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OHHHHHHH you're talking about SF. The city that barely gives you any friggin food for a crapload I money. A crappy salad there would cost you 23 dollars and all it comes with is a peice of lettuce and a tomato. How could SF be over Philly? Our food carts are better than their entire restaurants. I'd say SF is a better place for vegitarians though haha (which no one cares about).
So you went to a tourist trap (or three) and now you know SF food? lol
In all seriousness though, I also find food in SF to generally be overpriced and I live here. There's a lot of places that aren't overpriced and even a few places that are actually cheap but in my experience they raise the prices when they get on the radar of enough people.
Oakland's much better for eating on a budget than SF and IMO the quality of low and mid-tier restaurants tends to be markedly better in Oakland than in SF.
So you went to a tourist trap (or three) and now you know SF food? lol
In all seriousness though, I also find food in SF to generally be overpriced and I live here. There's a lot of places that aren't overpriced and even a few places that are actually cheap but in my experience they raise the prices when they get on the radar of enough people.
Oakland's much better for eating on a budget than SF and IMO the quality of low and mid-tier restaurants tends to be markedly better in Oakland than in SF.
Hold up I didn't say all of the BA, I said SF. I spent an entire week in the Bay and had better food in Oakland than SF. Like this one Mexican food place is easily one of my favorites of all time. It's in Oakland and its all a buffet. That's what I'm talking about.
1) San Antonio - Best Mexican food north of the border IMHO
2) NYC - Diversity and sheer amount of eating establishments speaks for itself
3) Chicago - While not quite as diverse as NYC, the pizza is better
4) San Francisco - Outstanding Asian food, seafood is good as well
5) Anchorage - Seafood is every bit as good as what the Northeast offers
6) Kansas City - BBQ might be the best in the land
7) Denver - Very underrated Mexican food
8) Omaha - America's steak capital
9) Birmingham - BBQ is very underrated (very different than KC style, but still very good)
10) Des Moines - Surprising amount of food diversity (Fong's is pizza with an Asian twist), lots of local flavors including loose meat and pork tenderloin sandwiches
Hold up I didn't say all of the BA, I said SF. I spent an entire week in the Bay and had better food in Oakland than SF. Like this one Mexican food place is easily one of my favorites of all time. It's in Oakland and its all a buffet. That's what I'm talking about.
Usually when out of towners say SF they really mean the Bay Area, my bad. Sadly though a lot of people actually do think that SF is the be-all and end-all of Bay Area food... Smh. I guess I can't really complain though when that's more than likely what keeps the food prices down outside of SF.
So you went to a tourist trap (or three) and now you know SF food? lol
In all seriousness though, I also find food in SF to generally be overpriced and I live here. There's a lot of places that aren't overpriced and even a few places that are actually cheap but in my experience they raise the prices when they get on the radar of enough people.
Oakland's much better for eating on a budget than SF and IMO the quality of low and mid-tier restaurants tends to be markedly better in Oakland than in SF.
The COL of San Francisco is high which is probably one of the reasons, honestly. I see the same thing here in Chicago in neighborhoods like River North, Gold Coast, South Loop and West Loop...and to a small extent, Lincoln Park. The COL of these areas is high for the city and where many tourists stay, and where many "famous" chefs want to open their places. Once you get out of the areas, the average price of food goes down (obviously a lot of neighborhoods have their expensive food, but that's not the norm)
The COL of San Francisco is high which is probably one of the reasons, honestly. I see the same thing here in Chicago in neighborhoods like River North, Gold Coast, South Loop and West Loop...and to a small extent, Lincoln Park. The COL of these areas is high for the city and where many tourists stay, and where many "famous" chefs want to open their places. Once you get out of the areas, the average price of food goes down (obviously a lot of neighborhoods have their expensive food, but that's not the norm)
San Francisco has some neighborhoods where food is relatively cheap (Excelsior, Ingleside, Inner Sunset, Inner Richmond, etc.) but they are all tucked away in corner pockets of the City... The heart of the City is for the most part ridiculously overpriced food-wise IMO.
I don't know about top 10 since it all becomes similar at some point, but out of the cities I've been too, my top 5:
1. NYC-Everything
2. Montreal-So many great restaurants, but does much more need to be said after the word poutine
3. San Francisco-Like others have said, great seafood and asian restaurants
4. Chicago-Great steak, pizza, and of course, the italian beef sandwiches
5. Los Angeles-Mexican food is unbelievable
Los Angeles
New York
Bay Area
Chicago
Houston
Dallas
Miami
Boston
Washington
New Orleans
Seattle
Las Vegas
I eat ethnic food everyday of my life. Some days it's Mexican, other days it's Thai, the next it's Chinese, the next it's Japanese, the next it's French, the next it's Nigerian, the next it's American Barbeque. So on.
I personally find plentiful diverse cities the best (with an exception to New Orleans on that spicy seafood) and my favorite foods are (in order): Mexican, Thai, Korean, Chinese, French, Persian Kabobs/Mediterranean food, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, Nigerian, ethnic fusion.
Tried a Thai restaurant there, was average. Went to Italian Market pretty spectacular actually but need to try some more Philadelphia joints. Possibly in May because I'm moving in June so I want to see more of Philadelphia before I have a "final judgment" on the city for anything.
I haven't much experience in New Orleans for food either but spicy stuff so they get a pass from me and Las Vegas does for their high profile chefs and restaurants, I can expect great eats there even though I haven't been.
I'm still playing around with getting a feel for Philadelphia on everything.
San Francisco has some neighborhoods where food is relatively cheap (Excelsior, Ingleside, Inner Sunset, Inner Richmond, etc.) but they are all tucked away in corner pockets of the City... The heart of the City is for the most part ridiculously overpriced food-wise IMO.
The Tenderloin has some good cheap Vietnamese and Indian/Pakistani restaurants as well--and I went to a pretty good Burmese place on Larkin also.
I think a lot of what people experience as visitors to San Francisco are the most famous areas for tourists namely Chinatown, North Beach, and Union Square. In general, I've found that there's good places in most parts of the city, but if you just walk into a random Italian place in North Beach, you might find it to be fairly mediocre and pricey for what you're getting.
But it's true everywhere. Random restaurants in many cities in the world can be hit or miss--it's better to have some good recommendations or do some research. Generally I'll find that in a lot of cities the best places to eat that locals are going to aren't always in the most obvious places. Which is why when people go to a city for the first time and drop into a couple restaurants in the tourist district and aren't impressed with them--and then suddenly act like an expert on that given city--while if they had anyone to give them advice on where to go they could've eaten like a king.
San Francisco is fairly expensive for dining out though. Hell, there's a couple places in San Francisco I've been going to my whole life for cioppino that I love--that are basically very overpriced at this point.
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