Can you recommend restaurants in San Francisco?

August 17, 2019 9:41 AM

This is our first time in SF (two parents, one gluten-free, and two picky kids). We’re looking for places to eat that are good but not necessarily expensive. Kind of like the best taco joints , best diners, other low cost places. We’ll be exploring the cable cars, the Exploratorium, and the sound/wave installation in the park in the northern part of the city. Thank you!
posted by Ollie to Travel & Transportation (14 answers total)

Eatersf is a good source.
posted by notyou at 9:55 AM on August 17, 2019

Eater is okay but very driven by big restaurant PR and will likely hew trendier than funky.

It would help to have a sense of what you mean by “low cost” since it means different things to different people.

SF is famous for burritos, not tacos - although the flour tortillas are probably a no go for your gluten free family member. It’s not the most emblematic of the type but La Taqueria is justifiably famous if slightly touristy. If you go be sure to get your burrito “dorado style” where they throw it back on the grill after it’s rolled up.

Can you describe what you mean by picky eaters? What kinda of things are they more likely to be okay with?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 10:25 AM on August 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Last time I was in SF, we ate virtually every day at Good Mong Kok Bakery. Wonderful, super cheap dim sum. It's a takeout counter, so no tables, but we'd get our food and then watch old folks gamble in the park nearby.
posted by shadygrove at 10:31 AM on August 17, 2019

If you go to Golden Gate Park, the slices of sourdough pizza at Arizmendi are delicious. (Take the N train to 9th and Judah; an entrance for the park is a couple of blocks from the bakery. I highly recommend visiting the park and botanical garden...it would actually be my first choice for something to do in SF! The cable car lines are crazily long).
posted by pinochiette at 11:03 AM on August 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Oh wait, sorry, I missed the gluten-free part! Nopalito, which is also next to park, has decent (though not ultra-cheap) Mexican food and I think most of it is gluten-free.
posted by pinochiette at 11:07 AM on August 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Definitely try Pica Pica in the Mission district. It's Venezuelan food, all gluten-free, and all of it incredibly flavorful/interesting/well-balanced. And very reasonably priced.
posted by danceswithlight at 12:17 PM on August 17, 2019 [4 favorites]

My favorite of the places that sell mega-burritos is Taqueria El Buen Sabor (specifically the veggie California Burrito).
posted by slidell at 2:14 PM on August 17, 2019

Gott’s roadside in the Ferry building is a favorite for kids and not too far from the Exploratorium. Delica, also in that building, is a Japanese/American fusion deli. It’s reasonably priced for what it is for SF and it’s easy to order small portions if you’re not hungry. You can see the food you’re ordering, which might be good for your kids?

Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack isn’t exactly cheap, but the portions are large, it’s kid friendly, and they have zoodles for the gluten-avoiding.

St. Francis Fountain is a tasty diner down in the Mission with SF flair.

+1 to Good Mong Kok for cheap, tasty, and entertaining, but if you’re really sensitive to gluten vs. just generally avoiding it, it could be hard
posted by asphericalcow at 2:49 PM on August 17, 2019

Nopalito is a great choice for slightly more upscale Mexican. Their carnitas is to die for. I am not gluten free but I am unsurprised to read they are good at gluten sensitivity.

Tony’s pizza napoletana in north beach apparently makes a good gluten free crust. It’s busy and popular.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 3:54 PM on August 17, 2019

The SF Chronicle's Best 100 restaurants is a new list this year, including lower-cost restaurants. Worth a look.
posted by suelac at 4:11 PM on August 17, 2019

Most of these places should have their menus online.

Diners

• Sears Fine Food for classic breakfast.
• It's Tops at Octavia/Market (hike, or the F Market streetcar) is a fun old diner with a generic menu.
• The Pinecrest Diner is also generic, near Union Square, and has a sordid history. Depends on your sense of humor I guess.
• Tommy's Joynt - classic hofbrau style and an institution.

Mexican

• Either of the taquerias at Church bet Market/Duboce, El Castillito and Casa Mexicana, are totally fine if you don't want to walk the blocks into the Mission.
• Pancho Villa at 16th/Capp is good for plate-style dishes (and a decent sample of gnarly SF)
• Tommy's out at 22nd/Geary is great for sit-down Mexican (38 bus, very easy).
• The Little Chihuahua - Check their menu first, but there's a few around town.

Church & Market

• Woodhouse Fish Co. is a little spendy but it's a great little seafood place with lobster rolls.
• Whole Foods, Safeway, and Walgreen's here if you want snacks or other supplies.
• Miyabi down Church is a decent, cheap, all-in-one Japanese place with sushi, ramen, and katsu type options.
• If cheap sushi is desired, find a We Be Sushi.

Misc

• I like Pluto's, it's kind of an abstract buffet. They have a menu, and you order a custom combination of a bunch of options, and then they cook it for you. Like you can get sliced tri-tip on your hamburger or Caesar salad. There's one on the N Judah, Irving bet 7th/8th and another at Chestnut/Scott (out at the west end of the Union St. shitshow neighborhood).
• The Grove in Hayes Valley is also a "bunch of everything" menu where everybody should be able to find something.

By the way you should figure out a way to have tri-tip one way or another. It's a (Central) Californian specialty and I bet your kids will like it.

Haight

• The Citrus Club in the Upper Haight might have GF, and that's the closest I'd get to Chinese if soy sauce is a problem.
• There's pizza across the street
• People's Cafe down Haight at Masonic is an extremely reasonable soup/salad/sandwich place that should meet your requirements.

Since the closure of L'Osteria del Forno I don't know of GF Italian in NB. There's a Belgian restaurant La Trappé down Columbus I like.

Pier 23 near the Exploratorium is not as expensive as it looks like it should be.

Pho is GF, if you think it'll work I like Kevin's Noodles out at 19th/Irving and Golden Flower in Chinatown (Golden Star is more popular but also more crowded).
posted by rhizome at 5:34 PM on August 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

These are relatively inexpensive options.

Lemonade is a California chain with many gluten-free options and some choices which picky eaters will likely enjoy. (e.g. mac and cheese.) They have branches in West Portal, Yerba Buena, and Inner Sunset. The Inner Sunset location is in a shopping area with a good toy shop, magic shop, and childrens clothing shop if you need those interruptions, and is near the De Young, Cal Academy of Sciences, Japanese Tea Garden, etc.

Ike's Sandwiches can all be made on gluten free bread.

Patxi's pizza is traditionally very deep dish, but they offer thinner pizzas as well as gluten free options (in some locations, but especially in San Francisco locations.) If you're very sensitive to gluten, they may not satisfy as they are spotty on cross-contamination.

Loving Hut is vegan with about 70% gluten free options on the menu. Best of all, it's located in the food court at the Westfield mall, so there are many other choices for picky eaters.

You might also try the website Find Me Gluten Free
posted by blob at 9:35 AM on August 18, 2019

I was coming here to recommend Pica Pica! It's all gluten-free and sooooo good.
posted by bile and syntax at 10:22 AM on August 18, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! These are all terrific suggestions, so I can’t choose a best answer, but I can say that we ate at Gott’s Roadside, which was good (if a bit crowded) and Pica Pica, which was really awesome.
posted by Ollie at 8:52 PM on August 18, 2019