Turtle Bay Pools

Dany, of Turtle Bay Pools, is a great guy. He's hardworking, knows everything to know about cleaning and maintaining your pool, very friendly, and very reasonable. He's a trustworthy guy who has become a family friend. Plus my 2 year old girl adores him.

I'd recommend Turtle Bay Pools.

Tarboosh

I've had great dinners at Tarboosh several times before, but I just discovered the cool scene that takes place after 9pm on weekends there. We were coming out of a movie across the street this Saturday and stopped in at Tarboosh. After 9pm they start up the Lebanese music, belly dancers, hookahs etc.. Lots of outdoor seating under heat lamps and great indoor as well. Amazing to see how many people (even families) come in for dinner at 9pm to be part of this.

Great, authentic dining experience in the "city".

Restaurant Bricco

Over the holidays we took our family and in laws to Bricco for dinner. Bar was hopping when we went in and dining room was full. Really great ambiance. Warm, good lighting, great leather-bound chairs and booths - cool place. Food was outstanding. Really terrific braised lamb that was incredibly tender. Very solid wine list. Everyone liked their meals and they had nice kids meals options too. Only downside was that they were totally slammed and it took forever to get our meals. They felt badly about that and comped us our second bottle of wine which made it all good.

Go Getter's Pizza

Order Go-Getters Pizza for delivery on a Wednesday night at work. Took a bit over an hour to get here which was a bummer but the pizza was pretty good. A bit cheesy for my liking but not too greasy. Fine delivery pizza but nothing you'll write home about.

Parcel 104

Despite it's location off the lobby of a Marriot, Parcel 104 is fine dining / special occassion restaurant that is quite good. I went there on a business dinner during a convention taking place down the street. Ordered the fixed 3 course meal which was pretty over the top. Definitely focus in on seasonal, local ingredients and the chef likes to do some pretty wacky combinations. For example - one of the dishes had foie gras with a sauce with Dr. Pepper in it. Sounded crazy but wax sinfully good.

Service was great. Turned out to be a solid place for a fun work dinner.

Delancey Street Moving

I've used Delancey St. Moving twice - once moving apartment to apartment in SF, and another time moving from SF to the peninsula. Both times they exceeded my expectations. They were there first thing in the morning, work incredibly hard and carefully, are very courteous and patient, and always came in on or under estimate (which was the best of the various quotes I received). They were really careful moving nice furniture, not bumping into walls etc.. The guys take the job very seriously and are sticklers for the Foundation rules - for example, I offered them some sodas and they said they could only take water (but they had brought their own). At the end I tried to tip them but they politely told me that in lieu of tips I could make a donation to Delancey St. Foundation.

One of the things I really love about these guys is that they tend to round down rather than up to the nearest half hour. So rather than charging me for an extra half hour when they finished at 3:15, then only charged me till 3.

Definitely recommend Delancey St. Moving

Chouquet's Restaurant

Chouquet's is a really fun place for a date on Filmore. It's small, bustling and although you're kind of right on top of the other tables - you can still have a conversation above the festive din of conversation. My wife and I tried it out on last Saturday night. Had to wait about 10 minutes for our 7:30 reservation, but enjoyed sitting at the cozy bar and having a drink to start. French proprieter / waitress was really friendly. They had a large party of about 20 people in there - seated a at long string of tables lined up along the one long wall (that probably takes up about 50% of the inside seating). She offered us an open table crammed in the corner or the choice to wait for another 2 top to come up. We chose to the corner and the kind people sitting next to us had to move their table over a few inches so we could get into ours. Despite that, and despite being right by the door - the table was great, and it wasn't at all drafty or anything. Service was cheerful and definitely steered us to the best apps for our entrees. Don't go here if you in a rush. Food takes its time getting out but is delicious. 7 hour braised lamb shoulder was great but the real standout was the rigatoni with truffle oil, foie gras and mushrooms - heaven.

Definitely a cool place well situated in the midst of Filmore St.'s goings on. I'd recommend Chouquet's for a nice dinner in Pac Heights area.

Delirious Shoes

Stopped in Delirious Shoes before dining down the street at Baraka. They wisely choose to be open at lunch time and until about 7ish for the dining crowd. Small place, crammed with hip shoes and a very friendly proprietor. Got some great Bjorn shoes and was in an out in about 10 minutes. Nice change from the big places.

Zaoh

At the corner of Mission and S. Van Ness, Zaoh is a little Japanese culinary oasis in the Civic Center area. Always crowded at lunch time - they serve up generous portions of really good sushi and terriyaki. Super Sushi Combo plate for $8.50 comes with soup and about 16 pieces of sushi. Service is very friendly. Can sit at the Sushi bar or at one of several tables in front and back.

Good, relatively cheap eats. I recommend Zaoh Restaurant.

Refuge

Happy to report that the Refuge in San Carlos seems to have found a loyal following after being opened for a while. Took the family there on Saturday night and it was overflowing from 6pm on - even people eating outside under the heat lamps in November. First time I went I had the pastrami sandwich which was great. Thick slices of super succulent pastrami. This time around I tried the burger with mushrooms and caramelized onions and fries with my de koninck ale. Really tasty gourmet burgers and fries were good too. recommend getting their on the earlier side with kids so that you can get one of the 6 booths in the intimate room. The place is kind of like a cool basement hangout where the owner brings together "a few of his favorite things" - belgian beer and pastrami. Kind of random, but kind of fun and a nice alternative to the usual Laurel St. fare.

i'd recommend.