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Best Eats and Restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area
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items Some of my favorite places to eat all around the San Francisco Bay Area featuring top-rated restaurants and local food spots organized by region including San Jose, Fremont, Berkeley, and Oakland. I'll be updating this list regularly with new finds!
Map
Sections
4
South Bay Area
San Francisco
East Bay Area
Peninsula
South Bay Area
Great places to eat in San Jose, Santa Clara, Milpitas and the surrounding areas!
One of my FAVORITE izakayas in the south bay. Favorites from the menu includes salmon meshi, agedashi tofu, and hamachi collar.
Dan Izakaya Restaurant ·
Their servings are massive and it's a local favorite, especially for all the office workers nearby. Get the Qabili Pallaw, even if you're not fond of lamb, it's not overly strong here and the dish is such a refreshing mix of spices, rice, and meat.
Kabul Afghan Cuisine | Afghani Restaurant
They have several locations in the South Bay and are known for their delicious middle eastern food. My favorite is their Mansaf which is lamb that is slow cooked in aged yogurt and served with rice and almonds.
Dishdash Middle Eastern Cuisine
I love all the Korean aunties there and the soft tofu soup is spicy and warming. They also have really good dolsot bibimbap if you want crunchy rice instead and they always refill the side dishes for you quickly!
SGD Tofu House
Super crispy Korean fried chicken in massive serving sizes. They also have black bean noodles and seafood soup combos. If you're really introverted, every table has a tablet that you can order off of and there is a robot that can bring dishes to your...
TTobongee Chicken
Enormous Taiwanese bentos that can feed you 2-3 times. The first time I ate there I was in awe when I realized that my bento had two layers of chicken. They also have great teas.
O2 Valley
A smaller intimate Korean restaurant, you'll see that everyone is ordering their seafood pancakes, tofu soup, and bibimbap.
Shin’s Tofu House
The beef is sooo soft in their beef noodle soup it just falls apart! Their rice plate with minced pork belly also melts in your mouth.
Flaming Ox
Super high quality cuts of meat that they will cook for you. If you want to skip their bbq then get their cold noodles or bossam.
10 Butchers Korean BBQ
San Francisco
Best eats in San Francisco!
I know it's plenty famous but it's for a good reason. Those chicken wings are just too good. This is the only place I've waited for more than an hour to get into.
San Tung
One of the best lunches you'll find in the FiDi. This sandwich shop makes some of their deli meats in shop and I remember walking in once and watching them pull a turkey out of the oven. My favorite is a CA Club with turkey on a dutch crunch roll.
Sweet Joanna's Cafe
I came here on a business trip and was surprised by how good their Thai food is (I'm a bit picky).
Kin Khao
Delicious Mediterranean tapas dishes. I came her for a large team dinner during GDC.
Barcha Restaurant
Cash only and it's definitely a hole in the wall kinda place! But tacos and burritos are great here.
Taquería El Farolito
East Bay Area
Includes places in Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, and Fremont!
Grocery store in the front and a cafeteria like Indian eatery in the back. If I have a lot of family visiting I take them here so everyone can just pick what they like. It's one of the few places that has Keema Samosas and I like to also get the “big...
Viks Chaat
A Berkeley institution. They keep things simple with daily pizza and salad menu. Always vegetarian. I had to drag my mother here because she hated the way that sounds but now she brings it up every chance we remotely come close to the East Bay. They ...
Cheese Board Collective Pizzeria
They let you create your own stone pot bibimbaps but also make sure to try their mung bean pancakes. If you like spicy I also recommend their spicy beef soup aka Yoogaejang.
Bowl'd Korean Rice Bar
BETTER THAN DIN TAI FUNG. There's almost always a wait but their xiao long bao are so good. My absolute favorite dish however is their chili oil noodles. It's not super spicy but filled with other spices like cumin and the noodles are deliciously che...
Din Ding Dumpling House
Several locations around the bay but they all make their udon noodles in house. You just let them know what type of dish you want and then you can add extra tempura on the side.
Marugame Udon
A Berkeley student favorite, they serve a variety of pastas and calzones. I usually get the Godfather's Favorite and all pastas come with garlic bread with confit garlic.
Gypsy's Trattoria Italiana
Peninsula
Located between SF and Santa Clara county. This includes places in San Mateo, Burlingame, Pacifica, and Daly City.
Japanese curry! I will usually get their pork loin katsu with curry and on occasion the corn potage. They have a lot of different chili powders available that you can taste. They have another location in Cupertino.
Curry Hyuga
They make aburasoba which they describe as soupless ramen, but the noodle is thicker. I like a bit of spice so I get the Nikumori, but my friend swears by the Wagyu Roast Beef Aburasoba.
Kajiken
They have a few locations around the bay, but they make massive Korean short rib dishes that you can top with torched cheese. It looks expensive but each dish can feed 4-6 people.
Daeho kalbijjim & beef soup
Great value since the sandwiches are as long as your forearm and can feed 3-4 people. They're have a ton of sandwich options and is a local favorite!
Little Lucca