5 Best Restaurants in The Bay Area, California

Friendly, informative staff serve terrific homemade pastas, filet mignon meatballs, rock crab bisque, and much more at this lively, traditional-meets-contemporary Italian restaurant just a stone's throw from the ferry. Enjoy views on the expansive heated patio overlooking the bay, or cozy up with friends on one of the high-sided wave-evoking booths near the bar. Weekend brunch and lunch menus feature paninis, burgers, and organic omelets. The impressive wine list is almost exactly half Italian and half Californian, and there's an interesting selection of a half dozen sparkling cocktails. Save room for the excellent homemade desserts.

Poggio serves modern Tuscan-Californian comfort food in a handsome, old world–inspired space. An extensive and ever-changing menu, with of course only the best local ingredients, features standout California and Italian wines, fresh fish, and wood-fired pizzas. The bar is a locals' favorite serving great Negroni cocktails and plenty of witty jokes. Breakfast favorites include Liège waffles, croissant paninis, and intense coffee.

This classic Italian meets Californian menu is a stellar value where the nightly menu clocks in at a shocking (by Bay Area standards) $39.95 for three courses (the optional supplements are worth adding on). The quality is sky-high, with no corners cut. It's an energetic, fun place with guests of all ages coming to enjoy exciting pastas preceded by a soup or salad. Each course has two options to choose from.

Kim Levin’s ode to rustic Italian cuisine in a lofty, natural light–filled space continues to thrill fervent regulars each week. Around 10 pastas are offered each evening, making it very difficult for diners to decide from the many tempting options. Classic preparations like tagliatelle Bolognese and spaghetti puttanesca are given unique touches, like adding pancetta to the former and day-boat scallops to the latter. The adjacent lounge shakes and stirs Half Moon Bay’s best cocktails.

Palo Alto is filled with Italian restaurants, but the best in town resides in Leland Stanford’s old brick barn (where Stanford's own wines were briefly produced), on the edge of campus. Homemade pastas are served with an idyllic toothsome al dente texture. Not to be outdone, the puffy Neapolitan pizzas are equally notable and any mozzarella starter is worth an order. Since it’s removed from the slightly congested downtown, the restaurant has plenty of outdoor space in a charming courtyard. The bar is a popular post-work hangout for the nearby medical center and stirs one of the finest Negronis around.