You should definitely try Dal Rae in Pico Rivera, in Los Angeles County. You won't go wrong with their New York Peppercorn Steak or their Sea Bass a la Ban (not on the menu), and their Banana Souffle is great. If you're into Asian food, you should definitely check Gardena/Torrance for Japanese food, San Gabriel/Monterey Park/Rowland Heights/Arcadia for Chinese/Taiwanese food, and Garden Grove/Koreatown for Korean food.
Me and my girlfriend love going out to eat all the time. Kind of an issue as I'm a broke college student, but here are some non-expensive casual food spots to check out in the Bay Area if you are in those areas. http://www.yelp.com/biz/sia-fusion-eatery-newark Korean fusion stuff, also have some good soju. They have bulgolgi items on everything. Bulgolgi cheese steaks, cheese fries, rolls, etc. http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-taco-shop-at-underdogs-san-francisco-2 This is in the Sunset District of San Francisco. Try the "Nick's Way" tacos. Amazing. http://www.yelp.com/biz/umami-burger-san-francisco#query:umami burgers Umami Burger is in SoCal as well, but one of the best burgers I've ever had. The Oxtail Burger was amazing. http://www.yelp.com/biz/top-dog-berkeley Top Dog is a must when you're in the Berkeley area. http://www.yelp.com/biz/cream-berkeley-2 And then around the block is CREAM. Basically a routine when in Berkeley. http://www.yelp.com/biz/ikes-place-san-francisco http://www.yelp.com/biz/little-lucca-sandwich-shop-and-deli-south-san-francisco And here's some amazing sandwich places. http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-house-san-francisco Another great Asian fusion place. http://www.yelp.com/biz/tpumps-san-francisco And me being Asian, we love that boba. This is my favorite milk tea/tea place in the Bay Area. Wait can be long at certain times, very popular place. Sorry for the long post, a lot of locations.
It depends (mainly on your age). If you want to cover SF and LA by car in a week, it'll be extremely superficial. If you've never been to the West Coast, I'd say SF is probably a lot more different from the rest of the country than LA (as one of my classmate put it, I went to LA hoping for sophistication of New York and hospitality of Houston, but found sophistication of Houston and hospitality of New York). Anyway, enough dumping on LA. From Sacramento heading south- 1. First stop, wine country, if you're into that sort of thing. Wine. Fine dining (too late for reservation at French Laundry, but it's overrated anyway in my opinion). Spas. Hot springs. Etc. Allow 1 day for sobering up, I mean, the full experience. 2. Optional stop on the way south. Shuck your own oysters, if that's your thing. http://tomalesbayoysters.com/ 3. Next stop, SF. No shame doing tourist thing if it's your first time. Golden Gate Bridge/Park. Muir Woods. Pier 39. Alcatraz. Lombard Street. Coit Tower. Japan Town. China Town. Union Square. Ride the cable car (hint: don't wait in the long tourist lines at the end of stations - hop on at any one of the stops). Watch sunset over the Golden Gate at Greens (http://www.greensrestaurant.com/ - but it's vegetarian...). Or focus on the palate and goto House of Prime Rib if you can fit that in (unless you're going down to LA, then I've been told to just skip this and goto Lawry's). You can probably do it all in one day, or you can spend a week or more drinking it all in. 4. Heading south, Half Moon Bay. The spa at the Ritz Carlton is fantastic. Catch their brunch if you can. If you are a golfer, I've been told that their course does a good approximation of what playing golf in Scotland is like. Sam's Chowder is also in this area. You'll have had enough chowder in SF, but get their lobster roll. Don't know how it compares to Maine/Boston, but pretty good in my estimation. 5. Further south, or alternatively to Half Moon Bay, sometimes people stop by Stanford on the peninsula, but I think it's really not all that compared to east coast university campuses. If you're in the area and steak is your thing, you can swing by Alexander's Steakhouse. I think it's overrated, but steak lovers swear by it. 6. Continuing south, Monterey. The aquarium is one of the tops in the world (though Sydney's is better, if you've ever been to that one, skip this one). More seafood. (http://www.yelp.com/biz/grotto-fish-market-monterey - get their dungeness crab special if they still have it -- a whole crab comes out on a chopping block with a big meat hammer, and their chowder is actually much better than any I've had in SF or Half Moon Bay). More Pacific scenery. 17 Mile. Carmel. All good and fun and relaxed. And of course, golf, if that's your thing (too late for reservations). 7. http://www.postranchinn.com/accommodations/tree/, just for ****s and giggles. If you have time left over from all that, then I guess continue driving south towards LA. You might double back and try to get on I5 to save time - the rest of the coastal drive will not offer much more sights than Monterey. On the I5, stop by http://www.harrisranch.com/dine_restaurant.php. They supply the beef to In-n-Out, so might as well go straight to the source.
Not much to see in Sacramento. Maybe check out the outdoors mall downtown? San Fran is nice. Check out the golden gate bridge, cruise tours, the outdoors mall downtown, etc. If you're plan on cruising down the 101 maybe check out the Monterey Bay aquarium. They have bicycle rentals where you can ride along the Monterey bay coast. Pretty fun. You can do a lot in LA. You have the Santa Monica outdoors mall, Venice Beach, etc. Just depends on what you like. I highlighted malls a lot since the gf always wants to shop.
As someone else mentioned, Fisherman's wharf in SF is pretty lame. I used to live there, and worked right by the wharf. Worst restaurants in town are clustered here to serve lots of people, not to serve good food. The bright side is that if you don't ever see seals and sea lions where you live, you can see them up close at the wharf. But, don't eat there. Some people love the Alatraz tours and some people hate it. you need to get tix in advance if you are going to do it. It always sells out. Good places to eat in SF. As someone mentioned, Umami Burger is good. Don Pisto's is good Mexican food. Excellent pastor tacos. If Don Pisto's is too crowded, you can to to Tony's for pizza right around the corner. Some magazine voted it best pizza in the US. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's very good. Harris steak house is awesome. Truly Mediterranean has the best lamb Shawarmas on the planet. B-Star Bar and Burma Superstar are AWESOME. Seriously. Both owned by the same people and right down the street from each other in the Richmond district. B-Star bar takes reservations. Burma Superstar doesn't. Do yourself a favor and eat at one of these 2 places while in SF. If you are into beer, go to the Toronado for the best selection in SF. It's kind of a dive though. If you want to go somewhere nice with views, Caprice in Tiburon is very good and they have some of the best views in the bay area. Le Garage in Sausalito is a good spot for lunch or brunch. Renting a bike in the bay area is a good idea if you're in decent shape. Los Angeles is a great place to sit in traffic and breathe in smog. I'd rather to to Santa Cruz or wine country or Tahoe or San Diego instead. Auburn Alehouse, right outside of Sacramento has pretty good food and pretty good beer. Skip the malls. Duh.
Also, don't take I-5 from SF to LA. One of the biggest, stinkiest slaughterhouses in the US is on this strip of road, and if you go at the wrong time, you'll be nautious for about 45 minutes from the smell. Take 101 instead and you can stop in San Luis Obispo or Paso Robles or Santa Barbara. (All of these places are better options than LA in my opinion.
LOL, for someone who's never been to the west coast, the suggestion is for him to go eat at freaking Burma Superstar? I thought this place couldn't be any more overrated but I guess I lack imagination. To the OP, Burma Superstar is a hole in the wall for people too cool to eat Thai or Malaysian food. http://www.yelp.com/biz/burma-superstar-san-francisco
Well. I've been to these places several times. Mostly in groups of friends, and everyone I know loves them. So, I highly recommend Burma Superstar. But since they don't take reservations. B-Star Bar is probably a better option to avoid standing in line on a sidewalk for an hour.
Got a good deal from hipmunk on travel. But now debating just sticking in San Fran for 3 days instead of trying to split that small window between 2 cities. Figure it'll be money saved and time saved. Any other San Francisco suggestions? Is it worth going to a Warriors game?
No, don't go to Warriors game - waste of time. Plenty to do in the city. Marina Fort Mason - check out the views from the park on the hill, good for day drinking Marina Green - throw the football around here Crissy Field - stop at the Beach Hut for some coffee, and hang out at the beach Chestnut Street - lunch at Tacolicious or Delarosa, drinks at Monahans or Tipsy Pig Union Street - some good burger joints here: Umami, Roam, and Marengo North Beach Cafe Sapore - Lombard and Taylor - good place for coffee prior to checking out crooked street Walk up to Coit Tower from some pictures Brunch at Cafe Devine next to the park if Mama's is too packed Pizza at Golden Boy or Tony's Beers at Columbus Cafe or Vesuvio Grab a six-pack or some wine at Coit Liquors and day drink at Washington Square Park Mission Dinner here at least one night - Limon Rotisserie, Abbott's Cellar, Andalu, Maverick, Range, Gajalee, Dosa, Beretta, Flour+Water, etc are all good spots If you're drunk try an original Mission burrito from one of the many taquerias (Taqueria Cancun, Taqueria Los Coyotes, La Cumbre, etc) Drinks at Monk's Kettle Ice Cream at Bi-Rite, then hang at Dolores Park and day drink Other Sights Land's End - walk through the Sutro Baths Golden Gate Park/Ocean Beach trek is worth it Presidio
Nah. You will smell the stench but it lasts only momentarily. Most people are whizzing by with the windows up so by the time you notice the smell it'll be gone. If you want to save time and gas, I-5 is that fastest commute between SF and LA.
Bumping this thread, heading to San Francisco for the week (and weekend) and would appreciate any ideas... taking a lady-friend with me, and she wants to hit up some of the art galleries and museums, which are the best?
Thanks! Just an FYI for others who search and/or visit in the future. Reddit has a huge list of stuff here - http://www.reddit.com/r/AskSF/wiki/index EDIT: More here too - http://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/hhted/compilation_of_the_what_to_do_in_sf_threads/
I lived in Monterey for 2 years. It's absolutely wonderful. Big Sur is a must also. Best 2 years of my life.
Oh yeah if anyone finds themselves in Monterey, Compagno's has the best sandwiches I have ever eaten in my life. I ***** you not you will never have a better sandwich.
