Best meal in San Francisco
 

Give it to me straight people. Cheap or pricey. What's the best meal you ever had? Or places that stand out?

Also, oyster bars? Not looking for the trendiest. Just looking for the best. Please suggest.

Pricey and delicious Steak in a great atmosphere: Harris

http://www.harrisrestaurant.com/

And I had amazing late night pasta at the bar at the St. Francis Hotel. Amazing.

I can count the number of times I've eaten in SF on one hand....but the dinner I had at BETEL NUT was out of this world!!

Hog Island oysters in the Ferry Building stands out in my mind.

Many great meals there, but I've been to the Slanted Door several times and I never put a bite into my mouth that wasn't just wonderful.

NJriverchick - I'm headed to SF soon myself and looked up Betelnut for myself, but it looks like it closed and reopened as a different concept. Just FYI!

http://sf.eater.com/archives/2013/02...es_concept.php

I was surprised by the Betelnut recommendation. I ate there a number of times and it was a popular neighborhood place, but basically like a PF Chaings. In a city filled with really fine Asian places, it seemed an odd recommendation to me.

Neopatrick - My sister-in-law, who lives just outside SF, is Vietnamese and a wine maven & foodie. This is one of her faves and she was excited to share it with us. She ordered for the table and it was truly memorable. I'm sorry to hear it is gone...

Interesting, NJriverchick, what does she think of Slanted Door?

I rented very near Betelnut a number of times, which is why it was a quick and easy lunch place and pretty good. But I always had to drink gallons of water later -- tons of salt in everything, which is why the PF Chaing's comparison.

By the way, Hutong, now in its place still has the same executive chef, so I'm not sure how different it is -- except that presumably the dishes are now smaller and more expensive. One feature of Betelnut was lots of food for the money -- big servings.

We loved Betelnut, but I certainly wouldn't put it in the "best meal I ever had" category.

Divine tortellini carbonara at Eduardo's on Chestnut. Not recent though.

Love Slanted Door.

Still looking for a fabulous hamburger (the very best was at a restaurant in the town I used to live in (near Stu), but I moved to the city and it's no longer convenient for "just a hamburger").

Loved the Slanted Door. One of my best meals ever.

Another fan of Slanted Door.

We really enjoyed Boulevard too -
http://www.boulevardrestaurant.com/

My DF's favorite is John's Grill, and has been since 1969.
http://www.johnsgrill.com/

Not saying that any of those three are "the best" but they are the three I'd return to.

starrs, I'm laughing because I've lived/worked in San Francisco for 40 years and have never once eaten at John's Grill.

Boulevard took my favorite menu item off the menu several years ago -- it was a lobster starter that was scrumptious.

Well, I'm laughing too. I think it was LoveItaly who recommended John's Grill. I went and thought maybe I was at the wrong place. Granted it had a sort of "clubby feel" but it was dirty and run down (I gasped and sort of lost my appetite when I looked behind the bar to see where that mildew or dirty mopwater smell was coming from), and the food was just mediocre at best. What was I missing there?

But Boulevard! Ah yes. And while some don't seem to appreciate it, I love Farallon. Their cheese plate alone is worth the price of dinner.

It's been five years since I've eaten there.
I intend to fix that this year. :-)
It was his father's favorite before him...and now there are two grandsons living nearby. I'm sure their tradition will continue. ;)

Everything we had a Boulevard was scrumptious.

We had a great meal at Brindisi a few months ago. I also enjoyed Izzy's Steaks & Chops. Their house specialty is the creamed spinach, which is to die for........and I HATE creamed spinach!

Hi Neo, I've been twice...at a GTG and back again for seafood dinners. We enjoyed the food and service both times.

Too many to single out any "best".

For roast beef:
House of Prime Rib

For steak:
Harris, and surprisingly, Ruth's Chris

For seafood:
Farallon, R&G Lounge (Chinese), Thanh Long (Vietnamese, drunken crab), Swan Oyster Depot

For French:
Too many to mention, current favorite L'Ardoise

For Italian
Too many to mention, not going to tell you my current favorite

For Sushi:
Ino Sushi

For XLB:
Shanghai House

For Pho:
Lots of places

Where's Slanted Door? Sounds like I should have it on one of my lists.

Ferry Building.

http://www.slanteddoor.com/

Found and noted! Thanks!

Tried to get lunch or dinner at Slanted Door and they are booked almost a week out. Reservation - WAY in advance are a must.

One thing that surprises me is the lack of organic/local/farm to table choices at so many fine restaurants in San Francisco. Does anyone have suggestions or recommendations?

I mentioned above we couldn't get reservations at Slanted Door for almost a week and since we are leaving tomorrow we are kinda bummed.

But was looking around for alternate restaurants and found the owner of Slanted Door apparently has a sister restaurant called Out the Door also at the Ferry Bldg. #5. Hope to be able to try it out. It's hours are only 10:30 am to 6 pm.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Out the Door in the Ferry Bldg take-out only?

Yes, it's take-out -
http://www.outthedoors.com/

Interesting. Sister companies listed at their website -
http://www.outthedoors.com/
Sister Companies

The Slanted Door : http://www.slanteddoor.com

Heaven's Dog : http://www.heavensdog.com

Academy cafe : http://www.themossroom.com

Moss Room : http://www.themossroom.com

Nanabee, the Academy Cafe has local, sustainable, organic on their glass wall in their photo -
http://themossroom.com/academy-cafe/

Nana - are you only checking Open Table?. Call directly to the restaurant. Something may be available.

We were in SF in February and really liked Gitane

http://www.gitanerestaurant.com/

Thanks everyone!
I did some more checking on Out the Door. It is confusing because there are several restaurants with Out the Door names (I assume the are one and the same) but did find Out the Door at 2232 Bush St in Lower Pacific Heights. They are sit down and I managed to get a reservation for today! I hope it is part of the same "family" as Slanted Door.

Will let you know how it was.

I will also check out Academy Cafe.

Nanabee, we had lunch at a new restaurant on the Embarcadero on Saturday - owned by Michael Chiarello - Spanish tapas - and it was very very good, we'll definitely go back. Pleasant spot, too. The name is Coqueta.

BTW, the food at Out the Door is good, but it's nothing like the food/choices at Slanted Door.

and michelleY we decided on gilane for dinner. looks great!

nanabee, I don't think it is. Check above. It's the list of "sister companies" for the one you want. The Slanted Door is one of the four. It doesn't look like the one you made reservations for is part of the family.

starrs, look again. Using the link you provided for Outthedoors, you can click locations and menus and you'll find the Bush address one which they call a tribute to their original Valencia location.

When I first heard of The Slanted Door however many years ago it opened, we were in SF for a month. About two or three weeks before our arrival I called to make a reservation without success at the first couple of attempts. Finally I gave them our entire range of dates -- the full month's worth and said, "when can we come?". The answer was "you can't". So I've always made reservations way in advance since then and it has never disappointed.

Nana- the only thing about Gitane is small portions. I really need the appetizer if you are really hungry! But good stuff, nice bar, attentive service.

Ah, Neo is right and I am wrong.

Enjoy, nanabee :-)

We ended up going to Out The Door (which is a small but very cool small restaurant on Bush Street). It was ok but not fantastic. The one thing I loved was their lemon curd with the scone. We liked Gitane near Union Square (Spanish), excellent service but they had few choices. My husband ordered steak which was excellent.

The next day we went to Hog Island Oysters (by accident) and enjoyed it. I had one of the best clam chowders ever.

So many wonderful recommendations. Thanks everyone.