The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near The Best Little Donut House in Town
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Rank 3. Manakish Oven & Grill
Mediterranean
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Walnut Creek Restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
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Rank 4. Havana
Miami-Cuban
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Rank 6. World Famous Hotboys
Nashville
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Rank 7. Lita
Caribbean-Latino
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Rank 9. Genova Delicatessen
Italian
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Rank 11. Babushka Market, Deli & Cafe
Eastern European
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Rank 13. 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 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. 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 16. 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
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Rank 17. 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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Rank 18. Viridian
Northern Californian
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
- Punch 2025 · Best New Bartenders · Kat Parsons
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. West
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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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- 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 21. Michael Warring
Contemporary
A narrow counter in Vallejo where Chef Warring, trained in Napa's fine dining, works seasonal ingredients with precision and restraint. Ocean trout crudo sits beside seared ribeye—each plate a small argument for technique as clarity rather than flourish.
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Rank 22. 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 23. 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 24. 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 25. 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 26. 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 27. 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 28. 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 29. 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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- 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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Rank 31. 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 32. 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 33. 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 34. 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 35. 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
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Oakland Restaurants
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Rank 36. Esin Restaurant & Bar
American/Mediterranean
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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 38. 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
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Rank 39. 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 40. The Cultured Pickle Shop
Asian-Inspired
- San Francisco Chronicle 2026 · #59 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top East Bay Restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Berkeley Restaurants
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Rank 41. 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 42. 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 43. 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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- 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 45. 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 46. 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 47. 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 48. 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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- Esquire 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland
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Rank 50. 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 51. 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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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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Rank 53. 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 54. 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 55. Kiraku
Japanese
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Rank 56. 11th Tiger
Thai
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Rank 57. Sfizio
Italian
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Rank 59. Comal
Mexican
Comal's open kitchen showcases wood-fired tortillas and bold Mexican cooking built on pristine ingredients, anchored by smoky rock cod tacos with avocado aioli. An excellent cocktail program and extensive agave selection keep the industrial-chic Berkeley dining room perpetually packed.
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Rank 60. Mujiri
Japanese
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Rank 61. 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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Rank 62. 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 63. China Village
Sichuan Chinese
A bright, modernized dining room with contemporary art and a sleek bar sets the stage for incendiary Sichuan cooking. The dry-fried chicken arrives crackling with chilies and numbing peppercorns; the five-spice pork shoulder, a house specialty, sits fork-tender in fiery chili oil alongside bok choy and scallions. A casual neighborhood favorite that takes its heat seriously.
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Rank 64. New Dumpling
Chinese
Dumplings arrive from an open kitchen at this cheerful shop where the chalkboard menu pivots between traditional fillings and offbeat pairs—sweet corn and chicken, scrambled egg and tomato—each parcel a complete meal. The peanut salad crackles with celery and carrots, but it is the dumplings themselves, bursting and abundant, that justify the trip and spare your wallet.
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Rank 65. 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 66. 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 67. El Tacostao
Mexican
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Rank 68. 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 69. 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 70. 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 71. Cenaduria Elvira
Traditional Mexican
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Rank 73. 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 74. Boichik Bagels
NY-Style
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Rank 75. Oken
Japanese/Korean
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Rank 76. JollyJolly Coffee & Kitchen
Caribbean/African
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Rank 78. Barcote Ethiopian Restaurant
Traditional Ethiopian
The chef-owners at Barcote layer spice and warmth into their Ethiopian cooking with the ease of people who've cooked this way their whole lives, whether you're eating kitfo or misir wot under the front patio's trees. The food lingers—not because it's slow, but because each dish asks you to stay awhile.
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Rank 79. Belotti Ristorante e Bottega
Piemontese Italian
A neighborhood enoteca on Rockridge's main stretch where the owner holds court in Italian and regulars claim bar stools like reserved seats. House-made pastas anchor the menu—spaghettini with tomato and burrata, brasato over polenta finished with nebbiolo—alongside smaller surprises: butter lettuce with pine nuts, a truffle-touched spinach flan. Casual and convivial, built for lingering.
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Rank 80. 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
- Esquire 2021 · #5 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
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Rank 82. Hella Bagels
NY-Style
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Rank 83. Pâtisserie Rotha
French
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Rank 84. 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 85. Pomet
New American
A farmer-chef's appreciation for ingredient quality shapes every plate at this Oakland fine-dining spot, where oysters meet Niitaka pear and cider mignonette, and pasta cradles mushroom puree in celery root miso butter. Aomboon Deasy's sourcing—drawing from his own orchards and a web of local growers—permits a cooking style of deliberate restraint, letting seasonality speak louder than technique.
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Rank 86. Masterpiece Coffee
Chinese
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Picnic tables draped in bright plastic and unhurried service conjure a Thai roadside kitchen, where grilled meats and fiery green papaya salad arrive with uncompromising punch. The curries and drunken noodles respect your heat tolerance, but the mango sticky rice—coconut-sweet, gently cooling—suggests the kitchen knows when restraint matters most.
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Rank 89. Mägo
Colombian/S. American
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Rank 90. El Burro Veloz
Guadalajara-Style
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Rank 91. 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.
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Rank 92. Ok's Deli
Asian-American
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Rank 94. FAVA
New American
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Rank 95. Grégoire
French
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Rank 97. Kaokao Grill
Chinese-American
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Rank 98. Tacubaya
Mexican
A Berkeley counter-service taqueria animated by locals streaming in for breakfast chilaquiles and limeade, its festive dining room and front patio hung with pink papel picados. The enchiladas arrive draped in smoky guajillo-tomatillo sauce, the quesadillas stuffed with kabocha squash and pecan cream—food that tastes like it has earned its perpetual line.
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Rank 99. Iyasare
Japanese
Japanese technique meets California produce in a buzzing Berkeley room where small plates—grilled vegetables with black garlic, hamachi with wasabi snow, clams in sake broth—shift seasonally but never disappoint. The wine and sake lists anchor an evening built for sharing.
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Rank 100. ID Cafe
Southern Indian