The Resy Hit List: Where In San Francisco You’ll Want to Eat in Nov. 2025

Outerlands remains a San Francisco classic. You already know about the epic weekend brunch — one of our favorites in the city, really — with those big, buttery Dutch pancakes and cast iron grilled cheese sandwiches that ooze. But Outerlands is equally awesome during dinner, and best of all, you don’t even need to wait in line. Pro tip: The menu is ever-changing, but on Wednesdays they do a burger featuring a thick patty of beef in between a housemade potato roll served with hand-cut French fries, and on Monday night, the menu leans a bit more Southern, with options like corn bread, smoked salmon hush puppies, and crispy, juicy fried chicken

San Francisco is having a moment in pizza right now, and the latest addition to the booming scene comes care of Tartine’s former culinary director Max Blachman-Gentile. The restaurant is named after chef’s grandma Jules and opened in May in the former Iza Ramen space on Fillmore. In addition to thin and crispy pizzas, look for dishes like the spring “chopped salad” with pickled fiddleheads or yellowtail crudo with blood orange leche de tigre. And don’t miss the nori guanciale pull-apart buns, served with a side of Parm rind cultured butter and a nice fat, orange tongue of uni. This dish is so wild it makes no sense — except it makes all the sense in your mouth. 

How lucky is San Francisco to have Brandon Jew? His contemporary Chinese restaurant Mister Jiu’s is truly one of the most special dining experiences in America. But it’s much more than a place to grab dinner — this space is a celebration and preservation of the country’s first and oldest Chinatown. Set in the historic and iconic former Four Seas space, the dining room is stunning, as is the food. Jew and team recently rolled out a banquet menu with his crispy-skinned Peking-style roast duck as the centerpiece. For $125 per person, each diner also gets a pick from a small first course, a slightly larger second course (don’t miss the chilled beef tendon or the cheong fun), and dessert. They’ve also done away with the tasting menu in lieu of a stronger a la carte menu, which marks a return to the restaurant’s beginnings.

Chef John Wesley has a lot to celebrate: his minimalist fine-dining tasting menu restaurant in Hayes Valley turned two earlier this year. What’s more: the restaurant also earned a second star from Michelin. When Wesley opened a couple years ago, he was shooting for the stars — and mission accomplished. The food at Kiln is a bit difficult to describe: it’s a little new Nordic and a touch Japanese, rooted in California, sourcing from specialty purveyors like Flannery Beef, whose funky dry-aged dairy cow is used in a succession of courses. Housed in the old tall concrete-walled Cala space on Hayes, a meal here contains 20-something servings and spans a good two-and-a-half hours, depending on how fast you eat. But you’ll want to take your time. Kiln is a fine option for a special occasion, and there’s no rush.

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Pearl 6101 is both a neighborhood gem for Outer Richmond and a dining destination for the rest of the city. Make a beeline to the beautiful marble-top bar, pull up a wooden stool (the one closest to the kitchen, preferably), and immediately order some oysters (topped with fiery fermented hot sauce and nasal-clearing horseradish). Pair with the Pearl Martini, a genius concoction of gin distilled with nori, garnished with a pickled sea bean — it’s like taking a boozy sip of the sea. From there, take it all in: The vibe is immaculate, the staff are cool, and your fellow patrons friendly. Order anything else off chef Mel Lopez’s refreshing ever-changing Cal-Med menu that’s calling your name — it’s sure to be delicious.  

Lazy Bear may have ditched the long communal dining table after its redesign and remodel, but don’t worry — the restaurant still feels like a dinner party. A meal here lasts around three hours and features a dozen-or-so courses celebrating the bounty of the Bay Area. While the house cultured butter (perhaps the best in San Francisco?) and the whipped scrambled eggs are menu mainstays, the rest changes with the seasons — as we head into early fall, expect mushrooms, orchard fruits, and duck to make an appearance. Of note: chef David Barzelay’s forthcoming JouJou is one of the most highly anticipated openings around the Bay.

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We love The Morris for so many reasons. To start, the wonderful sommelier and owner Paul Einbund — if you catch him while he’s there, his charm will make your meal that much better (so will a wine recommendation from his crazy cellar). Then of course there’s chef Gavin Schmidt, whose charcuterie game is the best in the business. Starting with a big platter filled with mortadella and salami cotto is non-negotiable. His burger is also over-the-top, finished with a lobster-infused bernaise sauce (what kind of sorcery genius is that?!) and comes with hand-cut fries. And then there’s the smoked duck with root vegetables, a signature, iconic dish that just tastes better in the fall, our favorite time of the year to visit the restaurant.

From California cuisine stalwart Nopa comes a new project, a fish market and kitchen appropriately called Nopa Fish. The new concept opened in June in the historic Ferry Building and has a concise menu featuring sustainable seafood. The fish and chips are made from wild local rockfish that are beer-battered and fried until GBD (golden, brown, and delicious), while the smoked albacore melt piles wild Pacific tuna, sauerkraut, and your choice of cheese between two buttered and toasted slices of Acme sourdough. If you’re cooking at home, a beautiful glass case is filled with fresh fish to take away. It might be smart to come on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday so you can also shop the farmer’s market.

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Soup season is upon us, and there are fewer more delicious noodle soups than the super seasonal, piping-hot, brothy bowls at Ramen Shop. They make noodles in-house and do three different bowls: right now there’s an earthy matsutake shoyu ramen, a light and bright vegetable-forward Meyer lemon shoyu ramen, and the thicker, crowd-pleasing garlic miso with paper-thin pork chasu. Don’t miss the cocktails — the bar game is tops. Start off with a few appetizers, too: slippery chicken and shrimp dumplings and crispy turnip cakes are a nice move. Pro tip: Do yourself a favor and book the private hidden not-so-secret-anymore karaoke room. Thank us later.

Catching a show at The Masonic? The perfect pre-game is at Osso, conveniently next door. The restaurant feels like a secret, located at the bottom floor of the giant condominium building — it’s easy to miss if you aren’t paying attention. But step inside the art deco dining room and you’re transported. Even though the space opened in 2013, it feels old-school, with the black-and-white checkered tile floor and leather booths. Grab a quick martini and a cheesesteak at the bar before your show, or if you have time, sidle into a booth to savor a bottle of Napa cab and the excellent dry-aged beef. Pro tip: save room for the decadent, bubbling cheese bread.

We missed Universal Café, so when we heard chefs Parker and Caroline Brown were taking it over, we were enthused. They’ve turned the restaurant into a midwestern bistro, with hearty, generously-portioned entrees, like a rich, rib-sticking short rib gnocchi inspired by Chicago beef and giant crispy chicken cutlets the size of your face. Save room for dessert if you can: this may be the best carrot cake we’ve ever had, moist and multi-layered and textured and, of course, not too sweet. There’s also a big emphasis on audio (Caroline has a background in music and used to book talent at Outside Lands), with a big selection of vinyl and a rotating roster of DJs.

Chef Marc Zimmern has transformed his Japanese listening bar Yokai into a steakhouse, where you’ll find all sorts of cuts of meat expertly cooked on a wood-fired grill. From monster 40-ounce dry-aged porterhouses with that pleasant blue cheese funk on the nose to impossibly marbly, olive-fed wagyu imported from Japan, you’ll be in for a meat treat. Silky smooth mashed potatoes and creamed corn make great sides, but definitely start with a couple of items from the snacks and raw section of the menu — they’re not your typical steakhouse starters. Case in point: uni toast with Liberty duck confit topped with uni, and oysters dressed with spicy tamari with ginger.

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Burritt Room+Tavern was one our favorite places back in the day, so we’re glad to see the space live on with the newly opened Maritime Boat Club. Located on the second floor of the Palihotel, the nautical-themed restaurant specializes in ingredient-driven seafood. At the helm is chef Felix Santos, who has spent time cooking in restaurants like Quince and Sorrel, and is adding fine dining finesse and flair while still staying approachable. Think hog island sweetwater oysters dressed in a dark green seaweed oil topped with pineapple weed gelee, or mussels escabeche over a creamy squash puree. Make sure to start with a cocktail — a martini should do the trick. They’re made by local legend and industry vet Larry Piaskowy.

Shuggie’s Trash Pie + Natural wine is no more. The restaurant was a success, with its yellow-walled maximalist dining room up front and the glittery green room in the back. But now it’s reconcepting and saying goodbye to pizza. Shuggie’s 2.0 is going more Old Vegas: the yellow room will now become an orange room, and there’ll be even more maximalist glitz and glam. But its mission to combat climate change by using off-cuts and bruised vegetables, things that would otherwise be discarded and wasted, remains the same. Expect bacalao fritters with dilly buttermilk panna cotta and tuna rib crudos, making complete use of tuna carcasses. You’ll also find wild boar chops that are breaded and pan-fried (wild boars are an invasive species in California). Will Beef the handsome bulldog make an appearance? Only one way to find out.

The Yucatan restaurant on Mission is our go-to for a palate reset, with some nice heat. A squirt or two from the bottle of fiery habanero hot sauce on top of a panucho will do just the trick — guaranteed to make you sweat, and make you feel alive again. The restaurant comes care of chef Hector Chan, who used to run the now-shuttered but award-winning El Rincon Yucateco in The Tenderloin — he makes the best cochinita pibil in San Francisco. Those are fighting words in city full of Yucatecos ,but we’ll stand by this standby any day. 

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Often imitated, never duplicated, Zuni is timeless, a San Franciscan institution. We could eat at Zuni every single day and be perfectly happy — its current chef, Anne Alvero, makes multiple runs to the farmers’ market and changes the menu daily with specials, which are nice to have while you wait for your iconic chicken to be roasted to order. (Yes, even if you think you’re not going to get the chicken, you’ll do so anyway.) Add some crispy shoestring French fries, some oysters, and a bottle of Burgundy, and take your time.

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