The Best Places to Eat in San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 13 Best Pasta Restaurants In SF

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

The spaghetti arrives buried under shredded cheese that stays stubbornly unmelted, swimming in sweet sauce you'd never mistake for Italian. Chibog is a Filipino homestyle restaurant in Daly City where weekends mean families crowded around platters of crispy pata and lechon kawali. Solo diners can work through silog-style meal sets without feeling lost. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the best restaurants on the Peninsula and South Bay.

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

A Chinatown noodle shop where the namesake bowl, listed plainly as "Chongqing hot numbing spicy noodles," does exactly what it promises with Sichuan pepper and red chile oil doing most of the talking. The menu is narrow by design, each strand matched to a mood, and the tan tan noodle soup goes richer and heartier for anyone who needs a reason to stay. Prices are firmly in the single digits, which explains why the stools fill fast.

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

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF

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

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Emily Lim

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Meals For Under $15 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 11 Best Burritos In San Francisco

The spiral-tailed monkey painted on one wall gives the place its name and its vibe: a cheerful Peruvian restaurant with wood accents and geometric light fixtures that somehow feels both casual and considered. The antojitos trio is a good way in, landing beef hearts, jumbo corn, and causa on the table before you've made any real decisions. The San Francisco Chronicle named it one of Berkeley's best restaurants.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best Berkeley restaurants

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland

A one-person takeout operation in Berkeley where the pre-orders open at 9 a.m. sharp and are often gone before the place does. The pies are 18-inch, NY-style, with charred and pillowy crusts, and you have to plan around them rather than the other way around. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the best Berkeley restaurants, which feels about right for something this inconvenient to obtain.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best Berkeley restaurants

Turquoise glazed tiles, dramatic florals, and a sixth-floor view over Chinatown and Telegraph Hill set the tone before you've touched a menu. This is a tasting-menu Cantonese restaurant from the chef behind Hakkasan, and it carries that same instinct for precise, composed presentations of classic dishes. Come for cocktails if the full commitment feels like a lot; the view alone justifies the elevator ride.

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

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

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

1. Eater The Absolute Best San Francisco Coffee Shops

A roadhouse that means it when it says farm-to-table Italian, Giaco's sits a five-minute drive from Samuel P. Taylor State Park, which matters more than you'd think by night two of camping. There's a bar up front, a cozy dining room in back, and a patio when the weather cooperates. The wood-fired pizzas run a little bready, but creative toppings carry them, and the saffron arancini with Point Reyes truffle cheese earns its place on the menu.

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 19 Best Pizza Places In San Francisco

A no-frills Vietnamese lunch spot on the edge of Portsmouth Square, where the best move on a sunny day is to grab takeout and eat in the park while retired neighbors argue card games at the tables nearby. Pho, grilled meats, rice plates, and vermicelli salads are the whole program, exactly as advertised. The spring rolls, fried in rice paper, come out blistered and genuinely airy in a way that's hard to explain until you've had one.

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

The garlic fries alone have launched a thousand detours off the freeway. Gott's is a California roadside grill doing burgers and shakes with Niman Ranch beef and seafood sourced with the same seriousness, which is more than most places in this price range bother with. The classic cheeseburger hits the produce-and-seared-beef formula cleanly, and when the soft-shell crab sandwich is on the menu, it's the move. Plenty of outdoor tables if the sun cooperates.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Walnut Creek

A small French sandwich shop on Cedar Street where the main event is a buttermilk-fried chicken cutlet on a Semifreddi's roll, craggy-coated and topped with a creamy, spicy slaw. The potato puffs are the other reason people come, little pillowy spheres that have built a loyal following on their own. A few sidewalk tables exist, but most orders leave in a bag headed for Live Oak Park.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best Berkeley restaurants

1. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in San Francisco

The focaccia at this Italian sandwich shop and pizzeria is springy enough to qualify as a mattress topping, then loaded with stracciatella, 'nduja, pistachio butter, or artichoke cream. A deli counter runs along one side, stocked with mortadella, salami, and prosciutto that get hand-sliced to order. Roman-style pizza sits out in thick, dimpled slabs. Bring cash for lunch and a plan for a slow afternoon.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Walnut Creek

Diners at this casual Millbrae Korean spot can be spotted holding oxtails up to the light like jewelers, hunting for every last scrap of meat. Han Sang runs on bone broth soups and sliced beef, the kind of cooking that earns regulars fast. The sul long tang, a cloudy white stock loaded with brisket, tongue, and tendon, arrives unseasoned so you can salt it yourself, which somehow makes it feel more personal.

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

Mojitos are the organizing principle at this Cuban restaurant and bar in Walnut Creek, and the menu runs a dozen or so of them, spiked with guava or prickly pear depending on your mood. Floral-print booths line the walls, a long communal table anchors the middle, and the patio fills fast on weekends. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the best restaurants in Walnut Creek. Come thirsty and order the ropa vieja empanadas while you figure out the rest.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Walnut Creek

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

1. Eater The Absolute Best San Francisco Coffee Shops

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

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

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF

A San Francisco fish market that planted a second flag inside Proof Lab Beer Garden in Mill Valley, where the obvious move after a Marin hike is a fish taco. The fried rockfish comes out of the oil crackling, buried under a carrot habanero salsa that uses sweetness and acid to dial back the heat rather than just announce it. Order at the counter, find a sunny spot, and let the endorphins from the trail and the chile sort themselves out.

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

The menu here is basically a suggestion, since the family running this Chinatown restaurant has been known to steer you away from it entirely and just decide what you're eating. That's not arrogance so much as confidence, and the Shanghainese cooking that lands on the table tends to justify the approach. Pork confit egg rolls with basil and chile sauce are a signature. Cash in on the experience; just don't expect to be in charge.

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

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

A West Oakland coffee shop where the jollof rice is serious business: sharply spiced Nigerian rice with heat that keeps building, served with caramelized plantains and your choice of stewed chicken, oxtail, or goat. Okra and egusi soups arrive with fufu. Seating is tight and the wait can stretch, so bring patience and a friend you want to impress with how good Oakland gets. The San Francisco Chronicle put it on their best Oakland restaurants list.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Oakland

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Danny Louie
2. The Infatuation The 21 Best Outdoor Dining Spots In SF

1. The Infatuation The Best Turkish Restaurants In SF

The sweet potato brulée, a potato starch custard torched to a glassy crust, gives you a sense of how this Berkeley izakaya operates: familiar enough to land, unexpected enough to stay with you. The menu shifts constantly around a core of Japanese small plates, with daily specials that swing from nigiri to okonomiyaki depending on the chef's mood. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the best restaurants in Berkeley.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best Berkeley restaurants

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF

1. The Infatuation The 11 Best Burritos In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 13 Best Breakfast Burritos In SF
2. The Infatuation The 11 Best Burritos In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 11 Best Burritos In San Francisco

A marinated pork spit spinning in the window pulls in foot traffic on MLK Way, which is basically the oldest form of advertising. This Chiapas-style taqueria in Berkeley orders you outside to pick up your al pastor, the ruby meat sweet and charred, with pineapple and a green oil salsa alongside. The chicken mole is a serious plate when you want it. Noah's Ark animals frolic across a mural on the wall, keeping things cheerful.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best Berkeley restaurants

1. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in San Francisco

A wall in the back pulses with colored light synced to the reggaeton, which tells you exactly what kind of restaurant this is. Lita does modern Caribbean in a Walnut Creek setting that leans hard into Miami energy, with a marble bar, gold trim, and ferns hanging over the dining room. Fish fritters, coconut curry chicken empanadas, and spit-roast jerk chicken shaved into tacos carry the menu. The cocktails keep up.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Walnut Creek

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

Warm tortillas pressed at a kiosk just inside the door set the tone at this San Rafael Mexican restaurant, where the kitchen takes mole seriously enough to run seven housemade versions on the weekend buffet. The mole poblano and a red guajillo version called Mama Luisa are the ones to pace yourself toward. Cabeza de res, menudo, and pozole rojo round things out. Order a michelada; it isn't included, but it's the move.

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

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland

1. Condé Nast Traveler The 25 Best Restaurants in San Francisco for Casual Diners, Twelve-Course Tasting Counters, and Late-Night Eats

Open rafters, pale pink tiles, and bright teal accents set the tone at this casual Chinese spot on Clement Street, where Brandon Jew runs a room that looks like it was designed on purpose, because it was. The sweet-and-sour chicken, rice-battered and stuffed into a homemade pineapple bun, is the kind of thing people come back for. Housemade sodas round out a menu that treats the nonalcoholic drinks as a feature rather than an afterthought.

1. Condé Nast Traveler The 25 Best Restaurants in San Francisco for Casual Diners, Twelve-Course Tasting Counters, and Late-Night Eats

1. The Infatuation Gelato · The San Francisco Dessert Bucket List

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 25 Best Restaurants In Oakland

The Italian sub here is stacked with salami, hot coppa, mortadella, and provolone on a flour-dusted ciabatta, and the bread does at least half the work. Morucci's is an old-school deli that's been a Walnut Creek fixture long enough that regulars actually comment when the line isn't out the door. A few seats inside, more outside, and the counter crew keeps things moving faster than the crowd suggests.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants in Walnut Creek

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In SF

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

1. Eater The Absolute Best San Francisco Coffee Shops

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

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

1. The Infatuation The Best Turkish Restaurants In SF

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

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

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 The Best Coffee Shops In SF

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

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

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

1. The Infatuation The Best Matcha Lattes In San Francisco

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

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. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in San Francisco

1. The Infatuation The 6 Best Korean BBQ Restaurants In SF
2. The Infatuation The 21 Best Outdoor Dining Spots 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