Mission District treasure Pi Bar‘s days are numbered. On Thursday, the neighborhood bar and New York-style pizza restaurant announced its impending closure by posting a photo of a public notice of application for ownership change on Instagram.
Rich Rosen, who co-owns Pi Bar with his wife Jen Garris, confirmed to SFGATE that they will be closing the bar around the end of February. They made the decision to sell the business due to the challenges of operating during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Let’s be frank: The past three years have sucked,” said Rosen. “I mean, the restaurant industry in San Francisco was not great prior, and then COVID was basically the last nail for us.”
Pi Bar owners Jen Garris, left, and Rich Rosen behind the bar at their restaurant in San Francisco on March 12, 2021.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
For the past three years, Rosen and Garris have been operating Pi Bar by themselves with no staff.
“It’s just been myself and my wife Jennifer,” said Rosen. “We have opened every day and worked the shift, and it’s me in the kitchen and her on the floor and that’s it. It’s just gotten real old.”
The couple first opened Pi Bar in 2009, after initially meeting at Anchor Brewing in 2007. Garris is a beer industry veteran and Rosen has worked at restaurants all over San Francisco. Having grown up in Queens in New York, Rosen wanted to create a pizza place in SF that felt like the kind from his childhood, where “everybody went to the pizza place two or three times a week,” he told Mission Local when they opened.
In a cheeky nod to their name, Pi Bar used to offer a daily happy hour from 3:14 to 6:28 p.m., and for their first five years, they sold pizza slices for $3.14 each.
Co-owner Rich Rosen stands at the doorway of his restaurant, Pi Bar, in San Francisco on March 12, 2021.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
While Pi Bar won’t be around for much longer, the new business owner is planning to keep the space a very similar concept with beer, wine and pizza, according to Rosen. The business name listed on the pending ABC license for the new spot is “Tap Room.” The new owner could not be reached for comment in time for publication.
Rosen and Garris won’t be retiring anytime soon, but they are considering moving up to Napa once Pi Bar closes.
“It’s been a good 13 years,” Rosen said. “We’d like to thank all the folks that have supported us over the years. We wish everybody well.”
Pi Bar, 1432 Valencia St., San Francisco. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 4-8 p.m.
