San Francisco Journals

Eating Out in San Francisco

Best of IgoUgo

An October 2011 trip to San Francisco by dkm1981

Quote: There are thousands of restaurants in San Francisco, offering everything you could imagine and want. Whether it's a meal in a garlic restaurant, a word famous clam chowder by the sea or an authentic chow mein in Chinatown, it's all here

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Brandy Ho's-Columbus Avenue

Restaurant | "Hunan in San Fran"

Quote:

We went Brandy Ho’s Hunan restaurant in the Chinatown area of San Francisco for lunch one day after reading a review of it in one of the city guides we found in our hotel room. We went for lunch and had a set menu that was on offer.-About the Restaurant-The restaurant opened in the 1980s when the three brothers that own and run the place moved over from Hong Kong and completing training. I have never had Hunan food before, nor had I ever even heard of it, but it is quite similar to Chinese food but is much more natural using simple ingredients and spices. -Location and First Impressions-The restaurant is located just on the edge of Chinatown at 217 Colum...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on January 7, 2026

Brandy Ho's-Columbus Avenue
217 Columbus Ave
San Francisco, California 94133
+ 1 415 788 7527

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Eating Out in Fisherman's Wharf

Story/Tip

Quote:

The Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco is a popular tourist hot spot and as a result there are literally hundreds of place to eat, whether you are looking for a quick bite to eat or something more substantial.There are many big restaurant chains here , including Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company which is themed on the film Forrest Gump and The Rainforest Cafe. Both of these chains offer simple American food in the form of shrimp based dishes at the former and steaks and burgers at the latter. They are both quite expensive, but you get huge portions in a quirky and fun environment.One of the most famous dishes in this area is clam chowder which you can get in lots of restaurants....Read More

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Bubba Gumps

Restaurant | "Shrimps, Shrimps and More Shrimps"

Quote:

We ate at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co on our recent trip to San Francisco and, whilst the food was OK and the service good, I wasn’t bowled over by the whole experience to be honest. It was nice enough, but it has all the trappings of being part of a big chain where deep fried food and a reliance on a tenuous theme are the order of the day.-About the Restaurant-Like I said, this is a themed restaurant based on the film Forrest Gump. It’s a long time since I have seen the film so I’m not sure what the specific connection is, but there are lots of things in the menu that relate to characters in the film. You also have little placards on your table that say ‘Run Forrest, Run’ and ‘Stop...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on January 7, 2026

Bubba Gumps
Pier 39
San Francisco, California 94133
(415) 781-4867

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Stinking Rose

Restaurant | "Garlic, Garlic and More Garlic!"

Quote:

The Stinking Rose is a restaurant in the North Beach area of San Francisco, USA that we visited on our recent visit to the city. We’d read about the restaurant in our guide book and were quite excited about visiting this unique eating experience.-About The Restaurant-When finding the restaurant, you simply need to (as the place’s website suggests) ‘follow your nose’ as the unique element is that it features garlic heavily in all of its dishes, hence the name (stinking rose being an historical term for the pungent garlic). To give you an idea, 3000 pounds of garlic are used each month by the restaurant. It does indeed smell as you approach the building and once you are inside th...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on January 6, 2026

Stinking Rose
325 Columbus Ave.
San Francisco, California 94133
(415) 781-7673

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Wipeout Bar and Grill

Restaurant | "Giant Beers and Giant Portions!"

Quote:

Wipeout Bar and Grill is located at the entrance of Pier 39 in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf area and it is certainly a very colourful place that offers good food in chilled out surroundings. We wanted something chilled out for lunch after a busy morning’s sightseeing and we had walked past the restaurant / bar a few times and it always looked pleasantly busy, so we decided to go in for a beer and a bite to eat.

Outside, the bar has been presented as a sort of beach side shack and this is an impression that carries on throughout the restaurant. On the outside there are wooden tables and chairs that are designed to look like beach picnic tables and the side of the restaurant is adorned with a huge three dimension Volkswagen camper van that presents a very chilled out style. Inside there are trinkets and souvenirs covering every possible space, from giant sharks hanging from the ceiling to beer mats on the walls. I loved it all because it seemed really authentically San Franciscan and was everything I’d expected from the city. A little stereotypical maybe, but that isn’t always a bad thing.

The food is standard bar / restaurant fare and there is quite a good selection of burgers, pizzas, fried fish and salads. The portions sizes are huge. We decided to go for the lighter bite options and my husband had a small pizza and I had a burger. Both of them were far bigger than what I’d consider to be a light lunch, but they were both still reasonably priced. The pizza was absolutely packed with topping and my burger was cooked to my liking and accompanied with onion rings and a side salad.

We had beers with our lunch (we were on holiday after all!) and my husband, mishearing what the waiter said, ended up ordering us both huge 20oz beers. It was a local beer that was pretty good and lasted even him the whole meal. This meant that our bill was less that $30 for both of us which is more than we’d normally spend on lunch. Having said that, we could have quite happily had that for dinner so the price isn’t actually that bad.

The service was great, the staff all very friendly and knowledgeable. The surroundings were great and the food was simple but good – I’d definitely recommend this place to any visitors.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on December 20, 2025

Wipeout Bar and Grill
Building A Level 1 Pier 39
San Francisco, California
(415) 986-5966