Perdicis Notes

Attractions in San Francisco

publish Part of a series on Attractions per city.

I’ve lived in San Francisco since 2022-08-11. While I haven’t trawled the whole city (I’ve lived only in Soma, Hayes Valley, and the East Cut), I have plenty of recs!

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Table of Contents

  • Restaurants
  • Bars
  • Sights
  • Misc
  • Special occasions
  • Specifically NOT on this list

Restaurants

Meals

  • 4505 Burgers & BBQ
  • Dumpling Home
    • Some of the best dumplings I’ve ever had. Two friends who grew up in Shanghai say it’s better than the upscale restaurants there.
    • Get anything here except the boiled dumplings — they’re not bad, but that’s a tough dish to be remarkable at.
  • The Public Izakaya
    • They have a cabinet filled with free Japanese snacks you can munch on with friends while you wait for your food.
    • Get the chirashi bowl.
  • State Bird Provisions
    • Currently my favorite fancy restaurant in SF.
    • Pricey. ~$80pp
    • You need a reservation, which typically fill up a little less than a month in advance.
    • Rotating menu that changes every month.
    • Don’t get the “state bird” dish, it’s overrated.
    • Get whichever type of “toast” they have; it’s always good.
  • Tacos El Patron
    • My favorite traditional tacos in SF.
  • Lolo’s
    • My favorite contemporary tacos in SF. Best mid-scale Mexican food I’ve ever had.
    • Get the tuna tacons; they are tuna tacos with entire pieces of fish in them
  • Chuck’s takeaway in Mission.
    • $16 sandwiches where they make everything in house: the bread, hot sauce, pickled vegetables.
    • They have Korean peanut butter custard buns which are novel. 2022-11-05
  • RT Rotisserie
    • Fast casual joint that specializes in chicken bowls. The rice is cooked with chicken fat and the fried chicken is cooked with just the right amount of sugar. I wouldn’t make a trip out just for this, but if you’re in the area absolutely get this.

Dessert/snacks

  • Arsicault — either location
    • Literally the best chocolate croissant I’ve ever had, and the internet agrees.
  • U Dessert Story
    • Get the bingsu.
      • (Bingsu is a Korean shaved milk dessert. Imagine a snow cone but fluffier)
  • Naya
    • Not as good as U Dessert Story but still nice.
    • Get the “toast” type desserts.
  • Pineapple King Bakery
    • A San Francisco institution. Everybody loves this place.
    • They specialize in pineapple buns (sweet buns that do not have pineapple in them)
    • Order in advance!
  • Tartine’s.
    • Super high quality pastries.
  • Mochill Mochidonut in Japantown
    • Mochi donuts are just better than American donuts imo. They’re light and chewy and just a little sweet.
  • Matcha Cafe Maiko

Boba (See Best boba orders for my SF ratings)

  • 0& in Hayes Valley
  • LITTLE HEAVEN is my #1
  • Purple Kow
    • Big portions of popcorn chicken here.

Sights

  • Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley, plus the surrounding neighborhood. This park and the surrounding neighborhood are good to meander around. Lots of bars at night. I used to live here!
  • Palace of Fine Arts
    • Better tourist destination than the Golden Gate Bridge IMO
  • Golden Gate Bridge
  • Twin Peaks: Nice view of the city. Bring a jacket
  • JFK Drive
    • As of 2022’s Proposition J, JFK Drive is a foot traffic exclusive area (Google Streetview imagery prior to then is outdated). So, you can stroll right through to food trucks, beautiful nature, and temporary+permanent art installations. This street is typically bustling with pedestrians and a wonderful location to spend a few hours walking on a sunny day. If you have time to spare, walking west along the Panhandle is a fun way to arrive at this spot. Start your walk on foot in this pinned location!
  • Golden Gate Park (in general)
    • GGP is a huge park, larger than Central Park in NYC and far better decorated IMO with trails and structures. You could spend a whole day just walking around. Research the areas that look cool to you online and go nuts!
  • Ghirardelli Square
    • Less-touristy (but still touristy) area with nature and spots to snack on chocolate. I used to swim on Saturday mornings in the water here.
    • Secret pro tip: but if you go to the gift store and pick out like 6 individual chocolate squares (instead of the big bags they’re trying to sell you), and give the register person puppy dog eyes, you can buy those chocolate squares for super cheap, like $0.50 each.
  • Wave Organ
  • Japantown area is nice
    • Japantown in general is nice to stroll around. The plaza has two halves of a giant mall attached with good food and snack stores to look through

Bars

  • Polk St bars
    • Jackalope: Dive-adjacent the Tenderloin (not the best neighborhood) but they have a loft overlooking the bar with a fantastic condition NES where you can play the original Kirby’s Adventure and Mario Bros 2 on
    • Harper & Rye: Lively clean spacious bar with nice topology
    • Bob’s Donuts: Open 24/7 and sell giant donuts (bigger than your head; go w friends) to drunk people. There’s usually a line out the door even late at night. A San Francisco institution
  • The Sycamore in Mission: just a cozy spot with benches out back
  • Sugar Lounge in Hayes: My fav simple bar in SF. Very simple cocktail bar with occasional free snacks at the door. There’s a secret table in the back that looks like it’s reservation only but it’s totally not and you can use it

Misc

  • https://sfpopos.com contains a list of all of San Francisco’s Privately Owned Public Open Spaces. Basically, public spaces hidden inside private buildings, like fancy apartments and offices. These are pretty hit or miss in my experience but they’re nice spots to visit on a sunny day with a sketchbook, bagged meal, and company.
  • Chateau Tivoli bed and breakfast is a really cool looking hotel I noticed in 2023-04-16. I have no reason to go since I live in SF already but could be a fun experience for visitors. Maybe you can lodge here?
  • Things Lucky Handicraft in Haight-Ashbury is a super vibey crafts supply store that is the only operating commercial store on Page St. They’ve been there for over a decade. Calm vibe. Nice to wander around and see/feel all the textures.
  • Nijiya Market in Japantown
    • Cheap supermarket with small prepackaged meals. A great date idea is grabbing cheap sushi here and smuggling it into a movie next door at the AMC Kabuki 8.

Special occasions

Things you can’t do all the time. But if you’re in town at the right time, you should. Weekly

  • The farmers market in Embarcadero.
    • ONLY OPEN CERTAIN DAYS. I’d recommend coming Saturdays since there are the most popups
    • I used to live nearby and come here Saturday mornings. Lots of great sights, smells, and food here, and always bustling with people.
    • In the back, there’s a stand called Downtown Bakery & Creamery that sells a Fig Newton imitation as big as your hand. They should have called it the Big Newton. See 2023-04-29 for a pic.

December

  • Extravagantly decorated Christmas houses!
    • 68 Castro St is probably the best known house that does this. There are photos of it on Google Maps
    • I made a short list of other Christmas houses in Google maps maps.

Ultra rare

  • Mt Tam pancake day! Only 3 times a year. I went 2024-06-16.

Resources you can use

Specifically NOT on my list

These are places that are widely liked (so you might like them), but I don’t personally recommend them. They aren’t on the Google Maps list.

  • Golden Boy Pizza in North Beach is an institution. Idk if it’s my thing but everyone likes it. It gets a hella long line though so arrive early.

  • Daeho in Japantown. It’s an LA chain for super hearty (i.e. unhealthy lol), expensive, and insta-worthy Korean food. Kind of an ABG/ABB destination

  • Ocean Beach. It’s a beach, except foggy and cold most of the year. Not worth visiting unless you’re going for a social event IMO

  • Brunch restaurants Kitchen Story and Sweet Maple.

  • Emporium arcade bar. It’s a suuuper spacious bar with high ceilings that plays (loud) music and old movies while you game. I can’t really put my finger on why it’s not my jam, maybe I just don’t like arcade bars, but if the premise sounds cool you should check it out.

  • The Tenderloin (neighborhood).

    • I’d avoid the Tenderloin. This neighborhood has tragically become the epicenter for a lot of SF’s failed housing policy and is not showing signs of improvement soon. The dirtiness and lack of scenery make it fairly unpleasant to walk through during the day, and it can get dangerous at night. A friend of mine was mugged here.
    • Caveat: some restaurants in the TL are excellent.

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