Why beautiful bathrooms matter

Over the past couple of months, as the Food team debated our picks for the most beautiful restaurants in San Francisco, I kept circling back to what I think is one of the most important features that any restaurant offers: the bathroom.

Whether it’s the style of silverware on the table or the type of lettuce for your salad, restaurant owners have a laser-like focus. Yet, amid the myriad decisions that have to be made for a restaurant’s opening, oftentimes the bathroom is simply an afterthought.

However, a well-designed, interesting — and, yes, even beautiful — restroom can make a huge impact on a diner’s overall experience.

When it comes to creating memorable dining experiences, it all comes down to the details. Personal touches matter. A thoughtfully designed bathroom is part of that. It lets the diner know that, here at this restaurant, no detail is overlooked: We put as much thought into our soap dispensers and bathroom tiles as we do into

the food and service.

Ultimately, it demonstrates that a restaurant is willing to go above and beyond, and isn’t that what hospitality is all about?

To that end, here are five of my favorite restaurant bathrooms in San Francisco:

The Progress

Confession: I love this bathroom so much, I posted photos of it in my Instagram feed. If the airy, multilevel dining room at State Bird Provisions’ sister restaurant evokes a spirit of modern hippie elegance, its bathroom feels like it was inspired by a 1970s rollerdisco fever dream. Glossy, copper-hued walls are flecked with glitter, and extra rolls of toilet paper are individually wrapped in rainbow tissue paper.

What’s not to love?

Wildhawk

The Jay Jeffers-designed Mission District bar is lush to the max: black floral wallpaper, pressed-tin ceilings and zebra pattern-upholstered barstools. The entire space is an homage to Lola Montez, the scandalous 19th century Irish dancer, actress and courtesan to Bavaria’s King Ludwig I. Nowhere in the bar is this influence more prominent than in the powder room, where custom-made wallpaper featuring a collage of images of Montez decorate the sinkand-vanity area. It makes a trip to the W.C. feel like a clandestine adventure.

Located on a less-thanideal SoMa alley near Sixth Street, this Roman-style pinseria is more quirky than beautiful, but that’s all part of Montesacro’s old world charm. Frankly, there’s something downright enchanting about this place. The space is a jumble of miscellaneous antique photos and bric-a-brac, including a decommissioned century-old coal oven. The single-stall unisex bathroom is no exception; inside, you’ll find an antique barber’s chair and copper washing machine.

Mourad

Mourad Lahlou’s namesake restaurant is one of the grandest hangouts in the city. Like the food, Olle Lunderg’s design is Moroccan-inspired. But while the restaurant takes a modern interpretation, the multiplestall all-gender bathroom leans more traditional. Each of the fully enclosed stalls is decorated in a different color of floor-to-ceiling Moroccan mosaic tile. Who doesn’t love a little privacy, especially when it’s this gorgeous?

The Morris

Paul Einbund put a lot of thought into opening his popular neighborhood restaurant. The level of detail can be spotted in everything from incorporating his late father’s (after whom the Morris is named) signature into the restaurant’s logo font to Einbund’s personality-driven wine and spirits list. As for the bathroom, Einbund worked with a local skin-care products company, Etta and Billie, to create a custom-blended soap (a mix of sage, pink grapefruit and fir tips) for the dispensers. The fun doesn’t stop there. While taking advantage of the private bathroom, home movie-like videos of winding country roads are projected onto the wall, all to a soothing piano soundtrack of early 20th century French composer Eric Satie’s “Gymnopédies.” No other trip to the loo has felt more like a weekend getaway.

Do you have any favorite San Francisco restaurant bathrooms? Let us know: food@sfchronicle.com.

Sarah Fritsche is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sfritsche@sfchronicle.com. Twitter/Instagram: @foodcentric

Lundberg Design Designer Olle Lundberg took the Moroccan mosaic theme to the max in the tiled stalls in Mourad’s all-gender restroom.