Parking/restaurants around Union Sq SF
 

Hi,
We're staying at the Larkspur Hotel,Union Sq. Where should we safely,cheaply leave our rental car for 2 days?
Also good restaurants nearby appreciated.
Thanks!
CCF

Sutter-Stockton garage or the Union Sq Garage. About $30/day. Not cheap, but probably the best you can find in that area.

May be cheaper if you can find an open lot, but I am always leery about leaving a rental car in an open lot (vs a gated garage).

Turn the car in to a Union Square office and then re rent 2 days later. Why pay daily rental fee AND garage fee for 2 days. Take the saved money and have a grand dinner at a fine SF eatery.

{As to restaurants, you can't throw a stone in that area and find excellent restaurants with a variety of cuisines and price range. What kind of food and how much do you want to spend??}

Dollar has great rates and allows one way with no extra fees. Their office is easy to walk to in Union Sq.

Depending on how you trip is set up, maybe take BART or taxi or some public transportation to Union Sq. and then start rental from downtown rental place. You would also save some pretty hefty airport fees that are charged when you rent at airport. Just a thought, if it works.

Deb

Thanks,Deb,
that had occurred to me. We are driving from LA to Yosemite-SF so need a car.
Will look into leaving it in town tho.
Any favorite restaurants?I know there are a ton!
CCF

We ate at the following places in SF:

Aqua - high end place where we had excellent food and really loved.

Tadich Grill - this is traditional SF at its best. Surly waiters, too but that was part of the charm. We ate at the counter which made the wait pretty short [no reservations]. We had chowder, cioppino, sand dabs and bread pudding. A must.

Zuni Cafe - down a bit on Market [we took the trolley F line]. Their Roasted Chicken Bread Salad was to die for!

A16 - quite the happening place, noisy but great to watch people. The neighborhood [not Union Sq] was lovely.

Some good eats from Ferry Building, including a yummy roast duck wrap.

We had the SF GTG dinner at E Tutto Qua in North Beach. Great food but the company was the highlight of that night [Fodorites are the best dinner companions]

And we took the train out to Berkeley and had dinner at Chez Panisse. A totally wonderful experience from the food to our waiter.

These are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

We had Dim Sum in Chinatown; I'd have to find that name [it was really good].

Hope this helps,
Deb

There's a great little cafe (mediterranean, italian?) on Maiden Lane, which is just off Union Square.

I also like this "alleyway" in the financial district www.belden-place.com very much.

Here is the Dim Sum info:

We didn't know where to go as it was kind of a spur of the moment. so I dedided to ask the locals. I went into 3 differents shops and asked them where they would go to have Dim Sum. A lovely young lady at the Red Blossom Tea Company suggest City View and she even went onto the internet to double check address and gave us walking directions.

It was a very nice, bright restaurant with lots of tables and we got a table right away.[662 Commerical, a tiny street off Kearny St; between Chinatown and Financial District].

It cost us $38 with tax and 1 beer. We ate plenty of food and it was very good. We got there just before Noon on Thursday and sat right down. Within 10 minutes the line was out the door.

Carts were stocked, frequent, varied and servers were pleasant and helpful.

We highly recommend City View.
Deb

Hello CCF, I am assuming that you will be staying at the Villa Florence on Powell Street?

A few suggestions regarding restaurants, all walking distant from the Villa Florence.


http://www.scalasbistro.com/


http://www.perbaccosf.com/ You might want to walk there and take a taxi back to the hotel.

Various restaurants at Belden Place, if you like mussels Plouf would be a good choice. Walking distant from the Villa Florence.

http://www.belden-place.com/

Just a few suggestions to get you started.

Wishing you a wonderful time in San Francisco!

CCF - just got back from a SF trip. We parked in the Sutter- Stockton garage. One night was $21.50 and the other was $14.50. I was expecting $30. I can't figure out how they came up with the prices. We loved driving to places that would have taken much longer by public transportation - I'll start posting my trip report tomorrow.

Cheap and parking don't go together in SF. We paid $16 today to park for 3 hours and 10 minutes for lunch in the big outdoor lot near the Ferry Building. That was without validation. Without the validation it would have been $24. I noticed it is $50 a day.

Thanks all for the tips.I love this board!
We're really looking forward to it. Frost's on the pumpkins here in Maine.
Now to pack for 3 seasons in 1 carry on...aaargh, it's the shoes!!
CCF

When are you coming? you know, we can help you pack!

We leave in the am.
I learned to pack early on from my dear mother who went around the world with a carry on.
I can do it, it's the last minute stuff, and the darn shoes. We like to walk, and I haven't given in to the sneaker look.
The 3 seasons now look like 2: LA/SF and Yosemite, thanks to Global Warming I guess.
I also have to realize that the world isn't looking at me.
Theme:Black /white /tan it is!
Thanks again for all the help!

Wishing you a beautiful trip CCF. Enjoy every special moment!

One of my favorites - http://www.farallonrestaurant.com/

You can park the car for free on one of the streets, if you'll be doing this on a Sat & Sunday when "sticker" parking is not in effect. Obviously, metered parking is in effect on Sat, but not Sunday. You could park in the Noe Valley around Church & west, then take the J-Church metro to Powell. Some areas in the Noe Valley do not have sticker parking on week days, but street cleaning once-a-week - so be aware of that. (BTW, I do this all the time).

Stu Dudley

There are so many great places to eat in SF! You may want to try and make reservations for some, because the good ones can get crowded.

My friends and I (who live in SF) have created some lists of our favorite restaurants here:
http://www.nextstop.com/explore/?bre...=1&start=0

As for parking, I usually park at the sutter-stockton garage or the garage on mission and 4th street across from the bloomingdales mall. I think that one is only $20 a day.