About Us

Viva Goa specializes in food from the Indian region of Goa, a coastal state where the cuisine has been heavily influenced by a 450-year-old Portuguese stay that ended in 1961. Viva Goa is the only place in San Francisco where you can try this style of food–lots of seafood, rich with coconut and redolent with warm spices such as clove and cinnamon.

About the management

Nicholas Fernandes and Joseph Alvares were born and raised in Goa and came to the United States over a decade ago, they had a common dream of starting a Goan restaurant in this part of the world. In 2010 they collaborated and started Viva Goa, a restaurant with the distinct culinary traditions of Goa.

Nicholas Fernandes is an entrepreneur with a passion for his native food, he has a brief experience working in hotel industry.

Joseph Alvares has 20 years experience in the hotel industry in India and the US. He has a vast knowledge of Goan food and the food service industry.

About Goa

A solitary Portuguese outpost in India for almost 500 years:
Goa a former  Portuguese outpost in India for almost 500 years has the influence of colonial rule  and can still be seen everywhere – in the East-meets-West cuisine which combines coconut milk, palm vinegar and chillies with the refined flavours of Lisbon, in the melancholy strains of fado that still waft occasionally on the bougainvillea-scented breeze  and in the siesta-saturated joie de vivre that Goans themselves call susegad. Nowhere else in India will you find the laid-back languidness of a Goan lunchtime, the easy charms of its people or the soothing serenity of a day on its beaches.

Goa is synonymous with hippies, hedonism and all-night dance parties held under a full moon. Swaying palms, white sands and sparkling waters: the three essential elements that attract 2 million visitors annually to Goa’s balmy shores are plentiful in this tiny, glorious slice of India hugging the country’s western coastline and bounded by the Arabian Sea. Goa is not a single beach, but a rich and varied state — one that offers 63 miles of coastline along the Arabian Sea. Beyond the beaches lies a lush landscape that conceals ancient temples, rich ecosystems and the hilly farmlands that proved irresistible to European spice traders. Centuries before the hippies, there were the Portuguese — and it’s their lingering influence, not the lax laws, that makes Goa such an alluring place.

Goa is one of the most happening & visited destinations in India. A tropical paradise, Goa is enchanting all year round, especially during the monsoon, which has its own magic.

San Francisco Chronicle

SFGate.com

Yelp user

Yelp user