San Francisco Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in San Francisco - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in San Francisco - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
Chef-owner Kim Alter's solo debut is this small, charming, seasonally focused tasting-menu destination that is an oasis of calm away from the frantic traffic of Gough Street. The five-course-plus-five-bite menus are beautifully orchestrated, served by a staff that seems to always anticipate the next question or request, making this one of the more relaxed splurges of San Francisco's gastronomic elite restaurants.
Regardless of the time of year, Melissa Perello’s upscale restaurant is a perennial favorite for diners seeking out what California cuisine really tastes like. The warm, immaculate dining room is a perfect setting for edgier dishes like the chilled squid-ink noodles starter, along with more comforting produce-driven small plates and entrées. Imaginative desserts and a top-tier wine program round out what is one of San Francisco's definitive dining experiences.
Sardine chips and porcini doughnuts are popular bites at co-chef Evan and Sarah Rich's lively, creative restaurant; mains are also clever stunners, including pastas like the sea urchin cacio e pepe. The room's weathered-wood wallboards, repurposed from a Northern California sawmill, give it a homey vibe. There's a nice selection of wines by the glass and artisanal cocktails. Reservations are not an easy acquisition, but twelve bar seats are available for walk-ins. Try their fast-casual option a block away, RT Rotisserie, if you need a quick pre-theater sandwich or roast chicken plate.
Traditional Indian dishes get a captivating, innovative spin at this hot spot near Oracle Park. Look for tandoori octopus and chili garlic escargots, complemented by equally inventive cocktails and a splashy, colorful space. Every dish seems to have a modern catch, whether it's artificial fog in a barbecue oysters preparation or butter powder on the paneer pinwheel. This is fun, unique dining at its best. Note that there is an equally great location in Palo Alto, as well.
The constantly evolving tasting menu that chef-owner Teague Moriarty serves at his standout, Michelin-star restaurant serves as a primer for how to do highly seasonal cuisine right. Though the preparations are intricate and often luxurious, there is a pretension-free, contemporary elegance that makes this one of the most relaxed (and fun) fine-dining experiences in the city. The accompanying wine list is equally stellar.
After a long run as one of San Francisco’s most important dining pop-ups, Alex Hong’s refined seasonal Californian cooking can be found in one of San Francisco's most dramatic dining settings, with a skylight and floral arrangements that epitomize California “good life” architecture. That vibe is reflected in dishes like a springtime dry-aged duck with green garlic and kumquat, where Hong beautifully blends contemporary techniques and local ingredients. The tasting menu and à la carte offerings change relatively frequently, but the signature sourdough focaccia and oyster with sorrel ice are staples. Hong, an alum of Quince's esteemed kitchen, is also immensely talented at the pasta craft, and an elegant pasta or two is offered each evening.
This modern Italian favorite continues to be a special destination for chef Matthew Accarrino's inventive seasonal cooking. The five-course tasting menu includes tempting antipasti, superlative pastas like mustard capellini with guinea hen ragù, and a few hearty secondi; save space for the fantastic desserts. The Italian wine list is also full of gems and divided by region, providing a great education with your bottle. The polished yet relaxed atmosphere, with travel posters on the wall, attracts a dedicated neighborhood following of all ages. Singles and walk-in couples can sit at the two counters (one looks into the galley kitchen). Accarrino's fried chicken on Sundays is worth planning your day around. And doughnuts and coffee are served during the daytime for Fillmore's steady stream of weekend power shoppers and walkers.
Rarely found in this country and even obscure to many Chinese, the lightly seasoned Hakka cuisine of southern China is the hallmark of this local favorite, featuring dishes such as salt-baked chicken, braised stuffed tofu, steamed fresh bacon with dried mustard greens, and clay pots of meats and seafood. Ton Kiang opens in the morning for dim sum, serving delicate dumplings and steamed buns; a small selection of dim sum is available at night, too.
Thad Vogler's second endeavor (Bar Agricole was the first) delivers a fun boozy evening in stunning surroundings. Located off the lobby of the art deco–era Pacific Telephone building, it excels at house-cured salami and charcuterie and classic cocktails. Arancini, seasonal salads and pickles, and mains of burgers and fresh fish round out the offerings. An enclosed patio reads like a Parisian garden conservatory. Unfortunately, noise is a real issue out there, since it's an after-work escape.
Hardly just a plan B for those who didn't score a table at its sibling, Lazy Bear, this excellent cocktail bar and creative small-plates restaurant by the same people offers intriguing combinations and endless conversation starters in a cool modern setting. Menu standouts include California halibut ceviche and fried hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Don't-miss drinks on the cocktail side include the signature "In the Pines, Under the Palms," a smooth sipper of toasted coconut rye, Terroir gin, and vermouth, garnished with a small redwood sprout.
After one bite of Zuni's succulent brick-oven-roasted whole chicken with warm bread salad, you'll understand why the two-floor café is a perennial star. Its long copper bar is a hub for a disparate mix of patrons who commune over oysters on the half shell and cocktails and wine. Nearly as famous as the chicken are the Caesar salad with house-cured anchovies and the chocolatey flourless gâteau Victoire. The most cheerful spot to sit is at the tip of the pyramid window near the bar, easier to score if you plan a late lunch.
Overlooking the always interesting Mint Plaza, a European-style plaza that surrounds the former U.S. Mint, this brick-walled, cozy-modern restaurant is one of San Francisco's best Roman trattorias, with both rustic traditional cooking and gentle spins on classic recipes. The exceptional cocktails by Jacopo Rosito are worth a trip on their own, and diners can wrap up dinner properly with an amaro and an espresso—this place truly feels and tastes like Rome. 54 Mint's sibling, Montesacro, a block away, introduced the city to pinsas, an oval sibling to pizza.
Named after a highway that runs through southern Italy, this bustling contemporary trattoria specializes in the food from that region, done very, very well. The menu is stocked with pizza, rustic pastas like maccaronara with ragù Napoletano (a meat sauce), and entrées like braised short rib with polenta. The selection of primarily southern Italian wines, augmented by some California vintages, supports the food perfectly.
The title of "best omakase" has many worthwhile contenders in the city, but many would name this newcomer as the most captivating sushi-centric tasting menu. It's undoubtedly a splurge and can feel a little Vegas-flashy, yet the raw and gently torched fish nigiri preparations are nothing short of remarkable. Service, glassware, ceramics and the ultra-polished, wood-heavy design centered on an abstract triangle-shaped sushi bar are of the highest level of contemporary luxury.
Hiking up Nob Hill can feel like trekking up a mountain, so the "alto" is indeed an apropos part of the name of this Italian neighborhood favorite run by husband-and-wife team Nick Kelly and Calli Martinez (he's the chef; she's the wine director). Kelly's menu effortlessly dances between haute and rustic Italian cooking, often with distinct California elements, and he's a master of pastas and in-house butchery. Martinez's wine list offers one of the city's best collections of Italian wines. The two-room setup is perfect for a casual bite at the entrance bar or a full four-course extravaganza in the elegant dining room. Both rooms (and the side sidewalk seating) have front-row seats on the cable cars rolling by outside.
Lemongrass and softly sizzling chilies perfume this modest neighborhood favorite, opened by Cambodian refugees in the late 1980s. The menu includes an array of curries, salads of squid or cold noodles with ground fish, and lightly curried fish mousse cooked in a banana leaf basket. Vegetarians will be happy to discover plenty of selections. Service is friendly though sometimes languid, so don't stop here when you're in a hurry.
Immaculately fresh seafood and a wood-burning hearth are the centerpieces of this bustling yet luxurious sibling to Saison. The menu descriptions might be brief, but it's really all about the ingredients and impeccable technique—whether it's a grilled hand-dived scallop or the signature thinly sliced potato with Sonoma cheeses—fulfilling their full potential on the plate with a few smart embellishments.
Whether enjoying shrimp tacos at lunch on the beautiful, intimate patio or a perfect margarita with a host of small plates at the bar for a casual dinner, celebrated chef Traci Des Jardins’s Californian-Mexican restaurant always hits the right notes. Tortillas and salsas are made in-house, and the tequila and mezcal selection is one of the deepest in San Francisco. Lunch is fast-casual while dinner is full service.
Thanks to celebrated bartender/owner Thad Vogler, this sleek LEED-certified spot is a haven for cocktail hounds. Be sure to enjoy the creative libations, but don't neglect the terrific food, either. Settle in at a table, set with recycled denim napkins, either on the leafy patio or in the real looker of a dining room that uses reclaimed whiskey barrels as wall slats. The Cal-Med cuisine with local ingredients showcases land-and-sea snacks like salumi and fresh oysters. The bar gets boisterous at night, but the sophistication of the space entices all age groups. A downstairs room can seat larger groups.
This sharply designed spot is just as notable for its food menu as its renowned mixed drinks. Owner Thad Vogler is the city's leading voice on single-origin spirits, so any visit should include a few sips of Bar Agricole's own spirits. To go with the beverages, the culinary side is fresh and fun, often uniquely partnering global influences with local ingredients.
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