Izzy's Steakhouse

When we get asked for suggestions for out of towners visiting SF, we often suggest places like Kokkari, State Bird, or Cotogna. But those places aren't for everyone. For the hardcore, red-blooded carnivores in your life, there's Izzy's Steakhouse.

Izzy's is for the old school people who want their bread with butter rather than olive oil, their steak to look like exactly like what it is (a large slab of animal meat), and to not have to ask any questions about the menu. It’s the kind of joint where, when the food comes out, everyone stops talking. Eating time.

Izzy’s has been around since the late 1980s, and it’s a classic Marina establishment in the vein of Marina Lounge (a.k.a. the Cheers of the Marina) and the tables are full basically every night of the week. Why? The friendly service makes you feel like a local no matter how long you’ve lived here, and the traditional steakhouse food is pretty damn good. Izzy’s is a place where bibs are fully acceptable and first dates are highly discouraged. You need to be very comfortable housing enormous portions with your dining companions.

The set up is pretty standard steakhouse - an entree with two sides. And the portions are not messing around. We usually go for the steamed broccoli and one of the potato options. The seating options are classic wood tables or cozy leather booths, where you can check out all the historical photos on the wall and observe the vast amount of sauces that surround pretty much every table. This is a place where your breadbaskets arrive with a butter basket, and that butter is wrapped in foil, not shaped into a lotus blossom. Dig in.