San Francisco is home to so many different restaurants, cafés, bars, and lounges, but did you know they also have trendy wine bars and cheese shops? Here is a guide to the best spots for both in this West Coast city.
Mission Cheese is an American cheese shop and café serving handcrafted cheeses, meats, sandwiches, and local wines. The wine and cheese bar opened with the owner’s goal to ‘Celebrate American Cheeses.’ Order the cheese of the day or Monger’s Choice which allows the merchant to create an assortment of cheeses for you based on your likes and dislikes. Every food order is accompanied by a baguette, cornichon, and dried fruit, but don’t forget to order wine too.
The Hidden Vine is a wine bar that offers a large selection of wines which features a different region each month, allowing customers to explore the many varietals popular in each location. Customers can always enjoy over 180 wines regardless of the month with 40 wines available to be served by the glass. There are also small plates such as cheese, crackers, charcuterie, and more for customers to enjoy while tasting the many wines or while playing on the outdoor bocce ball court in the back of the venue, which customers can reserve by the hour.
The Marina District’s Nectar Wine Lounge, which was the first wine bar in the area, serves seasonal small plates which pair elegantly with their extensive wine list that often includes wine from small wineries all over the world. Almost all the wines the customers taste can be purchased to take home. Also, the wine lounge sometimes plays movies projected on their walls and holds events with discounted prices on select menu items.
The French-influenced wine bar Amélie is one of the Top 10 Bars on Polk Street. Most of Amélie’s wines are from Europe, especially France, but they also serve wines from California, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. The wine bar is also good for upscale small bites or a large meal, providing some delicious cheese plates, tapas, and other various small and large platters.
West Coast Wine·Cheese is a restaurant, wine bar, and wine shop. Located in Cow Hollow, West Coast Wine·Cheese’s products are sourced from California, Oregon, and Washington state. The restaurant offers artisanal cheese and charcuterie alongside house-made seasonal jams and spreads. Customers can also order small plates and high-quality wines in a relaxed setting. Lastly, the wine bar holds winemaker nights on Tuesdays.
With wine rooms in San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Laguna Niguel, San Diego, and two other locations outside California, San Francisco’s ENO Wine Bar offers 166 wines that can be purchased by the bottle and nearly 50 wines that can be purchased by the glass. The 55-seat wine room in Union Square has an assortment of cheeses, charcuterie, and chocolates that change weekly depending on the season and can be enjoyed on the several couches or by the fireplace.
With shareable small plates, artisan cheeses, pizza, and house made charcuterie, District is great for small parties or a night out with friends for some delicious food and wine. The wine bar is located in a converted warehouse near AT&T Park, creating an attractive ambiance with exposed brick walls and high ceilings. Likewise, the wine list is also inviting with around 40 bottles from Europe, California, Oregon, and South America available by the glass.
Open every night from 5:00 to 2:00 in the morning, Hotel Biron is not a hotel, but rather a wine bar in Hayes Valley. The wine bar offers an extensive wine list with over 60 bottles mostly from California and France. Along the walls, Hotel Biron features work from local artists with different exhibitions throughout the year, which can be enjoyed with cheese, charcuterie, chocolates, and wine.
At InnerFog, customers can order the special cheese platter while enjoying a glass of wine in an intimate setting. The cozy bar also has several other small plates including hummus, chocolate cake, charcuterie, flat breads, and more. The Inner Sunset wine bar has half or full glasses of wine from small-production wines around the world, a selection of beers on tap, delicious food from local, organic farms, and great happy hour deals.
Press Club is a wine bar and lounge located in the Financial District. The upscale bar serves cheeses, charcuterie, sweets, and seasonal small plates such as mushroom pizzettas, beef sliders, butter lettuce salad, truffle popcorn and many more that pair excellently with the venue’s selections of wine. The wine bar is also an ideal event space; each month at Press Club, an artisan vintner is featured where customers can then taste wines straight from the source: the winemaker.
