Diners' Choice: Lively restaurants in San Francisco Bay Area

OpenTable

Updated June 05, 2025

Looking for restaurants that have the most vibrant bar scenes in San Francisco Bay Area? You’re in the right place. Each month, OpenTable analyzes nearly 2 million global diner reviews from the past four months. We sort the results by location and category to help you discover new favorite restaurants. It's a great partnership: you reserve, eat, and review. We listen...and deliver the results for all to benefit. Enjoy!

Velvet 48 Wine Bar

5.0

5 (85)

$31 to $50

Wine Bar

Burlingame

About the restaurant

Velvet 48 is a premium wine bar in downtown Burlingame started by 20-year wine industry veteran, Jason Cooper. We offer over 40 wines by the glass, 1100 wines by the bottle, a cultivated beer selection, and a variety of delicious savory and sweet small plates.

We have wines across every price point so there is something for everyone, from the casual wine drinker to the wine aficionado, who will be impressed by a wine collection that houses some of the finest wines in the world. We aim to cultivate an experience for our guests that starts with a complimentary splash of our house label, Velvet 48 Sparkling wine, followed by outstanding service from our Wine Specialists to guide you through our expansive list. We offer a discount of 25% off bottles purchased TO GO.

Due to the nature of our alcoholic license, we are unable to allow anyone under 21 on the premises, including infants.

Thank your for your understanding.

Top review

Michael

Dined on Apr 5, 2025

Hundreds of wines to choose, from local to worldwide. Knowledgable and friendly staff, chic tasting room, always great vibes and good tunes spinning when we visit Velvet 48!

Tacolicious - Marina

4.9

4.9 (64)

$30 and under

Mexican

Marina / Cow Hollow / Presidio

About the restaurant

Tacolicious is a casual, modern Mexican restaurant with locations in San Francisco and Palo Alto. We source our ingredients responsibly, take our tacos as seriously as our cocktails, and offer a fun sit-down, full-service experience. We have outdoor dining and private rooms and do off-site catering. Go to tacolicious.com for more information; catering requests can be sent to events@tacolicious.com.

Questions? Please email us at marina_management@tacolicious.com. We reply to emails quickly!

Top review

RobertVIP

Dined 2 days ago

Very good food at reasonable prices Moderate noise level

Burma Love

4.9

4.9 (86)

$31 to $50

Burmese

SOMA

About the restaurant

Located in San Francisco, Burma Love is the contemporary younger sister to the Burma Superstar Family of Restaurants.

Our restaurants are divided between a semi-private bar area and main dining room, so whether you are looking for a place to have an intimate dinner date, or an eventful night out with your family and friends, Burma Love fits the bill.

Top review

ReinaVIP

Dined 2 days ago

Always love coming here. The tea leaf salad is a must. Only problem is it gets really noisy, so when it’s busy it’s hard to hear the company you are with. Food and service is always great.

Speisekammer

4.8

4.8 (1644)

$30 and under

German

Alameda

About the restaurant

Traditional German cuisine- Pickup-take out & delivery through UberEats, Postmates & Grubhub- Limited outdoor dining.

Top review

Renee

Dined 2 days ago

I recently had dinner at Speisekammer. I was impressed. Great service, friendly staff, the food was tasty, and, the portions were substantial. They offer a great selection of beers and a variety of cocktails as well, at reasonable prices, which I really appreciated. I also like that they have outdoor seating if you like to dine alfresco. Fur babies are welcomed...

Spasso

4.8

4.8 (1393)

$30 and under

Italian

San Carlos

About the restaurant

Spasso features Italian, Mediterranean cuisine and Tapas. Spasso has been a new favorite neighborhood destination located in San Carlos on Laurel Street. Spasso features an extensive Napa Valley and Italian wine selection, and a full bar with specialized cocktails are available. Our waitstaff are consistently friendly, knowledgeable and attentive. And, the atmosphere is lively and exciting.

Top review

mary

Dined 6 days ago

Spasso is a neighborhood gem. Service was fantastic, food wonderful and the price was very good.

Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge

4.8

4.8 (452)

$30 and under

Cocktail Bar

Alameda

About the restaurant

About
Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge is a tropical vacation spot right in the middle of your hometown! Serving award-winning, world famous classic and exotic cocktails along with many original recipes, along with some tasty snacks, Forbidden Island is a retro-oasis in the desert of your busy modern day! Now open indoors (seated capacity only) as well as outdoors in our Tiki Garden/ Patio, 7 days a week.

* Please note that all reservations are limited to 90 minutes for groups of 1-3 and 2 hours for groups of 4-8.

Top review

Amanda

Dined 1 day ago

I still love that you can reserve a table - best thing from covid! I also love that there is outdoor and indoor seating. Great music not too loud fun atmosphere and friendly sporty service. The drinks of course were amazing per usual and the food has improved - had the forbidden fries and cups with guacamole. We rode our bikes there and they even allowed us to park them inside the gate which was very nice!

Tacolicious - Palo Alto

4.8

4.8 (217)

$30 and under

Mexican

Palo Alto

About the restaurant

Tacolicious is a casual, modern Mexican restaurant with locations in San Francisco and Palo Alto. We source our ingredients responsibly, take our tacos as seriously as our cocktails, and offer a fun sit-down, full-service experience.

Large party of 12 +? Email us at palo_alto_management@tacolicious.com and we'll fit you in. We have outdoor dining, a great private room and do off-site catering. Go to tacolicious.com for more information; catering requests can be sent to events@tacolicious.com.

Top review

Tony - SherylVIP

Dined 1 day ago

Tacos were very tasty & tortillas most delicious, but think $7+ taco is over-priced. Whole Pinto Beans (since Black Beans are likely canned) vs. visually unappealing Refritos should be offered. Had to ask for ordered Sides, forgotten when Tacos delivered. $13 Single-serving Chicken Soup size should be sharable... had to practically beg for 2 Salsa bowls for 2 small portions. And, fyi... where are the spoons for serving up delicious Salsas? Music is uninteresting Pop & several decibels too loud!!! A Soundtrack for monotony, it prohibits normal conversation. 1/3 Bathrooms required serious cleaning attention. Implement hourly Check/Maintenance schedul.e OK. Bastante!

Paradise Sushi and Hibachi

4.7

4.7 (95)

$31 to $50

Sushi

Santa Rosa

About the restaurant

Paradise Sushi strives to offer customers a family-friendly service and the best ingredients ranging from our homemade sauces to the freshest fish.

Always looking for a way to innovate its sushi, and the atmosphere to give customers an experience to remember.

Here at Paradise Sushi, our goal os ti provide good food, good service and a place where family and friends can come together to have a great time.

Thank you for choosing Paradise Sushi

Top review

Maribel

Dined 6 days ago

It was a better experience with out cook Alejandro!Food was amazing!

Saucy Oakland

4.6

4.6 (167)

$30 and under

Asian

Oakland

About the restaurant

Saucy Oakland features fun and delicious Pan-Asian dishes like the Thai Corndog, Hamachi spoons, soy-braised beef short ribs, and garlic noodles. Enjoy our original dishes with a selection of premium sake, sake spritzers, wine, beer, soft drinks, and tea.

We are currently accepting reservations for lunch (Tue-Fri) for parties of 5 or more. We currently DO NOT offer TABLE SERVICE for lunch. We hope to provide this service in the future. Please order at the counter when you arrive.

Happy Hour and Dinner (Wed-Sat).
Brunch on Sundays from 11-2:30PM

Saucy Oakland is a fun and creatively driven project put together by locals Chef Tony and Jenni in 2015. They've partnered up their passion for food to deliver their take on a fun concept that focuses on friends mingling over great food.

Top review

andrea

Dined on Jun 15, 2025

Super tasty and great service! Did the prix fix - totally worth it!

Explore Diners' Choice best of San Francisco Bay Area

Explore more Diners' Choice lists