The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Esin Restaurant & Bar
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Rank 1. Esin Restaurant & Bar
American/Mediterranean
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Rank 3. 11th Tiger
Thai
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Rank 4. Babushka Market, Deli & Cafe
Eastern European
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Rank 7. Genova Delicatessen
Italian
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Rank 8. World Famous Hotboys
Nashville
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Rank 9. Havana
Miami-Cuban
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Rank 11. Lita
Caribbean-Latino
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Rank 13. Burma! Burma!
Burmese
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Rank 14. Commis
Contemporary
James Syhabout's calm neighborhood tasting room on Piedmont Avenue moves with the precision of someone drawing from Thai and Chinese traditions while sourcing obsessively local. A slow-poached egg yolk in malt cream, raw fish dressed with aged soy and fermented plum—each plate announces itself as both familiar and strangely refined.
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- AAA Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · James Syhabout
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Rank 15. Yafa Hummus
Mediterranean
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Rank 16. Amakara Sushi
Japanese
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Rank 17. Sun Moon Studio
Californian New American
Inside a modest Union Street unit, Alan Hsu and Sarah Cooper execute a seasonal tasting menu of technical precision and quiet personality, letting Californian products—Dungeness crab with yuzu kosho butter, silken tofu, wild mushrooms—speak first. The baked goods, from savory egg tarts to steamed brioche, are revelations. A destination that whispers rather than shouts.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Bon Appétit 2025 · America's Best New Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: California · Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu
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Rank 18. Manakish Oven & Grill
Mediterranean
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Walnut Creek Restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
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Rank 19. Benu
Asian
Chef Corey Lee's tasting menu unfolds with technical precision, each course a miniature study in restraint and refinement. A roasted quail, glazed tableside with maple and soy, epitomizes his gift for marrying tradition with invention.
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Rank 20. Burdell
Southern
Geoff Davis's Temescal restaurant, named for his grandmother, serves soul food refracted through a contemporary lens—collard greens spiked with berbere, fried chicken brined in pickle, halibut crudo with buttermilk and grapefruit. The wine list is notably thoughtful, the kind of place where fried chicken and champagne feel inevitable.
- Food & Wine 2025 · #1 · The Top 15 US Restaurants
- Food & Wine 2024 · Restaurant of the Year
- Food & Wine 2024 · Roast Duck · Best Dishes Our Editors Ate This Year
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Rank 21. Viridian
Northern Californian
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
- Punch 2025 · Best New Bartenders · Kat Parsons
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. West
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Rank 22. Saison
Californian New American
A warehouse devoted to the hearth, where Chef Richard Lee orchestrates playful, earnest cooking—tuna tartlette, rabbit with morels, antelope with blueberries—for San Francisco's elite. The wine program is exceptionally deep, the crowd studiously cool, the setting rustically refined.
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Rank 23. Joodooboo
Hyper-Seasonal Korean
- Food & Wine 2025 · Steve Joo · Best New Chefs
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Steve Joo
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #41 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 25. Bombera
Contemporary Mexican
Housed in a former fire station, Bombera channels wood-fired intensity into refined Mexican cooking, with house-made blue corn tortillas and mole verde that reveals layers of nutty complexity. Chef Dominica Rice-Cisneros builds each dish from heritage techniques and local ingredients, never announcing either.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #25 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 26. Quince
Contemporary
In a refreshed early 1900s room in Jackson Square, Chef Michael Tusk builds menus from his partner farm's seasonal bounty with surgical precision: silky broth married to guanciale and clam, agnolotti tender with white asparagus, lamb from the fireplace scattered with favas and edible flowers. The cooking is restrained and confident, letting each ingredient declare itself.
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Rank 27. Tacos Oscar
Mexican
Shipping containers painted in primary colors ring a courtyard strung with café lights where a chalk menu pivots daily between braised pork shoulder with avo-tomatillo salsa and charred broccoli tostadas with soy-cashew cheese. The kitchen treats vegetables and meat with equal ingenuity, as evidenced by a smoky baba ghanoush that competes on flavor alone. Arrive early with a beer and expect lines.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #11 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 28. Tarts de Feybesse
French Bakery
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Monique Feybesse and Paul Feybesse
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Monique Feybesse
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Rank 29. Mama’s Boy Pizza
NY-Style Pizza
- 50 Top Pizza 2025 · #7 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
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Rank 30. Rêve Bistro
French
A gated patio strung with lights and greenery opens onto a spare dining room where exposed brick and chandeliers strike an easy balance. Chef Paul Magu-Lecugy's bistro menu moves from delicate house-made gougères to venison in puff pastry, each plate executed with the confidence of someone who understands French tradition without feeling bound by it.
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Rank 31. Popoca
Salvadorian
- Bon Appétit 2024 · America's Best New Restaurants
- The New York Times 2025 · Guaca-mol With Tortilla and Asiento · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
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Rank 32. Fikscue Craft Barbecue
Barbecue
- The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
- Eater 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Fik Saleh and Reka Saleh
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- Wine Enthusiast 2025 · Top 50 New Restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Coffee in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #73 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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- 50 Top Pizza 2025 · #50 · 50 Top Pizza USA
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #13 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Berkeley Restaurants
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Rank 35. Tanzie's
Thai
- The New York Times 2025 · Khanom Krok · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
- Eater Restaurant Where We'd Want to Be Regulars
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
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Rank 36. Poppy Bagels
California-Style
- Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Bagels in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #100 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 37. Snail Bar
Natural Wine Bar
The perpetually crowded natural wine bar trades pretense for precision: Chef Andres Giraldo Florez's concise, seasonal menu moves from raw bar to crudités with the restraint of fine dining. Snails arrive in their shells, glossed in garlic confit and cashew miso, crowned with kumquat—a dish that sums up the place's confident, unfussy intelligence.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #15 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
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Rank 38. Vientian Cafe
Lao/Thai/Vietnamese
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #95 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland
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Rank 39. Top Hatters Kitchen & Bar
Vietnamese-Californian New American
In a San Leandro suburb far quieter than the freeway it borders, this former hat shop channels its name into millinery-themed cocktails and a kitchen that merges Vietnamese and Californian sensibilities. Chef Vu's crunchy rice cakes and braised oxtail over creamy grits possess an uncommon depth, settling toward lemon-ricotta zeppole that lands like a pillow.
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Rank 40. Ippuku
Japanese
Low wooden tables and extensive sake selection conjure a Tokyo izakaya in downtown Berkeley. Yakitori emerges from the binchotan with smoky char—thighs, necks, hearts, gizzards—while Dungeness crab korokke and caramelized yaki-imo arrive golden and crisp. A discreet entrance rewards those who find it.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #91 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Berkeley Restaurants
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Rank 41. Soba Ichi
Japanese Noodles
A noodle counter tucked into West Oakland's industrial stretches, where handmade soba in two buckwheat ratios arrives in austere bowls—cold tenseiro with gossamer tempura shrimp, or kamo nanban, its broth deepened by duck breast. The wait stretches past forty minutes most nights, but the garden drinking space and unhurried hospitality make the pilgrimage feel deliberate rather than punishing.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #16 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland
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Rank 42. Range Life
Californian
Range Life, a Livermore outpost from husband-and-wife team Bill and Sarah Niles, pairs rustic warmth and arched windows with a staff whose enthusiasm feels genuinely earned. The cooking—fig toast with olive oil, delicately fried squash, cod with flageolet beans—trades metropolitan pretense for straightforward pleasure.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Tri-Valley Restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
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- US Coffee Championships 2025 · #4 · U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits Championship · Tim Tran
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Coffee in the Bay Area
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Rank 44. Star Chaat Cuisine
Indian
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Rank 45. Great China
Chinese
Great China appeals equally to students, families, and style-conscious diners with refined ingredients and generous portions at modest prices. The tea-smoked duck and mung bean noodle platters shine; arrive early or expect a wait.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Berkeley Restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
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Rank 46. Banh Mi Ba Le
Noodles
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
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Rank 47. Miller & Lux
Steakhouse
Tyler Florence's steakhouse rises improbably elegant near the waterfront, all vintage mirrors and modern angles. Oysters arrive from an in-kitchen saltwater tank; dry-aged beef is seared mahogany-dark and finished with barley; tableside Caesar and Dover sole meunière arrive with ceremony. A splurge worth making.
- World's 101 Best #25 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Kao Saelee's Oakland restaurant marries Thai fundamentals with playful irreverence—drunken noodles meet barbecue brisket, laab seasons a pork burger. The kitchen calibrates heat levels while the cocktail program matches the kitchen's creative ambition.
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Intu-on Kornnawong
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
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- Food & Wine 2025 · Les Eggs · Best Dishes Our Editors Ate This Year
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar Program
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Rank 50. Vik's Chaat
Indian
A spare Berkeley canteen where chaat and tandoori chicken share counter space with a grocery market, each bite carrying authentic char and spice. Lunch specials offer serious value; the kitchen closes early, so arrive hungry and on time.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #62 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Berkeley Restaurants
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Rank 51. El Tacostao
Mexican
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Rank 52. Spinning Bones
Californian American
An industrial rotisserie in Alameda where koji-marinated meats spit over flame to a rosy finish, flanked by Napa slaw and corn fritters with strawberry jam. The counter kitchen and indigo ceiling set a casual stage for umami-forward cooking that draws equally from California, Hawaii, and Japan—desserts like butter mochi cake arrive featherlight, almost apologetically so.
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Rank 53. Mama Oakland
Italian
A husband-and-wife venture with dark green walls and brass chandeliers offers a three-course prix-fixe without reservations, each course a binary choice leading to house-made pasta. The kitchen returns often to braised pork and beef in tomato sugo—the dish that inspired the restaurant—paired with a wine list curated by the owners' adjacent shop.
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Rank 54. Cafe Colucci
Ethiopian
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #82 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland
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Rank 55. Annachi Kadai
Chettinad-Style
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- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland
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Rank 57. FOB Kitchen
Filipino
Janice Dulce's Filipino restaurant commands a narrow Temescal space with whimsical wallpaper and an island ease, where a cocktail at the bar softens the wait. The menu pivots between steady keepers and specials like coffee-rubbed ribs with banana ketchup and sinigang that justify the crowds.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #97 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 58. The Cultured Pickle Shop
Asian-Inspired
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #59 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Berkeley Restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
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Rank 59. Gary Danko
Contemporary French
The dining room glows with the formality of another era: dark-suited servers, a towering cheese trolley, an wine list of serious depth. Chef Danko's prix-fixe menu lets you build your own path through French-inflected cooking with global detours—or surrender to his tasting menu. Since 1999, the place has remained a steady draw for occasions that call for ceremony and restraint.
- AAA Five Diamonds
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
- Wine Enthusiast The Wine Restaurant Hall of Fame
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Rank 60. Angler
Seafood
A hunter's lodge aesthetic frames the view along the Embarcadero, where an open fire drives the menu—embered oysters with smoked chili butter, a radicchio salad that demands a knife, aged black cod with seaweed-buttered rolls. The kitchen's restraint and deliberation show in every char and sauce, building toward soft-serve sundae in warm salted caramel and cocoa nibs.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- The Infatuation Soft Serve Sundae · The San Francisco Dessert Bucket List
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Rank 61. Alem’s Coffee
Ethiopian
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #90 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
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Rank 62. Sons & Daughters
Contemporary
Harrison Cheney's tasting menu moves through fermented vegetables, foraged mushrooms, and carefully butchered seafood with the precision of Nordic technique and the warmth of British comfort—a quail egg wrapped in sausage, rutabaga noodles glossed in pork fat and brown butter. Service matches the cooking's generosity.
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- AAA Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: California · Harrison Cheney
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Rank 63. Ming's Tasty Restaurant
Chinese
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #89 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
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Rank 64. Cenaduria Elvira
Traditional Mexican
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Rank 65. Fish & Bird Sousaku Izakaya
Japanese
Chef Asuka Uchida's modern izakaya dispenses skewers, karaage, and sando with equal precision from a sleek blue storefront. Green bean fritters dusted with sansho and silken tofu ginger showcase technique that extends across every corner of the menu.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Berkeley Restaurants
- Esquire 2021 · #38 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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Rank 66. Atelier Crenn
Contemporary French
Crenn's white-walled atelier channels a painter's precision, each seafood course glazed in silken sauces that speak to her Breton roots and California present. A grandmother's brioche and vegetables from Sonoma orchards anchor the pescatarian tasting menu in something tactile and real, even as desserts from Juan Contreras push toward pure invention.
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Rank 67. Koi Palace
Cantonese Chinese
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Rank 68. Chez Panisse
Californian New American
The open kitchen and wood-burning oven anchor a dining room where the four-course menu shifts daily, its dishes tethered entirely to what the Bay Area's markets offer that season. Waters' foundational principle—that ingredient purity and timing matter more than technique—remains the throughline, whether you're eating spring peas or August figs.
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Rank 69. 88 Bao Bao
Chinese
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Rank 70. Sfizio
Italian
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Rank 72. Kiraku
Japanese
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Rank 73. Lazy Bear
Contemporary
A warehouse dressed as a hunting lodge stages nightly tastings that toggle between nostalgia and ambition—oysters arrive two ways, one bright with gooseberry, another charred and glazed; butter-soft A5 ribeye meets oxtail and sour cherry tart with architectural precision. The cooking trades subtlety for swagger, and it lands.
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Rank 74. True Laurel
Modern Cocktail Bar
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- 50 Best 2025 · #64 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 50 Best 2026 · #14 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 75. Mister Jiu's
Modern Chinese
Brandon Jew's Cantonese cooking at Waverly Place marries Bay Area seasonality with classical technique—scallion milk bread that dissolves on the tongue, silken tofu studded with maitake and Sichuan pepper. His Peking duck arrives with whipped liver mousse, a flourish that captures his gift for taking tradition seriously without pretending it needs apology.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Time Out The best Chinese restaurants in America
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Chinese Cuisine Restaurant
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Rank 76. La Marcha Tapas Bar
Spanish
The team behind Ñora Cocina Española brings paella and tapas to a lively San Pablo Avenue room where head-on garlic shrimp and salt cod croquettes arrive alongside inventive rice dishes like pork-heavy "tres cerditos." Groups congregate around sizable pans while solo diners work the L-shaped bar, each finding their angle on Spanish food executed with clear technical skill and generosity.
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Rank 77. Acquerello
Italian
Suzette Gresham's A-frame dining room has sheltered ambitious Italian cooking since 1989, where handmade pastas and pristine seafood arrive with equal finesse and daring. The mignardises cart alone—stacked with housemade chocolates and caramels—suggests a kitchen that understands generosity as a form of rigor.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Italian Cuisine Restaurant
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Rank 79. Bake Sum
Cantonese Bakery
- The New York Times 2024 · Croissubi · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Bakeries of the Bay Area
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Rank 80. Parekoy Lutong Pinoy
Filipino
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Rank 82. Los Carnalitos Restaurant
Mexico City Mexican
Two brothers transformed their food truck into a Mexico City outpost, where house-made tortillas wrap squash blossoms and huitlacoche, and a guajillo-soaked pambazo arrives seared to gilded perfection. Bright Aztec murals frame the dining room as $2 tacos of suadero and al pastor arrive with the quiet confidence of people who know exactly what they're doing.
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Rank 83. Teni East Kitchen
Burmese
At Tiyo Shibabaw's bright Temescal cafe, Burmese classics meet California ingredients—tea leaf salads arrive with kale, coconut curries steam over rice noodles, and flaky roti arrives in generous piles. The lunchtime specials trade fuss for flavor at prices that feel like a bargain, each plate generous enough to justify the wait.
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Rank 84. Wood Tavern
Italian-inflected New American
At the heart of Rockridge, Wood Tavern draws a mixed crowd to its copper bar for wine and conversation amid the organic grocers and bookstores. Seasonal California cooking with Italian inflections—a butcher block of house charcuterie, bucatini bolognese, pan-roasted chicken with fingerlings—arrives without pretense, while crème brûlée cheesecake with yuzu curd offers a graceful close.
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- 50 Best 2026 · #41 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Kevin Diedrich
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Rank 86. Mujiri
Japanese
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- Sprudgie Awards 2025 · Honoree · Sustainable Cafe or Coffee Roaster
- Sprudgie Awards 2025 · Honoree · Sustainable Cafe or Coffee Roaster
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Rank 89. Juanita & Maude
Seasonal New American
Scott Eastman's debut in downtown Albany mixes sculptural charm and craft cocktails with a deliberately unfussy communal spirit, the room itself as welcoming as the seasonal cooking. Veal Bolognese carries the weight of his Corso years, while summer squash and halibut sing without pretension, trailing into creamy banana custard that tastes like restraint finally rewarded.
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Rank 90. Daytrip Counter
Californian
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Finn Stern
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
- Bon Appétit 2022 · America's Best New Restaurants
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Rank 91. Niku Steakhouse
Japanese Steakhouse
A gold door admits you to Niku, where Chef Dustin Falcon tends his coals behind an 18-seat counter in a wood-lined room designed for theater. The beef tartare and bone marrow are preludes to steaks—a Tomahawk for two, an Imperial Wagyu filet with aged kimchi and bordelaise—executed with the precision of someone who understands that luxury steakhouse cooking is about restraint, not excess.
- World's 101 Best #49 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- The Infatuation #20 · The 25 Best Restaurants In SF
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Rank 92. JollyJolly Coffee & Kitchen
Caribbean/African
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Rank 94. Tacos Mama Cuca
Sonoran Mexican
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Rank 96. Tacos Mamá Cuca
Sonoran
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Rank 97. Tacos Mi Reynita
Mexican
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Rank 100. Horn Barbecue
West Coast Barbecue
Matt Horn's warehouse outpost channels West Coast barbecue through a lineage of family smoking traditions: brisket and pulled pork arrive unfussy and rich, anchored by pit beans and Granny's potatoes. The industrial room—all exposed brick and a defiant steer mural—moves fast, but the wait rewards those hungry enough to endure it.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- Esquire 2021 · #5 · The Best New Restaurants in America