OVERVIEW
Poggio Trattoria at 777 Bridgeway has earned Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition (2017, 2018) and was named Marin’s best Italian restaurant by Marin Magazine in 2025 — awards that reflect over two decades of consistent excellence since opening in 2003. Created by restaurateur Larry Mindel and led by Executive Chef Ben Balesteri, the kitchen produces daily-changing menus of wood-fired dishes, house-made pastas, and seasonal California-Italian cuisine. Occupying the ground floor of the historic Hotel Sausalito building, Poggio is one of the most acclaimed restaurants on the Sausalito waterfront.
HISTORY
The building that houses Poggio Trattoria is the historic Hotel Sausalito, constructed in 1915 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Italian immigrants were among Sausalito's most consequential early settlers — arriving as fishermen and cannery workers in the 1880s and 1890s, they eventually owned the boats, the waterfront businesses, and the restaurants that defined Bridgeway. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake sent waves of Italian-American refugees across the Bay; many settled permanently in Sausalito. The hotel served the day-trippers who arrived by ferry to experience what was already being called one of the most scenic towns in California.
COUNTRY iTALY
FEATURED WHISKEY - Puni Alba Italian Malt Whisky
Puni Distillery, South Tyrol, Italy · 43% ABV
From Italy's first whisky distillery, in the Alps near Austria. Aged in Marsala casks from Sicily, finished in Islay casks. Fruity, lightly smoky, and elegantly complex. Italy's whisky revolution in a bottle.