Hello everyone, I just moved to SF, and would like to ask for a recommendation on both cuisine, and restaurant location to take my girlfriend for her birthday. We have been dating over a year and i would like to take her some place a little hands on, not just formal knife and fork dinner. I would like to take her somewhere moderately busy. I have already bought her a 256gb iphone x for her gift, so preferably somewhere i can take her for a nice meal under $100 including tax/tip kinda thing. All recommendations are appreciated. thanks!
Yemen Kitchen
Loi’s
Yamo
El Farolito
Shalimar on Jones
DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NEVER EATEN THERE, but the place that most consistently shows up on “most romantic” restaurant lists in SF in your price range is Cafe Jacqueline, noted for its souffles for two.
Define hands-on?
You can go slurp oysters at Hog Island.
You can do hot pot, where you take a role in cooking the food. But its not very romantic, but can be kind of fun if she’s not familiar with the concept.
I was thinking about cooking classes, but I don’t think $50pp is possible.
Maybe eat at home- buy some oysters at Sun Fat and shuck your own, cook a main course, get some good cheese from Bi Rite or Mission Cheese, get a small cake and a bottle of wine?
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May not count as hands on, but Trestle in North Beach has a fixed price 3 course menu for $38 per person ($48 per person with a pasta supplement). I’m assuming you mean $100 total.
If you mean hands-on as in eat with your hands (what do you mean by hands-on?), maybe some place like PPQ Dungeness Island for some crab, although bibs may not be very romantic.
Or a traditional cioppino. Or a Kamayan meal at Pampanguena Cuisine (can’t get more hands on than that).
Great idea! A savory and a dessert soufflé, plus a soup or salad will bring you over $100, but is a cool and lengthy night out.
How about Ethiopian? Moya is the best foodwise in SF proper, perhaps others can point toward an atmosphere that is best.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, definitely doesn’t have to be romantic, but i want it to be a fun experience… if that makes any sense?
*edited as I misread your post to mean $100/pp.
A few SF spots I have visited (and in many cases, revisited) that can come out to under $100 or close to it include:
-Roast chicken dinner for two and espresso granita at Zuni Café
-A la carte at Kin Khao, or they have a family style prix fixe at $60/pp
-A sampling of items off the menu at Izakaya Rintaro
Good luck! I’m sure she will be thrilled with whatever you decide on.
One more. You might have some luck with local pop-up dinners as tasting menus can fall within the $50/pp price range. Try Feastly to see if anything fits your criteria/date range: https://eatfeastly.com/browse/?market=san-francisco
