Poggio Trattoria
Downtown/Bridgeway · Italian
Verified September 2026
Casa Madrona's ground-floor restaurant, but it draws its own crowd independent of the hotel — a Northern Italian trattoria with house-cured charcuterie and fresh pasta made in-house, run by Executive Chef Benjamin Balesteri since 2013 under proprietor Larry Mindel (the same restaurateur behind Il Fornaio and Prego). It picked up an unexpected wave of attention when Jennifer Garner name-checked it publicly and it turned up in coverage tied to "The Last Thing He Told Me" — enough that it's become a bit of a local landmark in its own right, sitting at street level below the hotel's pale blue facade at the top of Bridgeway's main strip.
Atmosphere
Warm, rustic-elegant, and busy — this is one of the harder reservations to get on Bridgeway on a Friday night, and it holds that reputation for a reason. The dining room leans into exposed beams and warm lighting rather than anything glossy or modern.
What To Order
The house-cured salumi board to start, then whatever fresh pasta the kitchen is running that night — the pasta program is the strongest reason to come back. The Italian-leaning wine list is deep enough to ask the server for a pairing rather than guessing.
Good To Know
Book ahead, especially for dinner on weekends — walk-in tables are not a safe bet, and this is one of the few Sausalito restaurants where a reservation made only a day or two out can already be tight. Breakfast is served daily from 6:30 to 11:30, lunch and dinner run later in the day. Valet parking is available through the hotel if street parking on Bridgeway is full.
Our Take
One of the two or three restaurants in Sausalito worth planning a trip around, not just stopping into. Book the earliest table you can get on a Friday or Saturday and treat the meal as the main event of the evening, not a stop on the way to somewhere else.