San Francisco Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in San Francisco - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in San Francisco - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
Folks line up on weekends for the amazing breakfast sandwiches here: fluffy eggs, thick bacon, pepper jack, avocado, and lemon-garlic aioli on a melt-in-your-mouth buttermilk biscuit. Made-to-order beignets are another favorite. Lunch options include chicken curry salad sandwiches, BLTs, and a seasonal soup of the day. Browse the bakery's selection of used books from local favorite Green Apple while you wait, and if you can't get a spot among the limited sidewalk seating, the beach is close by. A second location in the Outer Richmond (3619 Balboa St.) has the same crowd and delectable menu, but parking is much easier here.
As soon as the large door swings open to this happening two-level space, diners are greeted with bright colors, a lively bar, and the smell of spices in the air. This is the second location of the popular Dosa on Valencia, but it's definitely the glamorous younger sister, with an expanded menu and much more room. The menu entices with savory fish dishes, tender chicken dum korma, and papery dosas. The restaurant handles group dining often. At lunch, indulge in the Indian street-food selections, and the famed pani puri (little crisp puffs you fill with mint and tamarind water and pop all at once into your mouth).
Unpretentious yet undeniably chic, this neighborhood beach shack is famous for its simple, fresh seafood. The menu changes daily depending on the day's catch, so join hungry surfers and locals as they gobble up tacos, burritos, or fish-and-chips; wash your choice down with beer or wine. Come early and expect a wait for the long communal table or the coveted wooden stools along the counter.
Some of San Francisco's most exquisite French pastries are baked daily at this serene, cheery shop. On the savory side, most choices tend to be some form of pâté-filled pastry and are presented with all the artistry of haute cuisine; sweets are split between croissant-type items and proper dessert treats. Lunch seekers will be satisfied by the tiny selection of quiche, salads, and sandwiches.
Persian dining is mostly done in homes, with fine dining a modern concept, but Maykadeh hits the mark with authenticity in Persian cooking as well as saucy, elevated, French-influenced twists. Those in the know come for succulent lamb specialties with saffron rice, served in a dining room with an old-school, white-shirt-and-tie vibe. Kebabs, like the chicken joojeh, and other marinated meats are great for sharing. Other options include ghorme sabzee, lamb shank braised with Persian aromatic herbs. There are plenty of starters, like strained-whey-drizzled eggplant dip, to tease the most hearty appetites.
The whip-quick, no-nonsense, food-smart staff behind the counter at this take-out delicatessen have been serving up the most delicious, and quite possibly the biggest, sandwiches in town since 1896. Grab a number, revel in the time warp that Sinatra in the background provides, marvel at the Italian-style cured meats, and let the artists build you an unforgettable combo; then head to Washington Square Park for a picnic. The family-run shop is helmed by the fourth generation; its current torch holder is Italian-Filipino Nicholas Mastrelli, one of the Piedmont-hailing original owner's great-grandsons. Nick takes great pride in upholding his family's legacy and creating community with regulars.
This modern Italian favorite continues to be a special destination for chef Matthew Accarrino's inventive seasonal cooking. The five-course tasting menu includes tempting antipasti, superlative pastas like mustard capellini with guinea hen ragù, and a few hearty secondi; save space for the fantastic desserts. The Italian wine list is also full of gems and divided by region, providing a great education with your bottle. The polished yet relaxed atmosphere, with travel posters on the wall, attracts a dedicated neighborhood following of all ages. Singles and walk-in couples can sit at the two counters (one looks into the galley kitchen). Accarrino's fried chicken on Sundays is worth planning your day around. And doughnuts and coffee are served during the daytime for Fillmore's steady stream of weekend power shoppers and walkers.
Half fish market and half diner, this small, slim, family-run seafood operation, open since 1912, has no tables, just a narrow marble counter with about 18 stools. Some locals come in to buy perfectly fresh salmon, halibut, crabs, and other seafood to take home; everyone else hops onto one of the rickety stools to enjoy a dozen oysters, other shellfish, or a bowl of clam chowder—the only hot food served. All of the seafood is served up with a side of big personality from the jovial folks behind the counter, who make you feel like a regular. Come before 11 am or after 2 pm to avoid a long wait, and bring a full wallet: old-school Swan takes cash only.
Chad Robertson is America’s first modern cult baker, and this tiny Mission District outpost (along with the larger Tartine Manufactory on the eastern side of the neighborhood) is where you'll find his famed loaves of tangy country bread and beloved pastries like croissants and morning buns. You'll also find near-constant lines out the door; they're longest in the morning when locals (and plenty of tourists) need a pastry punch to start the day, and later in the afternoon when the famed loaves emerge freshly baked.
Rarely found in this country and even obscure to many Chinese, the lightly seasoned Hakka cuisine of southern China is the hallmark of this local favorite, featuring dishes such as salt-baked chicken, braised stuffed tofu, steamed fresh bacon with dried mustard greens, and clay pots of meats and seafood. Ton Kiang opens in the morning for dim sum, serving delicate dumplings and steamed buns; a small selection of dim sum is available at night, too.
After one bite of Zuni's succulent brick-oven-roasted whole chicken with warm bread salad, you'll understand why the two-floor café is a perennial star. Its long copper bar is a hub for a disparate mix of patrons who commune over oysters on the half shell and cocktails and wine. Nearly as famous as the chicken are the Caesar salad with house-cured anchovies and the chocolatey flourless gâteau Victoire. The most cheerful spot to sit is at the tip of the pyramid window near the bar, easier to score if you plan a late lunch.
Overlooking the always interesting Mint Plaza, a European-style plaza that surrounds the former U.S. Mint, this brick-walled, cozy-modern restaurant is one of San Francisco's best Roman trattorias, with both rustic traditional cooking and gentle spins on classic recipes. The exceptional cocktails by Jacopo Rosito are worth a trip on their own, and diners can wrap up dinner properly with an amaro and an espresso—this place truly feels and tastes like Rome. 54 Mint's sibling, Montesacro, a block away, introduced the city to pinsas, an oval sibling to pizza.
Named after a highway that runs through southern Italy, this bustling contemporary trattoria specializes in the food from that region, done very, very well. The menu is stocked with pizza, rustic pastas like maccaronara with ragù Napoletano (a meat sauce), and entrées like braised short rib with polenta. The selection of primarily southern Italian wines, augmented by some California vintages, supports the food perfectly.
Hiking up Nob Hill can feel like trekking up a mountain, so the "alto" is indeed an apropos part of the name of this Italian neighborhood favorite run by husband-and-wife team Nick Kelly and Calli Martinez (he's the chef; she's the wine director). Kelly's menu effortlessly dances between haute and rustic Italian cooking, often with distinct California elements, and he's a master of pastas and in-house butchery. Martinez's wine list offers one of the city's best collections of Italian wines. The two-room setup is perfect for a casual bite at the entrance bar or a full four-course extravaganza in the elegant dining room. Both rooms (and the side sidewalk seating) have front-row seats on the cable cars rolling by outside.
Lemongrass and softly sizzling chilies perfume this modest neighborhood favorite, opened by Cambodian refugees in the late 1980s. The menu includes an array of curries, salads of squid or cold noodles with ground fish, and lightly curried fish mousse cooked in a banana leaf basket. Vegetarians will be happy to discover plenty of selections. Service is friendly though sometimes languid, so don't stop here when you're in a hurry.
Whether enjoying shrimp tacos at lunch on the beautiful, intimate patio or a perfect margarita with a host of small plates at the bar for a casual dinner, celebrated chef Traci Des Jardins’s Californian-Mexican restaurant always hits the right notes. Tortillas and salsas are made in-house, and the tequila and mezcal selection is one of the deepest in San Francisco. Lunch is fast-casual while dinner is full service.
A Bay Area worker-owned cooperative, this bakery lures passersby with liberal slogans and baked goodies displayed in its large storefront window. The menu changes daily, offering different types of bread, sweet treats like scones, and pizza. Plop down $28 for a whole thin-crust pizza and enjoy it in the sidewalk parklet for a perfect beginning (or end) to a Golden Gate Park excursion.
At this sleek Presidio Heights daytime café, the wellness-centric menu manages to be so delicious that guests often don't notice how virtuous the dishes are. Bread for the open-faced sandwiches is gluten-free and baked in-house; several items are vegetarian and/or vegan; and even the pappardelle is made of zucchini ribbons instead of wheat. The white-tiled and white-painted interior looks more like a luxury Beverly Hills boutique than an eatery.
Your search for the perfect kouign-amann (a traditional glazed, butter-enriched Breton pastry made of croissant dough) ends in this buzzy café from baking wizard Belinda Leong.
Guests can almost smell the Adriatic salt water–kissed air while digging into cicchetti (similar to open-faced crostini bites with various toppings) and other clever Venetian-inspired dishes at this gorgeous restaurant next to the Embarcadero Center. As delightful as the food is, the glamorous design and intricate cocktails are just as noteworthy. Mixologist Carlo Splendorini is one of the leading modern figures of the city's cocktail industry, and his drinks at this dolce vita–filled bar-restaurant are the perfect partner to the tall floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook a grand European capital-style plaza outside complete with a fountain.
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