San Francisco Restaurants
There are so many good restaurants in this city. Here are a few of my favorites.
Luna Park: One of my favorites. Lots of different stuff, check out the
website. Valencia and 18th, in the mission.
Cha Cha Cha: Tapas restaurant, absolutely delicious. It's better if you have more people, so that you can order more things. It can be hard to get into on a weekend night. Definitely get the sangria. Two locations: Haight and Shrader (same block as Amoeba, in the Upper Haight) and Mission between 19th and 20th (I haven't been to that location).
Website.
La Mediterranee: Mediterranean food (obvy). The lamb moussaka is awesome. In pacific heights (fillmore and sacramento).
The Slanted Door: Asian-fusion. Delicious. Since you're going to be downtown, this may be a good option -- it's at the end of market street, across the embarcadero, in the ferry building. REALLY expensive though (it's the kind of place that has bathroom attendants), but if you can put it on the company card or something, then I highly recommend it!
Website.
Cheap eats
First of all, keep in mind that "cheap" in SF is very relative...I'm talking around $10 here, give or take. Also, keep in mind that most things close fairly early -- late at night, your choices are either mexican or pizza.
Having lived in San Diego for five years, I'm kinda spoiled and I think that SF mexican food sucks, but I also seem to be alone in that opinion among my peers. For a burrito, the mission is your best bet -- Cancun is really good (mission and 19th), as is El Farolito (mission and 24th). Don't go to the mexican places in the haight, they suck.
There are a ton of crepe places all over the city, all of which are really good. There's one at carl and cole in the upper haight, there's cafe neon in the panhandle, squat and gobble (they have a few locations in the city), etc.
Other than that, you're pretty much stuck with whatever shitty pizza place you can find.
Amoeba
Amoeba is located on Haight street at stanyan.
Bars
There are a couple bars in the upper haight that I like. There is Murio's Tropy Room, a block from Amoeba, on the same side of the street. Dog-friendly bar, good jukebox. There is also the golden cane, which is a few blocks up from that, again on the same side of the street. If you go there, make sure to pick up a free book or two in the bookcase. They have some weird deal where they get books from publishers before they go to press, and they just give them away for free.
In the lower haight, there is a bar called the noc noc which is really cool. It's made to look like these weird caves inside. Kinda hard to describe, but it's a pretty chill place and is fun to go to. Plus, they serve Chimay and this really good hefeweizen. There's a bar across the street which is cool too, but I forget the name.
There are a ton of bars in the mission that are good -- you might like Amnesia, that's a cool place. There is also Delirium which some people like, but it's more crowded and it's also hipsterville. Let's see, there's also the elbo room, and kilowatt. The mission is definitely a happening area on the weekends. Lots of bars, lots of people walking around, etc.
Hopefully that helps, and I certainly hope you enjoy your stay in our crazy little city. In terms of my schedule, I am meeting up with my friends tomorrow at 7, but am free any time before that. On Sunday, I am going to the south bay around 6 or 7 probably, but am free any time before that.
Oh, and please don't feed the liberals.
