San Francisco Restaurants
 

My husband and I will be spending a few days later this month in San Francisco & are looking for some good local restaurants - nothing too pricey or tourist traps. We like all types of cuisine & want to know the good places the locals eat at. Thanks!!

Both of these are really good:

Limon (Mission District)
http://www.limon-sf.com/

Yank Sing (open only for lunch--dim sum)
http://www.yanksing.com/locations/index.html

Good local restaurants abound in San Francisco.

Could you give us more of an idea of your own likes and dislikes? Ethnic or American? Lunch or dinner? Meat or vegetarian? View or hole-in-the-wall? Any particular area of San Francisco (in other words, places close to your hotel or are you willing to taxi anywhere)?

The more specific you are the better Fodorites can help you. There are some Fodorites who are awesome when it comes to restaurant recommendations in SF.

Fantastic breakfasts near Union Square at Dottie's True Blue Cafe, small place, lines out the door, wait totally worth it!

2 doors down is a small, dumpy, but great inexpensive Indian restaurant called Shalimar.

Empress of China, get a windowtable with great view over the city.
http://empressofchinasf.com/

San Francisco has a huge foodie community! Many post at chowhound.com. You might want to take a look....

Also sfgate.com has good restaurant reviews (I read them all the time.)

Thanks for all the tips so far! Any recs for good sushi or seafood restaurants? We're also not looking for a specific area - anywhere in the city. Also - any good recommendations for places (not too pricey) to eat in Napa or Sonoma?

Tadich Grill is an institution for seafood and not overly expensive.

OK --seafood SF. Most good restaurants have good seafood, but if you are talking more than one or two dishes--For lunch downtown I usually go to Plouf (mussels) or Sam's Grill; if the boss is paying, we go to Acqua (expensive). We rarely go to Tadich's, especially in the summer--too many tourists.
For dinner, my favorites are Hayes Street Grill, Pesce (Italian seafood), Bar Crudo, Limon (not a seafood place per se, but I like their cerviches).
If I'm going with friends on a limited budget-- Pacific Cafe (out on Geary) or the Old Clam House (out on Bayshore)--both of which would require driving.

AngelaS-

I will advise you against any tourist traps. You should also go to Napa Valley.

Be Good!

Kaross - thanks for the forwarning - we are definitely doing a day in Napa & Sonoma. I've heard Sonoma is much more laid back & less pricey than Napa.. We'll be driving around everywhere.. =)

One general area with lots of fine, interesting restaurants is the Marina district. Look along Chestnut, west of Fillmore, and along streets like Steiner, Pierce, and Scott (perpendicular to Chestnut).

Another shop/restaurant area is Union Street (not Union Square!) from about Octavia westward to Steiner.

Fillmore itself (a bit farther inland) is a nice (but hilly) walking street, more-or-less from Post to Clay.

All are easy to reach by bus (if you are an urban explorer--much more practical than driving) from anywhere in the city and have lots of restaurants. They are in "neighborhoods" but attract San Franciscans from throughout the area--and are not main tourist areas.

When we visit SF, we walk/bus to areas like that a lot. In fact, we stay at a motel in Cow Hollow (essentially in the Marina) to be close to those areas.