The Best Restaurants in San Francisco (From a Local Who Keeps the Receipts)

I spent five years as a digital nomad rating restaurants around the world in my travel guides: hotpot in Chongqing, soup dumplings in Shanghai, empanadas in Buenos Aires. Then I married the guy from the road trip, settled in San Francisco, and pointed the entire food-critic apparatus at my own city.

This list is the result, and it runs on three rules:

• Actually good, not just expensive. A high bill is not a personality. Some of the best food in this city comes off a counter.
• Under-the-radar counts double. The secretly great fast casual spot beats the famous disappointment every time.
• Longevity-minded, never joyless. I mostly eat plant-based (sometimes pescetarian, usually gluten-free; the full story is in my remission essay), so fresh produce and plant-forward menus earn extra credit here. This is not a health food list. It’s a feel-good-after list.

I keep the receipts (literally, it’s how I run my business), so every place below is somewhere my husband Kyle and I actually eat, repeatedly, on our own dime. Updated regularly as the research continues.

1. Jalebi Street — Best Indian Street Food in SF

A vegetarian chaat spot on Haight Street where everything on the menu is great and dinner for two runs about $76. The chole bhature alone justifies the trip; the jalebi rabri ends the night correctly. Read my full Jalebi Street review — including why it’s worth breaking gluten-free for. (Google Maps)

2. Souvla — the Fast Casual That Outclasses Sit-Downs

Greek counter service with produce so fresh it glows (the kale in those salads is the greenest thing in any given room) and a honey frozen Greek yogurt that should be studied. Not secretly good. Just extraordinary. Read my full Souvla review, or see it in context in my best fast casual in SF list. (souvla.com · Google Maps)

3. Rich Table — Best Produce in San Francisco

The special-occasion pick, and worth it for a specific reason: Rich Table’s whole ethos is go to the market, see what’s good, cook that, and it shows. I think they serve some of the best, freshest produce in the city, alongside genuinely clever dishes like their famous sardine chip (exactly what it sounds like: a chip pierced by a sardine, somehow perfect). Not much more expensive than a mid-tier night out, but save it for a night that deserves it. Read my full Rich Table review. (richtablesf.com · Google Maps)

4. Proposition Chicken — the Plant-Based Loophole

Fried chicken for Kyle, crispy tofu that’s actually good for me, gluten-free strips available, honey mustard for all. The house-divided dinner solved. Read my full Proposition Chicken review. (propositionchicken.com · Google Maps)

5. Super Duper Burgers — Best Healthyish Burger Hack

Veggie burger, lettuce-wrapped, with hummus dressing: my standing order, and better than it has any right to be. The cheese fries are decadent and I regret nothing. Read my full Super Duper review. (superduperburgers.com · Google Maps)

6. Wise Sons JCC — Best Gluten-Free Bagel in San Francisco

My receipts show four Bodega breakfast sandwiches in five weeks, which is less a review than a confession. The Bodega (egg and cheese on their gluten-free bagel) is the best gluten-free bagel situation in the city; Kyle swears by their everything bagel on the regular-gluten side of the aisle. Read my full Wise Sons review. (wisesonsdeli.com · Google Maps)

7. Tataki Sushi & Sake Bar — the Best Happy Hour in San Francisco

Quality sushi at $7 a plate in the late-afternoon window, with plant-based rolls that aren’t an afterthought — five visits in five weeks of receipts say we mean it. Read my full Tataki review. (Google Maps)

8. Soba Dining Sora — the Best Soba I’ve Ever Had

Airy, bright, right across from the Japan Center, with 100% buckwheat goma zaru that beat my Kyoto memories and a Japanese-soda side quest we refuse to quit. Perfect early lunch. Read my full Soba Dining Sora review. (Google Maps)

9. SOBAKATSU — Japantown’s Other Fantastic Soba Room

Hot kakesoba, tempura sets, and house soba warabimochi for dessert — fantastic, full stop. Read my full SOBAKATSU review. (Google Maps)

10. Jin Pot Shabu House — the Best Hot Pot in San Francisco

Three receipts in six months of two-hour shabu dinners on Geary. Fog season’s best answer. Read my full Jin Pot review. (Google Maps)

11. Mandalay — Burmese Comfort on California Street

Awesome, a little heavier, and so good — the city’s Burmese classic, and the anti-salad dinner you pick on purpose. Read my full Mandalay review. (Google Maps)

12. Eats — Fluffy Pancakes on Clement Street

Really solid fluffy pancakes and a Sunday farmers-market pairing (go early — it gets crowded). Read my full Eats review. (Google Maps)

13. Naya Dessert Cafe — the Mango Tango Ending

Absolutely incredible: mango sticky rice reborn as shaved ice, plus a super solid green tea pudding (mind the evening caffeine). Read my full Naya review. (Google Maps)

14. The Laundromat — the Best Bagel in San Francisco

Where my rare real-bagel occasions get spent: $3 proper bagels in the Outer Richmond, mornings only, pizza by night. Read my full Laundromat review — or the whole SF bagel showdown. (Google Maps)

And for What You Drink With All This

Matcha is its own food group in our house (I quit coffee entirely years ago), so the tea situation got its own deep-dive: the best matcha in San Francisco, ranked from freshly stone-milled koicha to strawberry treat drinks.

On the Testing List

The research never stops. Currently under repeated, rigorous, deeply self-sacrificing investigation:

• RT Bistro — reviewed, verdict: solid but an honest asterisk keeps it off this list for now.
• Turtle Tower — the Marina pho-and-banh-mi happy hour is under investigation.

Check back: this list updates as the eating continues. And restaurant folks: if you think your spot belongs here, I’m always eating. My inbox is open.

If you liked this post, you’ll probably like the rest of my life: I’m a writer who spent five years eating my way around the world as a digital nomad (my travel guides rate restaurants from Chongqing to Buenos Aires) before settling down in San Francisco. Subscribe to my newsletter for more like this — and if you’re a writer who wants the remote-work life that makes long lunches possible, that’s what Make Writing Your Job is for.