22 Best Restaurants in San Francisco, California

The creation of lauded chef Daniel Patterson, this pretty restaurant has creativity to rival that of Patterson's Michelin-starred Coi, but a much less formal vibe. A 25-seat circular bar dominates the dining room, while small plates dominate the menu. The fried brussels sprouts are pure crunchy bliss, while the delicate homemade pierogi is a mainstay but with seasonal accents, like pumpkin. Located across from the Twitter and Uber HQs, it attracts the hoodies, but also the pretheater crowd. This is one of the city's few great food experiences after midnight on weekends.

Although Daniel Patterson no longer presides over the kitchen, under chef Erik Anderson his Michelin three-star restaurant is still a can't-miss destination for exquisite, rarefied dining in a womblike space that features natural linens, soft lighting, and hand-crafted pottery. The eight-course tasting menu focuses on seafood and prizes obsessively sourced, highly seasonal ingredients in dishes such as Dungeness crab with grapefruit, Champagne, and bay leaf.

The constantly evolving tasting menu that chef-owner Teague Moriarty serves at his standout, Michelin-star restaurant serves as a primer for how to do highly seasonal cuisine right. Though the preparations are intricate and often luxurious, there is a pretension-free, contemporary elegance that makes this one of the most relaxed (and fun) fine-dining experiences in the city. The accompanying wine list is equally stellar.

Thad Vogler's second endeavor (Bar Agricole was the first) delivers a fun boozy evening in stunning surroundings. Located off the lobby of the art deco–era Pacific Telephone building, it excels at house-cured salami and charcuterie and classic cocktails. Arancini, seasonal salads and pickles, and mains of burgers and fresh fish round out the offerings. An enclosed patio reads like a Parisian garden conservatory. Unfortunately, noise is a real issue out there, since it's an after-work escape.

For lunch on the go, don't submit to fast food when you've got Arlequin, the café offshoot of trendy Absinthe. Whatever you choose—breakfast, a hot or cold sandwich, lamb burger, roasted chicken—take it back to the lovely outdoor patio, a surprising oasis that makes Arlequin a standout.

At this sleek Presidio Heights daytime café, the wellness-centric menu manages to be so delicious that guests often don't notice how virtuous the dishes are. Bread for the open-faced sandwiches is gluten-free and baked in-house; several items are vegetarian and/or vegan; and even the pappardelle is made of zucchini ribbons instead of wheat. The white-tiled and white-painted interior looks more like a luxury Beverly Hills boutique than an eatery.

Thanks to celebrated bartender/owner Thad Vogler, this sleek LEED-certified spot is a haven for cocktail hounds. Be sure to enjoy the creative libations, but don't neglect the terrific food, either. Settle in at a table, set with recycled denim napkins, either on the leafy patio or in the real looker of a dining room that uses reclaimed whiskey barrels as wall slats. The Cal-Med cuisine with local ingredients showcases land-and-sea snacks like salumi and fresh oysters. The bar gets boisterous at night, but the sophistication of the space entices all age groups. A downstairs room can seat larger groups.

A perch on the second floor of a 1920s building provides first-rate looks at Ocean Beach across the Great Highway (it used to be a changing room for beachgoers). But the service is just okay, and the food is basic American—burgers, chowders, and steak. Beach Chalet brews its own beers on-site and the atmosphere makes you feel a million miles away from urbanity.

The search for San Francisco's greatest fried chicken ends at this casual counter-service restaurant. It started as a COVID-19 pandemic concept at fine dining sibling Birdsong and became so popular that it received its own brick-and-mortar space. That fine dining pedigree can be found in the pitch-perfect sandwiches, "birdboxes" (various sizes of fried chicken with outstanding homemade sauces), and the local, free-range poultry sourcing. Don't worry vegetarians—the hen of the wood mushroom sandwich is just as special as its fried chicken peer.

Locals love the cheery Buena Vista Café, which claims to be the first place in the United States to have served Irish coffee. The bartenders serve about 2,000 Irish coffees a day, so it's always crowded; try for a table overlooking Victorian Park and its cable-car turntable. The café dishes up great breakfasts all day, including crab omelets and crab Benedict.

There are two personalities to Chestnut Street’s sleek grown-up diner—the double-stack burger that draws burger hounds from dozens of miles away, and the rest of the honest, spruced-up comfort-food menu. It's a local institution that feels partially like a bistro and partially like a modern tavern, and a place where the buzz from the innovative cocktails and delicious eats never disappears.

This consistently popular and consciously unpretentious, funky-yet-savvy diner serves standards like hamburgers, pizzas, and spaghetti with meatballs, all treated with culinary respect. More budget-friendly than some of the area's other options, it has built its reputation on honest and approachable fare. Diners will discover Mexican- and Asian-style dishes mixed in with the primarily American/Italian menu (the silky wontons are popular), all-day brunch, and a nice list of salads. Don't even think about leaving without trying the ginger cake with caramel sauce. The wine list has some well-chosen picks.

Hearty American bistro fare and hip design draw crowds to this neighborhood favorite that's ambitious enough to be a citywide draw. The menu boasts one of the city's best burgers, and the dining room gleams with white penny-tile floors and marble countertops. Weekend brunch is always a draw for candied bacon and Parmesan gougères (cheese pastries). The weekday lunch-only crispy fried chicken sandwich deserves to be in the city's sandwich hall of fame.  Avoid the crowds and order a burger at the bar.

What do spaghetti and meatballs, Thai noodles with chicken and steak, salads in three sizes, and big burgers have in common? They're all on the eclectic comfort-food menu at this neighborhood standby. Desserts are also among the claims to fame here: the fresh-baked pies and ginger cake with pumpkin ice cream are among the standouts. Kids get their own menu. In cool weather fires roar in the dining-room fireplaces; in warm weather, the outdoor tables are the place to be. There's another Chow in the Castro neighborhood. You can call ahead to put your name on the waiting list.

Beer arrives at your table in buckets at this waterfront café-saloon, which has ample seating at plastic tables on a wooden deck. Although you'd expect to sit elbow to elbow with fishers, you're more likely to share the space with twenty- and thirtysomethings drawn by the cocktails and casual seafood and sandwiches from the kitchen, and of course the prime vantage point for gazing across the bay.

American comfort classics meet seasonal California cooking in this restaurant in an old barracks building at the eastern edge of the Presidio. The restaurant has a blend of the nostalgic past and the trendy present (deviled eggs with smoked salmon and furikake; grilled beef liver and onions; homemade cheesecake), as well as a lively bar and ample patio seating that allows diners to soak up the Presidio's outdoor beauty.

For a real cup of joe without any sense of pretension, join the savvy dock workers, carpenters, and young suits at decades-old Red's Java House, where the coffee typically follows a cheeseburger and a beer and the gorgeous view of the East Bay is priceless.

Although it's open morning until night, this cozy café is most synonymous with brunch. Sleepy-headed locals turn up for delights like the smoked ham, fried egg, and Gruyère breakfast sandwich; evening favorites lean toward roast chicken, pastas, and seasonal-rustic fare. The ingredients are top-notch, the service is friendly, and the seating is in comfortable booths and at tables and a counter. Heaters above the outdoor tables keep things toasty when the temperature dips.

With coffee, sandwiches, and salads by day, and superb drinks at night, this spot right by the California St. cable car terminus is a charming place to visit. Its atmosphere is refreshingly low-key for FiDi—the rare downtown establishment that feels like a true neighborhood gathering place.

American fare with Southern flair is the headline at this power broker's pit stop where barbecue gulf shrimp, juicy fried chicken, and butterscotch-chocolate pot de crème highlight a menu with enough variety (and large enough portions) to satisfy nearly everyone. The converted-warehouse space, with dark-wood floors, exposed brick walls, and contemporary art, comfortably blends old with new. You can curl up with a cocktail (like a sterling bacon-washed old-fashioned) on the heated patio while you wait for your table. The decibel level here can wear down your vocal chords, so ask for a quieter spot.

This energetic and upscale American tavern owned by TV chef and personality Tyler Florence is rich with upscale turn-of-the-20th-century Americana, including brick walls, comfortable booths, and a billiards room. It also tips its hat to tradition—and comfort—on the menu with deviled eggs, fresh seafood, and several signature dishes that are considered the best of their categories in the city (the burger with Marin Brie, for one), plus noteworthy cocktails that complete the full experience.