North Beach & Chinatown
Blues in a red saloon that's been a dive since 1861 – this is North Beach at its most colorful. Legend has it that when the city caught fire in 1906,…
Must-see nightlife in The Bay Area
Oakland
One of the Bay Area's most (in)famous tiki bars, Forbidden Island is a time capsule from the days before the tech boom. This locals' haunt, with its…
Oakland
This dive lives up to the promise of its website – if it's not the darkest bar ever, it's in the running. What lighting does exist is red and moody, which…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
The Hayes Valley shipping-container outpost of the Mission roastery offers creamy single-origin espresso and powerful pour-overs to rival those at Blue…
Berkeley
At this industrial brewery taproom you can sit down on the outdoor patio with a tasting flight of IPAs or a glass of rich Mexican hot-chocolate stout. It…
Excelsior
The Broken Record feels like it could exist in one of San Francisco’s more gentrified neighborhoods. It’s got a dive-y, punk-rock sensibility, all strong…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Are you feeling flinty or flirty? With at least 25 wines available to try by 2oz taste or 5oz pour, as well as flights in the club series, you're bound to…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Pick up the golden phone and ask for 'the pawn master.' He might mess with you, but stick to your guns and you'll be invited into a fake store filled with…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
'She was a real gone gal, until she double-crossed me…' Tough-guy martinis at Dashiell Hammett's favorite bar will get you talking like a noir-movie…
North Beach & Chinatown
Chinatown's latest, greatest import is Taiwanese bubble tea: milky iced tea polka-dotted with boba (chewy, gently sweet tapioca pearls). PlenTea fills…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Blaspheme all you want – everyone does in SF, and transgressions are easily forgiven during happy hour (4pm to 7pm). Your Search for the Holy Trinity ends…
San Francisco
Welcome to SF's temple of tequila since 1965. Tommy's serves enchiladas as a cover for day drinking until 7pm, when margarita pitchers with blanco,…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
The people united will never be decaffeinated at this radical coffee house. Choose a bumper-sticker-covered table to match your politics (peace is…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Downstairs from the Mechanics Institute Library, surreal scenes unfold over vintage sofas and free-flowing California beer and wine. Dada takes the…
North Beach & Chinatown
During Prohibition, historic Columbus Tower housed a speakeasy – but now you can drink here in plain sight, at filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola's ground…
San Francisco
The ideal retreat on foggy Golden Gate Park days, Hollow packs surprisingly ample seating into its snug single-car-garage espresso bar – plus arty…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Lowbrow and loving it: everyone's wailing to rock anthems and swilling 100% artificially flavored soda-pop cocktails here. For a cheap date, you can't…
San Francisco
Small-batch, craft and artisan aren't just buzzwords here – Harper & Rye bartenders name their cocktails after neighbors, family and friends, and treat…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
It always feels like Octoberfest at this gleaming, Bavarian-style beer hall, installed in Fort Mason in 2018. Offerings include nine taps of German beer,…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Whether it's red or white, your wine is green here – Terroir specializes in natural-process, organic and biodynamic wines, with impressive lists from…
San Francisco
Soon there may be a groove worn across Market St between the Castro's biggest gym and the Lookout, where 30-somethings pack the street-view balcony. Hot…
San Francisco
Microbrews with views: watch Pacific sunsets through pint glasses of the Beach Chalet's Riptide Red ale from the comfort of the formal upstairs dining…
Gaspar Brasserie & Cognac Room
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
When gold-rush prospectors struck it rich, they upgraded from rotgut rye to fine French cognac – and history repeats itself nightly at Gaspar's. SF's…
Oakland
East Bay craft brewer Drake's Brewing Company has transformed a humdrum Dodge dealership into a lively restaurant, bar and outdoor beer garden with fire…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Like a shotgun shack plunked downtown, Rickhouse is lined from floor to ceiling with repurposed whiskey casks imported from Kentucky and back-bar shelving…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Indie-rocker servers dole out sass and sound advice, with top-notch Soave and Montepulciano by the taste or carafe. Take their pairing suggestions for 8oz…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
You've been delightfully misled: this 1930s New Orleans-style cocktail joint isn't another hipster coffee shop and despite its upmarket address, it's not…
San Francisco
Watch the entire gay world go by on the sun-drenched patio at the Flore, the Castro's hub since 1973. Weekdays regulars hold court over Purple Arnold…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Duck into the alley to find this walk-in wine closet, with standout small-production Californian, French and Italian vintages and a cork-studded ceiling…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Head down a Jackson Square alleyway and back in time at Bix, a speakeasy-style supper club with white-jacketed staff shaking martinis at the mahogany bar…
San Francisco
With a Harvey Milk mural and rainbow light-up dance floor, The Cafe is the obvious place to throw your own coming-out party. Most nights the crowd seems…
San Francisco
At Castro's first gay sports bar, you can wear rainbows and team colors (as long as they're either blue and yellow, or orange and black). Giant-screen TVs…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
A motley Potrero Hill crowd of bikers, art-school profs, Google VPs and chefs-in-training converge for twangy and hardcore bands at weekends (cover free…
San Francisco
Twirl above the clouds on the city's highest dancefloor. Friday and Saturday evenings, a full jazz band plays; Wednesdays and Thursdays have live piano…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Eureka! Inside these rock-veneer walls you're golden, with original concoctions made of craft spirits and priced to move ($10 to $12). Get fancy with…
San Francisco
A sanctuary for beer drinkers above the downtown fray, with 30+ ales, IPAs, pilsners and lagers on tap. The full kitchen offers choice pairings:…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Minuscule but magnetic OMG lures 20s to 40ish gays to San Francisco's skid row to get down, drink up and strip to skivvies. Latin-diva DJs make Fridays…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Need some soothing tea and cuddles? Say hello, KitTea. San Francisco's cat café serves Japanese tea and feline cuteness for a good cause: all the kitties…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Great wines that won't break the bank: San Francisco's dedicated wine drinkers totally Dig it. Enter a well-curated wine library featuring the work of…
San Francisco
With lipstick-red counters, well-priced pours and plates piled with cheese and charcuterie, this wine bar is a shameless charmer – especially at happy…
