Places to Eat in San Francisco
Reviews are so helpful when you’re looking for a new place to try for dinner. But sometimes hopping from review to review gets tiring. Here is a selection of great places to eat in San Francisco with a little review of each! Now all you have to do is read one post and you have your options for breakfast, lunch or dinner and you can keep to a budget or splurge and be fancy! If you want to skip straight to the fancy, click here to read my post about the San Francisco Restaurants with the Best Views.
Breakfast: Bob’s Donuts & Moka Coffee
My boyfriend and I are basically donut aficionados. There were two places I had wanted to try for breakfast in San Francisco and one was none other than Bob’s Donuts. This massive chocolate donut was dense! And honestly reminded me more of a cake, but how could it not at that size!
We walked down a little ways and grabbed a coffee at Moka Coffee and sat outside and attempted to eat this huge donut. Sadly, we failed in our attempt to finish it. We held on to it most of the day, hoping we would be able to pick at it little-by-little, but ultimately gave up.
Lunch and Dinner
Chinatown: New Woey Loey Goey
If you are wanting some authentic Chinese food, what could be better than a hole-in-the-wall, well in this case ground, restaurant? I would be lying if I said part of the reason we chose this restaurant wasn’t because of the name: New Woey Loey Goey. Like, what?
Also, Ben got to try an Asian beer. He was just along for the “expertly” planned ride that was my San Francisco itinerary. The service was quick and pleasant, but more importantly the food was good. This was during my chow/lo mein kick, when I was eating Chinese at least every other week.
Park Chalet Coastal Beer Garden
Not only is there a restaurant at this location with a view of the Pacific, but there’s also a beer garden in back! We came just to have a few beers and hang out before heading to the airport, but the food sure did smell good! To top it off, they had live music and the weather was wonderful.
Alioto’s Restaurant
Update March 2020: Sadly, Alioto’s has closed. Check Google or their website to see if they’ve managed to open back up.
The oldest of the family-run San Francisco restaurants, Alioto’s Restaurant has been in business for more than 90 years! Their seafood and Italian dishes aren’t the only draws of this restaurant, the view is also pretty awesome. If you like views of boats with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, this is the restaurant for you!
If you want that view, you’re going to want to make a reservation. Showing up at 8 p.m. will almost guarantee you an hour wait. So make a reservation! And pay attention to the time, you can’t see much after the sun has gone down. Order a bowl of their crab bisque to snack on before dinner, while you sip on glass of wine, of course!
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If you’re not wanting to wait or make reservations, you can still try Alioto’s by visiting Cafe 8 on the first floor. Though you’ll miss out on the views of the bay, certain tables will still allow you to have a great people watching seat! Besides the crab bisque being delicious, our dinners were great as well! Click here to view Alioto’s menu and here to view Cafe 8’s. For those that would like to know, our dinner total was $125.23 for our appetizer, bottle of wine and two dinner plates. Our service at Alioto’s was exceptional from the host to the server and those that filled our water glasses and bread bowl.
Me and Ben at Aliotos!
Chart House
Still with a view of the bay, Chart House also offers views of Alcatraz! Don’t forget to head downstairs after your meal to take unobstructed pictures of Alcatraz and to see the sea lions!
Click here to view Chart House’s menus. I would recommend visiting at lunch time and then strolling around Pier 39 in the afternoon. The bread bowl was good at Chart House, but see what other options you might like besides the lobster bisque (pictured below). The total for our two dinners, glasses of wine and lobster bisque was $104.01.
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Cliff House
My favorite view from the San Francisco restaurants on this list! I couldn’t recommend going to this area enough, however, I would HIGHLY recommend you take an Uber, Lyft or taxi! This is a high risk area for car break ins. And as someone who only had paper coffee cups in a poorly tinted rental car, and still had their car broken into, we wish we would have!
Above is a bit of a zoomed in photo and below is what my view for the afternoon was from the top floor (there were a lot of rocks to see)!
Since we did not make a reservation and we wanted to have the ocean view at lunch we sat on the top floor. We were only able to order appetizers and drinks, which was totally fine for us since we got the amazing view! I’m not sure I’d recommend the pot stickers, but the fries were nice and crispy. If you’re looking for a nice strong drink, the Irish coffee was pretty stiff! Our drinks and appetizers were $46.04 and our service here was really great.
Travel Tip #21: Make a Reservation for Great Places to Eat in San Francisco
I’m repeating a tip for those in the back! If you want a table in a reasonable time, with one of these great places to eat in San Francisco, I highly suggest making a reservation! We didn’t for Alioto’s or Cliff House and we so wished we had. Obviously for some of the other places on this list it isn’t necessary, but if you’re wanting a great view, it’s a must!
Hi friends! This is one post of my blog series for San Francisco. Be sure and check out all the great content posted for this Labor Day 2018 trip to San Francisco. Also, don’t be shy! Let me know if you’ve tried any of these “great” places to eat in San Francisco and what you loved or *gasp* hated!
