San Francisco's Best New Restaurants, August 2026

San Francisco's dining scene is constantly evolving, with new restaurants popping up across the city. For those looking to try something new, Eater SF's Heatmap is a valuable resource. This list highlights recently opened spots or ones the publication is particularly excited about for one reason or another.

## New Additions to the Heatmap

After six months on the list, Eater SF is removing Goldenette and Sforno. In their place, welcome Anju, Oklava, and Saam.

## Restaurant Highlights

### Lobalita

Lobalita is a modern Mexican cantina from the team behind Bar Darling and other hotspots. Located in the former Tipsy Pig location in the Marina, this restaurant offers a snack-heavy menu with items like shrimp aguachile, albondigas, pastelitos, and more. The cocktail menu leans towards tequila and mezcal, with options like El Sol Rojo, which mixes tequila with chamoy-blood orange syrup.

### Qua O La

Croatian and Italian worlds collide at Qua O La, the newest wine bar in North Beach. The wine choices focus on small production wine makers from both regions, highlighting family-run and women-owned wineries. The food also spans both countries, including salumi and cheese platters, ćevapi, and cicchetti.

### Loveski Deli

Christopher and Martina Kostow's deli has finally landed in San Francisco, snagging a choice corner spot in the Jackson Square neighborhood. Expect the same popular bagels and spreads, sandwiches, salads, and more that made their Napa and Marin outposts popular, just with the added bonus of juices and smoothies.

### The Big Four

The Huntington Hotel has returned, retaking its perch atop Nob Hill and reopening its popular restaurant, the Big Four. The restaurant retains its classic, posh feel, while getting an update, thanks to a redesign by Ken Fulk. The menu is led by chef David Intonato, who offers favorites such as pot pies, cioppino, t-bone lamb chops, and more.

### Maria Isabel

Maria Isabel is the highly anticipated new restaurant from chefs Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz of Dalida. Serving food drawing from Laura's childhood in Mexico, the menu is an exploration of food from Guerrero and Sinaloa, with dishes like duck carnitas enmoladas and ceviche Acapulqueño.

### Bar Esper

Bar Esper takes over Jasper's Corner Tap space inside Hotel Spero, serving Portuguese-Japanese food. Open for breakfast and dinner, diners can expect things like a breakfast bowl with pork katsu and fried eggs, or Portuguese sausage and shrimp dumplings, and a roasted peri peri chicken at night.

### Rose Pizzeria

East Bay pizza favorite Rose Pizzeria expands to San Francisco for its second location, slinging a lot of the hits that made it a staple of Berkeley. The She Wolf pizza, with its capers and olives, plus dots of burrata; spicy miso Caesar salad; plus natural wines and spritzes to top things off.

### Oklava

The team behind Turkish restaurant Turquaz has opened Oklava, a "Mediterranean-inspired" restaurant, inside the Mid-Market food hall Saluhall. In addition to a coffee and tea program, Oklava also offers baked goods such as baklava, kunefe, mosaic cake, and kataifi.

### Clementina

Italian food goes gluten-free at Clementina, the newest spot from the restaurant group behind Montesacro. It's a safe space for diners with celiac disease, and the team has created a menu that won't leave anyone feeling left out, such as pizzas, pastas like the ritagoni al pesto, and crispy pork cutlets.

### Casa Sofia

Casa Sofia is chef Carlos Altamirano's latest restaurant in San Francisco, opening across from Oracle Park. It's his largest restaurant, serving Latin-inspired dishes with a Californian focus. The menu features items such as Sofia's Meatballs, which arrive with Mexican mole on top, or a grilled octopus dish that features chimichurri and roasted garlic potatoes.

### Saam

Thai celeb chef Thitid "Ton" Tassanakajohn opens his first restaurant venture in the United States with the debut of Saam in San Francisco's SoMa district. Saam translates to "three," which refers to the three flavors of Thai cuisine: spicy, sour, and salty. Dishes like pla phao, a salt-crusted branzino with pla ra sauce, the curry pad ped ped made with duck, and som tum peaches carry that theme forward in the menu.

### Saltwater Bakeshop

Saltwater Bakeshop is a new SoMa bakery and cafe from Brittany Dunn-Holden. Although the cafe is new, many know Dunn-Holden from her time selling wholesale, later joining the local farmers markets as a vendor (before that, she was at Mr. Holmes Bakehouse). She's known for her croissants, cookies, breads, and more, but with this new cafe, customers can see her branch out more into sandwiches, and there are some caffeinated drinks using beans from Ritual Coffee.

### Dining Yamamoto

Dining Yamamoto is a new spot for chic sushi bento boxes made by chef Yukinori Yamamoto, an eight-year vet of the Mina Restaurant Group. He's striking out on his own, offering chirashi donburi bowls, nigiri, and sushi maki made with imported ingredients from Japan. Prices range from $25 to $46, and items can get surprisingly luxe with ingredients like caviar and truffle paired with toro and tuna. Open just for lunch, for now.

### Esme

Esme is a new French bistro from chef Susan Dunn, set inside the Metro Hotel on Divisadero Street. The restaurant serves items such as steak tartare, roasted chicken, and a variety of cheeses and charcuterie.