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.
Chad Robertson is America’s first modern cult baker, and this tiny Mission District outpost (along with the larger Tartine Manufactory on the eastern side of the neighborhood) is where you'll find his famed loaves of tangy country bread and beloved pastries like croissants and morning buns. You'll also find near-constant lines out the door; they're longest in the morning when locals (and plenty of tourists) need a pastry punch to start the day, and later in the afternoon when the famed loaves emerge freshly baked.
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.
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.
A Bay Area worker-owned cooperative, this bakery lures passersby with liberal slogans and baked goodies displayed in its large storefront window. The menu changes daily, offering different types of bread, sweet treats like scones, and pizza. Plop down $28 for a whole thin-crust pizza and enjoy it in the sidewalk parklet for a perfect beginning (or end) to a Golden Gate Park excursion.
At this sleek Presidio Heights daytime café, the wellness-centric menu manages to be so delicious that guests often don't notice how virtuous the dishes are. Bread for the open-faced sandwiches is gluten-free and baked in-house; several items are vegetarian and/or vegan; and even the pappardelle is made of zucchini ribbons instead of wheat. The white-tiled and white-painted interior looks more like a luxury Beverly Hills boutique than an eatery.
The Noe Valley location of this family-friendly California burger chain offers a cozy indoor-outdoor dining area, the latter really a patio encased in glass windows for watching foot traffic along 24th Street. The ample menu is loaded with fancier versions of diner classics—think the Gastropub burger, with a fried egg and a pretzel bun, or the Maui Waui, with a teriyaki glaze and grilled pineapple. There are a variety of vegetarian burgers, tossed salads, and, of course, every kind of fry.
This legendary 24-hour doughnut shop has been a neighborhood anchor since the 1960s. The homemade doughnuts, whether an apple fritter or classic raised maple, are always excellent, at 10 am or 10 pm. If you're particularly ambitious and hungry, give "Bob's Challenge" a go; if you eat one truly giant doughnut in three minutes, you get a T-shirt and induction in Bob's Hall of Fame.
San Francisco has plenty of great food options and coffee destinations, but rarely do the two merge together as well as they do at this Mission Bay roastery, which excels at sandwiches on fresh focaccia, virtuous lunch bowls, and coffee in myriad forms. With tall ceilings, ample windows, and a pleasant parklet, the café almost has a Parisian indoor-outdoor feel. Don't miss the juice shots for a quick, powerful jolt minus caffeine.
Casey Crynes' East Coast–style pies are larger and have slightly thicker and sturdier crusts compared to the typical Neapolitan ones. New York expats love that these slices can actually be folded. The small, charming counter-service restaurant centers around a large brick oven; and toppings tend to be simple, fresh, and nicely balanced on the predesigned pies.
This consistently popular and consciously unpretentious, funky-yet-savvy diner serves standards like hamburgers, pizzas, and spaghetti with meatballs, all treated with culinary respect. More budget-friendly than some of the area's other options, it has built its reputation on honest and approachable fare. Diners will discover Mexican- and Asian-style dishes mixed in with the primarily American/Italian menu (the silky wontons are popular), all-day brunch, and a nice list of salads. Don't even think about leaving without trying the ginger cake with caramel sauce. The wine list has some well-chosen picks.
In the lobby of the New People building, this mini tea shop looks like a little girl's fantasy, with pretty flowered and polka-dotted tablecloths, fancy settings, and nods to the British royal family. Most guests opt for high tea with scones, crumpets, and finger sandwiches, or you can stop in for a sandwich or salad.
San Francisco's real life Willy Wonka factory is the fascinating and delicious home of this "bean to bar" chocolatier. Of course, chocolate in many forms is the highlight for guests, whether it's in pure chocolate bars, in drinks, or as a subtle ingredient in some of the city's most inventive pastries. The 16th Street factory holds self-guided tours on most afternoons that it's open. There are two other non-factory locations in the city on Valencia Street and in the Ferry Building.
The puffy, perfectly charred Neapolitan pizzas from this Lower Nob Hill neighborhood bistro-pizzeria are the stuff of legend. Del Popolo gained a cult following after beginning as a state-of-the-art pizza truck outfitted with a wood-fired oven, and the crowds continue to gather nightly for the stellar pies—though being a restaurant means that it also has a convivial, cozy dining room, friendly servers, and great wines.
The tiny kiosk on the Marina's yacht harbor is the perfect spot to grab a pick-me-up before a stroll to the Palace of Fine Arts or along the beach. The doughnuts by a former Foreign Cinema pastry chef are universally terrific, from the vanilla bean standby to chocolate star anise, and there's locally roasted coffee for an extra pre-hike jolt.
San Francisco is filled with wonderful ice cream shops, but for the real-deal smooth, airy gelato, this Union Street gelato maker is the address to know. It's all about the ingredients here—pistachios from Sicily, local fruits in season, a sour cherry variety from a particular part of Italy—and the results are delightful whether it's a hot, sunny day or the fog feels as cool as the gelato.
The menu at this no-frills Formica-and-linoleum spot is big and remarkably cheap. You can order everything from Vietnamese salads to rice dishes and noodle plates. But the soups are what take up the most space on the menu, from the almost two dozen varieties of pho, rice noodles in beef broth, to numerous types of hu tieu, seafood and pork noodle soups. Regulars, many of whom hail from Southeast Asia, favor the shrimp, fish ball, and pork slices soup with clear noodles and the special combo pho with rare steak, well-done brisket, tendon, and tripe.
The team behind French baking sensation Le Marais serves some of the greatest savory buckwheat galettes and sweet crêpes in the Bay Area at a kiosk on the water side of the Ferry Building. It's the perfect stop for breakfast, lunch, or a dessert snack. Fillings range from traditional ones like Nutella or ham and Gruyère, to more atypical choices such as cherry tomatoes and burrata.
Dine here for fresh, simply prepared Cantonese cuisine, especially the seafood—from tanks that occupy a corner of the main dining room—as well as kid favorites, such as stir-fried noodles, cashew chicken, and fried rice. Dim sum starts at 10 am, but there aren't any carts—you order off a paper sheet, and the dumplings come out of the kitchen piping hot.
Neighborhood residents love the dauntless Le Beau, one of the few remaining family-run grocery stores in the city. It's fun to browse around, and their sandwiches are a highlight. If you've never had a sandwich on Dutch Crunch bread (a semisweet, softer, baguette-like roll with a spotted crust thanks to a topping of rice flour), this is a perfect place to pick one up to go.
Homemade thin soba and thick udon, served either hot or cold with various toppings, are the stars of this low-key, charming restaurant with a wooden facade that looks like it was imported directly from the countryside. Seating is at wooden tables, where diners of every age can be heard slurping down big bowls of traditional Japanese combinations.
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