An intimate little Italian restaurant with cheesy decor but great food and bags of character. The upstairs has a ridiculously low ceiling with pasta stuck to it! I heartily recommend the gnocchi with gorgonzola cream sauce.

59 Columbus (at Jackson) in North Beach;
tel: (415) 217-8400
www.caffemacaroni.com

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Delfina is arguably the finest neighbourhood restaurant in the city, and is reasonably priced. It is located in the Mission Dolores part of town, on 18th Street, just a block from the lovely Dolores Park.

That section of 18th Street is food heaven: along with Delfina there's a Sicilian style pizzeria, a wonderful bakery (Tartine), and the best retro organic grocery in town (Buy Rite).

Delfina gets everything right: design, ambience, service, and, most of all, the food, which is Californian/Italian and simply perfect. Book a table before you visit the city, as this place is hugely popular. The wait staff are Mission hipsters.

3621 18th Street, at Guerrero. Take the J Church muni, get off at 18th St, and walk 1.5 blocks towards the Mission (away from the Castro);
tel: (415) 552 4055;
delfinasf.com

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For a fun atmosphere, decent food, and flirty Italian waiters, it's hard to beat Steps of Rome Trattoria. This is a great little place in San Francisco's acclaimed North Beach district, which is arguably one of the most popular areas in SF for dining. Also, right next door is the original Steps of Rome Caffe - the Trattoria's "older sister," if you will. Atmosphere here is a little more refined and quieter than the Trattoria. The food is also more expensive, but it's good.

(Tip: The biggest downside to North Beach is that parking is even worse here than most other SF regions - in other words, it's pretty close to nonexistent. Spring for a parking lot, or take public transportation. If you do find a lot, don't lose your ticket! I did that once and ended up paying over $30 to get my car out of the lot. Boo!)

362 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133;
tel: 415-986-6480
open: 5pm-10:30 weekdays and 5pm-11pm weekends
www.stepsofrome.com/trattoria;
For caffe details see www.stepsofrome.com/caffe

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For the best food at knock-down prices (and for colourful, mainly gay, San Fran locals) head for Chow's in Castro where they are queuing down the street every night of the week; but never mind, the waiting staff will direct you to an adjacent bookshop from which they will call you when your table is free. The food is great, the portions are gargantuan, the service is brilliant and the bill is miniscule.

215 Church St; tel: 415-552-2469;
Directions: Take the bus from the centre of San Fran and get off at Castro - turn left and it's a couple of hundred yards down on the left. Or, Take the K,L,M or J Church Underground Muni Metro and get off at Church (Street) Station. Chow is on the south side of Market Street.

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