The Best Places in San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF

This is a counter-service burger joint in Lower Nob Hill where napkins sit on every table, which is less hospitality than a warning. The patties come in beef, turkey, chicken, or veggie, and the bigger plays involve hot dogs or housemade chili stacked on top. Dress for sauce, because the barbecue pineapple one tends to travel down the wrist. White shirts are a bold choice here.

1. The Infatuation The 16 Best Burgers In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 13 Best Pasta Restaurants In SF

A chalkboard behind the counter maps exactly which farm each cut of meat came from, which tells you most of what you need to know about this counter-service BBQ shop tucked inside a Corte Madera mall. The ribs arrive with an obsidian crust and pink flesh underneath, the pulled pork is rich and salty, and a lineup of ten house condiments covers everything from Alabama white sauce to chow chow relish. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, suburban strip mall and all.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Marin County: Sausalito, Novato and San Rafael

1. The Infatuation The 19 Best Pizza Places In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 21 Best Outdoor Dining Spots In SF

1. Eater The Absolute Best San Francisco Coffee Shops

The gripmen still turn these cars by hand at the turntable, which is the whole point. The Powell-Hyde line is the last manually operated cable car system anywhere, and riding it feels less like transit and more like clinging to a slowly tilting porch. Standing on the running board while the car crests a hill makes a strong case for handrails. Most riders are tourists, which you also are, so just lean into it.

1. Condé Nast Traveler The 28 Best Things to Do in San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The Best Turkish Restaurants In SF

A former Army post turned National Park, the Presidio is the kind of place where eucalyptus groves give way to cliffside overlooks, historic bunkers, and a walk along Crissy Field that ends directly beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Andy Goldsworthy's natural installations are scattered throughout, the Tunnel Tops park has lawns and food trucks for easy afternoons, and the Tennessee Hollow Trail winds through a restored wetlands thick with birds.

1. Condé Nast Traveler The 28 Best Things to Do in San Francisco

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Marin County: Sausalito, Novato and San Rafael

1. The Infatuation Patatas Bravas · The Best Potato Dishes in SF

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants In SF

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Sandwich Spots In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 16 Best Burgers In San Francisco

Moroccan tile, velvet banquettes, and flickering lanterns set the scene in a former speakeasy beneath the Marrakech hotel. Mentalist and magician Jay Alexander runs weekend-only shows in the 35-seat theater, blending mind-reading, human lie detector bits, and sleight-of-hand with enough comedy to keep the skeptics from squirming. The evening opens with close-up magic over drinks before moving into the main show, which is as interactive as it sounds.

1. Condé Nast Traveler The 28 Best Things to Do in San Francisco

The Snøhetta-designed expansion gave SFMOMA a half-block-long living wall of native plants and a rippling fiberglass facade meant to echo the Bay, so the building makes an argument before you're even inside. The modern and contemporary collection runs deep, and the museum store is genuinely its own destination, stocked with San Francisco landmark chess pieces and Lichtenstein-inspired ceramics. Clear a full day.

1. Condé Nast Traveler The 28 Best Things to Do in San Francisco

1. Eater The Absolute Best San Francisco Coffee Shops

The yeasted waffle is what people come back for at this daytime diner on Macarthur, light enough to make the standard griddle version feel like a practical joke. Sequoia keeps the American breakfast plate honest while also running a loco moco where the gravy soaks into Koda Farms white rice in a way that feels earned. They cure their own pork belly, make three hot sauces in-house, and generally behave like a diner with something to prove.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Oakland

1. Eater The Absolute Best San Francisco Coffee Shops

1. The Infatuation Papas a la Huancaína · The Best Potato Dishes in SF

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF

A 150-foot Ferris wheel on the Fisherman's Wharf waterfront, lit by a million LED lights and very aware of the London Eye comparison. Each of the 36 climate-controlled gondolas holds up to six people, and a single ride runs about four rotations, giving you unobstructed sightlines to the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the hills stacked behind the city. Clear nights are the obvious move.

1. Condé Nast Traveler The 28 Best Things to Do in San Francisco

Four styles sit behind the glass at this casual slice shop from celebrity pizzaiolo Tony Gemignani: New York thin, Sicilian, grandma, and Detroit. You point, they reheat, you fold. The New York slices have that stiff-but-pliable thing that makes eating while standing feel like a skill. The grandma squares come thick, with ricotta pooled on top. Everything is straightforward, no reservations, no ambiance to speak of, just good pizza by the slice.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Walnut Creek

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF

The pressed French bread announces itself before you even bite down, cracking loud enough to turn heads. Sol Food is a casual Puerto Rican spot in San Rafael with outposts around Marin, built around hot-pressed sandwiches that pull serious lunch crowds. The Paraíso swaps the expected cheese-steak script by folding in ripe plantains, and the Cubano is one of the few worth seeking out in the county.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Marin County: Sausalito, Novato and San Rafael

Spark Social is a food truck park in Mission Bay, bigger than a football field, with picnic tables and enough grass for small people to run themselves into a nap. The trucks rotate daily, so the lineup is a surprise, though pizza and noodles tend to turn up. Strollers outnumber everything else, which means nobody will notice your toddler. It splits into two areas, so scout both before you commit to a truck.

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants In SF

A former highway reclaimed from cars and handed back to the wind, Sunset Dunes is a two-mile coastal promenade running along San Francisco's western edge with the Pacific sitting right there the whole time. Public murals mark the route, Outer Sunset cafes are steps away, and the mood is somewhere between a long exhale and a Sunday with nowhere to be. Bring a stroller, a bike, or just good shoes.

1. Condé Nast Traveler The 28 Best Things to Do in San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF

The collapsed concrete walls of an old saltwater bathhouse sit right at the Pacific's edge, flooded and open to the sky, looking less like San Francisco and more like something Rome left behind. Hikers and photographers make the pilgrimage, especially around sunset, when the still water turns the ruins into a mirror. The caves along the shore offer the best angle if you're here for the photo, which, be honest, you probably are.

1. Condé Nast Traveler The 28 Best Things to Do in San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 13 Best Breakfast Burritos In SF

1. The Infatuation The 11 Best Burritos In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 11 Best Burritos In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 21 Best Outdoor Dining Spots In SF

1. Eater The Absolute Best San Francisco Coffee Shops

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants In SF

The Boys' Deli is a sandwich counter tucked into the back of Polk Street Market in Russian Hill, and the rotisserie chicken turning near the entrance does most of the recruiting. It's an order-at-the-counter, wrapper-and-napkin lunch where the Spitfire pairs chicken with bacon, jalapeños, and sriracha mayo. The specials rotate, so the menu changes while the faint smell of chicken on your jacket does not.

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Sandwich Spots In San Francisco

The Hornet is a takeout sandwich counter tucked inside London Market in Pacific Heights, which is less a restaurant than a very well-organized errand. The menu of sandwiches and wraps changes daily, so you pick from a handful of options and hope nobody beat you to it. Ordering online helps, since the good ones sell out early and standing in a corner market staring at an empty chalkboard is a bleak way to spend lunch.

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Sandwich Spots In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae · The San Francisco Dessert Bucket List

The Rabbit Hole is a casual Taiwanese spot on the Mission-Bernal border, and its burger is the reason a lot of people show up. It arrives piled with pickled carrots, cucumbers, and peppers under a shimmering brioche bun, with a cheddar crust on the smashed patties that crunches against all that vinegar. The fries come dusted with nori and a side of gochujang ketchup, so the burger is doing a very specific kind of cultural crossover.

1. The Infatuation The 16 Best Burgers In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 21 Best Outdoor Dining Spots In SF

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF

1. The Infatuation Aloo Tikka Chaat · The Best Potato Dishes in SF

The Tonga Room is a tiki bar and restaurant built around the Fairmont's old indoor pool, which now holds a floating stage where a band plays through the thunderstorms. Every fifteen minutes the ceiling rains on the lagoon, complete with lightning and thunderclaps, and grown adults rise from their seats to film it. The mai tais are strong, the kids get a layered blue-and-pink mocktail, and the pork belly bites help the whole thing along.

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants In SF

1. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants In SF

The marinara here is just tomato, olive oil, and blistered basil, and it doesn't need a single thing more. Vesta is a wood-fired pizza shop in downtown Redwood City where the oven does the heavy lifting, scorching pies to a proper, crackling crisp. The sausage and honey pie, mascarpone folded in, is the crowd favorite if minimalism isn't your move. The San Francisco Chronicle put it on their Peninsula and South Bay best list.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Palo Alto, San Jose, the Peninsula and South Bay

1. The Infatuation The 6 Best Korean BBQ Restaurants In SF

1. The Infatuation The 21 Best Outdoor Dining Spots In SF

Hundreds of flags and string lights cover the ceiling, CRT TVs along the bar counter are loaded with old-school video game consoles, and a mural of Walnut Creek landmarks greets you before you even open the door. This hot chicken shop does Nashville-style fried chicken and sandwiches, with heat levels that go from polite to genuinely humbling. The outdoor picnic tables are there when you need air, or perspective.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Walnut Creek

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF

A Chinatown noodle shop where the soup comes piled with roast duck, wontons, and springy yellow noodles, all for around eight dollars. The move, though, is the brisket version, where the braised beef melts into the broth and makes the whole bowl taste twice as serious. Add a side of slow-cooked beef tendon and stir it in as you go. Named among the San Francisco Chronicle's picks for Chinatown, and the line out front tends to agree.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in San Francisco's Chinatown

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 In SF

Zajang Grill is an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue spot on Clement, where the overhead hoods are painted like mountain ranges, which feels fitting for the amount of meat involved. Walk-ins are easy, so it works when a group decides on dinner an hour ago. You get 90 minutes at the tabletop grill, soju on the side, and a scoop of ice cream at the end, a gentle nudge toward the couch you'll be horizontal on by nine.

1. The Infatuation The 6 Best Korean BBQ Restaurants In SF

1. The Infatuation The Best Turkish Restaurants In SF

Every room faces the water at this 33-room boutique hotel perched over the bay in Sausalito, a ferry ride from San Francisco for anyone who's decided downtown has enough concrete. Decks, fireplaces, and spa bathrooms fill the larger suites, and even the modest rooms get big windows framing the bay rather than a parking structure. Muir Woods and Stinson Beach are close enough to justify staying a few nights.

1. Condé Nast Traveler 23 Best Hotels in San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

1. Time Out The 12 best restaurants in the Mission

1. The Infatuation The 18 Best Restaurants In NoPa

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

1. The Infatuation The 24 Best Restaurants In SoMa

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Richmond

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

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

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

1. The Infatuation The 24 Best Restaurants In SoMa

1. The Infatuation The 18 Best Restaurants In NoPa

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Richmond

1. The Infatuation The 18 Best Restaurants In NoPa

1. The Infatuation The 18 Best Restaurants In NoPa

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

1. The Infatuation The 24 Best Restaurants In SoMa

1. Time Out The 12 best restaurants in the Mission

1. Esquire Mandarini · The Best Martinis in America
2. Time Out The 12 best restaurants in the Mission
3. Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. West

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Richmond

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Richmond

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Richmond

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Richmond

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

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

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 14 Best Restaurants In The Lower Haight

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

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

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 24 Best Restaurants In SoMa

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In The Sunset

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

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