The 20 funnest restaurants in San Francisco

What constitutes a fun restaurant? How about the funnest restaurant of them all?

For some reason, these are different questions than those we, as food media, usually ask — or get asked. Those are more along the lines of “What is a great restaurant?” or “What is your favorite restaurant?” A fun restaurant exists in a special purview, one that’s hard to define but easy to denote, a genre removed from the fussy restaurants that increasingly dominate the city.

So how to determine such restaurants? For this highly scientific, and absolutely unassailable, exercise, we took a deep look at ourselves, and the San Francisco restaurant scene, to determine five key categories that are essential to a fun restaurant. Then, we came up with a scoring system to properly rank the restaurants that were nominated by our Chronicle Food team. A perfect score in each category is worth 10 points, resulting in a possible Total Fun Score (TFS) of 50. In cases of tie scores, the tiebreaker was a jury vote. (And to the grammarians in the audience, our copy desk approved the word “funnest.”)

•Accessibility: A Fun Restaurant should be easy. There should not be a plethora of rules, or reservation requirements, or hour-long lines, because the process of getting into a restaurant is still part of the experience.

•Value: A Fun Restaurant need not be cheap or discounted, but value is important, indeed even more important at times than pure quality. This is particularly of note in group settings, or during affairs that last multiple hours.

•Setting: A Fun Restaurant does not exist only on the table, or even in your (probably very lovely) dining companions. The room itself should be a part of the experience, and something that directly contributes to the overall jocular nature of the Fun Restaurant. Decor, atmosphere, service style.

•Energy: A Fun Restaurant should have an energy about it. In some places, this can take the feeling of a boisterous, booze-filled place. In others, the buzz may come from the style of restaurant, or the service model, or the interaction among groups. Regardless, it should carry a feeling of destination, that you’re doing something special.

•Quality of fare: A Fun Restaurant doesn’t need to have great food, but the food and drink quality remains a factor for improving a good time.

An additional word about our methodology: To create an even playing field, we tried to limit the contenders to true restaurants, so we did not include bars with food, such as Zeitgeist or 15 Romolo, or venues where it’s possible to do the entertainment thing without a full meal, such as Mission Bowling, Alamo Drafthouse or Urban Putt.

Honorable mentions to Cha Cha Cha, Wesburger, Original Joe’s, Park Chalet, Suppenkuche, Dumpling Time, Foxsister, Matterhorn, Liholiho, Brenda’s and Cockscomb.

And we know this list is subjective! So, please send us your own votes for the funnest restaurant in San Francisco via email (food@sfchronicle.com) or Twitter. Make your case, and make it a good one, and we’ll include a list of reader-nominated restaurants in the coming weeks.

— Paolo Lucchesi, plucchesi@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @lucchesi

20. Brothers Restaurant
4128 Geary Blvd.

26 TFS

8 /10: Accessibility
6/10: Value
2 /10: Setting
5/10: Energy
5/10: Quality of fare

A meal at this 32-year-old Korean barbecue in the Richmond requires constant motion. Not only are the largest tables too small for the meat platters, entrees, rice bowls and panchan, someone’s always flipping the meat on the grill and someone else is pouring out new doses of beer or soju. How could a dinner that begins with baskets of hot coals being lowered into the table and that requires you to wear your machine-wash-ready clothes — it gets a little smoky — not be a good time? — Jonathan Kauffman

19. Tonga Room
950 Mason St.

28 TFS

3/10: Accessibility
1/10: Value
10/10: Setting
9/10: Energy
5/10: Quality of fare

I know. This seems low, right? The Tonga Room is unlike any place in San Francisco, if not the world. Its glories — the pool, the rain, the tiki — have been broadcast many times over the decades, so it’s not worth rehashing them all here. It’s a fun place, a place you must go at least once every few years. But here’s the other thing: The very unicorn nature of the Tonga Room also gives it a downside in that it can command top dollar and be a pain to get in the door. Even with the strides made over the last few years, the food and drinks remain of decent quality but cost a premium. Cocktails will set you back $15 to $24 a pop, and you’re not leaving without trying at least two. A pupu platter is $35; wings are $17. That means your pre-dinner drink for two can easily top $100. And if you go after dinner? You have to deal with the line to get in, and once you get to the front of the line, you discover that there’s a cover charge: $10 per person, and $15 on Fridays and Saturdays. Even if you have a dinner reservation. Ouch. — Paolo Lucchesi

18. Pinecrest Diner
401 Geary St.

29 TFS

9/10: Accessibility
7/10: Value
4/10: Setting
6/10: Energy
3/10: Quality of fare

Like any greasy spoon worth its salt, Pinecrest’s greatness exists not in the execution of its menu, but in its duality. When the sun is up, the diner is a Union Square refuge for large groups of out-of-towners who often have young children in tow — essentially the restaurant version of a family station wagon. Alternatively, the 24-hour diner is also a late-night beacon for the city’s rabble rousers, inebriated barflies and insomniac tourists. It’s a judgment-free place where kids knocking small plates of food off tables gets replaced by adults spilling coffee while loudly carousing with friends. On its greatest nights, Pinecrest is an undiluted shot of the quirkiness that makes San Francisco special. On its worst days, it’s just another diner in a city filled with restaurants. That isn’t too bad. — Justin Phillips 

17. Kennedy’s Irish Pub & Curry House
1040 Columbus Ave.

30 TFS

8/10: Accessibility
7/10: Value
6/10: Setting
5/10: Energy
4/10: Quality of fare

Without doubt, Kennedy’s is definitely the city’s best Irish pub/white-tablecloth Indian restaurant/bike rental business/souvenir T-shirt shop. Want to play some pool? Check. How about some air hockey? Check. Fancy some chicken vindaloo alongside your brew while watching the Giants? Check and mate. For years, Kennedy’s has been a delightful surprise for itinerant drinkers on the north side of Columbus, in the no-man’s-land between North Beach and the Wharf, but in recent years, a quietly ambitious collection of craft beers has sprouted up. And you’ll soon realize that samosas and pakoras are some perfect drinking foods. Kennedy’s is spacious enough for a group without a plan, there’s a patio, there’s food. It’s the beginning (or end) of a fun night. — P.L. 

16. Tommy’s Mexican
5929 Geary Blvd.

32 TFS

8/10: Accessibility
5/10: Value
6/10: Setting
7/10: Energy
6/10: Quality of fare

Home of the best margarita in San Francisco and one of the best places to explore the world of Tequila in the entire country, Tommy’s Mexican serves old-school Mexican American dishes with an equally retro vibe. Think enchilada combo plates loaded with congealed refried beans and cold rice, in red faux-leather booths with paper place mats depicting illustrations of Spanish vocabulary words. It’s usually easy to get a table at Tommy’s, as long as your group isn’t more than four people. But dinner is not the point here. (The food is not good.) The bar is where you want to be — and though it can be a challenge to wrangle a seat there during peak weekend hours, Tommy’s gets bonus points for being open during the day. When it comes to prices, food is probably a little more expensive than you’d like; a single chicken taco is more than $9, and many entrees edge close to $20. And the margarita pitchers (if you’re doing it right, you will order by the pitcher) will add up quick, and we haven’t even mentioned that fancy anejo Tequila that you really want to try, because, well, when in Rome. — Esther Mobley and Paolo Lucchesi

15. Benihana
1737 Post St.

34 TFS

6/10: Accessibility
5/10: Value
7/10: Setting
9/10: Energy
7/10: Quality of fare

No restaurant on this list divided the Chronicle ranks quite like Benihana, the teppanyaki chain famous for onion ring volcanoes and chef-propelled shrimp. Here’s the case against Benihana: The food’s not great, it’s not cheap (with a drink, you can probably expect to drop at least $50 per person for a multicourse meal), service can be perfunctory, nobody needs a $16 mai tai in a porcelain ninja warrior cup, and at the end of the day it’s a chain that expresses about 10 percent too much of a corporate tint. Here’s the case for Benihana: The dinner show, with eight diners huddled around a flat-top grill, is a delightfully unpretentious change of pace. Rather than figure out how to split a meatball four ways, here you just get piles of food. All. To. Yourself. More importantly, it is a refreshing return to personal interaction in a bleak digital era. You are face-to-face with your chef, you interact with your tablemates, be they friends, family or strangers, all of whom are also having a great time. And actually, you’re having such a good time that you absolutely need a $16 mai tai in a porcelain ninja warrior cup. — P.L.

14. MerSea
699 Avenue of the Palms

35 TFS

6/10: Accessibility
7/10: Value
7/10: Energy
8/10: Setting
7/10: Quality of fare

Not only can you have a cocktail, good food and one of the best views of San Francisco, but you can play bocce, putt on the practice green and exercise your dog at this Treasure Island restaurant. Chef-owner Parke Ulrich is best known for his cooking at Epic and Waterbar, but here he goes more casual. The restaurant is in a series of shipping containers with large windows inside and loads of outdoor space to capture the view of the bay. Best bets include crispy tacos, fish and chips and a loaded baked potato. It’s also becoming a coveted oasis for those commuting back to the East Bay. When the traffic is too much to bear, pull off the Bay Bridge, order a cocktail and relax. — Michael Bauer

13. AsiaSF
201 Ninth St.

35 TFS

8/10: Accessibility
6/10: Value
6/10: Setting
10/10: Energy
5/10: Quality of fare

One minute your server might be bantering at your table, giving your arm a squeeze and bringing over an ahi burger. The next she could be dressed in a black, sparkly negligee-like outfit on the long red bar lip-synching to a Whitney Houston song. The table next to you could be a group of women at a bachelorette party with the bride-to-be in a tiara and sash, hooting and air pumping the performer. That’s the way it’s been every night for the last 20 years at this restaurant/cabaret show. When it first opened in 1998, the performers were “gender illusionist”; now, in the modern era, they are transgender. The three-course dinner and two shows, all of which takes about two hours, ranges from $39-$79, depending on the day and time. Diners choose from a half dozen appetizers such as blacked tuna sashimi and ginger lime steak salad. Main courses include baby back pork ribs, miso glazed salmon and diver scallops. For dessert most people opt for the trio of mini ice-cream cones. There’s no cover charge, and the cocktails, often veering to the sweet, fruity side, don’t cost any more than at most bars without entertainment. — M.B.

12. El Mansour
3119 Clement St.

36 TFS

8/10: Accessibility
6/10: Value
8/10: Setting
7/10: Energy
7/10: Quality of fare

A night at El Mansour is marked by sitting on the floor, eating hot, flaky bastilla sans utensils, witnessing a mint tea pour from epic (ahem, 2-feet) heights, and perhaps even experiencing a belly dancer. The 42-year-old Moroccan restaurant may show its age these days, but it’s still an event to go there. Reservations are usually easy to come by, and the multicourse meal is a sensory extravaganza that is great fun for everything from a birthday group gathering to a kids’ reward at the end of the school year. — P.L. 

11. State Bird Provisions
1529 Fillmore St.

36 TFS

2/10: Accessibility
7/10: Value
8/10: Setting
9/10: Energy
10/10: Quality of fare

So many articles — not to mention humblebrags — have exhausted the topic of How it Is Still Hard to Get Into State Bird Provisions that what sometimes gets lost is how good a time you can have once you get to the table. Michelin star (and Michelin-star-quality food) aside, formality has been bred out of the dining experience here. Surprise flares every time a new cart or tray rolls down the aisle. As a diner, you find yourself looking around the room, leaning over to inspect the trays, ordering another glass of wine, checking the menu to see what you’ve missed, arguing over whether you should order 3? 4? all the? desserts. It’s a reminder that you can anticipate fun, but fun can never be scripted. — J.K.

10. Hawker Fare
680 Valencia St.

37 TFS

9/10: Accessibility
7/10: Value
7/10: Setting
6/10: Energy
8/10: Quality of fare

Though usually pretty busy, it’s surprisingly easy to get a table at James Syhabout’s Thai-Laotian restaurant even for a group, even on a Saturday. And that’s a party waiting to happen. The metal folding chairs and oilcloths on the tables make things casual, and how fun is it to order a Virgin’s Sacrifice ($13), which then arrives in a tiki glass? The dishes can be shared easily and eaten by hand with bites of sticky rice, like blistered green beans ($12) with bacon and curry paste, and grilled chicken with jaew makham (tamarind dip) and sweet chili sauce ($16). All around you are tables full of people doing the same. When you’ve had enough of the bustle, you can head up the stairs to Holy Mountain, a bar within the restaurant, for a quiet cocktail. — Tara Duggan

9. Espetus Churrascaria
1686 Market St.

38 TFS

9/10: Accessibility
8/10: Value
7/10: Setting
7/10: Energy
7/10: Quality of fare

I’m not typically a fan of “all you can eat” spots, but this Brazilian steak house on Market Street (there’s a second location in San Mateo) has been my stalwart for entertaining my buffet-loving, red-meat-loving out-of-town family members. Grilled meats range from garlicky cubes of sirloin steak to chicken hearts, all served via rapier-long skewers, which are carried by cheerful servers in gaucho-style clothing. Throw in a caipirinha or two and it’s impossible not to have a good time. For those with lighter appetites, or who attempt to feign a well-balanced meal, the accompanying salad bar offers a refreshing counterpoint. While not cheap ($60.95 per person for dinner; $43.95 for lunch), it’s at least a fair price to pay for a seemingly endless parade of meat. As for accessibility? Let’s just say that every time I’ve been disappointed by being unable to get a same-day reservation at House of Prime Rib, I’ve never had a problem snagging a last-minute table here. — Sarah Fritsche

8. Mr. Pollo
2823 Mission St.

38 TFS

5/10: Accessibility
9/10: Value
8/10: Energy
8/10: Setting
8/10: Quality of fare

To get a reservation at Mr. Pollo, you have to text a guy named Will. If you try calling, he won’t pick up. There is no website. Don’t worry; he texts back quickly. This is your first clue that this restaurant is weird. The second: From the outside, Mr. Pollo’s old-fashioned yellow sign (“COMO — A TI — TE - GUSTA / 100% SABOR LATINO”) looks like it would lead to a casual taqueria or pupuseria — the sorts that populate this block of Mission Street — but it doesn’t, and that’s part of the thrill. Inside this Lilliputian eatery (it seats 12) is a four-course tasting menu that blends Venezuelan street food with elevated California cuisine, and all for a screaming deal of $30 a person.

The chef who first made Mr. Pollo a sensation, Manny Torres Gimenez, left the restaurant years ago, but under chef Jonny Becklund the food is still great — and his second course is always a chicken arepa, a holdover from the Gimenez era. On a recent visit, a simple cucumber salad provided a crunchy foil to a lemony mousse of crème fraiche topped with trout roe. A main course of sea scallops, plump and meaty, bathed in a bright puree of green garlic and fava beans. The menu is different every day; is not available to review beforehand; and dietary restrictions are not accommodated. There’s something strangely comforting about a restaurant in San Francisco that refuses to be obsequious. Pro tip: Parties of two are likely to be seated at the bar, mere inches from where Becklund cooks. These diners will also have a prime view of the strange diorama of the restaurant rendered Dia de los Muertos-style, created by one of their regulars. This is the best seat in the house. — E.M.

7. Halu
312 Eighth Ave.

39 TFS

5/10: Accessibility
7/10: Value
12/10: Setting
7/10: Energy
8/10: Quality of fare

Some restaurants are fun in the same way that a party is fun. Others are fun like a movie is fun. Halu, on the other hand, is fun in the same way that you feel awesome and rejuvenated after you spend an afternoon sitting in a park with a great friend you haven’t seen in a while and you remember: man, what a beautiful human being this person is. Halu is a tiny, family-run izakaya in the Richmond with a beautifully idiosyncratic interior full of Beatles memorabilia (and ahem, worth 12 points). You’ll have to wait for a seat during prime-time hours, but once inside, you’ll start to understand the hard-to-pinpoint appeal that is, at its crux, a spiritual sense of happiness. The soundtrack is full of classic rock and oldies, and a dinner there will leave you full of peace, love and yakitori. — P.L. 

6. Kaya
1420 Market St.

40 TFS

8/10: Accessibility
6/10: Value
9/10: Setting
9/10: Energy
8/10: Quality of fare

There’s a moment at Kaya when the Caribbean restaurant transitions from entertaining to flat-out fun. This sometimes happens when a server replaces a table’s first punch bowl with a second one, its vibrant contents appearing disastrously close to slipping over the lip of the container. Or maybe the moment comes during a second bowl of oxtail stew, when you scrape the final piece of meat from the bone. At Kaya, the punch bowls, with their heavy-handed pours of rum and healthy doses of citrus flavors, are the beverage versions of those 1980s freeze-frame high-fives among friends. A little goofy? Yes. Undeniably fun in this context? Absolutely. — J.P.

5. Swan Oyster Depot
1517 Polk St.

40 TFS

2/10: Accessibility
9/10: Value
9/10: Setting
10/10: Energy
10/10: Quality of fare

What makes Swan Oyster Depot fun is the thrill of anticipation, like when the lederhosen-wearing masses start shuffling into the Castro for a sing-along “Sound of Music.” There’s never not a wait for Swan Oyster, but you get to do it with other pilgrims drawn to the prospect of that first briny jolt of raw oyster, the slurp of Anchor Steam, that creamy-crunchy-cold bite of crab, iceberg and Louie dressing. You know you’ll probably get barked at for standing in the wrong place but also made to feel right at home when you finally sit down behind the counter, head nodded in quiet thanks. This 106-year-old seafood bar is all about super-fresh shellfish, so it’s not cheap, but everything seems to be priced the way it should be. A dozen oysters and clams cost $12, and seafood salads range from $18 to $24. — T.D.

4. Tia Margarita
300 19th Ave.

40 TFS

9/10: Accessibility
7/10: Value
9/10: Setting
9/10: Energy
6/10: Quality of fare

Tommy’s — just a half-mile away — may get all the press for its Tequila collection, but here’s something you should know about the margaritas at Tia Margarita: They’re as strong as they are large. (Seriously, no one tells you until you’re on your second that you could have ordered a half-size.) But it’s not just the alcohol and warm chips that fuel the bonhomie here, which extends from the blenders at the heart of the U-shaped bar to the dining room ... though who eats in the dining room? As the cheese-capped platters attest, you’re not in a destination restaurant, you’re in a neighborhood commons — and one where San Francisco, for a hot second, remembers that strangers might make for entertaining company. — J.K.

3. Lolo
974 Valencia St.

41 TFS

6/10: Accessibility
7/10: Value
9/10: Energy
10/10: Setting
9/10: Quality of fare

If colorfulness were the only measurement of fun, then Lolo would be the funnest restaurant in San Francisco — maybe even the world. One mustard-hued wall is populated with hand-folded origami boats; another panel of purple gingham is studded with flower-filled purses. And that’s before you get to the display of antique car doors. All of the art is the work of restaurant co-owner Lorena Zertuche, whose husband, Jorge Martinez, is the chef. Plenty else is fun about Lolo, too: wacky cocktails like the Perfect Stranger, made with jalapeño brine and clarified goat’s milk, or the Parma Sour, which comes heaped with a dome of finely grated Parmesan cheese. Both stupefy in their deliciousness. It doesn’t have to be, but the mescal selection is one of the best in the city. The menu, which takes plenty of Californian liberties with Jaliscan fare (see: the kale salad; the delicata with white bean hummus) almost never changes, but that’s fine by us. We want the panko-fried avocado taco, or the taco tropical — spicy shrimp atop a thin-sliced jicama “tortilla” — again and again. — E.M.

2. Toyose
3814 Noriega St.

42 TFS

6/10: Accessibility
8/10: Value
10/10: Setting
9/10: Energy
9/10: Quality of fare

Toyose still feels special, like you’ve found a secret door that transports you to a place that is not San Francisco. Located in a converted residential garage with no windows and a bustling vibe, the late-night haunt (open until 2 a.m.) starts to feel like a soju-fueled reverie by the time the second order of wings and kimchi pancakes arrive. To me, Toyose checks so many boxes of a fun restaurant: fair prices, good food, can accommodate a party of four to six easily, cheap booze, busy enough to feel ALIVE … but not busy enough that you can never ever get a seat. — P.L.

1. House of Prime Rib
1906 Van Ness Ave.

44 TFS

5/10: Accessibility
10/10: Value
10/10: Setting
10/10: Energy
9/10: Quality of Fare

House of Prime Rib is the funnest restaurant in San Francisco. Even if you’re not celebrating a birthday or holiday, dinner at the House of Prime Rib is always an event, one made even more so by the only downside: Everyone else loves it, too, making obtaining a reservation, at times, an exercise in patience. Once inside, the glory of the House of Prime Rib takes over: giant zeppelin-like carving carts circle the dining room, salads spin table side and manhattans are so generous that the cocktail shakers are served alongside the glasses. It’s that rare “nice” restaurant that can be relaxed, raucous or romantic. You’re all but guaranteed a spectacular evening of merrymaking — S.F.