739 Bridgeway, Sausalito CA 94965 (See Map Below)
Phone: 415-332-0739
Neighborhood: Downtown Sausalito (Ferry Pier). City parking lots nearby.
Il Piccolo Teatro (Closed)
We are especially sorry to report that Il Piccolo Teatro has closed, a great little place that was a victim of the Recession.
Name Confusion Guide: This charming place sometimes suffers from name confusion with a newer neighbor. This place, Il Piccolo Teatro (“The little theatre”) is on Bridgeway facing the Ferry Pier, just south of Poggio. Il Piccolo Caffe is at the intersection of Bridgeway and Princess St. near Scoma’s.
[Update: The conveniently confusing Il Piccolo Caffe also closed after a series of scraps with the City, County and State over its claiming portions of the public shoreline and preventing non-customers from gaining access. The Il Piccolo Teatro space has for several years now been the site of chef Joanne Weir’s Mexican small plates restaurant Copita.]
Il Piccolo Teatro has done so many things right in its preparation and opening in Sausalito. The dark noir (I guess that’s redundant in physical terms, but not in literary terms) Patterson’s Bar was remodeled into a bright, open, hybrid indoor-outdoor slice of Italy with beautiful Italian tilework throughout. Space heaters line the sidewalk tables, and logo-decorated blanets sit on chairs to welcome diners during the colder months.
The concept here is that they serve light, small-plate dishes, kind of like tapas at a Spanish restaurant, like the kind of meal you’d have if you went out for an evening at the theatre. With Piccolo (small) and Teatro (theatre) the concepts combine to form the name.
Something else that people should know about Il Piccolo Teatro? Are you wondering why it’s called Il Piccolo Teatro and not, say, Bassoon Teatro or Flugel Horn Teatro? Should we pass a law allowing only one “Il Piccolo…” prefix on the name of anything in town to make things simpler and discourage a certain copycat? Disagree with any of our suggestions? Please leave a comment below so our readers get the full story.
