The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Liholiho Yacht Club
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Rank 1. 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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- 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 3. 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 4. 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.
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- AAA Four Diamonds
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Italian Cuisine Restaurant
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Rank 5. 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 6. 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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Rank 7. 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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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Eater Best New Bar · The 2025 Eater San Francisco Award Winners
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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 10. Alexander's Steakhouse
American/Japanese
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Rank 11. 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
- Esquire 2025 · Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
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Rank 12. 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 13. 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 15. 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 17. 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 18. 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 20. 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 22. 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 23. 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 24. 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 25. 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 26. Ararat Kebab & Gyros
Turkish
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Rank 27. Bombay Brasserie
Indian
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Rank 28. 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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- The Infatuation 11 Of The Best Donuts In America
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Doughnuts in the Bay Area
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Rank 30. 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 31. 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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Rank 32. 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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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. 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 35. 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 37. 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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Rank 38. 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 Restaurateur · Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski - Atomic Workshop
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Rank 39. 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 40. 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 41. 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 42. 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 43. 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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Rank 44. Saison
Fine dining
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 45. 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 46. 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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Rank 47. 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 48. Smuggler's Cove
Tiki Cocktail Bar
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Rank 49. 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 50. 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 51. 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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Rank 52. Mymy
American
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Rank 53. 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 55. Shoji
Japanese
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Coffee in the Bay Area
- The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco
- The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF
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Rank 56. Californios
Fine dining
In a cavernous room alive with color and music, Chef Val M. Cantú channels Mexico's culinary depths through meticulous technique and daring reinvention. Tortillas—whether sourdough crisped with mezcal-battered cod or corn kissed with sesame—become the vehicle for a vision of Mexican cooking that feels both rooted and urgent.
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- 50 Best 2025 · #14 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Val M. Cantú
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Rank 57. 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 59. Yank Sing
Cantonese Chinese
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Rank 60. Holy Nata
Portuguese Bakery
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Bakeries of the Bay Area
- The Infatuation Pastel de Nata · The San Francisco Dessert Bucket List
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Rank 61. 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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- 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
- The New York Times 2021 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 63. 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 64. 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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- 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 66. Mộng Thu Cafe
Vietnamese Coffee Shop
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Sam's Grill is an old-school seafood institution in the Financial District that makes you feel like you've stumbled into a city that still has some dignity. Tuxedoed servers, curtained back booths, and coat hooks from the hat-wearing era set the scene. The lunch crowd is regulars who know exactly what they're having before they sit down. Go on a weekday, order a martini, and don't be surprised if the guy in the next booth basically runs the city.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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Rank 68. HK Lounge Bistro
Cantonese Chinese
A modest storefront in SoMa, rebuilt after fire destroyed its beloved predecessor, draws regulars for pleated Shanghai dumplings heavy with broth and crab, baked pork buns with crackled tops, and silken egg tarts. Dinner expands to roast duck and steamed seabass, but the soul of the place lives in its dim sum service—the artful work of a kitchen that understands both precision and comfort.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- San Francisco Chronicle Top San Francisco Restaurants
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Rank 69. 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 70. 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 71. 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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Rank 72. Turquaz
Turkish
- The Infatuation The Best Turkish Restaurants In SF
- The Infatuation 2025 · #11 · San Francisco’s Best New Restaurants
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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 74. 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 75. Nightbird
Californian New American
Behind a carved wooden door in Hayes Valley sits a narrow dining room where Chef Kim Alter composes small plates with deliberate artistry—roasted duck breast arranged with summer squash and gooseberry compote, a spiced broth to follow. The menu pivots with the seasons; house-made breads arrive at strategic intervals, each one another small flourish in a meal designed to sustain surprise.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Kim Alter
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 76. 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 77. Rich Table
American
A compact Hayes Valley room with distressed wood and farmhouse ease fills nightly without pretense. The kitchen moves Californian ingredients through global techniques—salmon tostada with avocado purée, lobster chow mein with charred corn—with the precision of fine dining and none of its stuffiness. Arrive at the bar if a table is gone.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #8 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 78. Goldenette
Diner
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Rank 79. Brenda's French Soul Food
French Southern
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Rank 80. Hayes Street Grill
Seasonal Seafood
Been around forever and somehow still the right call before a show at the Opera House or Davies Symphony Hall, this classic seafood restaurant keeps things simple in the best way. The crowd is pre-curtain couples and regulars who've been ordering the same thing for decades, which tells you everything. Sustainable fish, prepared cleanly, no showboating. Old-school San Francisco in a room that never felt the need to reinvent itself.
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Classic Restaurants in San Francisco
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Rank 81. 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 82. Smish Smash
Burgers
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Rank 83. 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 84. 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 85. 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 86. 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 87. Arsicault Bakery
Bakery
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Rank 88. Montesacro
Roman Pizza Wine Bar
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Rank 89. Zuni Café
Californian
A copper-barred corner institution where wood-fired chicken and Caesar salad draw San Francisco regulars, though the reputation sometimes outpaces the meal. The space—angular, art-lined, perpetually crowded—matters as much as what arrives from the kitchen.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
- San Francisco Chronicle Best classic San Francisco restaurants
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Rank 90. Zevi Cafe
Turkish
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Rank 91. TBD izakaya
Japanese
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Rank 92. Trestle
Contemporary
At Trestle, three courses rotate through the seasons at a price that rewards restraint: creamy tomato soup with thyme oil might yield to fork-tender short ribs on parmesan polenta, finished with frozen chocolate parfait and crushed cashews. The dining room hums with energy, and staff move with genuine warmth, making the whole enterprise feel less like a bargain than like being let in on something.
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Rank 93. Capital
Cantonese
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Rank 94. Paper Son
Coffee
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Coffee in the Bay Area
- The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco
- Eater The Absolute Best San Francisco Coffee Shops
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Rank 95. Origin Lab
Coffee
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Rank 96. Asha Tea House
Japanese Coffee Shop
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Rank 97. Rice Roll Express
Chinese
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Rank 98. Square Pie Guys
Detroit-style Pizza
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Rank 100. Merchant Roots
Creative
A dinner here unfolds like a theater piece, with advance tickets and custom sets that change with the seasons. The cooking—visually inventive and genuinely flavorful—matters as much as the spectacle; a Mad Tea Party might begin in a hedge maze before unfolding across multiple rooms. Service has charm if not polish, and the whole affair rewards a willingness to be delighted.