The Best Places in San Francisco

Papa Noodle is a fast, casual Chinese noodle shop a short walk from a good chunk of SoMa's office towers, which explains the lunch-hour line of people holding badges. The menu is a handful of bowls, including pork or chicken noodles, beef noodle soup, and a vegan option, with noodles made daily. Every order comes with a White Rabbit candy, the closest thing to a dessert menu or a raise.

1. The Infatuation The 24 Best Restaurants In SoMa

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1. The Infatuation The 17 Best Restaurants Near The Embarcadero & Ferry Building

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1. The Infatuation The 24 Best Restaurants In SoMa

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1. The Infatuation The 17 Best Restaurants Near The Embarcadero & Ferry Building

1. The Infatuation The 14 Best Restaurants In The Lower Haight

1. The Infatuation The 17 Best Restaurants Near The Embarcadero & Ferry Building

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1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

Tú Lan is a no-frills Vietnamese counter-service spot on Mid-Market that has been feeding the neighborhood for what feels like forever. Lunchtime means office workers grabbing takeout while a few people eat at the back tables. The imperial rolls arrive loud and crackling, and the pho, rice plates, and vermicelli bowls are sized for a second meal. You leave with leftovers and change from a twenty.

1. The Infatuation The 24 Best Restaurants In SoMa

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

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1. The Infatuation The 14 Best Restaurants In The Lower Haight

1. The Infatuation The 14 Best Restaurants In The Lower Haight

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Yuka Ioroi and Kris Toliao

The mahogany back bar has been here since the Wild West era, and Elixir wears that history without trying too hard. It's a proper neighborhood dive on the Mission-Castro border, the kind where dog walkers fill the stools by late afternoon and nobody opens a cocktail menu. A dartboard in the corner, sports on the TVs, and regulars who clearly consider this their living room, just one with a liquor license.

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

A top-floor hotel cocktail lounge perched above Powell Street, the Starlight Room is essentially a finishing school that graduated half the notable bartenders in San Francisco, Tony Abou-Ganim and Jacques Bezuidenhout among them. The room got a significant makeover not long ago, all plush red furniture and gold accents, which makes it feel like old-school glamour with a fresh coat of ambition.

1. Difford's Guide 3 stars · Difford's Guide

The floor tilts so sharply that the table legs have been sawn down just to keep your drink from sliding off. This ancient saloon, built from whaling ship timbers and barely changed since forever, sits in the middle of a modern plaza like it missed the memo. Jack London drank and wrote here, then name-dropped the place seventeen times in "John Barleycorn." Order something simple and let the lean do the work.

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

The original redwood paneling dates back forever, but Philippe Starck's redesign layered in an illuminated Venetian bar top, a floor-to-ceiling light-box back bar, and plasma screens set in classical frames that slowly animate the portraits hanging in them. A Martini in hand when a painted subject blinks at you is a specific kind of San Francisco evening. It's a cocktail bar that reads as a grand room first, a drinks destination second.

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

Leather booths, wood paneling, and casual taxidermy give this cocktail bar the feel of a gentlemen's club that decided to relax a little. It sits inside Tyler Florence's Wayfare Tavern, and the bar downstairs splits the room between cocktails and food. Local lore insists a gangster is buried somewhere in the foundations, which does make the old-fashioned taste slightly more interesting.

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

1. The New York Times 2025 · Kalbi Kal Guksu · The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025

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1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants