Fads come and go, but San Francisco’s affection for meatballs and mozzarella sticks is pretty much inexhaustible.
In 2025, we saw red-sauce joints pop up from the Embarcadero to Potrero Hill. Meanwhile, diners embraced previously uncommon aspects of Korean cuisine — from fizzy rice wine to gochujang-covered rice cakes. Cocktails at bars all over town sported foamy tops, and taprooms and brewhouses proliferated for the first time since the beer industry’s widespread contraction during the pandemic.
The Year in Eating – Links Module
These are only a few of the trends that emerged when we looked back at how San Francisco ate and drank in the past 12 months. As the city enters its “boom loop” era, the restaurant scene has begun to settle into a new rhythm — one in which chefs sometimes clash with content creators, and all-you-can-eat extravaganzas are back en vogue.
Next year will surely bring new movements (more fusion, anyone?) and viral dishes (hello, cube-shaped bread). But before we say goodbye to 2025, here are the 10 trends that defined the way San Francisco ate this year.
1. Red sauce drowned the city
As evidenced by a slew of openings, including Little Original Joe’s, La Connessa, Bosco, and Via Aurelia, the city is embracing red-sauce optimism — on a grand scale. After a good few years of dining rooms shrinking their footprints and installing rigid post-pandemic cost controls, seasoned San Francisco restaurateurs are swinging big again; specifically, with 100-seat-plus restaurants serving pizza, pasta, and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. The boom isn’t just about Sinatra nostalgia — it’s math. Italian food offers flexibility, comfort, and margins that make risk-taking slightly less risky. Protein might be having a moment in the grocery aisle, but in San Francisco, carbs are very back.
2. Influencers were wildin’
3. Chefs shifted to the suburbs
This summer, Divisadero bar Horsefeather expanded to Palo Alto, followed by Square Pie Guys, Delarosa, and Zaytinya, a Mediterranean restaurant backed by celebrity chef José Andrés. In Menlo Park, the Copra team rolled out upscale Indian restaurant Eylan, which was swiftly joined by Causwells; Bubbelah, a Jewish deli from the owners of Che Fico; and Yeobo, Darling, a Korean-Taiwanese restaurant that has gained national acclaim. Horsefeather co-owner Justin Lew said the appeal of opening outside the city can be attributed to practical things like ample parking and square footage in shiny new developments. But no matter the cause, this year proved that if you aren’t dining beyond the 7×7, you’re missing out on some exciting stuff.
4. Korean cuisine went golden
After years — if not decades — of playing second fiddle to Los Angeles and New York, San Francisco’s Korean food scene stepped up to new levels. A slew of markets, restaurants, and bars, including Daly City’s Jagalchi, the makgeolli den Jilli, and Korean coffee shop and cafe Sohn, added fresh depth and diversity to the Bay Area’s dining options. This surge of cheesy, saucy tteokbokki and cream-topped coffee drinks comes amid a nationwide enthusiasm for nearly everything Korean, from Katseye to “K-Pop Demon Hunters.” Basic dishes like bulgogi and bibimbap will always have a place in our hearts. But 2025 was the year San Francisco fell in love with the deep cuts of Korean food and drink.
5. Food courts became cool again
What was once the domain of corn dogs and soft pretzels has become one of the coolest places to eat and drink. Yes, we’re talking about the mall. As the San Francisco Centre downtown died a slow death, Stonestown Galleria thrived. Din Tai Fung challenger Supreme Dumpling and Vietnamese restaurant Le Soleil joined already popular options Tang Bar and Marugame Udon, transforming the west-side shopping hub into one of the hottest dining destinations in town. Of course, we rose to the challenge and ate our way through not one but two of SF’s most popular shopping centers. And so it is with extreme certainty that we can declare 2025 the year of the mall rat.
6. Chicken ran wild
Contrary to what the cattle lobby would tell you, it was chicken, not beef, that reigned supreme on dinner plates this year. Diners lined up for the debut of Peruvian chicken joint Brasa Bros and squashed the late-night drunchies by grabbing crispy chicken out of vending machines. A Michelin-starred chef opened an upscale diner dedicated to gravy-smothered breaded cutlets, and in Oakland, the couple behind Daytrip flipped the popular restaurant into a — you guessed it — chicken-focused to-go operation. Sure, chicken has always been a reliable protein option, but in this uncertain economic climate, it’s also a safe bet for restaurant owners struggling to stay profitable. As long as the chicken is as delicious as the honey-hot half bird at Arquet, we’ve got no reason to complain about the great chicken takeover.
7. Beer bubbled back
8. Cocktails got creamy
Yes, 2025 was another big year for martinis. But the popularity of the espresso martini brought a humble element of cocktail-making to the forefront: foam. No longer just the province of molecular gastronomy or Starbucks baristas, it’s suddenly everywhere — mixed with limoncello at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack and blended with matcha and sage at Bar Shoji. Facing tariffs and other inflationary pressures, bartenders are looking for new ways to add value to a drink, and aerated foams have the advantage of visual pizzazz. They’re not just a fad, either. The concoctions are found atop the most popular drinks on many menus, such as the passion-fruit-forward Qué Bola at Mission rooftop bar Cubita. Our prediction? Foam is here to stay.
9. Wine prices were drunk
San Francisco sommeliers agree: $25 for a glass of wine has become the new normal. Tariffs, higher labor costs, changes in consumer habits, and human psychology combined to make this the year of wine-flation, with no end in sight. It’s not that every pour is shooting into the stratosphere; many local restaurateurs and bar owners sniff out deals and train their staff to guide patrons toward less-familiar, value-driven varietals. But the frequency with which a glass of ordinary gamay crosses the $25 threshold has undeniably increased — and on some lists, it’s impossible to find even one option under $18. Not long ago, $30 was an eyebrow-raising sum for an entree. If wine is a bellwether, appetizers may not be far behind.
10. Gluttons got good news
Despite San Francisco’s embrace of Chinese peptides and antipathy toward seed oils, good, old-fashioned overeating hasn’t lost its luster. The brief but viral success of the Mission’s all-you-can-eat sushi-and-sake restaurant Ko reignited the city’s appetite for affordable overindulgence, and when the same owner opened a much-larger follow-up called Party Pig this spring, the happy hour hordes descended. Six blocks down Geary Boulevard, Wasabi Bistro’s $25 lunch deal is SF’s new gold standard of AYCE. Meanwhile, the post-pandemic resumption of Azúcar Lounge’s popular Taco Tuesdays and the low-brow, flames-and-Farberware fun at Pier 39’s Fire + Ice prove that portion control isn’t for everyone. Chalk it up to inflationary pressures or pent-up enthusiasm, but people are hungry for a deal.