City guide

Where to eat in San Francisco

73 hand-picked places in San Francisco, chosen for people who are in town for something and have one night to get dinner right.

Open San Francisco in THE SET LIST

Coming up in San Francisco (53)

Trendy in San Francisco

Maria Isabel Mexican restaurant · $$$ · Presidio Heights
The Dalida chefs' hugely anticipated regional Mexican. Duck carnitas enmoladas, heirloom corn everything.
500 Presidio Ave, San Francisco, CA 94115
Esme French restaurant · $$$ · Divisadero
A French bistro tucked inside the Metro Hotel driving real Divisadero waits.
311 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117
Fat Cat & The Mantis Wine bar · $$ · Bernal Heights
Pink-hued wine bar hosting a Vietnamese pop-up gone permanent. The nine-course Sunday menu sells out.
3215 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Lobalita Mexican restaurant · $$ · Marina
No-hostess Mexican cantina: shrimp aguachile and chamoy-blood-orange tequila for Chestnut Street.
2231 Chestnut St, San Francisco, CA 94123
Rose Pizzeria Pizza restaurant · $$ · Inner Richmond
Berkeley's cult pizzeria crossed the bay. The She Wolf pie plus natural wine.
1 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94118
Che Fico Italian restaurant · $$$ · NoPa
The perpetually-buzzy Cal-Italian room under the neon fig.
838 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117

Top Tables in San Francisco

Benu Fine dining restaurant · $$$$ · SoMa
Corey Lee's three-star tasting. The faux-shark-fin soup is a legend of the form.
22 Hawthorne St, San Francisco, CA 94105
Quince Fine dining restaurant · $$$$ · Jackson Square
Three stars, white truffles, the room where SF money proposes.
470 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133
House of Prime Rib Steak house · $$$ · Nob Hill
Silver carts, martinis, prime rib since 1949. Every celebrity's actual favorite SF restaurant.
1906 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94109
Original Joe's Italian restaurant · $$$ · San Francisco
North Beach, family-run since 1937. Italian-American done in a room with red booths and career waiters. Not a sandwich shop.
601 Union St, San Francisco, CA 94133
China Live Chinese restaurant · $$$ · San Francisco
Two floors on Broadway in Chinatown, market downstairs and a serious kitchen up. Peking duck worth ordering ahead.
644 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
Scoma's Restaurant Seafood restaurant · $$$ · San Francisco
Fisherman's Wharf, on the pier, with its own fish receiving station. Cioppino and crab, and it earns the tourist address.
1965 Al Scoma Way, San Francisco, CA 94133

BBQ in San Francisco

4505 Burgers & BBQ Barbecue restaurant · $$ · NoPa
Bib Gourmand smoked meats and the famous burger, cracklins are a must-order side.
705 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117
Memphis Minnie's BBQ Joint Barbecue restaurant · $$ · Lower Haight
SF's longest continuously running BBQ joint, Southern-style smoked meats and sides.
576 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117
Hardwood Bar & Smokery Barbecue restaurant · $$ · SoMa
Lively hardwood-smoked barbecue with craft beer and big screens for sports.
680 8th St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Memphis Minnie's BBQ $$ · Lower Haight
Award-winning smoked brisket and St. Louis ribs, a Haight Street staple since 2003.
Smokin' D's BBQ $$ · Outer Sunset
Texas-style smokehouse turning out brisket and links out of the Sunset.
Horn Barbecue Barbecue restaurant · $$ · Oakland
James Beard-nominated Texas-style pit, worth the drive, about 20 min east of SF over the Bay Bridge.
464 8th St, Oakland, CA 94607

Italian in San Francisco

Cotogna Italian restaurant · $$$ · Jackson Square
Wood-fired rustic Italian everyone in the city agrees on, which never happens here.
490 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133
Flour + Water Italian restaurant · $$$ · Mission
The pasta tasting that started a thousand imitators.
2401 Harrison St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Original Joe's Italian restaurant · $$$ · San Francisco
North Beach, family-run since 1937. Italian-American done in a room with red booths and career waiters. Not a sandwich shop.
601 Union St, San Francisco, CA 94133
North Beach Restaurant Italian restaurant · $$$ · North Beach
North Beach institution since 1970, old-school white-tablecloth Italian, order the veal chop.
1512 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94133
Acquerello Northern Italian restaurant · $$$$ · Nob Hill/Polk Gulch
Two-Michelin-star Italian fine dining, tasting menus built on Piedmontese technique.
NEAR VAN NESS &, 1722 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA 94109

Seafood in San Francisco

Scoma's Restaurant Seafood restaurant · $$$ · San Francisco
Fisherman's Wharf, on the pier, with its own fish receiving station. Cioppino and crab, and it earns the tourist address.
1965 Al Scoma Way, San Francisco, CA 94133
Swan Oyster Depot Seafood restaurant · $$$ · Polk Gulch
Counter-only seafood institution since 1912, cioppino and fresh oysters, expect a line.
1517 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Anchor Oyster Bar Seafood restaurant · $$$ · Castro
Small family-run seafood spot since 1977, the cioppino is the move.
579 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114
Hog Island Oyster Co. Oyster bar restaurant · $$$ · Ferry Building
Ferry Building oyster bar with bay views, half-shell classics and chowder.
Ferry Building, #11, San Francisco, CA 94111
Scoma's Seafood restaurant · $$$ · Fisherman's Wharf
Family-run wharf classic since 1965, cioppino and fresh local Dungeness crab.
1965 Al Scoma Way, San Francisco, CA 94133