The Resy Hit List: Where In San Francisco You’ll Want to Eat in March 2026
Updated:
There’s no question we hear more often: Where should I go eat? And while we at Resy know it’s an honor to be the friend who everyone asks for restaurant advice, we also know it’s a complicated task. That’s where the Resy Hit List comes in.
Consider it your essential resource for dining in San Francisco and the Bay Area: a monthly-updated guide to the restaurants that you won’t want to miss — tonight or any night.
Four Things In the Bay Area Not to Miss This Month
- Dive Into the East Bay: If you’ve never taken a dive into the East Bay dining scene, there’s no better time to start than this month, with Oakland Restaurant Week taking place Mar. 12 to 22. This year, participating restaurants will offer both lunch and dinner specials at various price points, and many will supplement the food with DJ sets, art shows, and other experiences. Check back for specific details, but whether you want to explore the seafood and wine at Lake Merritt’s Sirene, have classic Cal-Med cuisine at longtime Rockridge favorite À Côté, try the out the menu from new Snail Bar chef de cuisine Zachary Breaux, tuck into a bowl of noodles at Ramen Shop, get island vibes at Calabash, munch on Mexican at Bombera or Odin, or sample plates of pasta at MAMA Oakland and Belotti, Resy has the Town covered.
- Celebrating Women: We always appreciate the Bay Area’s talented female chefs and restaurateurs, but we particularly cherish them during Women’s History Month, which also sees International Women’s Day fall on Mar. 8. Some of our favorites are Pim Techamuanvivit, who turns out transcendent Thai dishes at Kin Khao and Nari; Brenda Buenviajé, who slings the Bay’s best Southern grub at Brenda’s French Soul Food, Brenda’s Meat & Three, and Brenda’s Oakland; Melissa Perello, who makes fine French food at Octavia and Frances; Piccino Dogpatch and Piccino Presidio co-owners Margherita Sagan and Sheryl Rogat and culinary director Daniella Banchero, who puts out some of our favorite Italian plates; and the OG herself, Alice Waters, who’s still defining California cooking at Chez Panisse, Café Chez Panisse, and the new Bar Panisse. Want a more comprehensive list? We’ve got that for you right here.
- Enjoy the Ides of March: Shakespeare said to beware the Ides of March, but since we’re not Julius Caesar, let’s take the opportunity to celebrate Rome and cucina Romana. San Francisco’s standard-bearer is Matthew Accarrino’s SPQR, with its signature five-course pasta-tasting menu. The Flour + Water group, meanwhile, delivers fantastic renditions of the two best-known Roman pasta preparations: Flour + Water’s black pepper campanelle comes with a smoked carbonara, while sister restaurant Penny Roma serves rigatoni cacio e pepe. To sample Roman-style pizza, check out Pinsa Rossa in Pacific Heights and Inovino in Cole Valley, both of which dish out oval pinsas, featuring long-fermenting dough that’s lighter, crispier, and easier on the stomach. And if you want to try wine that’s local to Rome, check out Bar Gemini, which has several bottlings from the Lazio region on its list — not to mention cacio e pepe deviled eggs.
- Make Plans for St. Paddy’s: The biggest celebration of this month is always St. Patrick’s Day, and specifically the block party at the Front Street Entertainment Zone. If you want to get right in the middle of the Guinness-fueled festivities, you can reserve a spot at Harrington’s Bar & Grill or Schroeder’s Restaurant, two of the stalwart establishments that lock down that block. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a drink in the area that’s in a perhaps slightly more, um, chill atmosphere, step on over to Bar Sprezzatura, which specializes in vintage amari, Italian wine, spritzes, and Negronis, or the San Francisco Wine Society, where you can taste regionally defining wines from all around the world. No matter what kind of glasses you’re clinking together, you can still say sláinte.
New to the Hit List (March 2026)
Big Finish Wine Tavern, Mijoté, Collina, The Morris, Sons & Daughters, Troubadour Bread + Bistro, Valley Bar & Bottle, Vicinity.
1. Mister Jiu’s Chinatown
Chinese fine-dining has exploded in the city, with the acclaimed openings of Four Kings, Happy Crane, and Fù Huì Huá, but Brandon Jew paved the way when he opened his groundbreaking restaurant in a historic Chinatown banquet hall 10 years ago. Mister Jiu’s has seen shifts over the last decade — notably, going from la carte dining to a tasting menu-only model before reinstating a la carte last year. Perhaps the best way to experience the cuisine is to book the Peking Style Duck Banquet meal, centered around a Liberty Farm duck roasted whole and served with savory pancakes, peanut butter hoisin, and duck liver mousse. In recognizing Jew’s 10 years of trailblazing, The New York Times recently concluded much the same.
2. Azalina’s Tenderloin
Chef Azalina Eusope started small, cooking at a farmers market stall and a kiosk in the old Twitter building, but the flavors in her Malaysian cuisine have always been large. That remains true at the eponymous brick-and-mortar restaurant she has run in the Tenderloins since 2023. She serves a five-course tasting menu of high-minded takes on street food classics from the various ethnic populations of Malaysia. Dishes rotate monthly, but January’s menu featured sothi, an Indian chicken dumpling; tan hor, a take on Maylaysian-Chinese rice noodles with gravy that uses smoked egg, fermented tofu, and black garlic; and otak otak, a Pernakan-style fish cake with petrale sole, candle nut, and pineapple. At $89, the price is exceedingly reasonable for a prix-fixe meal — and that’s before you compare it to plane fare to Kuala Lumpur.
3. Carabao Napa
Last June, French Laundry alums Jade and Mathew Cunningham opened Carabao, focused on the cuisine of Jade’s native Philippines and named for the country’s national animal, the water buffalo. The storefront is in a big, unattractive strip mall, but the interior is bright and lively, and the food even more so: Sisig tacos are topped with crispy pork and a runny quail egg; barbecued pork skewers are perfectly charred and garnished with a banh mi–esque blend of carrot, onion, and cilantro; a winter lugaw ginger rice porridge is finished with shaved black truffle. The must-order entrée is the crispy kare kare, a baseball-sized croquette filled with oxtail, floating in a coconut-peanut sauce with tripe.
4. Bar Panisse Berkeley
This highly-anticipated bar opening came in mid-December, taking over the former César space, next to Alice Waters’ California cuisine mothership, Chez Panisse. The cocktail list leans classic — sazeracs, martinis, gimlets — with three local beers on tap and a selection of about a dozen wines, all available by the glass, that leans toward lighter styles from France and Italy. Of course, you want to know about the food: buttery flatbread with a dipping sauce of herb oil and Calabrian chile, a Seven Moons Farm chicory salad with dates and fried sage, shell-on Gulf shrimp with salsa verde and aioli, roasted Fogline Farm chicken with chanterelle stuffing. If you think that sounds like a bar-bite-size approximation of Café Chez Panisse, you’d be right.
Walk-ins only. Find more info here.
5. Maritime Boat Club San Francisco
San Francisco is no stranger to nautical bars, and Maritime Boat Club is a worthy addition to the piratical pantheon. Located on the second floor of Union Square’s Palihotel, you’re here for the seafood, from chef Felix Santos (formerly of Quince and Atelier Crenn), who pushes the envelope with stinging nettles in the steak tartare, burnt habanero in the persimmon and goat cheese salad, and brussels sprouts a la puttanesca with the grilled rockfish. “The Kraken” seafood tower (Hog Island oysters, mussel and clam escabeche, shrimp cocktail, trout crudo, scallop aguachile) arrives atop a metal sculpture of said mythical beast. In terms of drinks, don’t miss the Sleeps With the Tinned Fishes — made with Ford’s gin, anchovy vermouth, sherry, and an anchovy-stuffed olive.
6. mijoté Mission District
Mijoté is French for “simmered,” greatness clearly has been percolating at Kosuke Tada’s Mission District bistro. Since its 2022 opening, the French-trained Osaka native has channeled gastronomic hipness of Paris’s 11th arrondissement to San Francisco. Tada emphasizes both French technique and hyper-locality of ingredients, meaning his $84, four-course dinner menu changes frequently, but on a given night you’ll typically start with an amuse bouche and a crudo, followed by grilled seafood (often octopus), and a meat dish, each accented with farm-fresh produce. As with any Parisian neobistro, the beverage of choice is natural-tilting wines, with a list largely drawn from France and California. And naturally, Tada received a 2026 James Beard nomination for Best Chef: California.
7. Collina Nob Hill
The team at Seven Hills may have moved that acclaimed Nob Hill Italian restaurant a few blocks away in 2019, but they must have known the original space was still a gem — who could argue, watching the Hyde Street cable car roll by through the fog? So in late 2023 they opened this cozy, pasta-focused spot in the space. Collina is still going strong today, thanks to a date-night-worthy vibe and the cooking of executive chef Anthony Florian and chef de cuisine Dennis Diaz. Must-orders include show-stopping lasagnette and an epic raviolo al uovo, but don’t sleep on shiitake mushroom arancini, broccolini with chili-shallot crunchies, and the chicken al mattone, crisped under a brick and served with creamed kale. Regular visits are a smart idea.
8. Outerlands Outer Sunset
Though it may be best known as the Outer Sunset’s favorite brunch spot, in-the-know diners have long loved Outerlands at all hours of the day, equally for the house-baked sourdough levain and the dirty martini. The best reason to head out toward Ocean Beach now — aside from getting reacquainted with the curving driftwood paneling that makes this one of the Bay Area’s loveliest restaurants — is to see what new chef Brenda Landa is cooking. Look for congee with togarishi-braised chard, chili oil, and a jammy egg; fried pistachio mortadella sandwiches and Castelvetrano olive focaccia; and steelhead trout with chanterelles and chickpeas in a fumet broth. We can’t think of a better way to warm up after a walk on the beach.
9. Valley Bar & Bottle Sonoma
This Sonoma Plaza hit is a store (and more) for all seasons. Shoppers can pick up a bottle of olive oil or natural wine, a bar of artisan soap, a tote bag, or a picnic blanket, while diners enjoy Bib Gourmand-level cooking throughout the day. Weekend brunch options range from chilaquiles to crispy rice with Dungeness crab and avocado; lunch brings mezze plates, rajas quesadillas, and sandwiches stacked with enough mortadella to sate Tony Soprano. Dinner is where Emma Lipp and Stephanie Reagor, who shared a 2026 James Beard nomination, really flex. One night your main course might be a classic trout with asparagus and gribiche; another, a Chinese-influenced Meyer lemon chicken cutlet, or a Oaxacan mole.
Book now on Tock.
10. Shuggie’s Mission
Shuggie’s had already established itself as San Francisco’s most environmentally conscious restaurant, thanks to Kayla Abe and David Murphy’s dedication to using food waste — bruised or blemished fruits and vegetables, off-cut meats — at their brightly colored, always-a-party Mission District restaurant. They recently dropped pizza, once their signature menu item, in part because the “Trash Pies” didn’t use as many upcycled ingredients as most of their other dishes. But the remaining dishes are as tasty and creative as ever, with highlights such as a take on steak frites made with beef cheeks and filet mignon trimmings and a peanut butter mousse bon bon assembled tableside, delivered in a space that remains a blast of Technicolor fun. Pro tip: If you really want pizza, Shuggie’s still slings Trash Pies on Sundays.
11. Izakaya Rintaro The Mission
Few restaurants in the city are as beloved as Rintaro, which has an argument for being the best izakaya in the U.S. While sashimi plates are available, the best dishes here are cooked, be they charcoal-grilled chicken skewers or fried (the Kurobata tonkatsu, Becker Lane Berkshire pork loin breaded in Acme panko, is the perfect combo of crackling outside and tender inside). The housemade silken tofu will convert even bean curd skeptics, and bowls of piping hot, hand-rolled udon are the ideal winter warmer. An evening of sitting at the cedar slab bar beneath hand-planed beams and eating chef Sylvan Mishima Brackett’s food is the closest you can get to spending a night in Tokyo without booking a flight.
12. The Morris The Mission
When Paul Einbund got a 2026 James Beard nomination for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, perhaps the only surprise was that it didn’t mention both of his restaurants (the other is Lake Merritt sister restaurant Sirene). The 10-year-old original Mission District spot, named for Einbund’s father, remains a favorite both for the drinks and chef Gavin Schmidt’s menu, which roils with charcuterie, playful snacks like skewered duck hearts and mushroom profiteroles, the show-stopping smoked duck (available as both a half and whole bird) and creative desserts like buckwheat donuts with whiskey anglaise. From the outside, The Morris may look like a neighborhood hole-in-the-wall, but few Bay Area restaurants make a better setting for a celebratory dinner.
13. bosque San Francisco
This sleek, intimate Hayes Valley wine bar got off to a tricky start, with chef Luke Sung stepping down after a tiff with a social media influencer, but it rebranded and reopened. Owner Eric Lin redubbed it after his dog — and it has turned out to be the ideal neighborhood wine bar. The by-the-glass list has fun, offbeat choices, ranging from Willamette Valley arneis (a white variety native to Piemonte) to Austrian pinot noir. The pours complement a menu of small bites — sauteed calamari, frisee salad with wild mushrooms, local black cod with piquillo peppers — with a few very reasonably priced mains, such as picanha steak ($20) and roast chicken and potatoes ($16).
14. Prik Hom Jordan Park
At a humble space in quiet Laurel Heights, chef Jim Suwanpanya and his sister Tanya serve a menu inspired by the former’s experiences in fine-dining kitchens in both San Francisco (Lazy Bear) and Bangkok (Bo.lan). The menu changes seasonally, but diners can expect bright flavors (zingy lemongrass in a seared scallop appetizer, a pungent melange of spices in a dry, coconut milk-free curry) and inventive presentations (curry beef wrapped in chard and grilled) that draw from Thailand’s various regional styles. No meal is complete without the signature dessert, coconut ice cream smoked with imported Thai incense candles.
15. Big Finish Wine Tavern Mission
For nearly two decades, the storefront at the corner of 16th and Albion was a temple to craft beer. So while Big Finish may focus on grape juice instead of malted barley, the vibe remains playful — the decor includes “Star Trek”-themed bathroom wallpaper — while being serious about its subject. Owner Adam Manson keeps nearly 50 wines on tap, ranging from Georgian rkatsateli and Australian riesling to Croatian plavac mali and Mexican marselan. This wide range means there’s something to pair with any food order, be it snacks such as smoked trout dip and “Buffalonian-approved wings” or bigger plates like braised pork shoulder pappardelle, beet risotto, or halibut in tom kha sauce. Pro tip: Reservations are for primarily for dining; drinks-only reservations are charged an additional fee.
16. Sons & Daughters The Mission
The accolades keep pouring in for Sons & Daughters, so it’s a good thing the place is a bit roomier these days, having moved last fall from its old Nob Hill spot to a larger Mission District space. The intensity that goes into preparing the dishes is dizzying: Mount Lassen trout is cold-smoked over Douglas fir, poached, brushed with pine cone syrup and Meyer lemon zest, and served atop a cream of rose geranium, elderflower, and chervil; an ice cream is made from grilled apples and plated atop an acorn-flour cake with spruce-needle cream and reduced Granny Smith apple juice. With 24 such courses coming, a meal here will set you back $315 – but it remains a nonpareil option for that truly special meal. (And don’t miss the wine pairings.)
Book now on Tock.
17. Troubadour Bread & Bistro Healdsburg
This tiny café just off Healdsburg Plaza is truly an all-day, all-appetites place. Husband-and-wife owners Sean and Melissa McGaughey worked at nearby SingleThread before opening their own bakery, Quail & Condor, in 2018, and they keep the bread theme going through the day, serving 51-hour-fermented sourdough and hefty sandwiches: classic jambon au beurre, meaty chicken salad with Duke’s Mayo, muffalettas, egg salad on Friday challah. At night, the boulangerie transforms into a bistro the owners call Le Dîner, serving eight- and 11-course set menus (the latter a $295 meal enjoyed at a chef’s table in a private room with a record player) that have earned Michelin-level recognition. It’s just elegant and French enough, but with a grounding dose of NorCal breeziness.
18. Aíso San Francisco
This new plant-based restaurant proclaims itself “100% queer owned” — owner Corbin Campbell was the manager of The Lark, the space’s former tenant — and makes a point of appealing to its neighbors in what it calls the “Castro gayborhood.” Diners of all sexual orientations will enjoy the zippy, tropical flavors of the Caribbean-influenced, tapas-style dishes: beet tartare with wasabi crème fraîche, gem salad with papaya Champagne vinaigrette, vegan jerk sliders. They’re best enjoyed at happy hour, along with a “Mini Marteeni,” at a sunny sidewalk table or at the greenery-lined bar. Sounds like paradise — which is appropriate, since the restaurant’s name is slangy shorthand for the Spanish “paraíso.”
19. Vicinity Los Gatos
Last month, the team behind Los Gatos’ Tasting House launched an exclusive new speakeasy-style space. The 16-seat Vicinity, accessed via a side door in Tasting House, offers a 13-course tasting menu from chef Julian Silvera, focused mostly on expressions of California’s landscapes and the ingredients they produce. The Half Moon Bay plate, for instance, features purple uni with avocado bergamot puree and “sand” made of crushed ice cream cones, served in an urchin shell set amid an array oyster shells. A similar level of artistry is applied to the space, with details such as two 18th-century French army swords crossed on the wall above the fireplace (Tasting House, being a Champagne paradise, is known for its sabrage program) and custom hand-thrown-ceramic tableware.
Book now on Tock.
20. Pearl 6101 Richmond District
Our friends at Eater referred to Pearl 6101 as “your favorite chef’s favorite restaurant,” and we can see why. The Richmond District location means that the crowd leans local, but the classic cuisine from chef Mel Lopez marks this as a worthy destination no matter where in the Bay you live. Seafood dishes are the go-to, from oysters with fermented hot sauce and crudos to seared scallops with saffron aioli and bucatini studded with Gulf prawns. A fun selection of Old World wines pair well with the food, and the globe lights above the bar make the dining room feel cozy even when it’s bustling — which it always is.
