendations, a card detailing a must-see sight is left by the bed nightly.

• Bar
• Fitness centre
• Laundry
• Restaurant
• Room service
• Spa
• Wi-Fi

Rooms

For a hotel based at the frontline of future technology, the Ritz-Carlton is a relative luddite: no iPad room controls, no motorised window shades. Each of its 336 rooms, however, ranging from a standard ‘Deluxe Guestroom’ to ‘The Ritz-Carlton Suite’, feels large and luxurious, all are similarly attired and offer docking stations, espresso machines, Netflix-enabled TVs, and couture Frette sheets.

Some of the Italian marble bathrooms are a bit old-fashioned (room 620, for example, lacked a rain shower-head), but most have double sinks. Only the San Francisco and Ritz-Carlton suites come with extensive bay views, the Presidential suite alone has a balcony.

Food and Drink

Chef Michael Rotondo left Michelin-starred Chicago restaurant Charlie Trotter’s to helm Parallel 37’s kitchen, which caused a stir when it first opened. Locals missed the 'grandma’s living room' grandeur of predecessor The Dining Room, now replaced with more casual bare wood tables and floors. The food, though, is very good, fusing California produce with Asian flourishes. The five-course chef’s menu ($115/£85) shows off Rotondo’s best cooking – Sonoma Liberty Farms duck and foie gras in a fluffy Korean bao bun stands out.

The bar mixes inventive cocktails – try the Emerald Fog ($18/£13), which blends finger-lime vodka, gin, green chartreuse, lemon and cucumber bitters. Breakfast is also staged here and offers local flavours, such as eggs benedict with Dungeness crab ($28/£20). Lunch, all-day dining and afternoon tea are served in lobby-level The Lounge. A buzzy space with a grand city view, its ornate fireplace, red leather banquettes and blocky statement light fixtures pull off a refined, modern look.

Value for Money

Double rooms from $523 (£388) in low season, and from $814 (£603) in high. Breakfast excluded: American buffet from $32 (£24), à la carte starts at $14 (£10). The Wi-Fi fee is $14.95 (£11).

Access for guests with disabilities?

There are 13 wheelchair-accessible rooms, and TTY/TTD is available for hearing-impaired guests.

Family-Friendly?

The hotel offers children’s menus for breakfast and all-day dining, plus seasonal events and DIY scavenger hunts. There are 67 interconnecting rooms, a rollaway bed is $50 (£37) per night.

600 Stockton at California Street, Nob Hill, San Francisco, CA 94108, USA. 001 415 296 7465 ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/california/san-francisco

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