SFGuide
The 21 Best Deals For SF Spring Restaurant Week
photo credit: Hardy Wilson
SF Spring Restaurant Week is back from April 5th to 14th. (Yes, for those of you keeping score at home, that's actually 11 days). There are over 150 participating restaurants this year, offering multi-course meals for either $30, $45, $65, $75, or $90 (and brunch and lunch courses for $10, $15, $25, $30, or $40). So to help you narrow things down, we made you a list of 21 participating spots that we love.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Carly Hackbarth
When we’re on the hunt for velvety mole, we set our GPS straight to Donaji. Their $25 lunch and $45 dinner Restaurant Week menus have not been released yet, but we’re hoping to find enchiladas de mole, massive tlayudas, and sopes that showcase their excellent masa.
photo credit: Carly Hackbarth
While you’re at Flour + Water in North Beach for the extra saucy pies, you should also get to know their mozzarella sticks. For Restaurant Week, their $30 menu features a choice of one of two pies (margherita or cacio e pepe), either a caesar or chop salad, and soft serve for dessert.
All three locations of Fiorella are offering Restaurant Week deals, but we like Fiorella Sunset the best for the covered, rooftop-y patio. This outpost is offering a two-course, $25 brunch as well as a three-course, $45 dinner. For brunch, expect an appetizer (like the OG Baby Lettuces Salad), and an entrée (like a cacio e pepe pizza or pasta), and, if you come for dinner, you’ll get all that plus a budino or panna cotta parfait for dessert.
photo credit: Erin Ng
If you’re looking for a fancy Restaurant Week deal (and dishes that'll impress on a first date), this upscale Vietnamese spot is calling out your name. They’re offering both a $40, two-course lunch and a $65, three-course dinner. Food options that’ll likely send you to the moon include surf and turf garlic noodles, a roast beef phở dip sandwich, and a black coconut crape bánh xèo.
Chao Pescao is a party in Civic Center (and one that’s blaring salsa music at full volume), which is why the addition of their Colombian-Cuban menu to Restaurant Week is so exciting. For $75, you get a five-course dinner: pan de bono, tostones rellenos, a choice of empanada, and, for the mains, choose between ropa vieja, lechon, fried chicken, or a butcher’s filet (all are served with black beans, rice, plantains, and a glass of blanc de noirs). You’ll also get one of three desserts (tarta de queso, tembleque, or arroz con dulce de leche).
photo credit: Brit Finnegan
Hungry Cafe in Bayview’s Southeast Community Center is a cafe and coworking space with excellent Egyptian and North African dishes. Their menu for Restaurant Week is still pending, but if it’s anything like the Fall, expect a $25 brunch, which will hopefully include either a basterma toast with falafel on a bed of carrot hummus or a crunchy levant bánh mì and chickpea confit.
This waterfront Peruvian seafood spot near the Ferry Building is always a good time. For their latest celebration (Restaurant Week), they’re offering a $40, three-course lunch menu and a $90 three-course dinner menu. Expect classics from their main menu like ceviche clasico, lomo saltado, seafood taquitos, anticuchero, and a citrus and cream dessert.
Montesacro stands out for its oval-shaped Roman pizzas, a style that’s harder to find in the city. Their Spring Restaurant Week menu features a $25 lunch and a $45 dinner. Expect to get a choice of antipasti (some options include a bufala e asparagi or gnocchi alla romana), one Roman pinsa (like the Villa Gordiani with mozzarella, eggplant, arugula, calabrian chili, and ricotta salata), and a torta al cioccolato for dessert.
photo credit: Erin Ng
Penny Roma is Flour + Water’s sister restaurant, but their more traditional-leaning Italian dishes very much stand on their own. Which is why you should prioritize this spot for Restaurant Week. For $75 you’ll get loads of food: three appetizers (a crudo, a citrus and avocado salad, and prosciutto san daniele), two pastas (pansotti and rigatoni), a grilled pork chop with wild arugula, and a polenta cake for dessert.
photo credit: Sarah Felker
This wine bar (from the people behind Taqueria Los Mayas) serves only Mexican wines paired with great Yucatecan dishes. Stop by for a brunch ($30), lunch ($45), or dinner ($75) that each feature highlights from their regular menu, like chuletas de cordero, pipian con pato, chilaquiles de Maya, and silky sikil pak.
photo credit: Spencer Cotton
There are two locations of Burma Love, but we like the Mission outpost for its slightly warmer feel. They're offering a single-course $30 lunch (with rice, a side salad, and a non-alcoholic beverage) and a three-course $75 dinner. Both include stars from their regular menu such as a Burmese-style curry, eggplant shrimp with garlic sauce, and pork belly with mustard greens. Dinner also includes tea leaf salad, platha and dip, dessert, and a cocktail.
photo credit: Brit Finnegan
This '20s-inspired jazz supper club and soul food restaurant in Bayview also doubles as a violence prevention program. For Restaurant Week, they’re serving a three-course $45 dinner menu with your choice of an endive and arugula salad or tempura fried shrimp, a nine-spice seabass or smothered chicken, and a brownie with ice cream or a sweet potato tartlet with berries and whipped cream.
photo credit: Carly Hackbarth
There’s only one spot in the city that’s inspired by Taiwanese night markets, and it’s Piglet & Co. During Restaurant Week you can try exciting spins on Asian comfort dishes with their $75 seven-dish tasting menu. Expect a mix of trotter nuggets, mala BBQ pork ribs, honey walnut shrimp and pork toast, plus Taiwanese tea to keep you hydrated.
photo credit: Sarah Felker
We love the casual sister to Cantina Los Mayas anytime of year, but Restaurant Week really ups the ante. This time they’re offering a $15 lunch with a burrito, burrito bowl, two panuchos, or two sopes, plus a (non-alcoholic) drink. For dinner, expect a choice of nachos or a combo plate with protein (like cochinta pibil, pollo motuleño, or carne asada) rice, beans, and tortillas, plus a churro and a non-alcoholic drink, all for $30.
This Burmese institution in the Richmond makes enough tea leaf salad to power the city for decades—it’s that good. For Restaurant Week, they’re offering a two-course $25 lunch menu and a four-course $65 dinner menu, with hits like that previously mentioned tea leaf salad, pumpkin pork stew, and lamb curry.
photo credit: Carly Hackbarth
For $40, you can get your hands on some creamy, rich, and smoky gumbo in Bayview for lunch (or $45 for dinner). Gumbo Social’s Restaurant Week deal includes your pick of one of the three gumbos, one po’boy (they’re so good it’ll make you wonder why Po’boy Social doesn’t exist), a salad of the day, and the dessert of the day.
Under the Airbnb office in SoMa is the solid Spanish restaurant Bellota. We like this spacious spot for its versatility: big groups, date nights, and work dinners all feel at home here. Their Restaurant Week deal is a $45 dinner that includes one pintxo, like the bombas de arroz or jamón serrano, two tapas (choose from patatas bravas, esparragos, gambas, or carrilladas), and a seasonal dessert.
Harborview on the Embarcadero is where we go for a fancy dim sum experience and a view of the bay (the restaurant looks out over the Ferry Building). They’re offering a $65 set menu this Restaurant Week. You’ll get a deep-fried shrimp ball, cream of corn soup with crab morsels, a seared whole scallop, steak tenderloin with garlic noodles, and a chef’s choice dessert.
photo credit: Rad Radish
Rad Radish is a fast-casual Mediterranean-Italian-ish vegan spot in Hayes Valley that we like for their large selection of salads, grains bowls, pasta, and sandwiches. For Restaurant Week, look to their $15 lunch menu, which includes either a kale caesar or crispy chicken sandwich, and a chocolate chip cookie.
photo credit: Sarah Felker
Blue Plate in Bernal Heights is a casual Mediterranean-ish spot that serves excellent wines and an even more excellent fried chicken, which is luckily on their three-course Restaurant Week dinner menu. For $45, you’ll get a choice of one of their small plates (like smoked trout deviled eggs or little gems with green tahini), one main course (like the aforementioned fried chicken or an egg pappardelle), and one dessert (like a key lime pie or a dark chocolate sea salt brownie sundae).
photo credit: Wildseed
Wildseed is a vegan restaurant in Cow Hollow serving some of the better plant-based food in the city. Their menu skews Italian-Mediterranean-ish, and for Restaurant Week you’ll find both a $45 dinner menu and a $25 lunch menu. Expect things like an ensalada andalusia, polenta cakes, and a probiotic bowl.
