A charming neighborhood restaurant that's worth a drive from yours. The short but generally reliable menu features seasonal California cooking with a Mediterranean influence, complemented by a thoughtful and interesting wine list. Impeccable fresh salads, carefully cooked flesh and fish sided by... More >>
You can get anything you want including absinthe (now that it has been legalized) at this extremely pleasant French restaurant in Hayes Valley's restaurant row, which services the Opera House and Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. Every gustatory desire, from exquisite cocktails through ripe... More >>
This casual but chic fish house from the Rosenthal brothers (chefs Steve and Mitchell) and their partner, Doug Washington, joins their other downtown favorites, Town Hall and Salt House. The setting, a renovated turn-of-the-19th-century warehouse, has exposed brick, painted wood floors, and a... More >>
Bix is San Francisco's closest approximation of a supper club, with a superb bar and very good food that ranges from tony snacks to more serious dining, including thoughtfully composed salads followed by carefully cooked fish, flesh, and fowl and amazing desserts. Dinner is served in a soaring,... More >>
Inventive, well-prepared takes on classic dishes -- perhaps a flatiron steak with huckleberry potato salad and a pork chop with baby mustard greens and hominy -- are followed by homey desserts like chocolate cake and banana cream pie. More >>
It's nearly impossible to go wrong at tony, wildly popular Boulevard, from the sumptuous interior by Pat Kuleto to Nancy Oakes' flawlessly executed New American menu. The offerings are seasonal, and desserts are exceptional. Extensive wine list, full bar. More >>
The (slightly) less expensive upstairs adjunct to Chez Panisse proper features the cooking for which Alice Waters' establishments are justly famous amid casual, wood- and copper-heavy Mission-style décor. The daily menu -- which, unlike that downstairs, is a la carte -- is focused on... More >>
Superb aged steaks, house-made charcuterie, and excellent fresh oysters are among the best things to eat at this always-reliable, comfortable, and airy Berkeley eatery. (There's a butcher shop on the premises, where you can choose from among 17 different sausages, salt-cured foie gras, and prime... More >>
Coi is the home of gifted, adventurous chef Daniel Patterson, who showcases his refined and sophisticated California-French cooking in two nightly prix-fixe dinners, a multi-course tasting menu and a four-course meal with several choices per course. The dining room is calm, windowless, suffused... More >>
Tiny, romantic spot combines funky décor and friendly, casual service with Italian food that rivals anything in North Beach. Superb home-baked focaccia topped with kosher salt leads to flawless appetizers and pastas. Extensive Italian wine list; excellent, homemade desserts. More >>
Located in the newly renovated Westin Hotel just off Market, Ducca offers top-notch Italian cooking inspired by the Veneto (the region around Venice), in a formal dining room accented with Murano glass chandeliers and a lovely patio (open for lunch). Best dishes include the cichetti (Venetian... More >>
The years have been kind to Farallon, whose over-the-top under-the-sea décor, fresh and wacky in 1997, now feels like a classic. The vaulted ceilings and huge sea-urchin light fixtures are almost worth the (hefty) price of admission alone. Chef/owner Mark Franz calls his seafood-heavy... More >>
The of-the-moment gimmick at this chic, sophisticated small restaurant (in the Mark Twain Hotel) is that almost all its ingredients are sourced within a hundred miles of its front door. Luckily its front door is near central California, and our superb local ingredients are handily turned into... More >>
The glory of the three-star French cooking celebrated in the famed Michelin guidebook lives on, happily for local gastronomes, in this venerable downtown restaurant. The extraordinary cooking of chef/owner Hubert Keller, presented by a flawless team of friendly and knowledgeable servers, is... More >>
One of San Francisco's most famous and honored restaurants, named after its award-winning chef-owner, Gary Danko offers prix-fixe meals from its long and tempting seasonally changing menu. There are appetizers, fish and seafood dishes, meat and game birds, an amazing cheese cart, and desserts.... More >>
After a quarter of a century, Greens still delights, with its stunning setting (overlooking the Marina from a Fort Mason warehouse, in a soaring, wood-paneled space) and exemplary vegetarian cuisine, seasonal and sensuous. Wonderful desserts, excellent wine list. A San Francisco classic. More >>
A short but perfect menu is on offer at this small, modern oyster bar in the Ferry Building. There is a U-shaped counter and half a dozen tables inside, plus two picnic tables on the promenade outside, all overlooking the bay -- and often a line of people waiting for them, with good reason. More >>
Traci Des Jardins' temple to sublime California cuisine is housed in one of Pat Kuleto's most dramatic, elegant settings. The menu has included: supple duck confit with peaches and pistachios; cloud-light halibut with sweet, punchy mussels; a bountiful platter of tiny, jewellike cookies,... More >>
Kokkari offers pricey but well-conceived Greek food (classic dishes mildly tweaked to remain consonant with seasonal California cuisine) in a comfortable, rather formal (but, alas, noisy) setting right off the Embarcadero. Request seating away from the front bar room if you're interested in... More >>
This steakhouse occupies a plush room in the Westfield San Francisco Center, convenient for shoppers and moviegoers, and offers many other dishes (poultry, seafood, vegetarian) in addition to an array of grilled and roasted steaks. We loved the baseball-shaped six-ounce filet and the interesting... More >>
Multiple courses of exquisitely composed, impeccably fresh ingredients are served in a lovely, elegant formal setting. Save room for the postprandial confection cart. More >>
The San Francisco branch of a Manhattan-based Mexican restaurant empire offers elaborate, rather fancy Mexican food, inspired by chef-owner Richard Sandoval's Acapulco home: It's elegant food fit for a deluxe seaside resort. Rather than burritos and hot sauce, Maya's modern Mexican cuisine... More >>
Lively two-story restaurant, housed in a vintage bank building, with a large bar (and scene) and menu of seasonal Mediterranean-inspired fare, with some dishes cooked in a wood-fired oven. The name is an invented acronym for its location: North of the Panhandle. Open late. More >>
Delicious, sophisticated fare served in a chic urban setting South of Market. Chef Ola Fendert prepares fresh, seasonal, mostly organic food, new American cooking with French and Italian accents: We love the deceptively simple fish, flesh, and fowl, roasted, seared, or grilled, served atop... More >>
Earthy flavors are prepared and served with grace and imagination at this comely hot spot. Relaxed atmosphere; tantalizing menu. Portobello fritters, smoked duck breast with blini, scallop-lobster boudin, and berry pudding with crème fraîche are especially delectable. More >>