Visiting San Fran?

[mosetti]

I am getting off this bit of coral reef for a week and I am going to San Francisco. Got some questions for anyone that lives, works, or has visited there.

1. Where is a good place to stay?
2. Other than Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Chinatown what is good to see?
3. I have never been to the west coast (I am from Maryland and have not been back to the US in nearly 4 years), who makes the best hamburger out there?
4. Barbeque ribs?
5. Where is a good pub (preferably Irish) that has a Guinness pump?

I would appreciate any comments and suggestions. Thanks a lot!

[cst.sb]

I am getting off this bit of coral reef for a week and I am going to San Francisco. Got some questions for anyone that lives, works, or has visited there.

1. Where is a good place to stay?
2. Other than Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Chinatown what is good to see?
3. I have never been to the west coast (I am from Maryland and have not been back to the US in nearly 4 years), who makes the best hamburger out there?
4. Barbeque ribs?
5. Where is a good pub (preferably Irish) that has a Guinness pump?

I would appreciate any comments and suggestions. Thanks a lot!

Fishermen's wharf is not bad. When I was there my girl-friend and I took day tour through grayline tours on the first day, and then we went back to the places we liked later.

We stayed at the Park55 it's right near Union Square and there are lots of pubs and places to eat near by.

Try and book Alcatraz right away because sometimes it books up and you might have to get tickets through a tour company. You'll love it. It's how a prison should be! Cold, miserable, iron bars, and you can hear the New Year's Eve partying across the bay.

[BaseballBabe]

Yes, book right now if you want to go see Alcatraz Island. I live in Alameda which is right across from San Francisco and even when I want to see the Island. I have to book it in advance.

You can goto Coit Tower. If you like baseball and depending on when you go. You can see the Giants play. Or goto a 49 whinners game.

If you get a chance you might take a bus ride to the Wine Country up in Napa. Its really beautiful around this time of the year.

O'Reillys is the BEST Irish Pub in San Fran!


Here is a link to check out.

I will pm you with more.

http://www.sfvisitor.org/

BBB

[lsmalibu]

Congratulations on your decision to see the most beautiful city in the world.

1. Depends on how much you want to spend.
2. Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, Muir Woods, see a Giants game at the coolest park in MLB, North Beach, Haight & Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, the Polo Grounds, ride a cable car, tour the Anchor Brewing Company, visit the Maritime Museum, the SFPD Academy might have a museum, on and on.
3. You can't come to California and not have an In-N-Out Burger. There's one right on Fisherman's Wharf. Get the Double Double with onions. Mmmm...
4. Ribs?!? No one comes to SF for ribs! That's what Kansas City and Memphis are for! People come to SF for seafood. Allioto's is a long-time favorite. For upscale seafood with an Italian flair, the North Beach Cafe is tops (and probably my favorite restaurant of all time)
5. Not a fan of Guinness, so I don't frequent Irish pubs too much, but I've heard a lot about O'Reilly's. So trust BB on that one.

[BaseballBabe]

Congratulations on your decision to see the most beautiful city in the world.

1. Depends on how much you want to spend.
2. Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, Muir Woods, see a Giants game at the coolest park in MLB, North Beach, Haight & Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, the Polo Grounds, ride a cable car, tour the Anchor Brewing Company, visit the Maritime Museum, the SFPD Academy might have a museum, on and on.
3. You can't come to California and not have an In-N-Out Burger. There's one right on Fisherman's Wharf. Get the Double Double with onions. Mmmm...
4. Ribs?!? No one comes to SF for ribs! That's what Kansas City and Memphis are for! People come to SF for seafood. Allioto's is a long-time favorite. For upscale seafood with an Italian flair, the North Beach Cafe is tops (and probably my favorite restaurant of all time)
5. Not a fan of Guinness, so I don't frequent Irish pubs too much, but I've heard a lot about O'Reilly's. So trust BB on that one.

Yuck... In N Out Burgers are gross. I had one and I didn't like it. But god damn were they fast at getting them out!

I've been to O'Reilly's three times but its well known and VERY popular

[Welpe]

In-N-Out...GROSS? Argh, such heresey!!! Other than In-N-Out, I think Fuddrucker's makes some dee-lish hamburgers. I'm not sure if they are national or not, but we have them in the Bay Area.

It looks like malibu touched on the good spots to visit, I second Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Coit Tower, Lombard St. and Golden Gate park. Those are just a few, you could literally spend a week in SF and still not see everything.

If you like old military forts, check out Fort Point near the Golden Gate bridge. It was built before the Civil War and was used as coastal defense up through the Cold War.

Another fun thing to do is to hike around the Marin Headlands. You can find a lot of WWI and WWII era bunkers and coastal artillery emplacements.

I have an SF visitors map that has a bunch of tourist areas on it, let me know and I will mail it to you.

Edit: Another thing, if you like baseball at all, do yourself a favor and at least check out Pacbell Park (SBC, whatever it is called now). It's a neat ball field. If you like good Mexican food, check out La Cumbre's in the Mission District. Mmmm, tasty!

[BaseballBabe]

In-N-Out...GROSS? Argh, such heresey!!! Other than In-N-Out, I think Fuddrucker's makes some dee-lish hamburgers. I'm not sure if they are national or not, but we have them in the Bay Area.

It looks like malibu touched on the good spots to visit, I second Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Coit Tower, Lombard St. and Golden Gate park. Those are just a few, you could literally spend a week in SF and still not see everything.

If you like old military forts, check out Fort Point near the Golden Gate bridge. It was built before the Civil War and was used as coastal defense up through the Cold War.

Another fun thing to do is to hike around the Marin Headlands. You can find a lot of WWI and WWII era bunkers and coastal artillery emplacements.

I have an SF visitors map that has a bunch of tourist areas on it, let me know and I will mail it to you.

Edit: Another thing, if you like baseball at all, do yourself a favor and at least check out Pacbell Park (SBC, whatever it is called now). It's a neat ball field. If you like good Mexican food, check out La Cumbre's in the Mission District. Mmmm, tasty!

Fuddruckers are the BEST!! Nothing can top those.

[lsmalibu]

While Fuddrucker's is good, I don't consider it the best, especially since I have to make the damn thing myself, and it's certainly not as fast, cheap or easy as In-N-Out. Besides, there are Fuddrucker's all over the east coast. There are not, however, In-N-Outs anywhere on the east coast. Why come to Cali just to eat something you can get almost anywhere in the country?

BTW, I don't think In-N-Out has the best burgers ever, that honor goes to Jack's in Santa Cruz. But since I'm nowhere near there anymore, I'll opt for In-N-Out. And then Fuddrucker's every once in a while.

[JustDontDie]

I am getting off this bit of coral reef for a week and I am going to San Francisco. Got some questions for anyone that lives, works, or has visited there.

1. Where is a good place to stay?
2. Other than Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Chinatown what is good to see?
3. I have never been to the west coast (I am from Maryland and have not been back to the US in nearly 4 years), who makes the best hamburger out there?
4. Barbeque ribs?
5. Where is a good pub (preferably Irish) that has a Guinness pump?

I would appreciate any comments and suggestions. Thanks a lot!

I live 30 miles from SF. I don't get there as often as I'd like and I really haven't done much exploring or sight seeing since I've lived here. The one question I can help you out on is the barbeque ribs question. I haven't had the ribs in particular, but I have had their sweet tea (delicious) and their pulled pork sandwhich. The place is called "Memphis Minnie's" and is on Haight Street. It's labeled by many the best barbeque in the bay area.
You can find an address and other info about the joint here: http://www.memphisminnies.com/

Mapquest it or something. SF is a beautiful city. Have fun!

[Welpe]

As I said, I didn't know if Fuddrucker's was national or not. Their burgers are pretty good.

[JustDontDie]

Fishermen's wharf is not bad. When I was there my girl-friend and I took day tour through grayline tours on the first day, and then we went back to the places we liked later.

We stayed at the Park55 it's right near Union Square and there are lots of pubs and places to eat near by.

Try and book Alcatraz right away because sometimes it books up and you might have to get tickets through a tour company. You'll love it. It's how a prison should be! Cold, miserable, iron bars, and you can hear the New Year's Eve partying across the bay.

Fisherman's Wharf is definitely a chill spot to hang out. I'm not old enough to enjoy the pubs, but it looks like there's a few of them around there. I heard some pretty good sounding live j*** coming from one of them as well. Union Square is a pretty nice spot. If you got the money I say hit up "The Cheesecake Factory" there in Union Square. It's on like the 7th floor of the Macy's building. If you sit outside you have a wonderful view of the square. Bring a coat if you go at night though! The "North Beach" section of the city has some good looking restaurants and cool spots too. There's the "North Beach Park" that's kind of a nice spot. Lots of people playing ball and doing their own things. A few crazy people every now and again just crawling in the grass or hissing at people.

Also, if you are going when the Giants are playing a home game, I definitely encourage you to go. Even if you aren't a big baseball fan. The park is gorgeous it's a fun environment. Too bad the Giants aren't doing better this season. At least we got the A's doing exceptionally well aye?

[mosetti]

Thank you for the advice eveyone. Unfortunately my vacation is postponed until mid October now due to manpower shortages. As a native of Baltimore, I do need to set you straight on a few things:

1. Best Ball Park - Oriole Park at Camden Yards
2. Best Seafood - Maryland Steamed Crabs

lsmalibu, I have not had good BBQ in years. After 3.5 years in Europe and now working on a coral reef, I really need some ribs. It is really the only reason I am going back to the USA instead of going to Fiji or New Zealand. I miss America Food!

Thanks for the heads up on the pubs. I really need a pint of the black stuff!

Welpe, thanks for the offer but I ordered one of those vistor packs from the SF Chamber of Commerce.

If anyone else has any suggestions, please feel free to post them and thanks to everyone who already has!

[Welpe]

No problem, that will probably set you up right. As far as BBQ, I can't really say because all of the places I frequent are local to the Central Coast.

IF you happen to end up in San Luis Obispo, let me know and I'll take you for ribs at Mo's BBQ.

[CarCop]

For Burgers: What about Red's Java Hut. I'm pretty sure it is around pier 32 or so. Almost under (well close) the bay bridge. Little shack, but it has been there from early 1900's. Good burger. The prices were super low and you can get a beer with the burger, cheap. Great pictures inside, pics of WW2 solidiers getting ready to embark, the bridge being built. Like I said it's been there a long time. It's been a while so if I'm off a bit, straighten me out.

OH yeah ,,, Wrigley Field is the best ball park. Go Cubs! (PLEASE)

[Tender Lumpling]

I'm a Fuddruckers fan too...mmmmmm yummy !!! Love those ostrich and buffalo burgers. The Hot Rocks burger is hands down the best tho !!! Fuddruckers is a pretty large chain. I know they have them on the west coast and they even have two locations right down the road from me out here in the North Dallas area.

I enjoy In & Out Burgers too (which is pretty much required if you live on the west coast or they'll boot you out of the state) but their french frys are limp and flavorless.

Fuddruckers are the BEST!! Nothing can top those.