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Dinner for 2 in S.F. under $75

Part of our Honeymoon in early July will be spent in SF. The question is where to eat on a bit of a budget. We can't afford many $100 dinners for two. Maybe for one night. Otherwise, it needs to be less than $75. Even though we are from Wisconsin, we like wine, but are not BIG drinkers. That should keep our costs down. Suggestions.

There are plenty of restaurants that qualify. Mon Kiang on Broadway between the Royal Pacific Motel and Stockton St. is a Chinese restaurant with good food and no atmosphere. It has flourescent lights and is noisy. Banging dishes and plain tables. It is cheap. The Stinking Rose is a restaurant with garlic in everything. It is more expensive but under the $75 budget. It's an oddity (garlic) The Straits Cafe is a Singaporean Chinese Restaurant, different from most Chinese restaurants in San Francisco. It could be $50-70 for two. It has palm trees inside. The Tommy Toy in the financial district is an expensive Chinese restaurant for those on expense accounts. You can skip it. There are other non-Chinese restaurants that I forgot the names of. Is there an Anthony's in North Beach of San Francisco that serves cheaper Italian food and lobster? Little Pisa is a cheaper Italian restaurant in North Beath area (?Stockton St north of Columbus) Lyons is a cheaper chain of restaurants that is like Luby's Cafeteria (a chain in Texas). It has cafeteria style food but they have waiters/waitresses to serve it to you. At Fisherman's Wharf, they serve good clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (bowl made of bread, not ceramic(

Check chowhound.com. There's a huge San Francisco board, with loads of folks posting information and reviews about eating in the area.

Here's a link to the 100 best Sf restaurants from the food critics of SF's major newspaper. In the main it is reliable. http://www.sfgate.com/eguide/food/restaurant I can recommend the following moderately priced restaurants with excellent food. Panta Rey [Excellent Italian food on Columbus Ave in North Beach.] Limon Restaurant in the Mission has incredible good Peruvian Food. You can't go wrong at any Dim Sum restaurant in China Town. Just look in the window of any Chinese restaurant and if you see only Asians, it's going to serve great food at very reasonable prices. Sam's restaurant, which has been in business forever, is the place to go for an old-time SF experience and and very good seafood. It's on Bush St. close to downtown shopping area. I would not eat a full lunch or supper on the waterfront. But the walkaway dungeness crab cocktails are fun. Be sure to see the seals that make Pier 39 their year round home. My favorite restaurant down town is Kulletos. Lefty O'Doul's downtown has feed tourists and locals alike with o.k. to good food since the 1930's. It drips with SF astmosphere. It has wonderful pictures of baseball players from the 210s, 30s and early 40s and a long long bar with about a dozen draft beers. Your bill at all these places will be well under $75, although Kulleto's will be close to your limit. North Beach along with The Mission District are the most diverse and interesting parts of San Francisco. North Beach is the Italian Section with many good restaurants and cafes. The Mission has excellent ethnic restaurants serving Mexican and South American food from all countries. Hope this is the kind of info you're looking for

Trattoria Contadina My favorite, which I recommend frequently, is an Italian restaurant named Trattoria Contadina on the corner of Union and Mason. My husband and I go there EVERY time we are in SF. It is a nice cozy little place with great food and outstanding service. We always get the gniocchi and some other new dish off the menu. It always runs us *under* $40 including a dessert. We do not drink wine though, so that would be in addition to the $40. Make sure to make reservations by noon on the day you plan to go - as this place is always full and you'll have an hour wait if you go without a resv. I hope you get a chance to go there and enjoy some outstanding Italian food!

I highly recommend Pane e Vino at the corner of Union and Steiner (415-346-2111). Excellent Italian food (the owner is from Venice) at a very reasonable price. They even have a garden outside where they grow all their own herbs and salad fixings (worth seeing). Congradulations on you upcoming marriage.

Here are a few suggestions off the top: Chow and Park Chow(good homemade food with reasonable prices)In the Castro and over by Golden Gate Park and UCSF Yank Sing(Rincon Annex) IMHO the best dim sum in SF Blue Plate(the Mission)Homey food,hip atmosphere and lots of locals Pauline's Pizza(on Valenica) really truly this is great stuff; try the pesto pizza With the exception of Yank Sing..you will be among locals and the feel will be a casual one. SF is a city known for its ethnic foods. Do a search on chowhound or sfgate.com and check out some of the notables. One more suggestion: Plouf for mussels cooked many ways (in the Financial District)

Forgot: Del Forno in North Beach..no reservations

WOW!!! All these suggestions are great. Such a wide variety. Keep em' coming. THANK YOU!

You've gotten some good suggestions. I especially like Chow and Plouf. You'll probably find the best bargains outside of the major tourist areas. Savor in Noe Valley has a wide variety of choices and the prices are reasonable. One of my favorite places is Luna Park in the Mission district. If you don't have much wine the price should be in your budget. Another place I like in the Mission area is Churanga. They serve "small plates" and everything is very good. Chinatown has lots of restaurants that are reasoanably priced and quite good. Check out Zagat.com for specific places. The Cow Hollow area (Union Street) has lots of restaurants that might appeal to you.

I also second Panta Rei- we had a great meal there and the prices were very reasonable. Service was good and the food excellent- one of our favorite meals of the trip. One warning- they only take cash though (well, at least last summer they did). We also found a ton of yummy reasonably priced places in Chinatown. Have a great honeymoon!

Yabbies for fish Another vote for Plouf Great Eastern in Chinatown L'Osteria del Forno for Italian (no reservations, only a handful of tables (=long wait), menu changes daily)

Plouf is superb, but uncertain you can do two for $75 or less. Blue Plate is another idea - out on Mission Street. Yabbies is good, but again, hard to stay under $75. May I suggest Swan Oyster Depot - for a lunch - certainly under $50 here, for two. Have a good trip.