Fillmore Friendsgiving Dinner at The Progress: $130 a Head

The Progress, at 1525 Fillmore Street, is built for the kind of Friendsgiving where nobody orders their own plate. Its group dining page offers the Balcony, a semi-private table for up to 10 guests one flight above the dining room, with a family-style menu at $130 per person. Group tables can be reserved 90 days in advance, which means a late-November booking opens in late August, and one detail decides the date: the restaurant is closed on Thanksgiving Day, November 26.

The building on Fillmore opened in 1911 as a silent film theater and ran as one until 1925, according to the restaurant's own history page. Today it belongs to The Atomic Workshop, the small group that also runs State Bird Provisions next door and The Anchovy Bar. The kitchen describes its approach as whole animal, whole vegetable, with smoke and fire, curing, fermenting and preserving all happening in-house. That philosophy is why the menu reads like a list of things to share rather than individual entrees.

The dining room keeps the theater's height, with tall ceilings and wood throughout, and the balcony table looks straight down on the line cooks. For a group of friends, that view is half the entertainment: you watch your trout come out of the fryer and your duck come off the grill before it reaches the table. The room is loud in the good way, which matters when twelve people are trying to toast across a table.

The dinner menu dated October 20, 2026 lists caviar potato cloud at $14, an easy opener that one person orders and everyone tries. The Josey Baker seed feast bread is $12, a dense loaf from the San Francisco baker that pairs with whatever spreads arrive. Japanese sweet potato gyoza are $26 and land as a full skillet, which feels like the Friendsgiving version of a side dish in a casserole pan.

The large-format plates are where a group should spend its money. The fried whole McFarland Springs trout is $74, served standing up and meant to be pulled apart at the table. Grilled Stemple Creek bavette steak au poivre is $58, and the chile rojo-roasted Anderson Ranch goat is $66. The BBQ Liberty Farms half duck is $82, the most expensive line on the list and the one that most closely plays the role of the holiday bird for a table that wants something richer than turkey.

An honest note on ordering: with ten people, skip doubling up on starters and put the savings into a second large plate instead. The trout and the duck cover very different tastes, and the goat is the dish people talk about afterward. Add-ons on the celebrations page include a Champagne toast from $70 and a pre-ordered Dessert Circus, which is a good way to mark the occasion without the host baking pies the night before.

The Balcony carries a food and beverage minimum of $1,400 with the family-style menu, and the page also lists a 5:30 pm or 8:30 pm seating option for the same space with an $800 minimum. The Mezzanine holds up to 18 guests, with up to 14 at one table, and a $2,500 minimum. For a bigger crowd, The Workshop seats up to 40 for a family-style dinner with passed hors d'oeuvres at $165 per person and a $4,500 minimum.

Read the cancellation line before sending the group invite: the restaurant asks for 5 days of notice to cancel or reschedule without a fee. Every check also carries a 6.5% charge that supports San Francisco employer mandates, and a full buyout adds a 20% service charge. Put those numbers in the group chat when you split the bill, so nobody is surprised when the total arrives after the second bottle.

If the Balcony is taken on your date, the backup is a regular reservation for a smaller group in the main room, or a later seating on a weeknight. Another option is to plan the Friendsgiving for a different week entirely. Besides Thanksgiving, the posted closures are October 25, December 18, December 24 and 25, January 1 and January 12, so most other November nights are bookable.

The Progress is open daily 5:30 pm until 10 pm, outside the posted closure dates. The phone number is (415) 673-1294. The 22 Fillmore bus stops nearly at the door, and the 38 and 38R Geary lines run a short walk south. Parking on Fillmore is metered and tight on weekend nights, so a group arriving from across the city does better sharing a ride or taking the bus up the hill.

Start at Japantown Peace Plaza on Post Street, under the five-tiered pagoda, and browse the malls on either side for 20 minutes. Walk west to Fillmore and south past The Fillmore, the music hall on Geary Boulevard whose posters and red-chandelier lobby are part of the street's identity. From there it is a few minutes' walk to the restaurant. The route works well at dusk and gives late arrivals a place to catch up with the group.

After dinner, Fillmore stays busy with jazz clubs and dessert spots, and on a dry night the walk downhill toward Geary is pleasant. A group that wants one more round can grab a drink nearby rather than linger past the second seating. The restaurant's neighbors are also its siblings, so the friend who could not get a seat at State Bird Provisions now has a reason to come back for a second dinner on the same block.

The Progress, 1525 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94115, in the Fillmore District. Phone (415) 673-1294. Open daily 5:30 pm until 10 pm. Closed October 25, November 26, December 18, December 24 and 25, January 1 and January 12. Balcony family-style menu $130 per person for up to 10 guests, Workshop dinner $165 per person for up to 40, bookable 90 days ahead. Five days' notice to cancel, and a 6.5% charge on every check.