The Golden City is home to a diverse range of restaurants, from casual to award-winning fine dining establishments. On offer is a variety of cuisines, including Mediterranean, Italian, Chinese and seafood-focused options.
Visitors and locals can explore a wide range of flavors on foot, by cable car, or by riding on BART.
Due to San Francisco’s proximity to the Sonoma and Napa wine regions, its bucolic influence adds another layer to the city’s culinary scene, contributing to its unique culinary identity.
Where to Dine: San Francisco Neighborhoods and Culinary Experiences
With over 30 neighborhoods throughout the city, here are 10 of my favorite distinctive food, beverage and atmospheric experiences:
Embarcadero
Eclipse Kitchen & Bar
Step into the enormous 17-story grand atrium lobby of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco to dine at Eclipse Kitchen & Bar. This eye-catching lobby features a soaring ceiling, earning the title of the world’s largest hotel atrium.
The restaurant displays a dramatic moon sculpture hanging over the bar. Seating areas include a plush bar lounge, intimate barrel booths, and communal tables.
Open for breakfast, happy hour, and intimate dinners, the talented Executive Sous Chef, Brooke Di Restia, has earned a reputation for being one of San Francisco’s brightest stars.
Guests rave about her classic Ensenada fish tacos, San Francisco clam chowder, Farmer’s Market superfood salad, Pacific Coast catch-of-the-day, and sweet potato and vegetable yellow curry.
Meals can be paired with wines highlighting local California wineries, or enjoy the bartenders’ frequently praised espresso martini. Save room for molten chocolate cake for dessert.
What makes Eclipse Kitchen & Bar a more enjoyable hotel-dining experience is the love Brooke puts into her dishes.
She takes her culinary staff with her outside for a walk across the street to the Farmer’s Market in front of the Ferry Building. Together, they meet the farmers and learn about the produce they are purchasing.
Chef Brooke also supports farmers by showcasing a fruit of the month. It’s featured at the morning buffet for guests to experience fresh fruit from local farms.
An informational card is placed in front of the fruit for guests and visitors to learn more about what they are eating. Instead of a regular peach, she might have on display a disc-like ‘donut peach’ that is smaller and sweeter in flavor.
Guests staying at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco can upgrade to the Regency Club. This exclusive privilege grants guests access to the top floor, featuring a revolving restaurant that serves breakfast, snacks, lunch, happy hour and desserts.
Chef Brooke ensures this upgrade is worthwhile by preparing quality fare to enjoy while taking in the fabulous city and bay views.
Eclipse Kitchen & Bar is open from 6:30 am to 11:30 am and 5:00 pm to 11:30 pm. The atmosphere is Instagram-worthy.
Business casual attire is recommended. Eclipse Kitchen & Bar menu prices range from $10 – $30.
Terrene Inside the 1 Hotel San Francisco
This light and bright restaurant filled with greenery is located just off the lobby of the newer 1 Hotel San Francisco.
Step into the lively bar and dining room or stroll out onto an expansive outdoor patio for al fresco dining overlooking the Bay Bridge.
After work, it’s a favorite happy hour destination offering a stellar list of non-alcoholic cocktails and local wines.
“From The Garden” is a beverage made with items cultivated from the chef’s garden up on the rooftop. A cocktail favorite includes “Golf Country,” made with Botanist gin, red clover champagne reduction, Mancino vermouth and Fever-Tree soda.
Seasonal menu items are inspired by nature, rooted in purpose, and designed to share. The menu proudly displays local farms and businesses that the restaurant supports.
Start with one of their creamy dips served with pita from Atoria’s Family Bakery. Besides a flavorful baba ganoush, they also make carrot hummus and beet muhammara.
Other Middle Eastern delights include two mini pitas filled with a falafel or lamb. Seafood dishes include seared scallops, kampachi crudo, and Skuna Bay salmon.
Vegan and vegetarian dishes are highlighted on the menu, including a cucumber salad dressed with cashew sauce and an innovative mushroom Caesar salad with local chicories and crispy shallots.
There are also a variety of skewers on the menu, such as shrimp basted with scallion and ginger, and a marinated steak served with mint chimichurri.
The harissa chicken skewers arrive with a raita dipping sauce. Meat lovers will enjoy two Niman Ranch smash burger patties with a kalamata olive aioli.
The restaurant is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., with brunch available on weekends from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Business casual attire is recommended at this casual dining venue, with a price range of $13-$46.
Perry’s Embarcadero
Across the street from the iconic bay, this casual dining spot is filled with locals during lunch, as well as couples and families during dinner. Baseball game-day fans also eat here before or after a game at Oracle Park.
Perry’s is known for its comfort fare, including grilled artichokes served with aioli dipping sauce, ahi poke, cornmeal-fried calamari, and potato skins.
In addition, they feature a variety of salads on the menu, including an iceberg wedge, a chopped salad and a traditional Cobb.
Entrees include fish and chips, grilled salmon, shrimp fettuccine and an old-fashioned pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Sandwiches include Perry’s Burger and a Chicken BLTA. Be sure to order their sweet potato fries or house-made cottage chips.
Perry’s is near the Ferry Building and has a small dining patio in the front with views of the Bay Bridge. Inside, there is a fireplace and bar serving wines by the glass, draft beers, plus Perry’s signature cocktails, such as a spicy margarita or Old School Mai Tai.
It is open weekdays at 11:30 a.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Happy Hour is from 3 to 5 pm. Menu prices range from $8 to $45.
Angler SF
With a seafood-focused menu, Angler offers diners a wood-burning culinary experience that earned a Michelin 1-star in 2023 and 2024.
Step into the dark wood, brick and dramatic lighting restaurant, decorated with taxidermy on the walls. There is a 30-foot wood-burning hearth that spans across two dining rooms, plus lounge and bar.
Tables along the floor-to-ceiling windows frame the pretty views of the Bay Bridge. Every dish is touched by fire and is made to be shared.
The expansive wine cellar displays classic wine regions from around the world, as well as local wineries from Napa and Sonoma.
Come in for their ‘Quick Catch’ 3-course lunch that begins with Pacific oysters served with seaweed vinegar and ember tomato.
Next, choose either half sea bream with coconut or a roasted wood oven half chicken served with lettuce and herbs with Meyer lemon.
Finish with a soft-serve sundae or seasonal sorbet, all for $45 per person.
Come back for their Happy Hour specials that include three different types of global wines and four different spirited cocktails, such as a Black Manhattan or Suntory Martini. All are priced $12 or under.
Starters on the Happy Hour rotate from Pacific oysters with seaweed vinegar and ember tomato, Parkerhouse rolls with cultured seaweed butter or fried frog legs with cardamom crème fraîche.
Later, during dinner, be sure to order the radicchio and allium X.O. It’s served with a large knife and a bib.
Splurge by ordering an ember-enhanced whole lobster with an ethereal sauce made from its shell. Another favorite is the aged black cod served with charred sugar snap peas and green garlic.
The chefs offer a ‘Let Us Cook For You’ multi-course meal highlighting the evening’s menu for $145 per person.
Open for dinner 7 days a week, starting at 5 pm. Lunch is served Tuesday through Saturday at noon, and happy hour is from 5 to 6:30 pm. Prices range from $14 to $154.
Ferry Building Farmer’s Market
Enjoy a cup of gourmet Signal Coffee in front of the Ferry Building while strolling around the market. This East Bay roaster serves delicious top-quality coffee, lattes, and teas.
What began as a passion project for Brendan Doherty, an award-winning food writer, and partner Rebecca Brown, a photographer and designer, turned into four cafes in Berkeley and Alameda.
They roast their own beans to bring out exciting nuances and flavorful notes. Foodwise, the organizers behind the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market welcomed them to open their first pop-up in San Francisco.
Other stops at the market include the ‘Seasonal Spotlight’ booth, where you can taste free samples, obtain recipes and receive cooking tips of the week from a selected farm.
For the classic flavors of Indonesia, head over to Nusa SF for traditional flaky Indonesian pastel hand pies filled with savory beef, tofu, or vegetables. They also sell mochi rice chicken rolls and a Jackfruit Rending plate made with vegan caramelized spiced jackfruit, rice, crispy onions, pickled vegetables, and tapioca chips.
Sweet treats include 1000-layer cake (Lapis Legit/Spekkoek), Pandan Chiffon cake, Pandan coconut mochi bar, or layer slice. This vendor was selected by La Cocina, an organization that cultivates food entrepreneurs to succeed.
North Beach
Park Tavern on Washington Square
Photo by Jill Weinein
This Mediterranean-tavern style restaurant is by Bay Area James Beard award-winning chef Jonathan Waxman.
As the chef-partner of this Cali-Italian menu, his imaginative fare includes red-pepper pancake medallions with smoked salmon, caviar, Meyer lemon, beurre blanc and crème fraîche.
Guests will discover blue tiles, light oak tables, marble bars, leather banquettes and modern antler chandeliers inside the dining room.
Other house favorites include yellowfin tuna crudo and a peppery Cacio e Pepe made with bucatini pasta, shaved Pecorino Romano and black pepper.
The sourdough-crust pizzas are delicious, and the classic Park Tavern burger dazzles with an herb aioli and caramelized onions.
Desserts include a decadent strawberry cake and fresh-from-the-oven warm chocolate chip cookies with a chocolate dipping sauce.
Happy Hour is from 4 to 6 pm. Dinner is served starting at 5 p.m. Weekend brunch begins at 10:30 am.
The restaurant is closed on Mondays. Business casual attire. Prices range from $9 to $55.
Chinatown
Li Po
When exploring the city’s energetic Chinatown, known as the largest Chinatown outside of Asia, be sure to step inside Li Po for a cocktail.
This venue exudes an eclectic atmosphere and is home to the Original Chinese Mai Tai. Chinese-American community pioneers Wilbert Wong and William Jack Chow opened Li Po in 1937. It was the first Prohibition-era bar in San Francisco.
Enter through red lacquered doors into a faux-rock cave. This beloved dive bar has booths, classic red paper lanterns, and a golden Buddha shrine.
Open from 2 pm to 1 am. Prices start at $8.
For a deeper dive into local flavors, check out the Chinatown & North Beach/Little Italy: 7 Tastings & History Tour.
Empress by Boon
The visually striking Empress by Boon, located in the heart of Chinatown, is by Michelin-starred Executive Chef Ho Chee Boon.
Take an elevator up to this exquisite view restaurant. There is elegant, polished original woodwork from when this was once the iconic Empress of China banquet hall.
Reserve a seat in the eye-catching antique pergola with contemporary finishes or at one of the tables along a glass wall of windows overlooking the scenic Coit Tower, Golden Gate Bridge and beyond.
Dining room guests must order the seasonal prix-fixe menu to try a variety of modern Cantonese gastronomy tastings.
The menu might include Jasmine tea smoked short rib buns, and live Boston lobster with lemongrass curry and milk. A supplemental wine pairing is available to pair with these dishes.
The bar and lounge offer a full à la carte menu for walk-in guests. Favorites include pork bao, crispy quail, red snapper, or roasted crispy chicken to enjoy with a craft cocktail or glass of wine.
Open only for dinner. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 5 to 10 pm. Business casual dress attire. Prices range from $20 to $120.
Fisherman’s Wharf
Scoma’s San Francisco
Since 1965, this iconic waterfront dining venue has been a local and tourist favorite. Winner of OpenTable Diners’ Choice 2025, the restaurant offers the happiest hour of drink and bite specials.
Walk into Scoma’s Bar for their ‘Fisherman Special.’ It includes a spicy fried chicken sandwich or double cheeseburger with a glass of Firestone Walker 805 or a glass of wine for $25.
Other food and beverage specials include Wharf Bites. Select the warm smoky mussels on crostini with a glass of Chardonnay or bacon-wrapped Gulf Shrimp or oysters Rockefeller a la Scoma with a Sfizio Pilsner or a glass of Prosecco.
Available weekdays from 2 to 5 p.m. and Sunday through Thursday from 8 to 9 p.m. Prices range from $6 to $25.
Sausalito
Scoma’s in Sausalito
Take a San Francisco Ferry ride from the Ferry Building to Scoma’s in Sausalito. It’s a short walk along the waterfront and is located right on the water.
Opened in 1970, this restaurant is known for its fresh “pier-to-plate” sustainable seafood, classic Italian-Californian dishes, and local wines.
The seafood they obtain is sourced from their own boats. The fishermen follow Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guidelines.
Fan favorites on the menu include clam chowder, steamed clams, prawns, oysters, Dungeness crab cakes, coconut-curry mussels, scallops and seasonal grilled fish.
The menu also features perfectly cooked steaks, pasta, salads, lobster risotto and cioppino. Almost every table has unobstructed views of blue water, Angel Island, Tiburon, Sausalito, and San Francisco.
Business casual attire is recommended. Open for lunch and dinner from 11:30 am to 8 pm. On Friday and Saturday, the restaurant stays open until 9 pm. Prices range from $17 to $80.
Final Thoughts
San Francisco’s reputation for culinary excellence is evident throughout the city’s various neighborhoods, as chefs continually experiment with the diverse array of fruits, vegetables, and proteins sourced from the agricultural regions of Central and Northern California, as well as the Pacific Ocean.
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Author Bio: Jill Weinlein enjoys traveling throughout the state of California to discover new culinary opportunities and adventures. Follow her on IG @Jillsfoodtravels or her own site dineandtravel.me.
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