The 10 best diners in SF, according to a panel of pros

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Recommendations are a dime a dozen, but in Pro Tips, we go directly to the source, asking food and beverage experts for their professional opinions on the city’s best burgers, dive bars, and more.

Ask 10 restaurant industry pros what defines a diner, and you’re likely to get 10 different answers. A true diner, some argue, has vinyl booths, kitschy décor, or counter seating. Others contend that the title requires free refills of standard-issue black coffee, eggs served any way you’d like, stacks of fluffy pancakes, and crispy hash browns — essentially, a homey greasy spoon that serves a quick, cheap breakfast or a carb-tastic antidote to a bad hangover.

In a city packed with genre-defying and cutting-edge dining establishments, San Francisco’s diners are beloved for being refreshingly unremarkable — ironically, that’s what makes them so special. The name of the game is consistency, affordability, and a lack of pretension. 

In this edition of Pro Tips, we chatted with 10 chefs, restaurant owners, and others in the industry to find the best diners, greasy spoons, and 24-hour operations in San Francisco. 

Orphan Andy’s, 3991 A 17th St., Castro
One thing is clear when you walk into Shuggie’s Trash Pie + Natural Wine: Abe and Murphy are big on vibes. “As fellow maximalists, we really align with the kitsch factor of Orphan Andy’s,” Abe says. Beyond the red vinyl booths, neon lighting, and retro pendant lamps, the 24-hour hot spot with a nearly 50-year history is known for going all out during holidays. It feels, as Abe describes it, like a “living calendar.” While the couple don’t have a standard order, their dog Beef is a VIP at Orphan Andy’s and always gets the same thing. “Our server always politely asks if he can have a freshly cooked piece of bacon,” Abe says. “Of course, it’s always a yes.”    

Pork Store Cafe, 1451 Haight St., Upper Haight

Before Cobarruvias came to San Francisco the first time, a chef he was working for in Texas told him three restaurants to try: Tadich Grill, Swan Oyster Depot, and Pork Store Cafe. “I think it was the second place I ate when I first visited San Francisco in 2001,” he says of Pork Store. Over 25 years, his routine there has remained largely unchanged: He tucks into the corner stool at the counter on a weekday morning and orders the corned beef hash with mushroom and cheese (“so good, but it’s the size of your foot”) or a “good, old freaking omelet,” or a patty melt. To Cobarruvias, the magic of Pork Store is the sum of its parts: the familiar short-order cooks who have worked there for years, the perfectly orchestrated dance the servers perform to make sure your piping-hot toast lands on the table at the same time as your eggs. “It sounds romantic, but it’s like a kind of rhythm. It’s one of my favorite things to watch.”

Eddie’s Cafe, 800 Divisadero St., NoPa
During his nine-year stint at Nopa, Cantwell saw the neighborhood undergo significant change. Once known as Western Addition, the area lost gritty bars and hole-in-the-wall barbecue joints and welcomed a slew of restaurants, yoga studios, and hip wine bars. But on the corner of Divisadero and Fulton Street, Eddie’s Cafe remained constant. For Cantwell, the no-frills, Korean-owned diner was his go-to in the morning after a long night of work (and a few too many beers). “Eddie’s is the one place that I think adds character to the neighborhood and keeps it what it is.”  

Jim’s Restaurant, 2420 Mission St., Mission 
A block from two-Michelin-starred Lazy Bear, Barzelay finds comfort at the beloved Jim’s Restaurant. Whether he’s coming in for a meeting or dining solo in search of “a little greasy comfort,” his order is the same: corned-beef hash with two eggs fried over easy, hash browns, rye toast with jam, and coffee. “I assume that the corned-beef hash is the same canned stuff that I’ve been eating since childhood, spread for ample surface area and griddled until crispy,” he says. “And the coffee sucks, just like diner coffee should.” 

Pinecrest Diner, 401 Geary St., Union Square
It’s hard for El Shawa to pick just one go-to diner in the city. Among those at the top of his list are Mel’s Drive-In on Lombard Street and Lori’s Diner, a favorite with ’50s-style checkered floors, all-day breakfast, and a proud display of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe memorabilia. “Both diners take you back to a version of San Francisco that doesn’t exist anymore,” El Shawa says. But his standby is Pinecrest Diner, a Union Square institution with an extensive menu that’s also one of the city’s last-remaining late-night dining spots.

New Taraval Cafe, 1054 Taraval St., Sunset
Rowe has been coming to this nondescript diner for 20 years. He saunters to his “usual” table in the back, where he meets folks for meetings over breakfast or lunch. When he’s not ordering eggs Benedict or huevos rancheros, Rowe peeks at the specials board to see what’s good for the day or asks a server for recommendations. He rarely picks up a menu. “It tells me a lot about a place when a server is able to successfully and confidently suggest something, as opposed to telling me that everything is good,” he says.

Art’s Cafe, 747 Irving St., Inner Sunset
When Kornnawong moved to the Sunset in 2011, a friend who grew up in the neighborhood recommended Art’s Cafe. It has become her favorite in the city. Bellying up to the bar in the morning, Kornnawong loves the smell of coffee while she places her standard order: sunny-side up or scrambled eggs, buttermilk pancakes — a non-negotiable whenever she visits a diner — hash browns, and crispy bacon. Her tip: Lines tend to get long later in the morning, so go as early as you can.

David’s Delicatessen & Diner, 474 Geary St., Union Square
Ehler estimates that he’s eaten at nearly every diner in the city. So when he stumbled upon David’s after a dentist appointment in 2017, he was excited. “It reminded me of Katz’s Deli or an old-school deli in Brooklyn or the Lower East Side of Manhattan,” he says. “It bled charm.” After he opened Outta Sight Pizza in the Tenderloin, David’s became his go-to breakfast or lunch spot, where he’d grab a pastrami sandwich, corned-beef hash (he swears it’s one of the best in the city), or an “Ehler special”: the off-menu cheeseburger with pastrami. Fortunately — or unfortunately — it’s a place where you’re never going to run into anybody, he says. Whether the food that day is “really, really good” or just standard, average diner fare, he’s surprised that few know about this spot. “This has been a slept-on, fucking diner, you know?” 

Hamburger Haven, 800 Clement St., Inner Richmond
Ponzurick first visited Hamburger Haven in 2017, and little has changed in his routine since. He walks through the swinging barn doors, past the photos of Robin Williams, and heads down the aisle to sit at a two-person booth. (“As silly as it sounds, a diner has to have booths,” he says. “When I was a kid, my dad and I would walk out of places if they didn’t have booths or they were all taken.”) Your server will greet you with a steaming pot of coffee, he promises. He recommends ordering the ham and cheese omelet, hash browns, sourdough toast, and a pancake for the table. “They have many options, but this is the order I’ve stuck with for many, many years. Something about it speaks to my childhood in a small town in Pennsylvania.”   

Cafe Colma, 1700 Hillside Blvd., Colma
Tucked inside Lucky Chances Casino is Cafe Colma, a cult-favorite 24-hour diner featuring a suite of Filipino favorites. Though technically not in San Francisco, it’s worth the trip. Ang says the best way to visit is with a large group so you can order more dishes. The minute you sit down, ask for the prime rib special with white rice instead of mashed potatoes, he advises. (It’s a dish they make only in small quantities daily, and it often sells out.) Feel free to flip through the laminated menu, but Ang suggests asking the server if Tita is working in the kitchen that day. If she is, snag an order of ginataang kielbasa, a savory Filipino vegetable-and-shrimp stew.