17 Best Nightlife in San Francisco, California

Sure, it's the site of many high-school prom dates, and you could argue that the food and drinks are overpriced, but this is our pick if you must choose just one oceanfront restaurant/bar—its historical value is undeniable, and the views are terrific. The best window seats are reserved for diners, but there's a small upstairs lounge where you can watch gulls sail high above the vast blue Pacific.

Shirts off! If a sweaty muscle sandwich sounds like your idea of a good time, head to Badlands, where serious party boys come to grind to throbbing music on a packed dance floor. The lines can be ridiculous on weekends; those in the know go on Wednesday or Thursday. Tight-teed patrons range from twenties to forties.

At this quirky, inclusive, divey karaoke bar, you can get your kicks performing in front of a sometimes rowdy but nearly always supportive audience of hip young things and Asian businessmen.

Popular with frat boys and stockbrokers alike, this Marina/Cow Hollow favorite has 18 screens and two pool tables. If you want to meet the local diehards, this is the place. It's also one of the few spots in this neighborhood where you'll feel comfortable dressed down. Order food from neighboring restaurants; the bar provides menus.

In the rough-and-tumble Tenderloin, around the corner from the Polk Street bars, transgenders and their admirers come here for the racy entertainment. Naughty Schoolgirls night (Wednesday) is a major fave. This multilevel space has separate areas for stage performances, dancing, and quiet chats. It's not a drag bar, as there is no sense of irony or camp about the place; the girls here are charming, and the fun is in the titillation.

This popular two-story space has a little something for everyone. The main bar downstairs is quaint and swanky with tables, booths, and classic arcade games. Hit the upstairs to see up-and-coming artists before they hit the big time. The music includes Afro-Cuban, indie rock, jazz, and more.

The epicenter for downtown festivities on St. Patrick's Day, this family-owned Irish saloon (closed Sunday) is an attitude-free place for the well-tailored-suit set to have an after-work drink the rest of the year. The restaurant serves American fare, with the occasional Irish special, and has a good selection of imported beers. Another local favorite, the Royal Exchange, is next door and eerily similar.

On a sunny day, is there anything better than sipping wine and eating oysters? Only if it's here, on a waterside patio, with the looming Bay Bridge and the Oakland and Berkeley hills as a backdrop. The oysters are from Marin County, and many of the wines are from Sonoma and Napa.

Attached to the Foreign Cinema restaurant, Laszlo is a cavernous, classy space with an open, bi-level design; movies are projected onto the walls. Dim lighting, candles, and an upscale selection of cocktails and single malts make it suitable for romance, but the loud music and cacophonic levels of conversation keep it lively. DJs spin most nights after 9.

Greasers, hipsters, Betty Page wannabes, anyone looking for a good beer in the Castro, and assorted other patrons make Lucky 13 a fun place indeed. The drink prices are reasonable, the beer selection is huge, and there's high-end root beer on tap for the designated driver with a discriminating palate. The best seats are upstairs overlooking the crowd.

Don a pair of Diesel jeans and a Michael Kors sweater and sip cosmos or cabernet with the Marina's bon vivants. This is the premier spot in the "Triangle" (short for Bermuda Triangle, named for all of the singles who disappear in the bars clustered at Greenwich and Fillmore streets). Although there's a small dance floor where some folks bump and grind to high-energy DJ-spun dance tracks, the majority of the clientele usually vies for the plush seats near the central open fireplace, flirts at the bar, or huddles for romantic tête-à-têtes in the back. The singles scene can be overwhelming on weekends.

PCH for short, this neighborhood hangout with a convivial aura and industrial-chic decor hits all the right notes. Plus the well-chosen and unique ingredients mean there’s a little something for everyone, and the glassware is as dazzling as the elixirs inside. The must-try cocktail is the Oh Snap!, a concoction of gin, sugar snap peas, citrus, and absinthe.

If you weren't of legal drinking age during the '80s, now's your chance to experience the era's ambience. The Romper Room, bubbling over with neon pink and leopard print, is a funky little bar and quasi-dance club located in the city's somewhat cookie-cutter and label-driven Union Square district. The cocktail menu is small and simple, but they guarantee you won't have to wait longer than 90 seconds to get one.

If you've been looking for a bar where you can watch football and get a decent martini, this is it. Not your typical sports pub, this small lounge has as many female patrons as male, and it's not super loud and raucous. Due to its size, the Boardroom has only four plasma-screen TVs, which are just as likely to be broadcasting snowboarding as the usual baseball-football-basketball trifecta. The food is better than your average pub grub.

In a grungy but hip section of the Mission, the king of dive bars (with requisite cheap bottled beer and photo booth) is popular with the discerning hipsters who dare to venture south of César Chavez Street. There's usually a cover for bands or DJs on weekends, but it's never more than $10. Bingo on Thursday keeps it real. An added bonus for trekking out to the southern edge of the Mission: some of the city's best taquerías are nearby.

Glam trans women, gay bears, tight-teed pretty boys, ladies and their ladies, and a handful of straight onlookers congregate here to dance to live DJ sounds and watch world-class drag performers on the small stage. The entertainment is often campy, pee-your-pants funny, and downright fantastic. Each night's music is different—from funk, soul, and hip-hop to '80s tunes and disco favorites. At Frolic, the Stud's most outrageous party (second Saturday of the month), club goers dance the night away dressed as bunnies, kittens, and even stranger creatures.

Shuffleboard, arcade basketball, a jukebox, and plenty of flat-screen TVs make this spacious yet divey place feel like a time machine back to your college days. On weekends the crowd is a sea of popped collars, baseball caps, and chest bumps, so get there early if you yearn for a turn at one of the games.