We are here in beautiful San Francisco and love the city, but we're finding very little to get excited about when it comes to dining.

So far we have managed to find medicore meals at best on a moderate budget. Nothing to write home about to be sure. Granted, we have only been in town for two days but we are getting very discouraged and find the prospect of our next dining adventure a little daunting. Unfortunately, bad meals are starting to taint our experience and leave a bad taste behind (pun intended).

Also, tomorrow's forcast is for heavy rain all day long. Sites we want to see are mostly outdoors. While we are willing to get wet to see this great city, something dry might be nice.

Please let us know if you have any suggestions for the next few days. Negative suggestions are not needed at this point and will not be appreciated.

Thanks!

GeeGirl, I share your sentiment about dining in San Francisco. I have also been quite unimpressed with SF dining and find it to be overrated. Having said that, I would recommend that you take the BART train over to Oakland's Jack London Square. There are lots of great restaurants there. One of my favorites is Scott's Seafood. Check out (www.jacklondonsquare.com) for more information. Take BART to the Oakland/City Center Station and from there you can take an AC Transit bus to Jack London Square. Hope this helps.

Hmmmm, sorry to hear about your disappointing food experience.

What do you consider a modest budget? And what kinds of food do you eat?

Here are some suggestions I have.

1) Cafe Cuvee (http://www.cafecuvee.citysearch.com/) , is located on Market at 14th Street, near the big Safeway. The food is kind of french/California cuisine.

2) Metro Cafe (http://www.metrocafesf.net/) is on Divisadero near Haight/Page St. A cute little French-style bistro. GREAT value.

3) Indian Oven is the best Indian food I've ever tasted (http://www.sfstation.com/restaurants/indianoven/). It's on Fillmore, near Haight. but you MUST make reservations or expect to wait 45-60 mins on a Fri/Sat night. Even with reservations, expect to wait.

4a,b) For real casual, with a California twist on diner food, Chow gets a great reputation. There are two locations. One on Church at Market (4a). The other on Ninth Ave near Irving (4b). (http://www.sfstation.com/restaurants/parkchow/)

5) Avenue 9 is very near Park Chow (on Ninth Ave near Irving). A bit more expensive too. (http://avenue9.citysearch.com)

6) For Italian, my favorite is Michelangelo Caffe (http://www.sfstation.com/restaurants/michelangelo/) in North Beach on Columbus near Union.

7) A great relativelty cheap Meditteranean place is La Mediterranee (http://www.sfstation.com/restaurants/lamediterranee/) located on Noe at Market. A LOT of food for not too much money. Very consistently good (go for the middle eastern "sampler" plate)

8) If you are looking for brunch, the best pancakes (how does lemon gingerbread sound to you?) in the world are in Berkeley at "La Note". Take BART to downtown Berkeley ($2.65 each way) and walk along Shattuck maybe 5 blocks south (the hills and university are to the east). About a 5 min walk. Be prepared to wait 30 mins at least. (http://lanote.citysearch.com/) Also, the cinnamon brioche french toast is YUMMMMM.

If you are without a car, you can take public transit easily. For numbers 1 or 4a take the F-Market streetcar up Market (towards the hills) to Church St (at the big Safeway).

For number 7, take the F two stops further to Noe St.

For number 2, take the 6, 7 or 71 bus to Divisadero (the buses run on Market and then Haight). Board the bus outbound on Market (towards the hills) on the center platforms.

For number 3, take the 6, 7 or 71 buses to Fillmore (along Haight). Some boarding as above.

For numbers 4b and 5, take the Muni Metro line (underground) N-Judah towards Ocean Beach. Get off at Ninth Avenue and walk north (towards the park) half a block. Board this train underground along Market Street.

For number 6, take the number 30 or 45 bus. Board on Kearny Street near Market. You will ride through Chinatown. Get off at Union Street and Columbus (Washington Square).

I hope any of this is helpful to you Please post and let us know if you need more assistance.

Curious, no, it does not mean that I am online a lot because I am not one who is always posting responses. I do however scan through some of the threads and find James' posting on the SF and NYC threads quite a bit.

There's a McDonald's on Powell St near the cable car turnaround.

Check out the SF board on chowhound.com . Lots of informative posts there, and it's searchable.

GEE: I learned along time ago that travel experiences are seldom improved by dining. After I have had a few fine meals in one city I find that the *fantastic* restaurants in every city are very much the same. As an attorney I have eaten at many top rated places while treating clients or being treated by clients.

While travel I eat what I expect will be decent (Pizza) or if there is a regional specialty --I will try it. Yum--Lobster rolls.

Eat what you like wherever you are and you can't go wrong.

Globe has decent bisto food.

On Powell Street, near the cable car turnaround is a corner pizza place called "Blondies". It was said to be the best in SF and when my daughter and I tried their pizza by the slice, we decided it was so! I ordered a salad there once and thought I'd get the same-old-same-old and got a WONDERFUL salad (big) for about 2.50. This is a good place for a family on a budget.

Also, on Columbus Street (sorry I can't remember the street address) is Molinari's Deli. A sandwich there will cost about 7.00, but it will feed two people. Oldest Deli west of the Mississippi, really cute. Beware, its too small to eat inside and you said it would be raining, so plan on take-out.

Avoid Denny's down at the Wharf. A 2.99 slam in the miwest is 7.99 there.

Another good bet is Chinatown. My kids wouldn't eat Chinese there, tee hee. But we did eat breakfast. Several small cafes post breakfast menus on their door. One we ate at gave us eggs, toast, bacon and either coffee or orange juice for 1.79. So check out the diners on the side streets of Chinatown.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your stay.

Hi GeeGirl. I sympathize completely. It might help if you told us your budget for food and where you've been eating - random restaurants in tourist areas? places specifically recommended in guidebooks or here? I will try to give you some recommendations of my favorite places that aren't too isolated/hard to get to. I always tell people to check out Citysearch for good ideas and reviews, though there are always disagreements.

http://bayarea.citysearch.com/

Jason made some good suggestions, though I have to say that I was disappointed with Indian Oven. Not bad, just not as good as I had been led to believe. I love Chow!

The following places are not cheap, but in the under $20 range for entrees. Reservations are definitely a good idea, though not always necessary if you eat early (and maybe with the weather more people will stay home). You will find that most places have a California twist to the menu. I've indicated the neigborhood. Obviously, I don't eat much in Union Square or North Beach. I find Union Square is good for the high-end places, but not for more moderate dining. North Beach does have some good restaurants, but you have to find them, there's lots of bad places, and I don't live in the area.

1. Globe (Pacific and Battery - near North Beach)
2. Lulu (Mediterranean - Folsom and 4th - SOMA)
3. Delfina (Italian, haven't been yet but near top of my list - 18th and Dolores - Mission, plenty of good bars and clubs here)
4. Luna Park (Valencia and 18th - Mission)
5. Firecracker (Chinese - Valencia and 21st -Mission)
6. Charanga (Tapas - Mission and 19th - Mission)
7. Zuni (Market and Gough - near Mission/Castro)
8. Beach Chalet (Great Hwy - outer Sunset, watch the huge waves crash in the storm)
9. Absinthe (Yummy, highly recommended -Hayes and Gough - Hayes Valley)
10. Izzy's Steaks & Chops (Steiner and Chestnut - Marina)
11. Ebisu (Sushi - 9th Ave. and Irving - Sunset)

Good luck. Let me know if you any questions.

Thanks everyone for the fantastic suggestions. We were thrilled with the list of suggested spots.

We took a day trip to Berkley and Marin County today and the trip improved our outlook. Although we headed to Berkley to try La Note, we stopped instead and ate something familiar. Don't ask -- it's embarrassing. It got too late for breakfast and we weren't sure we would find La Note. (James, Where in the world should one park in Berkley? Everything we found was 20 minutes to 1 hour or permit parking. You might pass it along to the Chamber of Commerce that the money we would have spent in Berkley went home with us instead of to the fine merchants there. Charming place though.)

Some posters asked about what we consider modest and our tastes. We have spent up to $54 on a dinner we didn't like (Sam's Grill -- salmon steak and veal scallopini) and $28 on sandwiches and desert that seemed just perfect. So I guess we are simple people. We often go for Italian or Tex-Mex at home. Meals at home range from $25 - $35 for 2.

We stopped in Sausalito and had our best meal so far -- Leones Tutti. Just a simple sandwich and friendly staff.

We are very optomistic about the remainder of our trip (the weather is clearing up) and have so many great suggestions on good food we are sure to be back to San Francisco. Thanks Fodorites!

GeeG, I wonder if you've been eating at all the hangouts around Union Sq which cater mainly to tourists and are not wonderful? Try an out of the way Chinese restaurant in Chinatown (check the back streets for those populated w/ Chinese.) Try Plouf off Union Sq. Try Boulevard (expensive but excellent), Cafe Riggio on Geary in the Richmond Dist: One of my favorites, a popular neighborhood hangout. Try Les Joulins, a simple French restaurant off Union Sq that does cater to tourists, but has excelllent food and jazz and great staff. Have the cassoulet or duck confit. Tell Osman that Susan, a friend of Marianne and Jerry sent you. You should NEVER have a mediocre meal in SF!!!! Bon Appetit!

GeeGirl: I live here in SF and want to make your experience great!!!

GOOD FOOD:

1. High priced: Tommy Toys, Elisabeth Daniel, Hawthorne Lane, Gary Danko, Rubicon, Aqua. Any of these you will love.

2. Moderately priced: Plumpjack Cafe, Asia SF (FUN!).

3. Cheap: Is anything cheap in SF? Find someplace that looks cheap and has lots of crowds. There are a lot of good small places, but I can't think of any names right now.

TO DO IN THE RAIN, go to SF MOMA or shopping in Union Sq. You can also doAlcatraz (you can sit inside on the ferry, and once you get there it is indoors--but dress WARMMM!)Or take a drive through the Presidio area-- so pretty, even in the rain. The Exploratorium is also very popular.

HAVE FUN!

For 'Trying to help ([email protected]':

Take Bart from San Francisco to Jack London Square in Oakland for better restaurants??????????????????

Do you live in the Bay Area? We don't go to Jack London Square from San Francisco to eat.

xx, You really have to open your eyes and realize that there is a lot more to northern California than San Francisco. SF people are way too narcicistic about their town. It's a defense mechanism. If you never venture outside of your city you will never realize that other cities also have great restaurants, and heavan forbid even better ones than SF. So xx, please do yourself a favor and take your delusional head out of your ass.