SFGuide
Where To Have New Year's Eve Dinner In SF
photo credit: Erin Ng
Somehow, the year flew by (again), and you’re making a list of resolutions for 2024 (sadly, we predict that “be a morning person” will last all of nine days). Before you move on to bettering yourself and all that in the new year, why not spend your last meal of 2023 drinking champagne and eating something incredible? These SF restaurants are doing special holiday menus, so you can indulge in everything from truffle-topped agnolotti to pig head imperial rolls as the clock counts down.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Carly Hackbarth
This new-ish Fillmore tasting menu spot (by the chefs behind the now-closed Marlena) is so good we recently added it to the Hit List. And on the final day of the year, they’re doing a special seven-course dinner. It’s $195 with an optional wine pairing, and will likely include seasonal dishes that are similar to their main menu, like kombu-cured kampachi, caramelle with squash and chanterelles, and roasted black cod.
This pasta and crudo spot in the Mission is one of the most romantic places in town, complete with warm brick walls and perpetually low lights. Which means it’s the perfect backdrop for a sexy little date with whomever you plan on kissing at midnight—the $125 six-course menu includes dessert and pasta dishes like anolini in brodo with grated truffles.
photo credit: Carly Hackbarth
A family-style prix fixe menu ($185) is on deck at Flour + Water, the iconic Mission restaurant and Cal-Ital pasta Hall of Famer. The menu hasn’t been released, but we’re guessing the seven-course meal will be a parade of creative pastas and small plates that you’ll be thinking about well into the new year. Dinner is going down in their new dining room, which recently got a swanky new makeover with drop lights and dark wood accents.
photo credit: Brit Finnegan
This basement level bar near Union Square is keeping things going until 2am with a lineup of DJs, a special menu of Asian-influenced cocktails, and appetizers from their sister restaurant, Bodega SF. If you want a real meal beforehand, snag a table at Bodega for an excellent Northern Vietnamese spread (they’ll be serving their normal a la carte menu all night) and then head downstairs to The Felix for the post-dinner festivities. Admission is $45 per person.
photo credit: Sarah Felker
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This communal fine dining restaurant in the Mission where everything is cooked over a live fire is doing an opulent $395 tasting menu on the 31st—caviar, Dungeness crab, and truffles included. If you’re envisioning something looser, head next door to their more casual, cabin-chic sister bar, Liliana. They’re going all out with fondue stations, caviar, and champagne and seafood towers ($200 per person).
Dalida is a gorgeous spot in the Presidio serving light, bright takes on Mediterranean dishes. For $150 per person, you’ll get a multi-course dinner that’s a mix of family-style and individually plated tasting dishes, including their fluffy pita, the California tahdig with uni and smoked trout roe, and eriste with truffles.
photo credit: Krescent Carasso
Depending on what time you book, New Year’s Eve dinner at The Morris in the Mission will be $150 per person (5-7pm, five courses) or $200 (7:15-9:30pm, seven courses). Either way, prepare to make “eat more of The Morris’s smoked duck” one of your resolutions—the legendary dish is on the menu. The second seating will feature seasonal dishes by local seafood business Sea Stephanie Fish.
The glamorous NoPa restaurant is one of our favorite spots to dress up any time of year, and NYE is as good an excuse as any to pull out the sequins and turn heads. They’re offering a $195 Italian feast that includes focaccia with house whipped mascarpone, agnolotti with truffle, and wood-oven roasted wagyu tenderloin. Their more casual downstairs spot, Che Fico Alimentari, is also open on New Year’s Eve with an abridged but similar set menu ($95).
photo credit: Melissa Zink
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Seeking a champagne and caviar-filled night? Sons & Daughters in Nob Hill can help with that. The enigmatic fine dining restaurant is offering a $395 tasting menu (it’s 18 courses, so don’t be surprised when you start to lose count). It’s sure to be a two-and-a-half-hour-palooza of seasonal winter dishes, and you’ll also get a glass of bubbly and a dedicated caviar course.
photo credit: Carly Hackbarth
Looking at the menu for Liholiho Yacht Club’s New Year’s Eve dinner ($175 per person) might make you full—the celebratory family-style meal includes a whopping 12 (completely new) dishes. There’s shrimp siu mai with calamansi kosho, pig head imperial rolls, braised short rib, Dungeness crab fried rice, and more. If you prefer to finish 2023 with brunch (you’re the stay-home and pass-out-by-10pm type), head to their sister restaurant, Good Good Culture Club, for a $70 feast.
photo credit: Greens
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Would you like some live jazz with your New Year’s Eve spread? This entirely vegetarian restaurant in Fort Mason is bringing in an ensemble to serenade you over a four-course prix fixe meal ($120). Along with the live music, the night will also feature dishes like braised celeriac bao, brussels sprouts salad, and marjolaine cake.
photo credit: Erin Ng
At this splashy South Indian restaurant in the Fillmore, the price of admission ($225 for six courses or $348 for nine) includes champagne pairings, so anyone seeking a bubbly-heavy night in the most macrame-filled dining room in SF should go here. In terms of food, expect ember-roasted scallops, a lamb rack with mangalore sukka masala, and eggplant pollichathu.
photo credit: Galdones Photography
This over-the-top bar in the Financial District is hosting both a sit-down dinner ($165-$195) and a New Year’s Eve party. The dinner is four courses and includes oysters, espresso tagliatelle, and risotto with the most-mentioned ingredient on this guide: truffle. If you’re looking to bop to a DJ and drink champagne, $45 will get you a ticket to the party (10pm-2am).
This Japanese fine dining restaurant in Russian Hill is doing a $275 tasting menu on the 31st, and calling it their “most luxurious menu to date,” which is saying something, because the prix fixe dinner at this place always makes you feel like royalty. Prepare for crab, multiple types of truffle, caviar, and champagne.
This French brasserie inside the Hyatt in SoMa is hosting a four-course menu ($120) from 4-9:30pm on New Year’s Eve. Look forward to eating beignets with caviar, risotto, prime beef filet, and dark chocolate tarts in a space that looks designed by someone who cares deeply about modern art.
When we want to remember that we live in a city surrounded by water, we go to La Mar. The Peruvian restaurant on the Embarcadero has excellent bay views—exactly the grand backdrop you deserve for your New Year’s Eve dinner. Along with a photo booth and a live DJ, they’ll also have a five-course prix fixe menu ($199 for the first seating and $259 for the second) with dishes like cebiche, lobster ravioli, and grilled octopus.
photo credit: Sarah Felker
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Looking to blow a month’s rent on your final meal of 2023? Behold the most expensive New Year’s Eve experience on this list: Californios. The winter holiday menu at this fancy Mexican restaurant in SoMa is $450 per person, plus another $325 if you want the champagne pairing. Menu details haven't been provided yet, but “luxury ingredients” are promised.
