easytraveler

The San Francisco Airport International Terminal has some very good restaurants, a few are branches of excellent in-town restaurants. The selection is much better than at most US airports. It's not fancy nor expensive.

If you like seafood and don't mind Japanese, there are a couple of Japanese restaurants that serve quite good sushi and sashimi. Ebisu is one that I recall.

The Chinese Harbor Village branch, if it is still there (the main restaurant in the Embarcadero downtown has closed, so I'm not certain the one at the airport is still open) has more than passable Chinese food.

There's a branch of the Emporio Rulli (I love the one on Union Square!) which is an expresso bar.

Outside of the security area, if you want to go out and back in again, is a branch of Il Fornaio. Again, the one in town in San Francisco is one of my favorite Italian restaurants.

The plates and cups may be disposable, but the food is generally very good.

If you stay inside the terminals, it'll save you the hassle of going on BART and the worry of having to get back in time for your flight. Highly recommend that you stay put at SFO and enjoy the food offerings at the International Terminal.

LoveItaly

Hello kywood, with the short amount of time you will have (landing at 7:00pm does not mean you will be leaving the airport at 7:00pm even if your flight arrives on time) and having to be back at the airport at 10:00pm is not in my opinion giving you time to take BART into SF. Here is the website to give you the information regarding the food outlets at SFO.
http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/atsfo/shop-dine/dine/ Best regards..and have a safe and comfortable flight!

KathyNZ

I recently stayed out near SFO, in fact only a five minute walk from the BART station in Millbrae and I would not attempt to get into the city and out again by BART with dinner included. Millbrae is a very nice area and I would take the recommendations of the folks who live there and go for one of the restaurants they recommend. I would rather be relaxed than on tenterhooks worrying about my return journey to the airport.

StuDudley

In Millbrea, the Hong Kong Flower Lounge is quite popular. We get "carry out" from there quite often. It has lots of seafood options. But, again, it will run you more than $20 per person. It's about a $13 taxi to get there, but tip the driver quite a bit because they don't like these short runs (5 mins there, max). It's on Millbrea Ave & El Camino Real. Millbrea is the first freeway exit south of SFO, and if you head west on Millbrea you can't miss it.

Stu Dudley

madameX

I agree with the posters who advise that you NOT use BART in the time frame you mention. It's an easy system to use, but it would be too stressful in this time frame.

If you really wanted to be in San Fran, the only thing that might make sense would be a cab into the city, but I don't think you'd want to spend about $40 each way.

Allow plenty of time for clearing security. Many international flights leave late in the evening. PErsonally, I'd stay at the airport. Plan a trip to San Fran when you can really enjoy this fabulous city.

dmlove

If you're going to head into one of the close-by towns for dinner, Burlingame has a nicer "downtown" than Millbrae. It's always active, especially on nice nights, and has quite a few restaurants in all price categories. You can get a very good hamburger and fries at Copenhagen, there are several Middle Eastern places (Mijana, Trapeze), America (Alana's), Mexican (Hola), omelettes and crepes (CrepeVine). I'm not commenting on quality, just availability. I don't think anyone in Burlingame cooks in the summer.