I worked at Yelp, and I've lived here for nearly a decade, and I'm here to tell you: there are maybe ten decent restaurants open in all of SF at midnight. On a good day. You're screwed on a Monday night.
Even if we lower the standard to include fast food and/or greasy post-drunk food, the number jumps to perhaps 30, on a weekend night. So there might be a late-night restaurant in every neighborhood, but there's definitely no more than one. If you want something good, you need to eat before 9.
Funny you mentioned not being able to get a good meal after 9:30pm. That was the most frustrating thing about being in San Francisco for me. I hated that the whole bay seemed to shut down @10pm - almost as if everybody has to wake up the next morning to work another 12 hour day to pay the insane rent.....
Cafés start closing at 2pm, latest till 630pm. Restaurants by 9pm. Here's a rare crowdsourced list of places - restaurants, cafes, grocery stores, that are open late night in San Francisco
Because SF is a town, not a city. And with the cost of doing business only on the rise there isn't room for places to be open during non-peak hours anymore. The number of coffee shops and restaurants that stay open later has noticeably decreased in my 19 years of living in SF.
Believe me I wish it were different but there are diners that are open late.
Dave Chappelle goes to Grubsteak when he's in town and they're open till 4AM. Or you can go hang out with the USF students at the 24hr Starbucks over in Laurel Hts.
I agree with this... only I want to add one more star
* open late.
where do I get food at 2am? silicon valley is full of Engineers who don't have to stumble in to work until 11 or noon, yet most places that serve food close at 9pm. what is with that?
Err... you may want to visit some more US cities. Eating and drinking out is definitely cheaper in Chicago, San Diego, Boston. Heck, lunch is cheaper in many parts of Manhattan than Soma.
This is by far my biggest gripe with SF .Sometimes I want to carouse until 4am and follow that up Korean food. Unfortunately, that's impossible San Frisco.
Agree! I've also noticed that the # of restaurants vs. price distribution for eating out in SF falls off a cliff especially <$25 per person range, whereas there are many more options in NYC and LA. In other words, prepare to pay up, stand in line for hours or be on a reservation waitlist for the most part if you want "good" food in SF.
Nah, closures are up and openings are down all across the city due to higher costs.[1] You may have lived here 25 years but that’s no substitute for hard data.
But you can. The Brazen Head in the Marina, Thai Noodle on Haight and a bunch of places in North Beach will happily serve till 1 AM or later and at a quality that doesn't even compare with fast food. In fact since I've moved to SF, going on ten years now, I've found pretty much most of the rest of the country (NYC and LA excepted) to be quiet a sad food desert.
Agreed. Prices are way higher in SF for eating out. I don't mind if the place is legitimately better but even the crap and mediocre places will charge a ton.
reply