San Jose has better ethnic restaurants than San Francisco (Oakland: luxury, live in)

[Radical347]

I've been thinking about this lately and it seems that this is the case! Of course SF has always been a famous foodie destination, and I know SF has plenty of trendy restaurants (not sure how SJ is on that), but when it comes to foods from different countries there are plenty of things that I've had a craving for that I can barely find SF, and then I find out that San Jose has tons.

I've found SJ to easily have a better selection of Persian, Afghan, Indian, Korean, & Ethiopian food -- I'll even say they have better Japanese and Vietnamese. SF is famous for Chinese but San Jose gives SF a pretty darn good run for its money & I guess Thai is roughly on par too. The only cuisine I can think of that SF is clearly better on is Russian.

To be fair, I know San Jose is bigger population wise, especially when you throw in Santa Clara/Sunnyvale areas. Whereas I'm not including Oakland/Berkeley. For the reason that I don't consider it practical as a SF resident to go to the East Bay just to eat whereas I don't think a San Jose resident would think twice about going to Sunnyvale for dinner...or vice versa. I could include the peninsula for SF but that wouldn't change anything except for give SF a slight Filipino food advantage. But I'm just surprised, because San Francisco is famous for many things, especially food...but it seems to be better in San Jose.

[krudmonk]

To be fair, when I lived in Evergreen, going all the way to Santa Clara would have been quite a trek. From where I am now, though, I can ride my bike to Santa Clara like it's no big deal. The luxury is not uniform across the valley.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Better Thai, Italian, Halal Pakistani, Spanish, French, Burmese and Indonesian in SF. These are the gaps in the South Bay foodie world.

[treedonkey]

I think the main difference is this... If you're looking for a little, family run ethnic restaurant, prepared and served by people of THAT ethnicity, then I'd say the south bay is your best bet. If you want a more upscale restaurant with an ethnic flare then SF will offer you some really creative ethnic dining options.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Even for the mom and pops, the City is better for the things I mentioned. But I will grant that for the cuisines mentioned by Radical, the South Bay is superior, with the exception of Ethiopian, a complete wash between the City and South Bay - they both suck (it is well known that Oakland is THE PLACE). Radical also forgot to mention Vietnamese - that one's a no brainer, the South Bay is king. For Mexican, it's a wash.

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

Even for the mom and pops, the City is better for the things I mentioned. But I will grant that for the cuisines mentioned by Radical, the South Bay is superior, with the exception of Ethiopian, a complete wash between the City and South Bay - they both suck (it is well known that Oakland is THE PLACE). Radical also forgot to mention Vietnamese - that one's a no brainer, the South Bay is king. For Mexican, it's a wash.

I actually did mention Vietnamese for the South Bay. (Of which SF is decent, but does not compare to SJ/SV.)

My friends who live in the South Bay say Ethiopian is way better there than in SF; I did notice an abundance of Ethiopian restaurants in San Jose & have not been impressed with SF's either (that one in the Mission in particular is unimpressive) but I could see them being better in Oakland. Perhaps I'll go to one next time I'm in the East Bay.

Yeah, I couldn't figure out which to put Mexican/Latin American in. I do know both areas have plenty. True about French/Spanish being better in SF. I forgot about them because those just usually do not cross my mind. You are right about Burmese & Indonesian too (it does seem like a number of Burmese restaurants have popped up recently in the City, enough to form a critical mass.) Italian though - I know SF has a big Ital. population but I have not been impressed with any of their restaurants I have been to here. They could be even worse in SJ, though.

[Snort]

Names! I want names!
Put down your best restaurant tip.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by Snort

Names! I want names!
Put down your best restaurant tip.

Yelp it.


Oh, and East SJ is the place for authentic Mexican, and there are plenty of very good Ethiopian places around here (try Gojo).