Stoa
Cocktail bar · Lower Haight ·
Creative eats & handcrafted cocktails in a cozy, elegant setting
Creative eats & handcrafted cocktails in a cozy, elegant setting
"This dimly lit cocktail bar is the neighborhood’s moodiest place for date night, and it won’t end in you serendipitously running into your ex—it’s so long you can’t see the other end. And while you’re hanging out with someone you like in a dark corner, drink a cocktail (categorized into sections including “Stern, But Firm” or “Lean & Mean”), and get a shareable plate from a menu we can only describe as “anything goes” with standouts like chewy grilled mochi topped with corn and bacon and fish sauce-kissed chicken wings." - ricky rodriguez, lani conway, julia chen 1
"Pros from San Francisco’s restaurant and cocktail world opened Stoa in 2024. The high-class bar offers chill vibes alongside titanic food and drink; savory mochi with seaweed flanked by hits including the Holy Smoke, a medley of Manzanilla sherry, Benedictine, and Ardbeg scotch. It’s a wild, inventive place. It’s still a spot for locals, though, despite being a space for Detroit Lions loyalists." - Paolo Bicchieri
"Go to Stoa when your first date happens to fall around dinnertime—the small plates coming out of this Lower Haight spot are leagues above most other bar food you can find in the city. Their cocktails, which are split into cheeky categories like “Stern, But Firm” or “Lean & Mean,” pair well with lime-and-fish-sauce chicken wings, grilled mochi topped with corn and bacon, and gingery porridge. The space is long enough to fit two bars and plenty of seating, so you won’t have to worry about jockeying for a stool with any other couples." - lani conway, ricky rodriguez, julia chen 1
"A quiet, confident Lower Haight bar run by four San Francisco hospitality vets — Allyson Jossel, Yanni Kehagiaras, Gonzalo Guzmán, and chef Joji Sumi — that thoughtfully infuses drinks and food with style, poise, and a neighborhood feel. The drinks skew beautifully simple and achieve multitudes: your drinking adventure starts with one of three categories, “Low Octane, Yet Complex,” “Stern, but Fair,” and “Lean & Mean.” Expect composed drinks such as the Gentleman — a balanced mix of tequila, Bonal, and gentian — a testament to Kehagiaras’s approach. Sumi’s food thumbs its nose at traditional bar menus and goes for bold flavor combinations, with items like Korean rice cakes with wild mushrooms and Savoy cabbage wrapped in seaweed, or rice porridge with braised chicken, vegetables, an egg, and peanut chile crisp. It’s a solid bar for those paying attention." - Dianne de Guzman
"At Stoa, you can order a cocktail from categories like “Stern, But Firm” or “Lean & Mean,” slice into chewy grilled mochi, and slurp back spoonfuls of warming chicken porridge. The Lower Haight cocktail bar and restaurant is the neighborhood’s best place for a drink that easily turns into dinner—there’s plenty of booth and bar stool seating, and the “anything goes” food menu is more interesting (and successful) than most people’s entire dating app profiles. Don’t skip the chicken wings, coated in a sticky fish sauce, honey, lime, and chili glaze you’ll want to slather on everything." - julia chen 1, lani conway