The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near House of Prime Rib
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Rank 1. House of Prime Rib
Steakhouse
A classic SF steakhouse that's been around forever and shows zero interest in changing. The drill is simple: a salad spun tableside in an icy metal bowl, then a carving cart rolls up and someone in a white coat slices you a serious slab of roast beef with potato and gravy. The room is dark, the martinis are cold, and everyone is dressed like they're celebrating something, even if they're not.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
- Esquire 2025 · Martini · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 2. 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 3. Atelier Crenn
Fine dining
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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- The Infatuation 11 Of The Best Donuts In America
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Doughnuts in the Bay Area
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Rank 5. 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 6. Cordon Bleu
Vietnamese
Tiny counter-diner on California Street that's been around forever and runs almost entirely on one woman's cooking. Katie Yu works the charbroiler like she could do it in her sleep, and the smoke coming off the five-spice chicken is reason enough to find a stool. The combo plates feed you properly for next to nothing, and the imperial rolls are the crunchiest thing you'll eat all week. Twelve seats total, so don't be precious about sharing space with strangers.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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Rank 7. Ssal
Modern Korean
The Baes' tasting menu inhabits a middle ground between Korean tradition and French technique, moving deftly through dishes like sweet potato puffs crowned with caviar and scallop mousseline wrapped in cabbage with spiked beurre blanc. It's cooking that trusts restraint and clarity over elaboration, which in San Francisco's dining landscape reads as its own kind of statement.
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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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- 50 Best 2026 · #41 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Kevin Diedrich
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 10. Quince
Fine dining
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 11. Swan Oyster Depot
San Francisco
Cash only, no website, and the line starts before most people have finished their coffee. Swan Oyster Depot is an old-school seafood counter that's been around forever, and it has absolutely no interest in modernizing for you. Once you're on a stool at the marble counter, cracking into a pile of fresh shellfish with a cold beer, you'll understand why the regulars look so smug.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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Rank 12. Sorella
Northern Italian
The younger sibling to Acquerello trades formality for exuberance, its kitchen channeling Northern Italy through a Californian lens. A gem lettuce salad might showcase Dungeness crab with anchovy dressing; house-made pasta arrives in intricate forms like beef-and-Comté timballo. The bar hums with cicchetti and cocktails, though the dining room is where the kitchen's ambitions fully unfold.
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Rank 13. Friends Only
Sushi
A sushi counter still wrapped in exclusivity despite open reservations, where the steep price tag underscores relentless attention to sourcing and technique. House-aged fish meets inventive touches—cherrywood-smoked eel, grilled spot prawn with ramp butter—that feel earned rather than showy.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #16 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 14. Nisei
Japanese
Chef David Yoshimura balances Japanese tradition with American invention—buckwheat tartlets with date miso, uni in almond dashi—with technical assurance and personality. Service is personable, sake pairings thoughtful, and the wagashi cart a delicate finale.
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Rank 15. Mister Jiu's
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
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Chinese Cuisine Restaurant
- Time Out The best Chinese restaurants in America
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Rank 16. The Progress
Californian
Sunlit and wood-lined near the Fillmore Theater, The Progress marries California ingredients with Nordic sensibility in boldly seasoned, share-friendly dishes. Burrata arrives with fried butter beans and strawberries; seaweed noodles swim in brown butter and dashi. The Liberty Farms duck, crowned with crispy peanut fried rice, is a showstopper designed to turn heads.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski - Atomic Workshop
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
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Rank 17. State Bird Provisions
Californian
At State Bird Provisions, carts wheel through a packed dining room while diners pluck small plates in real time—dumplings, liver mousse, savory pancakes—assembling their own sequence of California cooking. The choreography of choice matters as much as the thoughtful, shifting menu itself.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski - Atomic Workshop
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski - Atomic Workshop
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Rank 18. Goldenette
Diner
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Rank 19. Nari
Thai
A dramatic room inside Hotel Kabuki sets the stage for Chef Pim Techamuanvivit's refined take on Thai cooking, where California ingredients meet intense aromatics and a deft hand with heat. A brick-red bumbai curry arrives with crispy fried eggplant and ethereal roti; grilled squid shares the plate with sticky-sweet pork jowl and chili-lime dressing. Family-style dining elevated.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- The Infatuation #14 · The 25 Best Restaurants In SF
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in San Francisco Right Now
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- US Coffee Championships 2025 · #3 · U.S. Barista Championship · Jason Yeo
- The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF
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Rank 21. 7 Adams
Californian New American
Serena and David Fisher cook with unhurried confidence in this railway-style room, where a seasonal menu balances technique with restraint. Handmade pasta and carefully calibrated broths reveal a distinctly Californian sensibility, one that favors support over spectacle.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Esquire 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in San Francisco Right Now
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Rank 22. Liholiho Yacht Club
American
An airy dining room built around an open kitchen where Chef Ravi Kapur marries Hawaiian ingredients with Californian technique, drawing crowds who order halibut kinilaw and fried game hen across a bar loud with cocktail chatter. The house-made Spam in kimchi fried rice signals a kitchen unafraid of culinary contradiction.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in San Francisco Right Now
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #57 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 23. Copra
South Indian
Chef Srijith Gopinathan channels Kerala's coastal traditions in a lush Fillmore Street dining room designed for lingering. A shell-on Konkan crab curry glistens with tamarind and dried chiles; fried chicken carries the perfume of street-food memory. The food wears its nostalgia unselfconsciously, indifferent to the room's contemporary gloss.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Srijith “Sri” Gopinathan
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski - Atomic Workshop
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski - Atomic Workshop
- Esquire 2021 · #15 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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Rank 25. Tony's Pizza Napoletana
Neapolitan Pizza
- 50 Top Pizza 2025 · #3 · 50 Top Pizza USA
- Sunset 2025 · Inspired Italian · Where to Eat and Drink
- The Infatuation The 19 Best Pizza Places In San Francisco
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Rank 26. Mymy
American
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Rank 27. Octavia
Elevated New American
Melissa Perello's restaurant sits among Victorian storefronts in Lower Pac Heights, all cream-colored walls and neighborhood warmth that belies its ambition. She works with pristine local ingredients—crispy fried artichokes, hand-rolled pasta with morels, quail balanced with grapefruit—each dish spare but considered, letting the raw material speak. The bread alone justifies a reservation.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation The 13 Best Pasta Restaurants In SF
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Melissa Perello
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Rank 28. Azalina's
Malaysian
In a Tenderloin storefront designed like a tropical sanctuary, Chef Azalina Eusope interprets the Malaysian cooking of her childhood through a California lens—economy noodles topped with barbecued quail and toasted hazelnuts, steelhead trout wrapped in banana leaves. Her seasonal prix fixe menu moves with precision and wit, from savory to a pandan custard finale that shows serious pastry work.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Azalina Eusope
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in San Francisco Right Now
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- Esquire 2024 · The Best Bars in America
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 30. The Coffee Movement
Coffee
- US Coffee Championships 2025 · #5 · U.S. Barista Championship · Circle Chan
- The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco
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Rank 31. Hilda and Jesse
Fine dining
A modernist diner where brunch becomes an argument between restraint and excess, Hilda and Jesse serves a surprise tasting menu that pivots on bold flavor and fine technique. The cooking is brash and unmanicured—a riot of stellar ingredients in unexpected combinations—while the room maintains a disarming warmth that matches the hospitality.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Kristina Liedags Compton
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #32 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 32. Benu
Fine dining
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 33. Good Mong Kok
Chinese
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Doughnuts in the Bay Area
- The Infatuation #15 · The 25 Best Restaurants In SF
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF
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Rank 34. Alexander's Steakhouse
American/Japanese
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Rank 35. Four Kings
Cantonese
A packed Chinatown counter where Franky Ho and Michael Long riff on Cantonese tradition with claypot rice studded with bacon and eggplant that sings with fermented chili heat. The room thrums with energy and the kind of crowd that camps out before opening; reservations vanish within minutes, but the cooking rewards whatever patience you muster.
- Esquire 2024 · Restaurant of the Year · The Best New Restaurants in America
- Food & Wine 2024 · Squab · Best Dishes Our Editors Ate This Year
- Bon Appétit 2024 · America's Best New Restaurants
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Rank 36. The Big Four
Old-school American
- The Infatuation The Hit List: New San Francisco Restaurants To Try Right Now
- The Infatuation The Best Martinis In San Francisco
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Rank 37. Outta Sight Pizza
Thin-crust Pizza
- The Infatuation #19 · The 25 Best Restaurants In SF
- The Infatuation The 19 Best Pizza Places In San Francisco
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF
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Rank 38. Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement
Soul food
- Bon Appétit 2025 · America's Best New Restaurants
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in San Francisco Right Now
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Rank 39. Le Comptoir
Pescatarian French
At a marble counter beside Atelier Crenn, a handful of diners watch the kitchen plate delicate courses that weave French technique through California seafood and vegetables. The meal builds toward moments of studied refinement—caviar on buckwheat, brown butter on agnolotti—where restraint and precision feel like the entire point.
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Eater Best New Bar · The 2025 Eater San Francisco Award Winners
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Rank 41. Kin Khao
Thai
Chef Pim Techamuanvivit's restaurant, wedged into a hotel alcove, forgoes fancy surroundings for something more valuable: Thai cooking that honors tradition while sourcing from local farms and letting each ingredient speak. A curry mousse arrives fragrant and studded with mushrooms; even green curry becomes an event when built around slow-cooked rabbit. The spice here pulls no punches.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Pim Techamuanvivit
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #58 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 42. Izzy's
Steakhouse
A San Francisco steakhouse that has preserved its original warmth while refining itself for a new era, with dry-aged beef cooked over open flame and a bar that anchors the neighborhood's social life. The dining room balances timber and brass against understated polish, though service can waver.
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Rank 43. Hed 11
Thai
In a corner of the Kimpton Hotel Enso, Chef Saint Boonprasan orchestrates an eleven-course Thai tasting that weaves regional tradition with contemporary technique, sweet against savory in disciplined succession. Coconut pancakes with caviar and lime, scallop-crowned rice noodles, Thai cheesecake with fried onions—each course arrives as part of a deliberate whole, never indulgent, always precise.
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Rank 44. Restaurant Naides
Modern Filipino
Chef Patrick Gabon's tasting menu distills Filipino tradition through a Californian lens—fluffy brioche pandesal with braised chicken gizzards, dry-aged duck adobo with horseradish—each dish as visually composed as it is flavorful. The small room hums with the ease of two people who know their craft, and the cooking feels like an argument that refinement and boldness need not be at odds.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation The Hit List: New San Francisco Restaurants To Try Right Now
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Rank 45. Saigon Sandwich
Vietnamese
- The Infatuation #8 · The 25 Best Restaurants In SF
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF
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- The Infatuation The 19 Best Pizza Places In San Francisco
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in San Francisco
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Rank 47. Sungho
Traditional Korean
In a Tenderloin corner, Sungho serves grandmother's recipes: fall-apart pork stews, hand-cut noodles in beef broth, crisp seafood pancakes meant for sharing. The house-made kimchi and lively K-pop soundtrack frame dishes that taste less like restaurant fare than like comfort borrowed from someone else's kitchen.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation 2025 · #10 · San Francisco’s Best New Restaurants
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Rank 48. Bombay Brasserie
Indian
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Rank 50. The Happy Crane
Cantonese
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
- Eater 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The Infatuation The Hit List: New San Francisco Restaurants To Try Right Now
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Rank 51. Verjus
French wine bar
Michael Tusk's wine bar near the Pyramid trades in seasonal French bistro cooking that pivots around impeccable seafood and produce—razor clams with celery and Meyer lemon, a pâté studded with pistachios. The crowd at the bar and counter suggests the kitchen's skill runs deeper than the menu's apparent simplicity.
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
- The Infatuation 2025 · #9 · The Top-Rated New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 52. O' by Claude Le Tohic
Fine French
On the fifth floor of a French fine-dining tower, Claude Le Tohic composes tasting menus that marry classical French technique with California's best—a seafood salad layered with dashi and caviar, black cod dusted with five spice and shellfish purée. The experience unfolds with precision, from warm bread to a final cart of petit fours, attended by service that feels both formal and genuine.
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Rank 53. Smuggler's Cove
Tiki Cocktail Bar
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Rank 54. Abacá
Filipino
Chef Francis Ang channels Filipino tradition through a prism of California produce and playful technique—pork belly adobo with pineapple, lumpia with pear ketchup—in a sunlit dining room that feels less important than what arrives on the plate. The kitchen's confident hand, honed through years of pop-up work, suggests that restraint is not part of the vocabulary here.
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Vince Bugtong
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation The 20 Best Brunch Spots In SF
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Rank 55. Original Joe's
Italian
- The Infatuation Zanze’s Cheesecake · The San Francisco Dessert Bucket List
- The Infatuation The 13 Best Pasta Restaurants In SF
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Rank 56. Flores
Mexican
Patterned tiles and bright murals set the scene at this Cow Hollow mainstay, where young families and Marina regulars crowd in for handmade corn tortillas wrapped around tender carnitas and oozy huitlacoche quesadilla. The kitchen treats Mexican cooking with seriousness—generous portions and modest prices suggest ambition beyond the usual neighborhood cantina.
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Rank 57. Kusakabe
Sushi
At Kusakabe, a serene counter lined in live-edge elm sets the stage for an omakase that moves with theatrical precision yet lands every note. Bluefin arrives with yuzu and sesame; softshell crab swims in sweet corn broth; sea urchin crowns scallop and snapper with cured yolk. The kitchen's command of technique serves a singular purpose: making you remember what you ate.
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Rank 58. Mario's Bohemian Cigar Store Cafe
Italian Wine Bar
A North Beach institution that's been around forever, Mario's is a tiny, sun-faded cafe where the walls are plastered with old photos and the focaccia sandwiches are the reason people keep coming back. The meatball on focaccia is legitimately great, and the bread gets toasted in a little oven behind the bar, which is exactly the kind of low-key detail that separates a real neighborhood spot from everything else. Regulars, tourists who did their homework, and very little pretension.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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Rank 59. Sato Omakase
Sushi
A serene counter where butter-poached lobster and soy-marinated tuna demonstrate the chef's command of both luxury and restraint. The hamachi nigiri, touched with yuzu, and the wasabi-crowned sashimi suggest that true indulgence lies not in abundance but in precision—each ingredient allowed to speak, each technique invisible until you taste it.
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Rank 60. Pizzeria Delfina
Neapolitan Pizza
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Rank 62. Tadaima
Japanese
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Rank 63. Birdsong
Contemporary
Open flames and assembly-at-table theatrics define Christopher Bleidorn's cooking, where lacquered quail arrives with grilled rolls to be built like Peking duck. The whimsy persists through each course—from creek trout roe suspended in kelp kombucha to lemon mochi concealing blueberries and crème fraîche—a kitchen that treats fire and precision as equal partners.
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Rank 64. Bodega SF
Northern Vietnamese
- The Infatuation Mochi Pandan Bar · The San Francisco Dessert Bucket List
- The Infatuation #11 · The 25 Best Restaurants In SF
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Rank 65. Cotogna
Italian
An open kitchen framed by exposed brick and copper gleams behind wooden tables where Michael Tusk's pastas—agnolotti stuffed with rabbit and veal, rigatoni with guanciale and chanterelle—arrive with the ease of something both refined and casual. The room moves at the tempo of a neighborhood trattoria, though the cooking never settles for rustic shorthand.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- The Infatuation The 13 Best Pasta Restaurants In SF
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Rank 66. Comstock Saloon
Cocktail Bar
- The Infatuation The Best Martinis In San Francisco
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF
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Rank 67. Kiln
Nordic New American
Chef John Wesley's spare warehouse tasting menu channels Nordic preservation techniques—curing, drying, fermentation—into deceptively simple dishes of intricate craft. A puffed beef tendon or squab lacquered in burnt honey reveals the kitchen's balance of rusticity and refinement across each course.
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- Condé Nast Traveler 2024 · The best new restaurants in the world
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
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- The Infatuation Our Favorite Bakeries In The Country Right Now
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Bakeries of the Bay Area
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Rank 69. Super Mira
Japanese
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Rank 71. Sam Wo Restaurant
Chinese
Sam Wo has been an institution in Chinatown forever, the kind of place that closed, broke a few hearts, and then quietly came back under new ownership like nothing happened. It's a casual, no-frills Chinese spot where the rice noodle rolls with char siu are still the move, served with enough hot mustard to rearrange your sinuses. The crowd runs local and loyal, which is usually a good sign.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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Rank 73. Maruwu Seicha
Japanese
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Rank 74. Komeya No Bento
Japanese
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Rank 75. Kopiku Coffee
Indonesian Coffee
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Rank 76. The Brazen Head
Steakhouse Cocktail Bar
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Rank 77. Ararat Kebab & Gyros
Turkish
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Rank 78. Yuji
Japanese
A nine-seat counter in Japantown where punctuality matters—the meal starts without stragglers. Yuji moves through a twelve-course kappo progression of delicate, seasonal bites: pristine sashimi, crispy fried tilefish, rice enriched with hairy crab, finishing with silky matcha custard. Intimate enough that you watch the work unfold mere inches away.
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Rank 80. Bansang
Korean
At Bansang, a centuries-old Korean communal dining tradition meets an unapologetic contemporary sensibility—parmesan and chorizo slide alongside kimchi fried rice and mulhwe, a raw seafood broth of chilled fermented chili. The soy-lime glazed fried chicken arrives with a craggy, shattering crust and juicy meat so compelling you'll want to abandon all pretense of sharing.
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Rank 81. Best Boy Electric
Coffee
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Rank 82. Scoma's
Seafood
Scoma's is a classic waterfront seafood restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf that earns its reputation the old-fashioned way: generations of Bay Area families keep coming back, and they're not wrong to. The wood-paneled bar, white-jacketed servers, and walls of celebrity headshots set the scene. Get the cioppino or the chowder, order something from the sea, and don't overthink it.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #78 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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Rank 83. Hon’s Wun-Tun House
Cantonese Chinese
A Chinatown institution that's been around forever, Hon's is a Hong Kong-style noodle shop where the steamed-up windows alone will make you feel like you wandered into a better movie. The wonton noodle soup is the whole reason you're here, with a broth that smells like it has opinions. The crowd is regulars who know exactly what they're ordering and tourists who wisely follow their lead.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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A San Francisco institution, Greens has been doing full-on vegetarian fine dining at Fort Mason since forever, back when that was a genuinely radical idea. The menu is entirely meat-free, so vegetarians can finally stop squinting at asterisks. The room is wide, calm, and Zen-affiliated in the most literal sense. Time it for sunset over the bay and you'll understand why people keep coming back.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bakery
- The Infatuation Coffee Crunch Cake · The San Francisco Dessert Bucket List
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Rank 86. Prelude
Southern Cocktail Bar
The Jay Hotel's ground-floor cocktail bar trades the Financial District's noise for moody elegance, where drinks arrive with the precision and restraint of a well-edited film—nothing wasted, every element earning its place on the glass.
- Bon Appétit 2025 · America's Best New Bars
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in San Francisco
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Tucked into a Japantown mall corner, this sushi counter barely interrupts the foot traffic, yet the nigiri here—silky fish, clean technique—competes with more visible operations. A lightly torched wild star butterfish dissolves on the tongue; a handroll of chopped bluefin and pickled daikon crackles with nori. Five to twelve pieces, reasonable prices, no pretense.
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Rank 88. SPQR
Italian
A narrow room with skylights and open kitchen hums with the energy of a packed house. Chef Matthew Accarrino marries Italian technique and California produce—crespelle with pork belly and persimmon, squid ink pasta with octopus cream—in a five-course menu that moves between kitschy charm and genuine culinary ambition.
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Rank 89. Taishan Cuisine
Cantonese
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Rank 90. Brenda's French Soul Food
French Southern
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Rank 91. John's Grill
San Francisco
Dark wood, white tablecloths, staff in all black, and a replica of the Maltese Falcon watching over the second floor. John's Grill is an old-school San Francisco steakhouse that's been around forever, and it wears every year well. The menu is meat and potatoes done properly, the kind of room where you half-expect someone to be tailing you. Noir buffs and old-city romantics feel right at home here.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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Rank 93. Rice Roll Express
Chinese
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Rank 94. Z & Y Peking Duck
Sichuan Chinese
A narrow Chinatown dining room where the cooking announces itself before you sit down: dried chilies heap atop fried chicken; chili oil slicks bean jelly noodles alive with numbing pepper. The space wears its age without apology, service moves at its own pace, but every plate arrives calibrated and uncompromising. Come hungry for heat.
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Rank 96. Tiya
Modern Indian
Tiya fuses seasonal California produce with contemporary Indian technique, turning squash blossoms and ramps into something genuinely unfamiliar. The elegant dining room and neighborhood-named cocktails elevate what could be gimmick into genuine sophistication.
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Rank 97. Routier
French
On California Street, Routier marries French bistro traditions with what the Bay Area grows best: Dungeness crab atop buttery potato pavé, pork cheeks on creamy lentils with mustard greens and apple. Chef JP Carmona's cooking is casual yet precise, the room welcoming, and the desserts—sourced from neighboring B. Patisserie—deserve their own reservation.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation Chocolate Mousse · The San Francisco Dessert Bucket List
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Rank 98. Mộng Thu Cafe
Vietnamese Coffee Shop
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