San Francisco Restaurants : Excellent Service

Gary Danko

Address: 800 North Point Street, San Francisco, CA 94109

Dinner at Gary Danko is as titillating as a night at the opera, from the dramatic 69 page wine list, to the choreographed service of the staff, to the series of complex acts that come streaming from the kitchen and the carefully calibrated intermissions between them. Gary Danko’s combination of artfully crafted food and service turns a meal into an event. World-class Executive Chef Gary Danko uses his classic training to reinvent French, Mediterranean and regional-American cuisine, and the numerous awards he has won reflect the quality of his food, placing him at the forefront of America’s best chefs.

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Millennium

Address: 580 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

Quietly tucked within the Hotel California, at the edge of San Francisco’s infamous Tenderloin district, Millennium presents a unique marriage of socially-conscious vegan food and the exacting standards of fine dining. Chef Eric Tucker brings to life a wide range of exceptional vegetarian dishes, relying on the natural vibrancy of his produce and a gift for innovation to make each morsel complete—in spite of a total absence of meat. A small but robust wine list, focusing on organic and biodynamic options, rounds out the mission of sustainability. Millennium is an ideal choice for vegetarian diners looking for something more, or for traditional diners in search of something new.

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Kokkari

Address: 200 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA 94111

Warm and inviting, Kokkari Estiatorio evokes old-world elegance while remaining one of San Francisco’s most popular locales for a romantic evening, a business meeting or just a casual drink with friends. The roaring fireplace and the rustic vaulted ceilings are the ideal backdrop for a hearty Mediterranean meal. Guests can try a traditional Greek Mezethe (appetizer) or sample one of the restaurants unique varietals from the impressive wine list. Nestled in the Financial District near many of San Francisco’s most attractive sights, Kokkari Estiatorio is an experience in Greek culture, an experience you will surely want to savor.

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Postrio

Address: 545 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

Centrally located on Post Street just off of Union Square, Postrio is the sort of restaurant San Francisco is famous for. Innovative food that draws from a myriad of cultures, a wine list that has both breadth and depth, a well-designed interior adorned with the works of famous local artists, and an atmosphere at once refined and relaxed makes Postrio one of the finest restaurants in the Bay. Priced reasonably enough for regular fine dining, the restaurant also offers standout dishes to turn any occasion into a special one.

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Town Hall

Address: 342 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

It may be surprising to find a fine dining restaurant that specializes in familiar flavors when so many chefs prefer the exotic, but Town Hall takes the good ol’ American meal to its highest peaks. A large dining room designed to feel like an old school house provides an ambiance as comforting as the food. Executive Chefs Mitchell and Steven Rosenthal along with partner and maitre d' Doug Washington, share their love for refined tradition with dishes like Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Peanut Tasso Crusted Pork Chop. Some diners may even forget the surrounding skyscrapers of SOMA, San Francisco.

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Horizon Restaurant and Lounge

Address: 498 Broadway Street, San Francisco, CA 94133

Everything about Horizon Restaurant & Lounge in North Beach goes straight to the point. Not to say they are a restaurant without frills, because the comfort level, service, and ambience at Horizon are great. What I mean by that is they like to stay out of your way. Distractions are kept to a minimum. They make sure that the object of desire, their food, is your main focus at all times. Executive Chef Christopher Lee’s menu of fresh California cuisine is irresistible; and because of this and a lot of other reasons, an evening at Horizon will surely be a great time.

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One Market Restaurant

Address: 1 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

One Market makes for one exquisite dining experience. With stunning views and upscale atmosphere, One Market is one of the few restaurants in San Francisco with an unbeatable location to serve some of the city’s most exciting cuisine. Executive Chef Mark Dommen has created a menu that appeals to a variety of culinary interests and budgets, featuring seasonal American fare with an emphasis on fresh, organic, and local ingredients. The food, the service, and the ambiance are truly exceptional and will keep one coming back for more.

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The Moss Room

Address: 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118

For a truly unique San Francisco experience, there are few options that offer a better example of California's cutting edge design and cuisine than at the Moss Room at the Academy of Science, in Golden Gate Park. Hidden below the museum like a rare gem is a restaurant dedicated to producing extraordinary cuisine with ingredients from local sources and a nod to classic French preparation. The dramatic dining room with its namesake living wall of moss and fern is an ideal choice for a dining destination unlike any other in the Bay Area.

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Harris'

Address: 2100 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94109

Harris’ restaurant is an unabashed haven for carnivores. Meat is the star of the simple, unpretentious menu that emphasizes quality aged, corn-fed beef served in a variety of thick, juicy cuts. With deep, semi-circular, leather booths, warm amber lighting, and large hunting murals, Harris’ décor suggests the inviting, and somewhat exclusive, atmosphere of a traditional and stately hunting club. Diners who hold off for the end of the week to indulge their red meat cravings are treated to live jazz from the Susan Chen trio. A crisp, dry martini, a sizzling steak, and a warm, lush environment make Harris’ a deliciously stylish experience.

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Ame

Address: 689 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

Located a few streets away from the busy Union Square area, Ame provides a relaxing and elegant getaway and a delectable dining experience. Ame is decorated in a chic and intimate Asian style, with a signature red table that seats eight. Ame offers a New American cuisine that is widely influenced by Japanese creations. The menu provides raw treatments from the sashimi bar as well as various appetizers and entrée plates. Creative dishes like Tai Snapper Sashimi “Kombu Jime” with seaweed, crab and cucumber sauce come from the Sashimi bar. For an appealing main course, Grilled Veal T-bone Steak on Herbed Spätzle with crispy sweetbreads and delta crayfish in oyster mushroom sauce shows off Ame’s culinary fusions.

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Fleur de Lys

Address: 777 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94109

Fleur de Lys presents guests with sophisticated French cuisine in a romantic and intimate setting. The restaurant gives off a dramatic atmosphere with dim lighting, large vases full of flowers, and their trademark fabric ceiling tent. The menu offers creatively crafted dishes like the Duo of Veal Tenderloin and Braised Veal Shank “Parmentier,” which is scented with juniper berry and orange essence. Guests can choose to create a three-, four-, or five course meal with or without wine pairings. Chef/ Owner Hubert Keller is an award-winning chef who was featured on Bravo’s Top Chef as a guest judge in 2006.

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Fifth Floor

Address: 12 Fourth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

The chic Fifth Floor restaurant acts as a culinary and visual bridge connecting the Bay area and executive chef Laurent Manrique’s native Southwestern France. The menu is both refreshingly modern and faultlessly traditional, with one dish having a provenance traced to King Henry IV’s table. Fifth Floor’s décor enhances the experience of regional pastiche, with a color scheme that evokes the landscape of both regions. Cool ocean blues mingle with sandy ochres and wine reds, colors that embody not only the surrounding Bay area, but simultaneously transport the diner to Southern France. An evening at Fifth Floor is an exploration in the complexities of our global community, the uniqueness of regional differences and the surprising parallels connecting us all.

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Masa's

Address: 648 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

Masa’s has mastered elegant simplicity. Executive chef Gregory Short continues the Masa tradition of exquisitely prepared and well-paired contemporary French dishes presented in a select assortment of tasting menus. Masa’s menu is trimmed of excess fat, leaving only the most succulent and high quality of dishes organized into overwhelmingly indulgent six and nine-course dinners. Like its pared-down menu, Masa’s décor exudes a confident and precise minimalism. Dark chocolate walls contrast with stark white tablecloths, while vases filled with pink and white roses and black and white toile chairs add notes of pastoral charm. The overall effect suggests Masa’s is a study in the ease and sophistication of culinary expertise at its best.

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Coi

Address: 373 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133

Although Coi’s décor exudes a soothing calm in shades of earthy minimalism, its cuisine is a jolt of culinary electricity. Chef Daniel Patterson’s tasting menus take diners on a sensuous adventure reflective of his diverse culinary background, which includes a stint at the infamous El Bulli. A meal at Coi is an exercise in the revelry of the unexpected: a starter might include the application of essential oils to the wrist, while a dessert might be couched in smoked yogurt. The result is an experience that embodies the doe-eyed wonder of childhood with the poise and refinement of haute cuisine.

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Michael Mina

Address: 252 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94111

With its white marble stairs, towering Roman-style columns, and expansive dining room, Michael Mina is a monument to gastronomy. Its décor, awash in a subdued mauves, brown leathers, and soft creams, manages to be highly modern and chic, while still evoking a timeless, stately elegance. Chef de Cuisine Chris L’Hommedieu, who has had extensive experience working under Executive Chef Michael Mina in the past, expertly executes Mina’s New American culinary vision, presenting decadent prix-fixe menus showcasing fresh ingredients, culinary creativity, and epicurean artistry at its finest. Michael Mina’s namesake restaurant delivers a decadently pleasurable culinary romp in a calmingly demur space, each complimenting the other for a truly memorable and well balanced evening.

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E'Tutto Qua

Address: 270 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133

While traditional, classic, Italian cuisine has been a hit with diners all over the world for centuries, the owners and chefs at È Tutto Qua strive to infuse cutting edge recipes and techniques from Rome into their menu. Located in the heart of North Beach, È Tutto Qua does an excellent job keeping up with the latest trends in Italy, but the focus is always on quality ingredients and superb service. Meats and fish arrive fresh daily, pasta is made in-house from scratch, and many ingredients aren't added to your dish until right before it heads to your table. Knowing the ingredients are of the utmost freshness, the menu speaks for itself with its selections of unique pastas, thin crust Roman-style pizza, and entrees like Involtino di Pollo: a chicken breast in white wine sauce, stuffed with prosciutto, fontina cheese, and spinach. For a quality, gourmet meal that's hard to find outside of Italy, visit È Tutto Qua on the corner of Columbus and Broadway.

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Navio at The Ritz Carlton

Address: 1 Miramontes Point Road, San Francisco, CA 94019

Enjoy fine dining at its finest at Navio located inside the Ritz-Carlton at Half Moon Bay. Navio offers guests Northern California coastal cuisine that features the freshest catch from neighboring town Princeton Habor and California’s best varietals and produce grown along the Bay Area coastline. Navio has floor-to-ceiling windows featuring a breathtaking ocean view and an open kitchen for guest to view what’s happening behind the grill. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Navio offers guest a fine dining experience that will take your breath away.

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Salt House

Address: 545 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

If you’re searching for contemporary American fare, look no further than the Salt House. This tavern is housed in an old printing press warehouse from the 1930’s and is equal parts new and old, merging the best of both. The building stays true to its historic charm with original hardwood floors, exposed brick walls, tall ceilings with massive metal support beams, and 12 foot windows—all the better to look in or out of. Salt House is more than just an impressive space though, and true to its “gastropub” label, serves up hearty yet refined ingredient-driven cuisine in a tavern-like atmosphere.

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Incanto

Address: 1550 Church Street, San Francisco, CA 94131

Rustic Italian cuisine takes root on California soil, and shines with a perfect balance of Old World charm and contemporary sophistication. Every aspect of the dining experience Incanto offers is a thoughtful expression of bettering the meal for all involved. The water is filtered and carbonated in-house, and the produce and meats used are sustainably grown and harvested. Also, “odd cuts” of meat are highlighted on the menu to both invigorate the palate and honor the animal. The Warm Pig’s Head Salad is sure to intrigue diners, while the Whole Roasted Local Sardines is a tantalizing prospect, indeed.

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Delfina

Address: 3621 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

Delfina Restaurant sits nestled in the heart of the Mission district among a large range of trend-setting and highly regarded bistros, brasseries, trattorias, rosticerias, taquerias, pizzerias, and eateries. With a menu presented in the traditional Italian style, Executive Chef Craig Stoll creates relatively fine-tuned dishes that explore the entire country of Italy with local, lavish ingredients. Low-level lighting, shiny steel tabletops, a beautiful mosaic of small blue tiles behind the bar, a garden patio, and an open kitchen create an unpretentious exquisiteness that flows through to the wait staff and makes for good meal.

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