5 Bay Area restaurants make Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat in 2024
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Five Bay Area restaurants have been honored with the distinction of making Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat in 2024. While slurpy ramen noodles, vegan Mexican food, and Sun Belt eateries in Arizona, Texas and Florida trended high among Yelp users cited in the list, the Bay Area spots represented the diversity of the region’s food scene.
Mazra, San Bruno
Coming in at no. 23, Mazra was the highest-ranking Bay Area restaurant on the list. A counter-service Mediterranean spot near SFO, “Mazra never disappoints,” according to one elite Yelp reviewer cited in the list.
Mazra’s menu is full of vegetarian options, but “the real star” is the grilled meat, which is cooked on a wood-fired outdoor grill, that’s the largest of it’s kind in California, according to Yelp. The grill “cooks at extremely high temperatures and [creates] a perfectly consistent char on every part of the meat,” according to Mazra co-owner Saif Makableh.
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The most popular dish according to Yelpers is the 6-Hour Lamb Shank Plate, which makes sense, considering there’s a sign next to the grill — and on restaurant merch — that reads, “Take it easy, Habibi (my Love) — good food takes time.”
Mazra also has a location in Redwood City.
Ocean Indian Cuisine, San Francisco
Coming in at no. 29, Ocean Indian Cuisine is the lone SF spot to make the list. An Indian-Nepalese-Himalayan restaurant located on Geary, it’s been called “life-changing” by some Yelpers cited in the list.
The menu features a fusion from the different cultures. Manager Tara Sharma told Yelp, “It’s similar to traditional Indian food, but with Chinese classics like chow mein and dumplings, which customers love.”
The restaurant’s chefs are brothers, Krissna and Om Kandel, who draw on “decades of combined experience cooking in India and the US,” according to Yelp. Ocean Indian’s most popular dishes are the Butter Chicken Masala, Chicken Tikka Masala, Everest Chicken Momo, and Lamb Curry, according to Yelp.
Guiso Latin Fusion, Healdsburg
Ranked at no. 32 on the list, Healdsburg’s Guiso Latin Fusion is described as a “white-tablecloth wine-country spot” that “melds the flavors of Salvadoran and Latin cuisines.” Chef Carlos J. Mojica opened Guiso eight years ago and at only 24-seats, reservations are reportedly hard to come by.
If you can get in, Yelp recommends the family-style entrees and desserts, which include “delicate fish tacos with poblano child yogurt sauce on homemade tortillas,” and “unique Arroz con Leche (rice pudding with coconut milk).”
Salvadoran-born Mojica “is the brains behind” the restaurant, but according to Yelp, it’s very much a family affair with the chef’s mother sometimes making pupusas in the open kitchen.
Most popular dishes among Yelpers include the Tacos de Pescado, Camarones Borrachos, Pan, and Paella Caribena.
Much Ado About Pizza, Pleasanton
Coming in at no. 51, Pleasanton’s Much Ado About Pizza is the sole East Bay spot on the list. The Shakespearean-themed artisanal-pizza spot is even praised by Yelpers in iambic pentameter, with one writing, “I come to praise a delicious pizza. One pizzeria of great dignity, in fair Pleasanton where we lay our scene.”
Much Ado About Pizza was opened by Mark and Kira Zabrowski, a married couple of theater-loving teachers in 2023. Kira had one of her pies place 4th in the world at a Las Vegas pizza expo and Much Ado earns marks for its “excellent, just tangy enough” sourdough crust, which requires a 72-hour Italian fermentation process, known as a “biga.”
Most popular dishes at the Theater mask and Shakespearean poster adorned pizzeria include Taming of the Chew, Cheezy “Bard” bread, The Capulet (with cherry tomatoes, basil and goat cheese), The Montague, and O’thello’s O’bsession (cooked with pesto, Italian cheese, spinach and squash).
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Curry Hyuga, Burlingame
The final Bay Area spot on the list, Burlingame’s Curry Hyuga, comes in at no. 55. A Japanese curry spot that opened at the height of the pandemic, Curry Hyuga is making its second annual appearance on the list.
The Burlingame location is one of three across the Bay Area, all specializing in “authentic-tasting” Japanese curry that’s served with a choice of chicken, pork, hard-boiled eggs, veggies and potato croquettes. Curry Hyuga’s tonkatsu (pork cutlet) is described by one elite Yelper as “perfectly cooked, with a light, crunchy batter on the outside and super-juicy pork inside.”
Most popular dishes at Curry Hyuga include the Signature Katsu Curry, Karaage Chicken appetizer and creamy Corn Potage Soup.
Methodology
Yelp’s data science team determined its Top 100 Places to Eat in 2024 by analyzing user submissions and determining the top restaurants by criteria that included reviews and volume of submissions. Rankings were finalized using “the expertise” of Yelp’s Community Managers, the reviewing site said.
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