Jeremy’s Guide to the Mission in San Francisco
I’ve been living in the Mission neighborhood in SF for over 4 years now, and people are often visiting or just moving to town or just wanting to explore SF neighborhoods and looking for tips. There’s probably lots of guides and Yelp reviews out there already, but here’s a quick list of my favorite places in the Mission. There’s a lot of places and many will be missing, but this is my top curated list for now.
Food and Drinks
Tacos
When people think of the Mission, one of the first things that come to mind is the great taquerias. There’s lots of tacos and burritos in the Mission. I think there are 40 within a ten minute walk of my apartment.
Here are a few of the most popular ones — which are still very good.
Great tacos, long line, but moves fast — La Taqueria
Right next to bart, always popular — El Farolito
Popular late night taco spot — Taqueria Cancun
My favorite spot actually doesn’t even have a name. It’s the taqueria in Cava22. Burritos are always quick and great.
Easy Lunch (that’s not tacos)
Pica Pica — Venezuelan and a great spot for an Arepa, 15th and Valencia.
Serrano’s Pizza — Slices made on demand. The lunch special here is the best lunch deal in the Mission.
Dinner
Limon — Peruvian place, with two locations. Both are good. All the small plates.
Cafe Ethiopia — The has a good mix of cuisines and the Ethiopian spot is a great place to go.
Lolo — Always busy Mexican spot and a solid meal overall.
Whiz Burger — Casual outdoor spot to grab a burger.
Beretta — Trendy Italian and a great spot.
Yamo — This place is a small Burmese place witha lot of character. Get the house noodles.
There are also lots of well known 3-and-4 dollar-sign restaurants in the Mission that you may want to check out.
Brunch
Good Brunch without the Line — The Crepe House. Good brunch with the line at Wise Son’s Jewish deli.
Any Meal
St Francis Fountain is a fun diner and is a good spot to go for brunch, lunch or dinner.
Specialty
I don’t know what category some of these go under.
Mission Cheese — is a fun spot that has exactly what it sounds like, wine and cheese.
Mission Pie is a good spot to hangout and get… a slice of pie.
Dandelion Chocolate is a little chocolate place and just a great spot to visit. The desserts they put together are really fun or you can get a hot chocolate or something else.
Bars
Check out Revolution Cafe for live music 7 nights a week. It’s always jam-packed at night.
Latin America Club has a nice funky atmosphere.
Doc’s Clock is a good low-key spot, also for shuffleboard.
Shotwells is a nice beer bar, also good for pool.
Zeitgeist has a nice big outdoor space, and a good place to hang out.
El Techo is a nice spot with a rooftop view and very trendy. Better when there’s not a long line.
Southern Pacific big open space with food and drinks and very fun.
Trick Dog — I don’t go a lot, but the cocktails are pretty creative, so worth mentioning.
The Other Stuff (kind of also food and drinks)
Activities
Urban Putt is an indoor mini-golf/bar place with some really intricate designs and a creatively designed course. 22nd and South Van Ness.
Parks
Dolores Park is a top spot in the mission to hang out on the weekends. There’s always people drinking, picnicking, playing frisbee, spikeball, soccer, playing music, reading, juggling and much more. Bring sandwiches from Mission Picnic or Rhea’s or grab ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery or wait in a very long line at Tartine bakery right nearby.
The One-Day Mission Tourist Day
Note: This would be very expensive to do this in one day
St. Francis Fountain for brunch. Walk around Valencia St then down 24th St. Grab a La Taqueria taco then head to Dandelion Chocolate before going to Dolores Park. Grab some Bi-Rite ice cream. Check out the El Techo rooftop for happy hour and then head to Beretta for dinner. Grab a drink at Latin America Club then catch some music at Revolution Cafe. At this point the day and night is over and you can either go home, or grab another late night taco at Taqueria Cancun.
