It feels kind of weird to think of a Hotel as your dinner destination, especially when you already live in the city where the hotel is. Maybe the only time you would think of hittin' up a hotel restaurant is if you’re actually staying there and there’s just no where else to go. But having nowhere else to go usually isn’t an excuse to eat in a hotel in San Francisco. Still, San Francisco is basically “The Shit” when it comes to restaurants and hotels so the fact that some hotel restaurants are considered to be some of the best places to eat in San Francisco isn’t a shock. In fact, some people hear about places like XYZ and Redroom (Now Closed), before they even know that they’re actually located in W and the Clift Hotels.

With all that, now a day’s people probably aren’t contemplating too much over the success or access to hotel restaurants and how they apply to San Francisco. Actually, I don’t even know how many people are looking to scrape their pennies together to come visit one of the most expensive cities in the country and try their expensive cuisine. SO--
Places like Urban Tavern located in the Hilton Hotel might suffer.
However, there are a few things that might actually keep them above water so to speak, when it comes to high-end restaurant-lounges making it through a Depression-- or as they call it “possible recession”.

1. If people are traveling to San Francisco right now and are not being reimbursed by work or otherwise, they might be more likely to stay in a Hilton rather than a W or a Four Seasons, Ritz etc. (Not that Hilton hotels don’t match those hotel’s quality, but you may catch a few bucks break at a Hilton;)

2. The location of the Hilton is in one of the heartbeat’s of the Tenderloin so if people are visiting, they are probably less likely to go out searching for a place to eat after dark in this neighborhood.

3. The name of this lounge is cool and alludes to a welcoming vibe, which is attractive.

4. It might be a way for locals to feel edgy or impress their dates by going to a local ‘Tavern’, an Urban Tavern at that, in one of the sketchy neighborhoods in SF.

5. People have been to the Sir Francis Drake and like Scala, which is another Restaurant Lounge owned by the same couple.

Restaurants open and close all the time in San Francisco and even though the past few months have been a little tough on San Francisco’s hotel/restaurant industry, places like Urban Tavern might just make it if they can continue come across as a casual meeting place like this high-end lounge.