San Francisco Restaurant Guide

If you are going to leave your heart behind in San Francisco, you might as well clog your arteries there while you‘re at it. San Francisco is the home to many world renowned fine dining establishments, but I won’t be covering those here. If you are interested in gourmet restaurants, I recommend that you check out the Zagat guide to the San Francisco Bay Area which is available on Amazon.com. I’m more interested in telling you where to find good food at a reasonable price. I like the kind of restaurants that don’t have a dress code, don’t require reservations, and will let you put your elbows on the table. These restaurants are not complete dives, but they are known more for their good food than for their ambiance. The food and restaurants listed below will fill you up without emptying your wallet. And having some extra cash around is a good thing when you are visiting an expensive city like San Francisco.

Since breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day, let’s start with it. There are many great breakfast places in San Francisco, but I’m going to list my favorite. In general, I prefer places that the locals enjoy and that tourists may not know about. However, Sears Fine Food is too good to pass up even if it is popular with tourists. There is always a line outside of Sears and it is there for good reason. Sears is an old school diner, located at 439 Powell Street next to Union Square, that serves up good food at a good price. While their meals and desserts are tasty, it is their 18 Swedish pancakes with warm maple syrup that the crowds come for. I’ve never counted them, so I can’t confirm that they give you exactly eighteen, but boy are they good.

Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Credit: Alex Nuanda

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