San Francisco has always been one of my favorite cities, and I know that it has a really good reputation for having good restaurants. But I have found many of the restaurants there to be small and very crowded (space-wise). I really hate to eat being right next to the next table, with no sense of privacy at all. Bench seating with tables about two or three apart really takes away from the dining experience for me. Any suggestions on restaurants with really good food, where the seating is spaced out? will be staying in the North Beach area.

Moose's is nice and fairly quiet. If you want old fashioned, Fior d'Italia across from Washington Square is the old Italian---request a table in the front room. Don't go to Aqua!

Gianna's ...great new place with great reviews. Check out their website for menu.

I second Moose's in North Beach. My favorite restaurant when I visit the city.

Don: Go to chowhound.com . They've got a very active SF board. Post your request there and you should get loads of reommendations.

Believe a french expert: my favorite is the Rumpu's foer fantastic californian food and ambience.
Formerly it was a speakeasy, renovated. I don't remember the adress, but it is a very small area adjacent to Grant.

Thought of another favorite--Chapeau--lovely Franch food and good wine list. You'll need to take a taxi though from North Beach.

I agree with you Don. In addition, many of SF's restaurants seem to be overpriced and overrrated. SF's restaurant scene is not as great as many make it out to be.

The crowds aren't as bad as they were a few years ago - if your top priority is good food in a comfortable setting, avoid the very 'trendiest' places (those experiencing their first ten minutes of fame and featured on the front page of sidewalk.com or the like). Also consider going to the places most likely to be crowded on either an off-night (e.g., Tuesday or Wednesday) or an off time (very late lunch, early dinner), or both. I live in SF, and many good (and well-known) places are often half-empty if you time your visit well.

I strongly disagree w/ Kim, I lived there the last 15 yrs; am from the Bay area, and have come to the conclusion SF really does have extraordinarily good food. This was not a hypothesis I started out w/ but rather a conclusion i came to after alot of travel in the US and Europe. Where tourists go wrong is to eat at the worn-out warhorses, the over-advertised places or to only the expensive 5-star places. Talk w/ locals about recommendations. PS I do agree though that SF meams are expensine. Regard, Susanna

In my opinion, these restaurants have great food but are WAY too loud:

LuLu
Plouf
Acqua
Dine (aka Din)
Chez Papa

I have a dear friend who has a hearing disability. We've had comfortable dinners at The Meeting House, Florio, Fringale. It's hard to find a balance sometimes in the atmosphere of a restaurant - you want it to feel convivial, but dining to the roar of hundreds of voices and clanging of cooking utensils isn't my idea of a good time.

Hope this helps.

The SF board on chowhound.com is one of the most active. Loads of suggestions and recommendations can be found there.

MOOSE'S

Restaurant Gary Danko is absolutely sublime. The service is low key but impeccable, the atmosphere is sophisticated without being stuffy, and the food is phenomenal. Although the reservationists are accomodating, the restaurant is always booked so be sure to make your reservations a few weeks ahead of time. Don't miss the cheese course.