ABV

A standing-room neighborhood cocktail bar in the Mission, no pretension and no theatrics, from the Bon Vivants team. Where San Francisco bartenders drink, with a tight rotating list, a kitchen that holds up to the drinks, and a back bar of obscure spirits the staff actually uses. Best for a walk-in evening when you want to be left alone with a good drink.

Order: whatever's on the chalkboard. They built it for a reason.

True Laurel

The Lazy Bear team's Mission cocktail room, named for the family's restaurant program, where modern California ingredients (yuzu, mountain herbs, smoked salt) get treated with classic technique. Polished but unfussy, with a kitchen that runs the cocktail program in reverse: drinks built to pair with the food, not the other way around. Best for a date or a celebratory drink before dinner up the block.

Order: the Cookies & Milk. It's a dessert cocktail and it's correct.

The Buena Vista

The 1916 corner café at Hyde and Beach, the room that brought Irish coffee to America in 1952. Owner Jack Koeppler and travel writer Stanton Delaplane reverse-engineered the Shannon Airport recipe over a long night, consulted the Mayor of San Francisco (also a dairy owner) on the cream, and have been pouring it ever since. Communal seating, Tullamore D.E.W. exclusively, up to 2,000 Irish coffees a day. Best for a foggy morning before the cable car or a final stop after a day at Fisherman's Wharf.

Order: an Irish coffee. Sit at the bar. Watch the production line.

Pacific Cocktail Haven

A loud, packed Union Square room from Kevin Diedrich, where Asian ingredients (pandan, jasmine, sesame, miso) drive a program credentialed across North America's 50 Best for years. The pandan Old Fashioned has been on the menu since opening and is the SF cocktail-bar drink of the decade. Best for an early-evening drink, or for a perch at the bar to watch the kitchen do the work.

Order: the Pandan Old Fashioned. The Kaffir Lime Daiquiri.

Mister Jiu's

Brandon Jew's modern Chinese-American room inside a restored 1880s Chinatown banquet hall, one Michelin star. Cantonese-led menu through a California sourcing lens, a wine list that runs deep on Riesling and Champagne, and a cocktail program (Devon Tarby pedigree) that justifies the room on its own. Best for a long dinner with a group of four to six.

Zuni Café

The Hayes Valley institution since 1979, the Judy Rodgers room that defined California cooking for a generation, continued by Gilbert Pilgram. Wood-oven roast chicken for two with bread salad (the dish that made the place famous), oysters at the copper bar, and a wine list that has been one of America's most considered for forty-five years. Best for a long Sunday lunch or a late dinner that runs into the wine list.

The Fairmont San Francisco

The 1907 Beaux-Arts hotel atop Nob Hill, the room where the United Nations Charter was drafted in 1945. The Tonga Room in the basement, operating since 1945 with a working indoor rainstorm and a band on the floating stage, is one of the best preserved mid-century theme rooms in America. The lobby seals the deal.

Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero

The contemporary luxury counterpoint to the Fairmont, occupying the former Loews Regency tower above the Financial District, with floor-to-ceiling glass over the bay. Clean modern hospitality, a serious lobby bar, and views from the upper floors that justify the address.