San Francisco: The perfect week!
San Francisco has a way of making every visit feel like an adventure. Between the waterfront, the energy of Chinatown, historic restaurants, world-class art, and some truly memorable food, the city has so much to offer. On our visit, we discovered several places worth checking out:
Pier Market at Pier 39: Dinner with a View
We began our culinary journey at Pier Market Seafood Restaurant at Pier 39, where the atmosphere was lively, welcoming, and quintessentially San Francisco: with fresh seafood! We were lucky enough to have the perfect seat overlooking the Ferris wheel and the water, giving us a front-row view of all the activity along the pier.
Pier Market has been a San Francisco favorite for more than 40 years. The family-owned restaurant opened in 1983 and is known for fresh seafood and mesquite-grilled specialties. Its location makes it particularly special—you can enjoy your meal while watching the boats, visitors, and the ever-changing activity of the Bay.
Our meal included a Caesar salad, ahi poke, grilled salmon, garlic potatoes, and grilled vegetables. Everything was fresh and excellent, but the dish that truly stole the show was the shellfish platter.
The platter was a feast in itself, filled with fresh crab, shrimp, mussels, corn, potatoes, pork sausage, and clam juice. It was generous, flavorful, and exactly the kind of meal that makes a waterfront dining experience memorable. This is not to be missed. If you love seafood, make room for the shellfish platter—it is the dish we would return for.
Pier Market also takes pride in sustainably sourced seafood and locally grown produce, while its signature mesquite grill adds a wonderful smoky character to many of its dishes.
Pier Market Seafood Restaurant
39 Pier, San Francisco, CA 94133
Phone: (415) 989-7437
Website: piermarket.com
R&G Lounge: A Chinatown Classic
Our next stop was R&G Lounge, a bustling restaurant in the heart of San Francisco’s historic Chinatown. This is the kind of restaurant you visit with an appetite because there are simply too many excellent dishes to try. R&G Lounge has been serving guests since 1985 and is known for Cantonese cuisine, authentic flavors, and family-style dining.
The best way to experience a restaurant like this is to order several dishes and share. We started with octopus, vegetable egg rolls, and pork spare ribs. Then came the main event: special beef, mixed vegetables, mushu vegetables, and fried rice. Every dish brought something different to the table, from savory and rich to fresh and crisp.
The drinks were part of the fun, too. We enjoyed specialty beverages ranging from lychee to refreshing lime mocktails, which provided the perfect complement to the meal.
And then came dessert: red bean coconut jelly, a light and delicate finish after such a generous dinner.
R&G Lounge captures the spirit of Chinatown dining—lively, generous, social, and centered around sharing food. It is the perfect place to gather around a large table and sample as many dishes as possible.
R&G Lounge
631 Kearny Street, San Francisco, CA 94108
Phone: (415) 982-7877
Website: R&G Lounge official website
John’s Grill: A True San Francisco Establishment
There are restaurants you visit for a meal, and then there are restaurants you visit because you are stepping into a piece of history. John’s Grill is definitely the latter.
Established in 1908, just two years after the devastating San Francisco earthquake, John’s Grill became one of the city’s early downtown restaurants to reopen. Over the decades, it developed into a gathering place for politicians, writers, musicians, entertainers, business leaders, and travelers. The restaurant’s historic character—with its dark wood, vintage photographs, and classic dining rooms—has helped preserve the feeling of an earlier San Francisco.
Today, John’s Grill remains a downtown institution near Union Square, serving classic American fare with steaks and seafood at the center of the menu. And there is another reason to visit: nightly live jazz.
We had the pleasure of sitting upstairs and hearing the jazz band play. It was a complete delight. There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about enjoying a beautiful dinner while live music fills the room. It transformed an already excellent meal into an experience.
And the food? Perfection.
We had the New York steak with béarnaise sauce, accompanied by a baked Idaho potato and fresh creamed spinach. The steak was everything we hoped for—rich, satisfying, and beautifully complemented by the classic béarnaise.
We also enjoyed a roasted beet salad with candied walnuts, feta cheese, lemon aioli, and microgreens. The combination of sweet, creamy, salty, and bright flavors made it a beautiful counterpoint to the richness of the steak.
The wine was a lovely complement to the meal, and then came the dessert—the best surprise of all.
We shared a combination of flan, cheese cake, and a mix of fresh berries. The flan was light and creamy and the intricate combination of berries and fresh cream. Together, they were the perfect ending.
By the end of the evening, we were in a food coma—in the most delightful way possible.
John’s Grill is more than a restaurant. It is an experience that connects food, music, history, and the character of San Francisco. Sitting upstairs, listening to jazz, enjoying a classic steak dinner, and finishing with unforgettable desserts felt like one of those evenings that stays with you long after the trip is over.
John’s Grill
63 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 986-0069
Website: John’s Grill official website
Dandelion Chocolate: A Sweet Ending
Our final food stop was Dandelion Chocolate, and it was a wonderful way to end our culinary adventures in San Francisco.
Dandelion specializes in small-batch, single-origin, bean-to-bar chocolate, with an emphasis on sourcing cocoa directly from producers. At its Valencia Street factory and café, visitors can enjoy chocolate and watch the chocolate-making process.
The chocolate was divine, and we especially loved the marshmallows that were offered as a little treat. There was a wonderful variety of chocolates from different countries and origins to choose from, making it easy to spend time exploring the different flavors and styles.
We also had a tasting of the hot chocolate, which was exceptional. It had the perfect balance—rich and chocolaty without being overly sweet. It was exactly what we wanted at the end of a day of exploring the city.
For chocolate lovers, Dandelion is much more than a candy shop. It is an opportunity to taste chocolate in a way that highlights where the cocoa comes from and how dramatically different origins can influence flavor.
Dandelion Chocolate – Valencia Street
740 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone: (415) 349-0942
Website: Dandelion Chocolate official website
Exploring San Francisco with CityPASS
For sightseeing, San Francisco CityPASS is one of the easiest ways to organize a visit if you plan to experience several of the city’s major attractions. The current 2026–2027 CityPASS allows visitors to choose four attractions and can save up to 45% compared with regular admission. The pass is valid for nine days, giving you plenty of flexibility rather than forcing you to fit everything into one or two days.
The attractions available through the pass include the California Academy of Sciences, Blue & Gold Fleet San Francisco Bay Cruise, Exploratorium, Aquarium of the Bay, San Francisco Zoo & Gardens, SFMOMA, The Walt Disney Family Museum, and the de Young Museum + Legion of Honor.
We used CityPASS to help make the most of our time in the city. One of our favorite experiences was a bike ride through the park near the de Young Museum, heading toward the beach and then riding back. It was a wonderful way to see San Francisco at a slower pace, get some exercise, and enjoy the outdoors.
And summer in San Francisco is particularly wonderful for exploring. The temperatures are often comfortable enough to spend the day outdoors without the intense heat found in many other destinations. It is the perfect city for walking, biking, exploring neighborhoods, and stopping whenever something catches your eye.
The current 2026–2027 CityPASS is $89.95 for adults and $69.95 for children ages 4–11, with a stated value of $165 and $125 respectively. The CityPASS app can also help with tickets, reservations, attraction information, maps, and planning.
San Francisco CityPASS: Official CityPASS San Francisco information
SFMOMA: Art, History, and the World of Matisse
No San Francisco visit would be complete without time at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Located at 151 Third Street, SFMOMA is one of the city’s major cultural destinations, with an extensive collection of modern and contemporary art.
During our visit, we were especially captivated by the exhibition “Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal.” The exhibition focuses on Henri Matisse’s groundbreaking 1905 painting Femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat), a work that shocked audiences with its bold colors and loose, expressive brushwork. The painting became an important image of Fauvism, the early-20th-century French avant-garde movement.
One of the most fascinating parts of the story is the connection to Leo and Gertrude Stein, the American expatriate collectors who were living in Paris. They acquired Femme au chapeau at the 1905 Salon d’Automne, where the painting had caused such a stir. The exhibition explores not only the painting itself but also its place in the artistic world surrounding Matisse and the Steins.
The exhibition is especially meaningful in San Francisco because of the painting’s later Bay Area history. Michael and Sarah Stein, Leo and Gertrude’s brother and sister-in-law, eventually brought the painting to the Bay Area, connecting this landmark of European modernism directly to the artistic history of Northern California.
The exhibition is scheduled to run through September 13, 2026, making it a particularly timely reason to visit SFMOMA this summer.
SFMOMA
151 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: (415) 357-4000
Website: SFMOMA official website
San Francisco: Come Hungry, Stay Curious
What made this San Francisco trip so memorable was the variety. We could begin the day outdoors on a bicycle, spend the afternoon surrounded by great art, wander through Chinatown, listen to live jazz over dinner, and finish with a cup of perfectly balanced hot chocolate.
And, of course, there was the food.
From the spectacular shellfish platter at Pier Market to the generous family-style feast at R&G Lounge, the classic steak dinner at John’s Grill, and the extraordinary chocolate at Dandelion, San Francisco gave us plenty of reasons to come hungry.
The city has a wonderful ability to combine history and modern life, culture and cuisine, nature and architecture. Whether you are visiting for the first time or returning for another taste, San Francisco rewards you for slowing down, exploring, and saying yes to one more stop.