Moki's Sushi & Pacific Grill
This peach-walled fish chop shop serves fun maki rolls, including a variety with tempura'd ingredients. Its also got killer barbeque spare ribs with wasabi mashed potatoes and steamed greens on its small-plates menu. A good time, often packed, so get there early.
Arinell's Pizza
Pizza by the slice. Loved and worshipped by East Coast transplants for being some of the closest to real NY pizza available in the Bay Area. Open until 3AM on weekends.
Boogaloo's
Hipster-ed up diner, only open for lunch & breakfast. Long lines on the weekends, but surprisingly it moves quickly. Much better vegan breakfast option than Herbivore. Try the plaintain cake and the mimosas.
El Castillito
While everyone has their favorite Mission taqueria, this one may legitimately have a claim to the 'best salsa verde' throne, which is filled with serious avocado chunks. Also, they grill rather than steam their tortillas, a key burrito preparation issue.
Foreign Cinema
Dinner and a movie. The Laszlo Bar. A little splurgy and quite fine. Reservations recommended.
VinoRosso
A great little wine bar with emphasis on Italian varieties.
Valencia Pizza & Pasta
There is better pizza to be had in the 'hood, but for Midwestern sized portions & prices of pasta & no frills American food try the excellent pork chops, it can't be beat. Extremely cheap beer & wine $2 Peroni!. Service can be sloppy, but it adds to the charm. Fantastic, inexpensive, all-American breakfast. One of the neighborhood's best kept secrets.
Hunan Chef
A great local and simple Chinese place. Hunan Chef has been servicing Bernal Heights for many years. The usual American-Chinese fare, along with a pretty extensive vegetarian offering. The vegetarian General's chicken is a favorite among some Bernal Heights locals. The hot and sour soup is perfect for any cold and rainy day. Service is great. Most of the food prepared is wrapped up for take-out. Beer/Wine available. Good Value.
Ti Couz
Excellent Breton creperie.
Liberty Cafe
This is one of those places that would be perfect for a business lunch, a dinner with visiting family or any other time you want relaxed elegance. The reviews about its pot pies are quite true. They're better than your mother used to make. There's a tiny narrow walkway to a back courtyard and cottage that's a bakery for your baguettes, cafe au lait, warm raspberry bran muffins and brioches by day, and a wine bar by night. The post-yoga crowd goes there for their coffee, as opposed to Progressive Grounds and Martha & Bros.
Tartine
One of the Bay Area's best bakeries; rich, decadent, and pricey.
Luna Park
Upscale American comfort food menu. Small, slightly swanky. Always packed, with the accompanying noise level. Decent grub. And their signature drink is the mojito.
Mariachis
A taco bar with good food, excellent prices, and an interesting atmosphere. The menu has a slight upscale slant a specific item may come off as healthy, yuppie, or hippie compared to El Castillito or Cancun, but they're still delicious.
Serrano's Pizza
Buy a "slice" for under $3 or add toppings for a few cents more, and they'll make a fresh-to-your order triangular slice-shaped pizza that overlaps a dinner plate at three points. Free delivery. Cash or credit, no checks.
Bissap Baobab
A Senegalese restaurant with roots in West African Senegalese culture.
Moonlight Cafe
A creperie with some great taste sensations. If you're hungry, the Mediterranean platter will fill you up. The toasted bagels with cream cheese, sun-dried tomato and cucumber are perfect, as is the lavender or ginger lemonade. It's not the best coffee on the block, but it's good enough not to turn you away if you're craving their food.
Picaro
If you like authentic tapas, the way they were before "small plates" were all the rage, then you'll definitely love the reasonably priced, authentic and generously portioned Spanish dishes here. Don't forget to try their Sangria.
We Be Sushi
The best of a handful of locations of this restaurant, truly "sushi like mom used to make". Try the early bird special.
Progressive Grounds
A perfect Bernal Heights cafe. Serves up some great coffee drinks and a good selection of salads and lavash wrapped sandwiches. The hummus will make anyone think twice about buying hummus from a grocery store again. Great service. A great place for all types and ages. Kids have their fun with Enzo and his assorted instruments every Sunday. PG also has a nice garden space in the back.
Martha & Bros
Hands down, the strongest coffee on the strip. Martha & Bros. is part of a six-shop San Francisco chain. The smiling, mostly Hispanic female staff, crack-of-dawn hours it opens at 5:30AM, big pastries and reasonable prices make the place a favorite of newspaper readers, working men and the California Highway Patrol.
Taqueria Cancun
Commonly touted as having the best vegetarian burrito in SF. If you're a meat-eater, try the Alambres beef, peppers, onions, and bacon sauteed together, served with beans, rice, tortillas and (optional avocado. The bathrooms are available, whether or not you buy a burrito. They're not pristine and alabaster, or anything, but they are clean.
Taqueria El Farolito
Gigantic super burritos. Grilled chicken and steak both are really great. Super steak quesadilla is the highlight of the menu. Open till 3AM on Friday and Saturday, 1AM the rest of the week. Nachos are enormous.
Puerto Alegre
Local favorite, Puerto Alegre churns out inexpensive, delicious Mexican food & margaritas in a fun, festive environment. Divey atmosphere, but that's what you come to the Mission for. Very long wait on the weekends, but absolutely worth it. Host rules the restaurant with an iron fist, so don't try to sneak in!
Jay's Cheesesteak
Niman Ranch beef, or seitan veggie/vegan sandwich options. Great garlic fries!
Herbivore
All-Vegan Restaurant. Mediocre entrees, but delicious sandwiches, soups & salads. If it sounds too complicated, don't order it. Only all-vegan brunch in the area.
Valentina Restorante
Bernal Height's romantic Italian restaurant, where at times every single table is a land of mingling glances. The food is delicious, if not that exciting. The staff knows that when you order a primi and a secundi, that they should bring the pasta first and the meat second and let you share both.
Frjtz
A funky Belgian fries place, at which no Belgian works, and whose sandwiches are meh. They have fries, but gravy is not an option, so if you're from Canada, skip it. They do have wireless, however, but you have to ask. Sandwich is worth the cost of internet, if you want to evaluate things in that way. The "space" is nice too. Their toilet is pretty clean, though it plays French instructional tapes, the contents of which include children and the directions to the toilet, which may be unsettling si vous parlez francais.
Little Star Pizza
For a deep dish that can't be beat.
Markets
Bi-Rite Grocery
How do they get that much good produce and that incredible deli counter into that storefront? Essential neighborhood and picnic-in-the-park resource. Dolores Park is handily enough a block away, and you're likely to find festivals, rallies, or the SF Mime Troupe at the start and close of their summer touring season there along with kids, dogs and tennis players.
Lucca Ravioli Company
An old-world style Italian deli/dry goods grocery who, bless them, sell ingredients. Check out the Ferlenghetti poem over the door while getting your sheet-pan pizza, sliced turkey, good wine and tiramisu.
Valencia Whole Foods
Organic produce and groceries, good bulk foods, and a deli with organic salads, Middle Eastern foods, and sandwiches to order. A neighborhood essential.