Unique Dining in San Francisco

When you have family or friends come to visit you in the city of San Francisco, you don’t want to take them to the same restaurants they have at home. When people go on vacation or visit new places, they want to try the best the city has to offer. San Francisco is bursting at the seams with incredible restaurants, bistros, and pubs offering up some of the most delicious foods their taste buds will ever experience.

If you have visitors coming into the area that you want to entertain, check out some of these great Bay Area restaurants.

Opaque – Dining in the Dark

One of the most unique dining experiences a person could ever have, dining in the dark at Opaque is nothing like you’ve ever seen before. Literally.

When your sense of sight is taken away, your other senses tend to take over. You’re led in to a pitch black restaurant for a multi-sensual dining experience that looks to enhance your sense of smell, touch, hearing, and especially taste.

Each set meal gives you a choice of appetizer, entrée, and dessert. For the appetizer, you’ll be able to choose from a baby greens salad with red plums, candied walnuts, creamy goat cheese with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing or an ahi tuna tartar with green onions, diced Asian pears, wanton crisps, wasabi aioli, and shiso in a sesame-soy vinaigrette. For the entrée, you can choose from pan roasted chicken breast, grilled salmon, grilled beef tenderloin or cavatappi pasta. For dessert, you’ll have a hard time choosing between the espresso panna cotta or the bittersweet chocolate cake.

Forbes Island

This is definitely a dining experience you won’t find anywhere else. After a short boat ride from Fisherman’s Wharf, you’ll be at the world’s only floating island restaurant. Forbes Island offers up a truly unique venue for any upcoming special event or dinner you may have planned. A quick word of warning, though, if you tend to experience sea sickness, this isn’t the place for you!

They offer several different dining rooms for you to choose from. However, we definitely recommend you try one of their two underwater dining areas. The main dining salon surrounds you with nautical antiques, a fireplace, full bar, and underwater portholes for you to gaze at the creatures of the deep through. For a truly special date night, you should reserve the Wine Cellar in advance. Since this room only accommodates two people, you’ll be able to dine in true seclusion surrounded by fine wines from around the world.

Straw

If the guests you have coming to visit include a few kids, you may want to consider taking everyone to Straw. Everyone will be wowed by the carnival and circus themed restaurant as well as the unique food options. This is a smaller restaurant, so you may have to wait, but if you’re lucky you may get seated in a carnival ride booth!

The menu is filled with carnival-inspired comfort food, and you’ll be able to see the theme throughout the venue and menu. When you leave, you’ll feel like a kid again!

We definitely recommend you try the sweet potato tots with blackberry BBQ sauce or the fried chicken-n-waffle monte christo. This dish is made up of fried chicken with a homemade waffle and is served with raspberry jam, maple syrup, and powdered sugar. To truly end the meal on a child-like note, order a root beer float or some cotton candy!

These are only just a few of the truly unique restaurants this fine city of San Francisco has to offer. If you have some friends and family coming in, take them to one of these locations for a dining experience they won’t soon forget!

Image Credit: freedigitalphotos.net/porbital