81 Best Restaurants in San Francisco, California

This tiny, beautifully designed coffee shop might be the most adorable in this city full of cute cafés. Families, longtime Bernal Heights residents, and coffee lovers from around the city gather here every morning for perfect cappuccinos and teas from various local purveyors. The colorful decor and an elaborate mural that whimsically shows the Bernal Heights hill are a favorite of the social media crowd.

This shoebox-size spot puts together thin-crust pies topped with the kinds of ingredients that are worth the constant wait. Almost half the menu changes on a biweekly basis, while dependable favorites include the tomato, basil, and mozzarella pizza; the Sardinian cheese, pine nut, and rosemary pie; and the San Marzano tomato sauce, wild arugula, and mascarpone pizza.

An offshoot of the restaurant Poesia next door, the name means "poetry" in Italian, and the pastries, desserts, and savory sandwiches at this café live up to the name. You can't go wrong with anything on the house-made cornetti or focaccia, or for that matter any of the wide variety of Italian pastries. The artful interior makes good use of tile and color, and the service is warm and personal.

For a real cup of joe without any sense of pretension, join the savvy construction workers, Giants fans, and young suits at the Embarcadero's seven-decade-old waterfront classic, where the coffee typically follows a double cheeseburger on sourdough and a cold beer, and the gorgeous view of the East Bay is priceless.

In the Mission District, the owners of the popular Ritual Coffee Roasters have plunked their roaster in the back of the café, so you know where your beans—usually single-origin, rather than a blend—were roasted when you order your espresso or drip coffee.

All the burgers at this laid-back spot, part of a popular Bay Area mini-chain, are responsibly sourced, and the beef is 100% grass-fed. Choose a patty (beef, bison, vegetarian, elk, or turkey), then select a preset "style" or invent your own from the many creative toppings. The homemade quinoa-, brown rice-, and black bean-based vegetarian burger might be the finest of that increasingly competitive genre in San Francisco. A market salad rotates frequently as a solid option for the burger-averse. Kombucha, shakes, house-made sodas, and beer and wine are also available, as is a kids' menu.

Stop by this hole in the wall for some of the best—and cheapest—take-out banh mi in the city. Favorites include thit (roast pork) and ga (roast chicken), but the doors close at 6 at the latest.

When you're not quite sure what you want, pop into this brand-new two-story food hall by IKEA's sister company and see what the 11 food businesses are serving up. Downstairs, a beer bar, burger place, bakery/sandwich shop, and soft-serve counter are permanent installations. Upstairs you'll find two bars and five local food purveyors, which may change. Current offerings include vegan Puerto Rican food at Casa Borinquena, spicy Chinese at Momo Noodle, and Curry Up Now's Indo-Californian cuisine. Open market hall-style seating means you don't have to select just one.

The food of China's northeastern province of Shandong is the draw at this bare-bones storefront restaurant where specialties include steamed dumplings—shrimp and leek dumplings are the most popular—and hand-pulled noodles in soup or stir-fried. Especially popular are the platters of excellent dry-fried chicken wings, a cult dish in the city.

The muffeletta---that round and meaty, cheesy, deliciously oily sandwich---may be signature New Orleans, but Sandy's neighborly vibes and masterful sandos make it feel like it's been here forever. Choose the classic, with mortadella, prosciutto, salami, provolone, olive spread, and house mayo or the veggie version with mushrooms, then pick a size and fixins like herby slaw or pickled egg salad, then grab one of the few seats overlooking Haight or take it to go.

This sun-filled, family-run restaurant has been a neighborhood favorite since 1988, and not only because it serves breakfast all day—though the hearty chilaquiles always hits the spot. On weekends, regulars opt for birria, a spicy barbecued goat stew, or menudo, a tongue-searing soup made from beef tripe, complemented by beer and sangria.

Join the lines, get ready to Instagram, and enjoy the superb Cali-Greek pita sandwiches and salads at the flagship of this fast-casual (or self-described "fast-fine") concept. The menu keeps it simple with four proteins (roasted white sweet potato or a trio of spit-roasted meats), but the secret to the magic is how each protein is pre-partnered with captivating sauces and fresh garnishes, turning a simple-sounding white sweet potato sandwich into a stellar meal. If you want to try all four proteins at all five locations, then plan a trip around town to the counterpart Souvla locations in the Marina, NoPa (North of the Panhandle), the Mission, and Dogpatch.

For a quarter so rich in Italian history, North Beach sadly lacks authentic Italian dolce (sweet) offerings; indeed, this lone sweets bakery is it. Stella has been around since 1942 and has since changed hands from the original owners but still sticks to offering an array of Italian-American-style biscotti, tiramisu, and cannoli with creamy, cloyingly sweet predilections. The bakery stays open delightfully late.

The original Swensen's has been a neighborhood favorite since 1948.

Tacos and lobster rolls aren't a standard duo, but they're the staples of the menu at this fast-casual favorite a block downhill from Union Street. The connection is Nantucket (ACK is Nantucket's airport code), as the owner grew up in New England and honors the Massachusetts summer destination in this eatery with an East Coast yacht club vibe.

Tacos and tequila draw a young and energetic crowd to this perennial hot spot. Tables with big groups or couples out on casual date nights are topped with chips and guacamole and laden with platters of tortillas bursting with carnitas (shredded pork) or spicy shrimp. If you don't want to speak in a raised voice, this is not the restaurant for you, unless you land one of the few outside tables.

With coffee, sandwiches, and salads by day, and superb drinks at night, this spot right by the California Street cable car terminus is a charming place to visit. Its sunlight-filled atmosphere is refreshingly low-key for FiDi—the rare downtown establishment that feels like a true neighborhood gathering place.

This family-owned restaurant is the best place in the city to sample hard-to-find Muslim Chinese cuisine from northwest China and to carb-load. Order classics like wide biang biang hand-pulled noodles with cumin lamb or liangpi cold noodles, and accompany them with pita bread soaked in flavorful lamb soup. The restaurant has a modest, warm interior with posters of Shaanxi specialties hanging on its walls.

In business since the early 1900s and a throwback to the North Beach of old, this bakery has display cases full of Italian pastries (although most hard-core Italian food experts would disapprove of them), traditional holiday cookies, and buttercream-based cakes.

This standout sandwich shop wonderfully balances a menu of signature Vietnamese banh mi and other sandwiches given a unique spin with ingredients from different Asian cultures. At dinnertime, there's a comforting ginger chicken jook (porridge), Japanese curry, and more. Daytime tends to be more for takeout, while dinner is usually a sit-down affair.

The Instagram set knows this almost table-free Union Street roaster and café as the place with the pineapple wallpaper. Everyone enjoys some of the finest lattes and espresso shots around, usually to-go, but sometimes sipped on the low bench in front of that famous backdrop. There are almost always a few locally-baked pastries and hard-boiled eggs on hand for a snack.