Budget
Ace Wasabi Rock and Roll Sushi
This sushi place is popular with the locals, offering good sushi with a rock and roll theme. Quirky and a bit of fun.
Acre Cafe
This cafe is situated in the Presidio and it has excellent views over the landscape. It's popular with workers from the nearby offices but fatigued tourists stumble in every now and again. They serve simple international food like organic soups, salads, and sandwiches with a heavy focus on fresh healthy ingredients like free range chicken.
Gatip Classic Thai Cuisine
Spicy Northern Thai cuisine in the Marina at an affordable price.
The Grove Fillmore
This cafe style restaurant has got a wholesome Californian menu with staples like salads, bagels, sandwiches, cheese plates, etc. They also do a very affordable breakfast where you can get options like "Huevos Rancheros" and "Country baked eggs" for under 10 bucks.
Home Plate
Wonderful breakfast/brunch place on Lombard St. Its always busy on weekends and it can feel a tad cramped but the food is worth it — delicious homemade scones with homemade jam and preserves, omelettes, pancakes/waffles, and eggs benedict. This is certainly one of the best breakfast places in the city!
Barney's Gourmet Hamburgers
Great gourmet burgers here at a very affordable price. They have a great selection of burgers including some interesting vegetarian options like "tofu burgers," and fyi, all their burgers can be wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun... give it a try! They also serve salads and sandwiches.
Pluto's Fresh Food for a Hungry Universe
Fun American restaurant thatâs part of a chain. It's mostly green salads and sandwiches here — custom made to your discerning specifications!
Midrange
Alegrias
Alegrias is a colorful, friendly, and romantic little Tapas bar in the Marina. Like many other Tapas bars, it's a great place to go if you want to sample many flavors and tastes from small plates. If you're still hungry after that, they have a more substantial main menu with plates like grilled lamb, paellas, and stewed rabbit.
Bistro Aix
A great dating restaurant with intimate, comfortable seating, and a romantic decor. They use fresh seasonal, local ingredients in their dishes.
Circa
This lively Marina lounge turned restaurant has a relaxed casual atmosphere and serves traditional American fare. They have a good selection of smaller more adventurous plates to get you started like "lobster and white truffle mac-n-cheese" and "angus sliders black truffle and brie."
Dragon Well Restaurant
Light but satisfying modern Chinese food — not your typical oily dishes here!
Top end
A16
This is part wine bar part restaurant; they serve simple Italian favorites pizza, pastas, salumi from the Campania region of Italy. They also have traditional wood-burning ovens to perfect your pizza.
Presidio Social Club
Serving traditional American and international cuisine like fish and chips, Kobe beef, and liver and onions. They have a large outdoor veranda that is an excellent place to dine... weather permitting! There is also a lively bar on the premises if you fancy a few stiff drinks.
Boboquivari's
Popular steakhouse in the Marina, Bobo's is a "surf-n-turfers" dream. The menu boasts excellent steaks porterhouse, fillet mignon, New York bone-in combined with mussels, shrimp, lobster, and Dungeness crab... yummy! Bobo's is a colorful, if upscale restaurant, that is very popular and almost always busy.
Brazen Head
Serving wholesome American cuisine including their signature dish "Certified Angus Beef NY Pepper Steak" — this restaurant is a very well kept local secret.
Capannina
A new Italian restaurant that focuses on the familiar and tempting classics of Italian cuisine. They have a "prix-fixe" as well as an "a la carte" menu.
Eastside West Restaurant and Raw Bar
They have excellent seafood here — shrimp, mussels, crabs, lobsters, and oysters. It's perfect for appetizers and drinks on a weekend afternoon; or how about their happy hour M-F 4PM-7PM, with $1 oysters and $2 draft beers... the perfect combination!
Annie's Bistro
Great little bistro that has an extensive collection of Californian wines. The menu reflects the usual staples that you'd expect to find at a bistro like pain perdue, crepes, and crème brulee; however, it also has many more traditional Californian dishes as well.
Izzy's Steaks & Chops
Classic steak restaurant with wood floors, saw dust, comfortable booths, steak sauces, and the requisite cowboy hat to boot! Their pricing is affordable and their steaks big and tasty.
Liverpool Lil's
This restaurant was established in 1973 and has a good atmosphere, and also fantastic views over the Presidio from the curbside tables. They serve good burgers/sandwiches and traditional American food.
Isa
Comfortable environment with an innovative fusion menu made up of small plates that blend French style with Asian flavors. Owner Luke Sung is one of San Francisco's most celebrated young chefs.
Jackson Fillmore Trattoria
This 3 star trattoria serves up old-style southern Italian food and wine from the region. The food is excellent and affordable given the quality and the place is usually crowded as a result.
Perryâs
Over 40 years old, this restaurant is another Cow Hollow tradition. It is known for its classic American cuisine.
Betelnut Pejiu Wu
"Pejiu Wu" means side street beer house. Along with oversized mugs of Asian beer you will find Pan-Asian authentic regional dishes. The food here tends to be quite hot. With its authentic style cuisine, it has become a Cow Hollow establishment. Look out for the long lines though and the staff can sometimes be a bit unfriendly.
Roseâs Café
Features Italian and Californian fare created using fresh organic and local produce; this is certainly a restaurant for the more environmentally conscious. It's a very romantic spot and a favorite among locals.
| This guide uses the following price ranges for a typical meal for one, including soft drink: | |
| Budget | $10 or less |
| Mid-range | $10–20 |
| Splurge | $20 or more |
There is an excellent selection of restaurants in this area; everything from regional Chinese restaurants to Tapas bars, and from Japanese sushi houses to American steakhouses, romantic French bistros, and Italian restaurants. A lot of the food plated here is of the healthier variety — a reflection of the heightened overall health consciousness of residents in this area. Therefore, many of the restaurants serve up food that's organic, vegetarian, or produced from locally sourced ingredients... is there any other way!? Like most other businesses in the area, most restaurants are on Chestnut St, Union St, and Fillmore St; or indeed, one of the side streets leading off them.