The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Star Chaat Cuisine
-
Rank 1. Star Chaat Cuisine
Indian
-
Rank 2. Koi Palace
Cantonese Chinese
-
Rank 3. Annachi Kadai
Chettinad-Style
-
-
Rank 5. 88 Bao Bao
Chinese
-
Rank 6. Yafa Hummus
Mediterranean
-
Rank 7. Amakara Sushi
Japanese
-
-
Rank 9. Burma! Burma!
Burmese
-
Rank 10. Oyo Restaurant & Jive Bar
South American
-
Rank 11. Sabio on Main
Californian New American
The dining room glows with arched wood panels and backlit wine, a theatrical setting for cooking that pivots sharply with the seasons. Dishes like spring garlic velouté with Livermore olive oil and za'atar-roasted romanesco show a hand attuned to local produce and regenerative sourcing. The food arrives with clarity and restraint, letting ingredients speak rather than overwhelm.
-
Rank 12. 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
-
-
Rank 14. Patisserie by Simone
French-Inspired
-
Rank 15. Esin Restaurant & Bar
American/Mediterranean
-
Rank 16. 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.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 2 Stars
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · James Syhabout
-
Rank 17. 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
-
Rank 18. Mingala Restaurant
Burmese/Malaysian
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #58 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
-
Rank 19. 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.
-
-
Rank 21. 11th Tiger
Thai
-
Rank 22. Vientian Cafe
Lao/Thai/Vietnamese
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #95 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
-
Rank 23. Fikscue Craft Barbecue
Barbecue
- The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Fik Saleh and Reka Saleh
- Eater 2024 · The Best New Restaurants in America
-
Rank 24. Keeku da Dhaba
Indian
-
Rank 25. 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.
-
Rank 26. Tacos Mama Cuca
Sonoran Mexican
-
Rank 27. Tacos Mamá Cuca
Sonoran
-
Rank 28. 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
-
Rank 29. El Tacostao
Mexican
-
Rank 30. Tutuli
Sonoran
-
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
-
Rank 32. Manakish Oven & Grill
Mediterranean
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Walnut Creek Restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
-
Rank 33. Bun Appétit
French
-
Rank 34. Quattro Restaurant and Bar
Modern Italian
-
Rank 35. 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 2024 · Restaurant of the Year
- Food & Wine 2025 · #1 · The Top 15 US Restaurants
- Food & Wine 2024 · Roast Duck · Best Dishes Our Editors Ate This Year
-
- 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
-
Rank 37. Dosa Express
Southern Indian
-
Rank 38. 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
-
Rank 39. Shugetsu
Japanese
-
Rank 40. 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
-
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
-
-
Rank 43. 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.
-
Rank 44. Parekoy Lutong Pinoy
Filipino
-
Rank 45. 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
-
Rank 46. Babushka Market, Deli & Cafe
Eastern European
-
Rank 47. 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
-
Rank 48. 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
-
-
-
Rank 51. Genova Delicatessen
Italian
-
Rank 52. World Famous Hotboys
Nashville
-
Rank 53. Havana
Miami-Cuban
-
Rank 54. 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
-
-
Rank 56. Lita
Caribbean-Latino
-
-
Rank 58. 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
-
Rank 59. Tacos Mi Reynita
Mexican
-
Rank 60. Cenaduria Elvira
Traditional Mexican
-
-
Rank 62. 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.
-
-
-
- US Coffee Championships 2025 · #4 · U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits Championship · Tim Tran
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Coffee in the Bay Area
-
Rank 66. 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.
-
Rank 67. Duc Huong
Vietnamese
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Peninsula and South Bay Restaurants
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In San Jose
-
Rank 68. 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
-
Rank 69. 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
-
Rank 70. 3 Bottled Fish
Vietnamese
-
Rank 71. Pena's Bakery
Mexican Bakery
-
-
Rank 73. El Paisa
Mexican
-
- 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
-
Rank 75. Ettan
Upscale Indian
Srijith Gopinathan's upscale Indian restaurant occupies an airy, skylit bi-level space in Palo Alto where indigo fabrics and floral wallpaper set a refined stage. Kulchas stuffed with seasonal peas and ricotta arrive alongside bright green kale chutney, while crisp branzino meets green garlic and chili—each plate built around local ingredients and a cook's genuine conviction.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Srijith Gopinathan
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
-
Rank 76. Eylan
Contemporary Indian
Chef Srijith Gopinathan's Menlo Park dining room marries regional Indian technique with California ingredients—a flatbread of Dungeness crab and fennel-poppy sauce announces the approach immediately. Wood-fired cooking lends char and smoke throughout, whether to gulf shrimp or whole sea bream, each plate balanced enough to stand alone.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #70 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
-
Rank 77. El Burro Veloz
Guadalajara-Style
-
Rank 78. Lucky Three Seven
Street Food Filipino
-
Rank 79. Utzutzu
Omakase Sushi
An unmarked staircase in Alameda leads to an eight-seat counter where the kitchen orchestrates an omakase of quiet precision: blanched vegetables in dashi, delicate nanbanzuke, seared whitefish. A humble fried eggplant, crowned with bonito flakes and finished with black sesame ice cream, announces the chef's willingness to let technique serve surprise rather than spectacle.
-
Rank 80. Royal Thaali
Vegetarian Indian
-
Rank 81. 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
-
Rank 82. 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
-
Rank 83. Ming's Tasty Restaurant
Chinese
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #89 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
-
Rank 84. The Sea by Alexander's Steakhouse
Modern Seafood
-
-
-
Rank 87. 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
-
Rank 88. Koi Palace
Cantonese Chinese
-
Rank 89. Alem’s Coffee
Ethiopian
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #90 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
-
Rank 90. Bardo Lounge & Supper Club
Supper Club Cocktail Bar
Bardo wraps you in mid-century alcoves and punch bowls while a capable kitchen updates retro comfort—broccolini casserole spiked with lemongrass vinegar, porcupine meatballs finished with mint aïoli. Earnest service and potent cocktails complete the time-slip, leaving you content to surrender to the "Dinner Party Menu" and let the kitchen decide.
-
A wood-fired hearth and copper vessels warm this central Palo Alto dining room, where grilled vegetables emerge smoky and tender, lamb souvlaki stays impossibly moist, and pumpkin cheesecake balances sweetness with poached fruit. The scene runs formal and prices follow accordingly, though lunch offers a lighter touch.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Palo Alto Restaurants
- Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto
-
- 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
-
Rank 93. 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
-
Rank 94. 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.
-
-
Rank 96. Zareen's
Indian
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Zareen Khan
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Palo Alto Restaurants
- Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto
-
Rank 97. Sfizio
Italian
-
- US Coffee Championships 2025 · #3 · U.S. Barista Championship · Jason Yeo
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Coffee in the Bay Area
-
Rank 99. 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
-
- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland