San Francisco Restaurants, SOMA / Union Square
 

We're headed to San Francisco soon (yay!), staying at the Palace Hotel. If you have a restaurant recommendation, or two+, for that specific area I would love to hear from you. I am searching this site for info but have not yet found a post that addresses the SOMA area. We enjoy all food types, between the low to moderate high price range. Thank you in advance.

price range? Type of food? dressy, casual? would be helpful

Price range up to $75 pp; any type of food excluding fast-food--prefer non-chain establishments; casual to business casual. So far, I have reservations at Slanted Door and Fish & Farm. These are out of my search area but we have greater flexibility those two nights. Thank you.

Fifth Floor; One Market are 2 great ones.
http://www.fifthfloorrestaurant.com/

http://www.onemarket.com/

Not in the area, but Spruce was excellent! Worth the taxi ride
http://www.sprucesf.com/

Slanted Door & Fish and Farm are close enough to the Palace so I wouldn't worry about them.

[Are you going for Conference and want to stay by Moscone?]

My two favorites within walking distance of the Palace are:

Perbacco - uscale Italian - not a red sauce North Beach place. Very nice atmosphere & quite popular. Dined there two weeks ago for the third time.

Gitane - French - in an alley. You walk downstairs below street level, then upstairs to the restaurant. Seems like one of those places that was "hidden" during prohibition & you had to say "Joe sent me" to get in. However, there was a report in the SF Chronicle that the female chef was departing to go back to France, and another female chef was taking over & would offer pretty much the same menu. We've dined here 3 times

Note about Fish & Farm. We dined there not too long after it first opened, & though it was just OK. Main draw was that there is a cheap corkage fee if you brought a California wine. It is in the Tenderloin, so the area seems a little rugged. The restaurant interior is more rustic than Perbacco or Gitane. If you walk there, walk down Market to O'Farrell and then west on O'Farrell to Taylor - this will avoid the most dangerous part of the Tenderloin (0 block of Turk or Eddy - can't remember which). The Chronicle also reported (I think) an ownership & chef change recently at Fish & Farm. Try to search the "Scoop" section of the Chronicle at www.SFGate.com

Stu Dudley

Thank you both so much.

Stu, I particularly appreciate your insight as well as the walking advice to F&F, thank you. Will research that pick further.

Deb, you have it right, dh has a meeting at the Moscone. I made note of Spruce in your trip report. Now, please return to your birthday festivities! :-)

Some quintessential SOMA restaurants are Town Hall, Lulu's, and Salt House-contemporary American/California cuisine, interesting spaces, somewhat loud and boisterous, relaxed.

Thank you, SAB, those menus look great, especially Town Hall.

"somewhat loud and boisterous"? Town Hall is one of the loudest restaurants I've ever been in in my life.

sf7307--tolerance for the noise level at Town Hall seems to be somewhat related to age--the under 35 crowd don't seem to mind it too much, indeed they seem to eat it up. Since I don't know the age of the poster and her spouse, they also might enjoy the atmosphere.

Good point - and I'm well over 35! But seriously, my tolerance is not that low, but I wouldn't return to TH because of it.

If you like sushi be sure to go to Blowfish Sushi in SOMA.

Food is fabulous, probably the best sushi I have ever had -- living in Hawaii we have a lot of good places to choose from but Blow Fish is still my favorite when I am on the Mainland!

Environment is cool too.

Check them out at:
http://www.blowfishsushi.com/webform1.aspx

When I read "boisterous" used to describe Town Hall I actually smiled--it's a word I used in my NYC trip report to describe a restaurant we liked. If the food is good we won't mind...or will we?! (I am 47, dh 48). Thanks for the feedback--at least we know what to expect and will consider ourselves warned.

Jessica, thanks for the rec. The best sushi we've ever had was in Hawaii!

Boisterous - you will not be able to carry on a conversation with your dining partner.

Stu Dudley

That bad, eh? Yikes. The menus at Perbacco and Gitane look great--I was able to get a reservation on the 1st for Perbacco. Thank you, again, Stu!

It would be a walk or a streetcar or taxi ride away, but look at Boulevard near the Ferry Building. It's one of the two restaurants I'd go back to first (Slanted Door is the other)

Palace hotel has a beautiful restaurant, all mirrors and palm trees, great service, we all loved the food there. I think they have tea on weekends - do a search, if price is right, have a meal, if not, at least peek inside.

The Garden Court at the Palace serves breakfast, lunch, Sunday brunch and a Saturday afternoon tea (erroneously called high tea by many--OK my UK roots are showing!!!)--FYI the Garden Court was the carriage entrance to the Palace pre-1906 earthquake, after the quake and restoration it was transformed into the Garden Court and is quite impressive. Maxfield's in the Palace serves lunch and dinner--I have eaten businesses lunches there more times than I can remember--decent food, nothing out of the ordinary for the City, IMHO.

The SF Public Library City Guides does a free walking tour of Palace Hotel; it is good and worthwhile.

http://picasaweb.google.com/DebitNM/...nFrancisco2010

town hall is indeed loud. there are lots of large communal tables which add to the soundscape.
And I never found the food that great - it was a go-to resto for my former employers and i never got the appeal. Food is good but there are lots of other places w/ better food and better ambiance.

I also recommend Zuppa and Umbria in the SOMA area but it looks like you've got Italian covered.

If you like Mexican, Tropisueno, near the Yerba Buena Center , is a casual lunch spot but very nice, more formal dinner spot with mexico City style entrees and great service.

Restaurant LuLu for the most amazing sizzzzzling "Iron Skillet Roasted Mussels "
http://restaurantlulu.com/LuLu_about.html

It is a short walk from Moscone and near the Museum if you are interested, I think Thursday [or maybe Tuesday] nights at the Museum are half price.

Hi starrs, several days ago I tried to get a reservation but they are booked the entire time we are there. :-( But, I am going to try the Cliff House one day for lunch-->I read your rec to another poster. :-)

Hi Deb, I'll take the hotel tour on Tuesday. Your pictures are fantastic. I am so happy the Marriott, where dh hoped to stay for convenience, was booked, lol.

Thanks, everyone, for the additional feedback / recommendations--I really appreciate it.

If you're going to have lunch at the Cliff House, take the opportunity to walk on the Land's End Trail - gorgeous walk and gorgeous views.

http://sanfrancisco.about.com/od/env...ndendtrail.htm

It starts just above the Cliff House.

How beautiful, sf7307, thank you so much. This will be my 4th time to SF but I have yet to see this area.

That's okay AnnMarie, I've lived here for 37 years and was there for the first time this year! For that matter, on Saturday, we went to Alcatraz -- I had been there 30 years ago with a friend from out of town, but my DH had never been before.

AnnMarie, have you been there since the streetcars arrived?
If not, you'll love the F-line running along Market -

http://www.streetcar.org/map.pdf

It's great for going back and forth to the Ferry building, but the line starts near Fisherman's Wharf and goes all the way to the Castro. We had a great night just making a big loop using the cable car from Union Square to FW and then the streetcar from FW to Castro and back "home" to our hotel at Union Square.

Check out the map above.

Well now I don't feel so bad, sf7307. :-) Haven't been to Alcatraz but this trip I do have a ticket! SF is one of those places that leaves me wanting more, it is fantastic how much there is to do there and in the surrounding areas.

Oh my heck, Starrs, I had to consult a calendar--2004 (!!) was the last time I was there. Thank you so much for the link. I do plan to buy the $3 muni map upon arrival, provided it's larger than the guidebook map which I strain to read with a magnifier.

Earlier today I discovered 511.org which can be used for public transportation trip planning. You may already be aware but in case you're interested for your fall trip,

http://tripplanner.transit.511.org/m...T2?language=en

Anything Stu and SAB recommend are best recommendations.

DebiT has an unparalleled palate and has been spotted madly dashing about SF during Dine About Town days.

I'll agree with One Market.

Slanted Door has never touched the soft spot in me. It's just way overblown, IMHO.

A really great experience for Pan-Asian would be Silks in the Mandarin Oriental. Not quite SOMA, but close. Expensive but worth it.

If you go to the Cliff House, go to the Bistro side. Prices are cheaper and the view is better. Their clams are pretty awesome too. As is their calamari. Best are their popovers. Our favorite bottle of wine there at the moment is the Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc.

What else? Oh, yes, if you're here between June 1-15, try one of the better restaurants listed for their special pricing during Dine About Town June event.

http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/taste/dineabouttown/

"DebiT has an unparalleled palate and has been spotted madly dashing about SF during Dine About Town days." I love it. :-)

easytraveler, thanks for the added info and recommendation on where to eat at Cliff House, I really appreciate it.

AnnMarie: you're quite welcome.

We're all going to be living vicariously through your adventures, so please do post a TR.

Dinner last night at Fish & Farm was great! DH ordered the cheeseburger and gave me a nice chunk to try--it is the best burger I have ever tasted, so flavorful. I had the halibut with gorgeous local produce and edible flower petals, which added a nice color and interest to the dish. Because I was eating without my glasses what I thought were tiny potatoes were in fact garlic cloves. They were so mild and tasty. 2007 pinot noir Tolossa, Edna Valley, my new best friend. :-)

Tonight, we've been invited to Postrio.

Has the main dining room reopened? I thought it was closed until later this year for remodeling. I think the bar and cafe remained open. The food is pretty good, but it's not a place that is high on most locals' dining list.

BTW it looks like it may be one of those rare nights where temperatures it will remain fairly nice into the early evening, you might want to consider dining al fresco at some place like Plouf or another place on Belden. Just a thought.

Or Waterbar if you are looking for something more "known" to non-locals.

You can also check on menupages.com for reviews and recommendations for restaurants organized by meal, cuisine, location.

SAB, do you refer to Postrio being under re-construction? We saw no signs of a remodel or renovation. Loved the scent of the wood burning pizza oven that wafts through the restaurant. The raw oysters were the best I've ever tried.

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions! We had a great time in San Francisco and enjoyed a lot of delicious food, we were so impressed. This was my fourth trip to SF and, again, was left wanting more. Such a beautiful city with so much to offer, I cannot say enough how much I love it there!

For dinner I made, or, we had, plans every night. Lunch I was on my own and found it challenging planning my day around a restaurant, though I wanted to! For me, it's easier to eat where I end up.

In a nutshell,

Lunch: Upon arrival we headed for the Ferry Building in search of the Roli Roti truck for porchetta sandwiches. Excellent.

Fog City Diner for fish tacos. I had been here years before and just love the atmosphere of this place...and the food is good, imo.

McCormick & Kuleto was okay--I've been here twice before and am always more impressed with the view than the food.

Orlando's Caribbean BBQ at the AT&T Park. After polishing off a giant beef hot dog (yum!) a video clip on ball park food, featuring Bobby Flay of the Food Network, is playing on the trinitron. He says that Orlando's cha-cha bowl is the best food in the Park. The locals I sat with agreed, one of them was so kind as to give me his season ticket for $5 off, so off I go. Rice, black beans, bbq chicken...it's a lot of food! and it's excellent.

Dinner:

We loved it all; Fish & Farm, Postrio, Le Colonial, Perbacco, Slanted Door.

Though we loved the food and experience at all these places I think Perbacco was our favorite. We were really impressed by the menu, the food and their attention to detail. In the "special request" section of the Opentable.com reservation form I had mentioned it was our 25th anniversary that night and asked for a quiet table, if available. Not only did they give us a table in a corner, out of the fray, but upon arrival they gave us a hand written card wishing us the best and thanking us for choosing their restaurant for dinner. Also, they decorated the dessert plate with 'Happy Anniversary'. I didn't expect that and thought it a very nice touch.

Here we tried tongue for the first time, in a dish with roast octopus. I'd had octopus before but not like this, oh, it was so tender as was the tongue. It was a bit of a mental challenge for me eating the tongue...but it was so darn good, I got over it.

I'd just like to add that if you've never been to Le Colonial don't let the outside fool ya! The street it's on, Cosmo Place, feels more alley like than anything. Then there's the small, white stucco building that greets you. I thought, is this it? No, it's only the entrance, cocktail area. This place is deceivingly large with a lot of rooms including one with live music and dancing!

Thank you, all, again for your help! This forum continues to make me a better traveler for which I am most grateful.

sf7307, thank you so much for the Lands End trail recommendation! We walked from the Cliff House to the end. Although our pictures suck the fog made for a neat experience, listening to the fog horns the entire walk was neat. The GG Bridge found itself in various degrees of exposure, seemingly dependent on wind shifting the fog. Great experience and what a work out on the legs, all those steps! We loved it.

Once we reached the end of the trail I sat on the bench near the "call box". Something flew by my head and I wonder if someone in the shrubs behind me threw something. Nahhh, there's no one there. Then I recall hearing a whack prior. A few minutes later a golfer shows up looking for his ball--we shared a good laugh with him over what happened.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It falls in the category of "pay it forward" in the sense that several years ago, Stu mentioned it, and even though I've lived here for 37 years, it had probably been that long since I'd been on it (if ever). We're in a "mode" of doing tourist things in our own town (for ex., last weekend Healdsburg/Occidental, the weekend before Alcatraz), and Land's End was one of the things on our list.

You picked great restaurants. And yes, the "cha cha bowl" is without a doubt the best food in the park, although a hot link from the Evergood sausage cart can give it a run for the money!! Which game were you at?

>>Here we tried tongue for the first time, in a dish with roast octopus<<

I had the same thing at Perbacco a couple of weeks ago. Tasty......

Stu Dudley

I went Memorial Day, Giants vs. Colorado Rockies. Giants lost. :-( You have a beautiful stadium and the views of the water are fantastic. A few weeks prior, I randomly chose a seat using the on-line site and ended up in the midst of a group of season ticket holders that have been going to the game, sitting in the same seats, since the new stadium opened. Eleven years ago is what they told me. I could not have landed in a better spot, such a nice group of people.