Calling all SF Locals Best Places to Eat San Francisco?
Aug 15th, 2005, 11:29 AM
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Calling all SF Locals Best Places to Eat San Francisco?
Hi Everyone. I was wondering where the best places to eat are in San Francisco. We don't always like to go to the touristy places (ie hard rock) we like to know where the locals like to dine since it's always the best food. I would like everyone's suggestions. Best burgers, sushi, dim sum, pizza...ect. Thanks
Aug 15th, 2005, 11:54 AM
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I would first like to give you another resource that may be a bit more helpful to answer this question - the SF Bay Area Board at chowhound.com http://www.chowhound.com/california/...francisco.html. You will get some good recommendations and peruse old threads.
What is your price range? Where are you staying and how far are you willing to travel? Where are you coming from (to give people an idea of what foods you may have better versions of in your city).
Here are some suggestions of mine, off the top of my head:
Dim Sum - Yank Sing, Harbor Village (both Downtown), Ton Kiang - all of these are nicer than a hole in the wall type place. You may see more tourists at Yank Sing, but locals still go there.
Pizza - ? If you are from NY, you may not be impressed with SF pizza. We like Pauline's in the Mission and Za on Russian Hill
Asian - R&G Lounge (Chinese), Burma Superstar (Burmese), Slanted Door (Vietnamese), Bodega Bistro (Vietnamese in the Tenderloin, a so-so neighborhood - go in the daytime), Ozumo (Japanese)
Mexican & South American - Fresca (Peruvian) & Limon (Peruvian) are popular, La Taqueria (Mexico) for a burrito
Small Plates - Cortez, Chez Nous, Isa
Pricy but worth it - Boulevard, Gary Danko. I haven't been but The Dining Room at the Ritz and Restaurant Michael Mina come highly recommended by many.
And the list goes on and on...good luck!
What is your price range? Where are you staying and how far are you willing to travel? Where are you coming from (to give people an idea of what foods you may have better versions of in your city).
Here are some suggestions of mine, off the top of my head:
Dim Sum - Yank Sing, Harbor Village (both Downtown), Ton Kiang - all of these are nicer than a hole in the wall type place. You may see more tourists at Yank Sing, but locals still go there.
Pizza - ? If you are from NY, you may not be impressed with SF pizza. We like Pauline's in the Mission and Za on Russian Hill
Asian - R&G Lounge (Chinese), Burma Superstar (Burmese), Slanted Door (Vietnamese), Bodega Bistro (Vietnamese in the Tenderloin, a so-so neighborhood - go in the daytime), Ozumo (Japanese)
Mexican & South American - Fresca (Peruvian) & Limon (Peruvian) are popular, La Taqueria (Mexico) for a burrito
Small Plates - Cortez, Chez Nous, Isa
Pricy but worth it - Boulevard, Gary Danko. I haven't been but The Dining Room at the Ritz and Restaurant Michael Mina come highly recommended by many.
And the list goes on and on...good luck!
Aug 15th, 2005, 12:32 PM
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I'm not a local but I've been to San Francisco on vacations two times in the last three years and every time we've stayed in SF we've always managed to spend one evening's dining at Shangei 1930. If you love great, imaginitive, fresh Chinese food, a great martini bar and live jazz on the weekends, you can't go wrong.
Aug 15th, 2005, 01:47 PM
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Believe that's "Shanghai 1930"
Had a wonderful time yesterday on a "small getaway to San Francisco. We ate at Louie's, which is a shack right above the beach near the Cliff House. It's a regular hole in a wall place with regular hole in a wall menu, but absolutely fabulous views.
Then dinner at Cha Cha Cha's in the Haight Asbury area. Some of the best sangria and friend calamari you'll ever have!
Both are "locals" places as well as "tourist" places. I really couldn't tell from the many people just eating away which were the visitors and which the locals! LOL!
Happy dining!
Had a wonderful time yesterday on a "small getaway to San Francisco. We ate at Louie's, which is a shack right above the beach near the Cliff House. It's a regular hole in a wall place with regular hole in a wall menu, but absolutely fabulous views.
Then dinner at Cha Cha Cha's in the Haight Asbury area. Some of the best sangria and friend calamari you'll ever have!
Both are "locals" places as well as "tourist" places. I really couldn't tell from the many people just eating away which were the visitors and which the locals! LOL!
Happy dining!
Aug 15th, 2005, 02:03 PM
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Well..this is in the category of i shouldn't tell you abut it because it's already tooo popular w/ us locals, but since i'm feeling kind..Burma Superstar is a great place. I think if you google that, you'll get the location pretty easily. For sushi i highly recommend warakabune on Church street which is another family owned local place which excels in every way. 
Aug 15th, 2005, 02:18 PM
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To get you started--take a look at the SF Chronicles list of SF best which includes a wide range of places--
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...MTOP100_sf.TXT
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...MTOP100_sf.TXT
Aug 17th, 2005, 04:23 AM
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We're from the Niagara Area so We've eaten everywhere from Niagara Falls to Toronto. We have excellent sushi and pizza so I would like to compare. My husband also loves his burgers and would also like to know the best burger joint. We're staying at union square but plan on travelling all over the city. But thanks again for your suggestions if you have more that would be great.
Aug 17th, 2005, 05:14 AM
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It’s hard to believe that you’ll travel all the way to the Bay Area from Ontario and look for dining establishments just so you can compare pizza and burgers. These are not even the type of food that the Bay Area is well known for. To be honest with you, these are not even the best kind of food that Toronto offers. None of the suggestions above, at least the Burma Superstar, Limon, La Taqueria, R&G, would be the ones for you. Too bad, because those are good suggestions for local eats.
Anyway, I am not here to preach other and, besides, it’s to each his/her own. Here are a few suggestions:
Pizza - A16 at the Marina for the Southern Italy, Neapolitan types); Pizzetta 211 at the Richmond District also has good pizza
Burgers - Harry’s at Fillmore St.; Joe’s Cable Car at he Mission
There's an abudant of good sushi places in the city. I tend to go to the East Bay in Berkeley for my sushi fix - Kirala along Shattuck and Anzu also along Shattuck.
Anyway, I am not here to preach other and, besides, it’s to each his/her own. Here are a few suggestions:
Pizza - A16 at the Marina for the Southern Italy, Neapolitan types); Pizzetta 211 at the Richmond District also has good pizza
Burgers - Harry’s at Fillmore St.; Joe’s Cable Car at he Mission
There's an abudant of good sushi places in the city. I tend to go to the East Bay in Berkeley for my sushi fix - Kirala along Shattuck and Anzu also along Shattuck.
Aug 19th, 2005, 12:25 PM
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Thanks for the suggestions. Yes there are reasons to compare burgers...ect. Yes my husband likes a good old fashioned burger but we will have a two year old in tow. So it's not like we would go to Fleur de Ly and compare it to Canoe. Toronto does have many spectacular establishments as well as the niagara area. But like I said we have a two year old so a burger on the run is sufficient
Aug 19th, 2005, 02:11 PM
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I don't mean to make a big deal out of this, but, your original post asked for the "best places to eat in San Francisco ... where the locals like to dine."
You would have likely received responses that are more suitable to your needs had you mentioned something about needing a place that is conducive to having a 2-year old in tow.
Besides, there are non-burger restaurants that are child-friendly. As a matter of fact, since you brought up Niagara, we were just at Peller Estate restaurant and the Culinary School restaurant (I can't remember the exact name) at Niagara-on-the-lake last month and both these restaurants were conducive and friendly to the 2 little ones that our couple/friend from Toronto towed along.
You would have likely received responses that are more suitable to your needs had you mentioned something about needing a place that is conducive to having a 2-year old in tow.
Besides, there are non-burger restaurants that are child-friendly. As a matter of fact, since you brought up Niagara, we were just at Peller Estate restaurant and the Culinary School restaurant (I can't remember the exact name) at Niagara-on-the-lake last month and both these restaurants were conducive and friendly to the 2 little ones that our couple/friend from Toronto towed along.
Aug 23rd, 2005, 06:45 AM
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No big deal. Yes maybe I should have stated I had a two year old. Again no big deal. I still like to know where local people like to eat since the logic is simple if local people are willing to part with there money then the food has to be good. At least it's worked in the past. If you went to Peller it's ok but over rated and over priced. Next time you should go to Coppolas, Cafe Amore ...ect. the list is endless. Check the Canadian board or just ask
