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.
The creation of lauded chef Daniel Patterson, this pretty restaurant has creativity to rival that of Patterson's Michelin-starred Coi, but a much less formal vibe. A 25-seat circular bar dominates the dining room, while small plates dominate the menu. The fried brussels sprouts are pure crunchy bliss, while the delicate homemade pierogi is a mainstay but with seasonal accents, like pumpkin. Located across from the Twitter and Uber HQs, it attracts the hoodies, but also the pretheater crowd. This is one of the city's few great food experiences after midnight on weekends.
Dinner at the spectacularly inventive flagship of San Francisco’s most celebrated chef of the moment, Dominique Crenn, is an exploration of both Crenn's journey as a chef and California's distinct geography and history. Each course is usually eye-opening (and downright delicious) and many dishes feature produce from Crenn's own Bleu Belle Farm. The presentations, textures, and tastes will stay with diners for years after the final chocolate bite from pastry wizard Juan Contreras.
Casual eaters of Americanized Thai food probably won’t recognize much at this modern, Michelin-star restaurant, but travelers to Thailand will likely see a few familiar items on the short, focused menu. Ingredients are sourced—more accurately, tracked down with dedication—from regional purveyors to create a range of powerful, unique dishes ranging from a mushroom curry mousse with crispy rice cakes to spicy charred squid.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Guests can almost smell the Adriatic salt water–kissed air while digging into cicchetti (similar to open-faced crostini bites with various toppings) and other clever Venetian-inspired dishes at this gorgeous restaurant next to the Embarcadero Center. As delightful as the food is, the glamorous design and intricate cocktails are just as noteworthy. Mixologist Carlo Splendorini is one of the leading modern figures of the city's cocktail industry, and his drinks at this dolce vita–filled bar-restaurant are the perfect partner to the tall floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook a grand European capital-style plaza outside complete with a fountain.
A perch on the second floor of a 1920s building provides first-rate looks at Ocean Beach across the Great Highway (it used to be a changing room for beachgoers). But the service is just okay, and the food is basic American—burgers, chowders, and steak. Beach Chalet brews its own beers on-site and the atmosphere makes you feel a million miles away from urbanity.
In a neighborhood full of trendy minichains, this over-two-decades-old Californian-French spot is the calm elder statesmen for the often rowdy Marina. The food is unfussy (perfect duck leg confit cassoulet; house-smoked salmon and potato galette) and doesn’t try to be anything overly ambitious, yet everything is consistently on the mark. Sit at the L-shape bar and you’re bound to meet a regular who visits every week.
With its Jazz Age vibe, live music, discreet alley location behind the Transamerica Pyramid, and spectacular bar and bi-level dining room, BIX would be worth a visit for the impressive setting alone. However, it's also one of the city's finest restaurants for special occasions that don't require a tasting menu; continental and upscale American fare get fresh modern takes, often with a few haute elements.
Chef Matthew Ho cut his teeth at his family's excellent, bare-bones Bodega Bistro, an anchor of the Little Saigon restaurant scene for years. This new incarnation elevates traditional Vietnamese recipes with a modern twist and the freshest ingredients. Popular dishes include citrusy bo tai chanh (beef carpaccio) and bun cha (pork belly and meatballs). Warm woods on the floors, ceiling, and walls soften the modern decor at this buzzy and inviting dining room, and black-and-white photos of San Francisco reflect deep city roots.
A husband-and-wife team serves up classic French cooking and wines at this warm neighborhood bistro where you may run into romantic couples on date night or a small but convivial pre-wedding party. Favorites like bouillabaisse and filet mignon are beautifully served with loving attention. Servers are polite and friendly without being stuffy, and tables are set with white tablecloths and fresh flowers each night.
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