Originally Posted by
lhrsfo
I presume that this response was aimed at my observation that you couldn't get a decent sit down dinner at SFO - rather you had to eat "fuel" in a service station atmosphere. It's clearly correct to state you won't find the French Laundry, or any Michelin starred restaurant at an airport - completely out of place. But why not somewhere where you can sit down and eat a properly prepared meal without being jostled. Most airports in the world manage such a thing and SFO, with its bank of red-eyes leaving, is particularly suited to it.
I wonder what business people (not locals) do when they are taking a red-eye. For me, I leave the office at about 6 or 6:30. I've already checked out of the hotel so I have my bags with me and don't have a hotel room to go to. I don't want to eat until 7:30 or 8:00 at the earliest. There's not time to have a nice dinner in SF before I have to leave for the airport - and I don't drive after drinking, so I couldn't enjoy a glass of wine with it anyway. So the obvious thing to do is to go to the airport from the office and have dinner there, arriving say 7:30 and through security at 8:00. Perfect timing for a leisurely dinner. But the offerings at least in T3 and International G simply don't provide anything suitable. Trumped up fast food is what's on offer, not leisurely slow food.
What is lacking is what was originally planned when the International terminal opened. It was intended to be a destination with dining that even locals would want to patronize (with some parking validations, etc.), and there was even (IIRC) a "fine" Chinese restaurant landside. 9/11 changed the dynamic of this, as non-ticketed pax would no longer be permitted airside. Also, SFO tends to be a lot more O/D than many other airports.
I don't often buy food @ SFO because I'm typically starting a long int'l trip, have lounge access, and will be fed well-enough onboard. But I do note that in T2 (50-59), Cat Cora's place or Vino Volo provides a nice setting to have some decent food and wine, and in fact, the last time I had a redeye on VX, I had some wine and tasty snackies at Vino Volo.
I very rarely fly out of T3 or G anymore, so I have no idea what the current array of offerings may be. Hopefully when the E pier is redone, the selection will improve.