Spanish Restaurant Near Me Before a Show: Bota on Geary Street

Bota Tapas & Paella Bar sits at 490 Geary Street, inside the Warwick San Francisco hotel, and stays open until 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. That makes it one of the few sit-down Spanish restaurant options where a party can eat paella before an 8 pm curtain and still walk to the theater in two minutes. The Curran and the Toni Rembe Theater are on the same block of Geary, and the kitchen is used to diners watching the clock.

The name explains the mood. A bota is the traditional Spanish leather wineskin, and the restaurant's own About page says travelers in Spain have used one since the early 1800s to carry wine and pass it among friends. The Warwick hotel describes the room as chic yet casual, and that is accurate: candles on the tables, dark wood, and a menu that runs from breakfast through late dinner. It is a hotel restaurant, but the cooking is built for people who came for Spanish food.

The jamón is the reason to order slowly. Bota serves 5J Jamón Ibérico aged 36 months for $35, carved thin and meant to be eaten at room temperature with a glass of red. 5J is one of the most respected acorn-fed ham producers in Spain, so this plate is a clear step above the serrano most tapas bars use. Pair it with the bacon-wrapped dates at $16, stuffed with Manchego and finished with a sherry truffle honey that pulls salt and sweet together.

For hot plates, the patatas bravas cost $15 and anchor most tables. The grilled octopus is $28, the most expensive tapa on the regular menu and a good one to split before a paella. The secreto ibérico, a marbled cut from the shoulder of the Iberian pig, costs $26 and arrives seared and sliced, rich enough that two people can share it comfortably. Those three plates plus the jamón make a full meal for two without any rice at all.

Paella is the other half of the name. The seafood paella comes in two sizes, $49 for a regular pan and $60 for a large one, and the squid ink paella is priced a few dollars higher at $53 regular. Both are cooked to order, so order the rice the moment you sit down if you have tickets that night. A regular pan serves two people who also share a couple of tapas, while the large pan suits a group of four ordering lighter starters.

Drinks lean toward sharing, in the spirit of the wineskin. Sangria is $15 by the glass and $49 by the pitcher, so the pitcher pays off for any table of three or more. Cocktails are $17. A glass of red with the jamón and a white with the seafood rice is the simple rule most tables follow. Desserts are short, and the San Sebastian cheesecake at $15 is the one to order: the burnt-top Basque style that has become a fixture of Spanish restaurants worldwide.

An honest note on value: skip the large paella if you are only two. The regular pan is already generous next to a couple of tapas, and the large size mostly adds leftovers you cannot take into the theater. Spend the difference on the jamón instead, which is the dish here that is hardest to find done this well nearby. If time is short, skip dessert entirely; the cheesecake deserves a relaxed table, not a sprint to the box office.

Show nights set the rhythm. The early evening is when the room fills with ticket holders for the Curran at 445 Geary and the American Conservatory Theater's Toni Rembe Theater at 415 Geary, and it thins out once curtain time arrives. Booking a 5:30 pm table gives enough time for tapas and a regular paella without rushing. After 8 pm the dining room quiets down, and a late table on a Friday or Saturday before the 10 pm close is much calmer.

Reservations go through OpenTable, linked from the official site, where Bota holds a 4.3 rating from more than a thousand reviews. Pre-theater slots are the first to go on popular show weekends, so book those as soon as you have tickets. If the dining room is full, the hotel notes there is outdoor seating as well, and breakfast service daily from 7 to 10:30 am is an easy way to try the kitchen without competing with the theater crowd at all.

Read the bottom of the menu before paying. Bota adds 6 percent to every check for San Francisco mandates and back-of-house staff, parties of five or more get an automatic 20 percent gratuity, and the restaurant asks for no more than two forms of payment per table. Groups who plan to split the bill several ways should settle who pays at the start of dinner. These rules are printed on the menu itself, so nobody at the table should be surprised at the end.

The crowd changes by the hour. Mornings bring Warwick guests eating breakfast before sightseeing, early evenings belong to couples and groups with theater tickets, and late evenings draw downtown workers and visitors who want a glass of wine and a plate of ham without a reservation. Spain's trade agency ICEX lists Bota among its Certified Restaurants from Spain, a program that recognizes restaurants abroad for authentic Spanish cooking and Spanish products, which the 5J ham alone helps justify.

After dinner, the walk is short and theatrical. The Curran's restored 1922 auditorium sits a few doors east at 445 Geary, and A.C.T.'s Toni Rembe Theater, the former Geary Theater, faces it from 415 Geary. Union Square is a few blocks further east, with holiday lights and window displays once November arrives. On a night without tickets, walk the length of Geary toward Union Square, then return along Post Street, a loop that takes about twenty minutes at an easy pace.

Practical notes: Bota serves lunch and dinner from 11:30 am to 9 pm Sunday through Thursday and until 10 pm on Friday and Saturday, with breakfast daily from 7 to 10:30 am It suits theatergoers, hotel guests, and anyone who wants top-grade jamón downtown. It suits less a budget dinner, given the 6 percent surcharge and $15 bravas. Bring a jacket for the walk, because Geary Street wind picks up after dark in October.