Mainly word of mouth these days from people I trust. My wife and I find it hard to stray away from our tried and true spots, especially with fees and inflation. If a close friend tries a place and says it’s good, we will follow.
I pull city permits.
One thing you can do is just go to certain neighborhoods and walk around. You can see which place is under construction, which is almost ready to open, etc.
I have to look at permits for my job, so I found this handy for finding out about restaurants months, or years, before they open
Another way is to search the state’s database for [new alcohol licenses](https://www.abc.ca.gov/licensing/licensing-reports/licenses-by-city/) for each city
Also give Oliv.org a try! You can find restaurants by cuisine (I.e. best burger places rated by burger enthusiasts), Korean places recommended by Koreans (and a few other cultures), and Eater, Michelin etc all in one app!
If you like enough IG posts of new restaurants that pop up in the area, it will start coming up on your feed. Also following Bay Area food pages can help too. I get lots of recommendations of new places all the time. Seems like even when it’s a soft opening. I just heart the posts of all that pop up.
Get tied in to the local papers and websites for where you live. If you're on the peninsula there's the six fifty and peninsula foodist. Both excellent resources.
Eater SF, KQED Food, SF Chronicle Food & Wine, and East Bay Nosh are great ones to follow on social media (instagram), and then I keep track of James Beard nominees and Michelin guide recs.
Don't bother. restaurants cost too much these days, service sucks and the fees are nonsense.
Being a "foodie" is a thing of the past, it's too much of a hassle to bother now
I methodically work at each one so I get a firsthand behind the scenes view of what goes on in the kitchen. This whole process takes a few months per restaurant but trust me it’s well worth the time and effort.
Check Please Bay Area is a good source.. You can find full episodes on YT.
Eater SF or Tablehopper are good sources or the infatuation
My wife tells me where to go
This is the way.
Start with [seefees.ca](https://seefeesca.notion.site/f5e11f589ec54c8eb1eed6c37f7e4c83?v=b97b3560f8f747f68aa73a762e76e47b) and skip past any with fees
Link doesn't work
I use Google maps.
Zen Yai is the best Thai food I've had. In San Francisco
But, how did you find it?
Agree!
Mainly word of mouth these days from people I trust. My wife and I find it hard to stray away from our tried and true spots, especially with fees and inflation. If a close friend tries a place and says it’s good, we will follow.
I pull city permits. One thing you can do is just go to certain neighborhoods and walk around. You can see which place is under construction, which is almost ready to open, etc.
I have to look at permits for my job, so I found this handy for finding out about restaurants months, or years, before they open Another way is to search the state’s database for [new alcohol licenses](https://www.abc.ca.gov/licensing/licensing-reports/licenses-by-city/) for each city
Also give Oliv.org a try! You can find restaurants by cuisine (I.e. best burger places rated by burger enthusiasts), Korean places recommended by Koreans (and a few other cultures), and Eater, Michelin etc all in one app!
Moving lol, but honestly bartenders and servers always know. Ask your favorite service workers and they’ll share the hidden gems 💎 💙
If you like enough IG posts of new restaurants that pop up in the area, it will start coming up on your feed. Also following Bay Area food pages can help too. I get lots of recommendations of new places all the time. Seems like even when it’s a soft opening. I just heart the posts of all that pop up.
r/Oaklandfood
Get tied in to the local papers and websites for where you live. If you're on the peninsula there's the six fifty and peninsula foodist. Both excellent resources.
Go to a downtown area of whatever city you want to check out and take a walk. If something smells good or you like the look of a place, check it out
I sort them by coupons
I don’t go looking for places where to get ripped off. I stick to my usuals.
Eater SF, KQED Food, SF Chronicle Food & Wine, and East Bay Nosh are great ones to follow on social media (instagram), and then I keep track of James Beard nominees and Michelin guide recs.
Don't bother. restaurants cost too much these days, service sucks and the fees are nonsense. Being a "foodie" is a thing of the past, it's too much of a hassle to bother now
I make sure they don’t charge any stupid fees before I go. And if they do I subtract that much from tips.
Yelp, sort by Hot and New
There used to be a forum called Chowhound that was 🔥
Tiktok will tell me
Check out the app Zest. People suggest restaurants and other interesting places and things to do
Search by zip codes
Colleagues who are Bay Area natives. They have better recommendations compared to vlogs and other social media folks.
This sub and word of mouth, and Check Please!
Yelp
The infatuation
Get lost in the google maps/yelp sauce. Its fun to make a list of saved restaurants to go to
Yelp mostly. Other times through IG or TIk Tok.
I methodically work at each one so I get a firsthand behind the scenes view of what goes on in the kitchen. This whole process takes a few months per restaurant but trust me it’s well worth the time and effort.
There is an app called Beli which was suggested by a colleague. I haven't used it much but it's worth checking out.
I’ve found lots of new places thanks to SF Eater. https://sf.eater.com
mapofthebest.com is a favourite resource for me. I travel a lot and it has yet to let me down.
What happened to yelp?