San Francisco - Fun San Francisco Restaurants

Looking for a nice yet casual restaurant with a fun atmosphere for Saturday evening. Priced under $50 per person and a place locals enjoy would be great Staying at the Four Seasons. Preferably not chinese or sushi. Thanks for your thoughts! (I've looked at a lot of the threads and didn't see anything along these lines)

http://www.barbaccosf.com/

Just a thought

With or without alcohol?

If you want nice, casual, and well-priced, then SF is your city. So many excellent mid-range restaurants.

I enjoyed Canteen last time I visited. Small and quirky....small number of menu choices and the menu changes nightly....we sat at the counter because they don't have very many tables......

Price not including alcohol...but the restaurant should serve alcohol :) Thanks!

http://www.barbaccosf.com/



My thought as well. Wherever you pick, make a reservation pronto. Any place popular will get booked quickly on Saturday night. Another idea is Zero Zero which is pizza and Italian and close by.

not a bar scene but small, casual, just near downtown....also basil thai or ist smaller sister Basil Canteen in the same 'hood. Basil is more hip. Need to make rez at either...


http://www.roccoscafe.com/
http://www.basilthai.com/basil.htm
http://www.basilthai.com/canteen/

For a fun place, I recommend:

Bix. Very good ambiance with often times live music. May be a little out of your price range, though. A little bit more "adult" crowd than "young & hip".

Nopa. Great food, very lively.

Two sister restaurants: Town Hall & Salt House. Good American fare, not too expensive.

Dosa. Very "hip" place for Indian food. Not too expensive and always a fun place.

Delfina. Very good, but very difficult to get into.

For a fun place, I recommend:

Bix. Very good ambiance with often times live music. May be a little out of your price range, though. A little bit more "adult" crowd than "young & hip".
agree

Nopa. Great food, very lively. agree, but a Sat night may be very hard to get into even the bar area.

Two sister restaurants: Town Hall & Salt House. Good American fare, not too expensive.Town Hall is VERY up and down. I've had good meals and crappy meals there. And can get pricey - easily $50-75/pp w/ drinks..

Dosa. Very "hip" place for Indian food. Not too expensive and always a fun place. two outposts for Dosa, the Valencia St one is more young hip; Fillmore is more 30's ish hip with more money...

Delfina. Very good, but very difficult to get into.and again, very up and down. I actually got food poisoning there a few years ago. They were very gracious and i've been back, but not all that.

Over priced ... instead try Udupi Palace (http://www.yelp.com/biz/udupi-palace-san-francisco), just down the road on Valencia.


Dosa. Very "hip" place for Indian food. Not too expensive and always a fun place.

Over priced ... instead try Udupi Palace (http://www.yelp.com/biz/udupi-palace-san-francisco), just down the road on Valencia.

just sayin'

Over priced ... instead try Udupi Palace (http://www.yelp.com/biz/udupi-palace-san-francisco), just down the road on Valencia.

Udupi is not a "fun" place compared to Dosa. It's a pretty stale atmosphere, but the food maybe better for the money. But the OP asked for fun restaurants.

That's also why I included Bix, Town Hall, Salt House, etc. If it were food the OP wanted, I would not have included any of those restaurants at all. The only place I probably would have included woudl have been Nopa, but the rest are "fun" places with not necessarily the best food or value for the money.

How about Original Joes. It just opened up in their new location in North Beach. Real traditional Italian. Waiters dressed in Black tuxes and atmosphere out of the God Father movies.

http://www.originaljoessf.com/

Over priced ... instead try Udupi Palace (http://www.yelp.com/biz/udupi-palace-san-francisco), just down the road on Valencia.

I just went to Udupi Palace yesterday. I can definitively say that this place is NOT a fun place. Certainly, the ambiance is no comparison to Dosa. It's not a hole in the wall, but it's certainly prettty close to it.

I had the paper masala dosa. It was $9.95 at Udupi. At Dosa, the paper masala dose is $11.50. The price difference is $1.55. The ambiance difference, however, is vast. Dosa is a hip, fun place, with excellent food.

The verdict? Food: same. Price difference: minimal (for Dosa). Ambiance: Dosa hands down.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and comments. We ended up going to Salt House because the menu type was appealing to most and we could get in. You all are right....tough reservation on Saturday night if you do not plan ahead.

SFflyer was right on his comments. Salt House was very fun. Appetizers were great and entres were good. For us, more importantly last night, we had a great time. Service was friendly and leisurely. We sat in the loft area. The tables are close and our fellow diners were friendly, comparing notes on what had been ordered, other restaurants and drinks.


THANKS!!!

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and comments. We ended up going to Salt House because the menu type was appealing to most and we could get in. You all are right....tough reservation on Saturday night if you do not plan ahead.

SFflyer was right on his comments. Salt House was very fun. Appetizers were great and entres were good. For us, more importantly last night, we had a great time. Service was friendly and leisurely. We sat in the loft area. The tables are close and our fellow diners were friendly, comparing notes on what had been ordered, other restaurants and drinks.


THANKS!!!

Great to hear! Thanks for the feedback, and glad to hear that you had a good time.

Good to hear you enjoyed Salt House. If I had been here two weeks ago I might have said Foreign Cinema, Brenda's French Soul Food, Maverick, Espetus, Bobo's or the House of Prime Rib. Each has its good points in the "fun" area even if they aren't exactly foodie spots.