If you like your steakhouses to be lightly clown-themed, then there’s just one spot for you in San Francisco, and that spot is Bobo’s. This old-school place takes its name from a Venetian court jester of comedy so you’ll notice masks hanging throughout the dining room. It makes for a quirky setting to enjoy the restaurant’s menu of steak and seafood, specifically Dungeness crab which comes roasted and bathed in a secret sauce. It’s a solid option for a surf and turf dinner and certainly a spot you won’t forget.

This North Beach institution is still bustling with jacketed waiters bringing big plates of steak and pasta to leather booths with white tablecloths. The original location, which dates back to 1937, suffered a fire in 2007, but Joe’s reopened five years later on Washington Square. The Italian-American menu includes flame-grilled New York strip, bone-in ribeye, or filet mignon, which come with a side of spaghetti or house-made ravioli. Or try the prime rib roast, which includes classic mashed potatoes and creamed spinach.

Brazen Head is absolutely not a flashy downtown steakhouse experience; it’s more like the village pub of Cow Hollow. Nevertheless, regulars (many of whom work in the industry) have been coming back to this cozy wood-paneled dining room for more than 40 years. The house special is the prime rib, cooked however you like it, and served simply with a baked potato, green veggies, and caramelized shallot jus. 

We’ll cut to the chase: This restaurant is all about the vibes. In fact, STK bills itself as offering “vibe dining at its finest” so while you may consider other options if you’re looking for the highest-quality beef cooked meticulously, if you’re looking for an uber-cool spot to enjoy a fun night out, well, here you go. Located just across the street from the waterfront, the restaurant definitely boasts a prime location and offers a familiar steakhouse menu — raw bar, salads, steaks of all sides with plenty of add-ons and sides — plus cocktails with names like Cucumber Stiletto, Unchained Passion, and Fade to Blackberry.   

The name says it all: House of Prime Rib serves one thing and one thing only, and it does it perfectly. The only choices you need to make are meat temperature, cut thickness, mashed or loaded baked potatoes, and a martini or Manhattan. Each plate comes with a salad spun tableside, creamed spinach, Yorkshire pudding, and potatoes — and of course, a hulking piece of beef cut from roving carts. Take visiting friends and family, celebrate big life occasions, or just satisfy cravings for red meat.

At the Vault Steakhouse, which has returned to its sexy underground locale, FiDi diners can order steaks with sauces like black truffle bordelaise or bearnaise — as well as luxurious sides like truffled mac n’ cheese and sweet creamed corn. Start your meal with raw bar favorites including a massive shrimp cocktail or caviar service with savory waffles and chives.

Gozu isn’t technically a steakhouse — but it does serve an all-wagyu tasting menu, for those who love their luxuriously marbled beef. Chef Marc Zimmerman worked at Alexander’s for years before opening his own restaurant in 2019. It’s a dramatic black box of a space, with a horseshoe counter built around a live-fire grill. The chefs pass steak bites across the counter, breaking down how they use all parts of the animal. The restaurant’s fireside tasting menu starts at $225 per person. Alternately, there is a four-course tasting menu for $96.

The view of the Bay Bridge is the top draw here — perfect for impressing a date or clients — and the steaks and seafood are a close second. You can’t go wrong with a classic order: an anchovy-topped Caesar salad, a 14-ounce New York strip, and an ice-cold martini. Sister restaurant next door Waterbar is seafood-focused, and that overflows onto Epic’s menu, which offers lots of surf and turf options.

It’s one thing to order a steak entree for dinner, but it’s a completely different experience when various cuts of meat are paraded past your table and carved at will, as is the case at Espetus Churrascaria. There’s picanha, filet mignon, sausages, and yes, chicken hearts, all ready to be eaten until you’re stuffed. A word to the wise: Don’t skip the grilled pineapple, it’ll be a nice sweet addition to your meal after all the protein.

The Omakase Restaurant Group’s steakhouse specializes in wagyu beef and sets itself apart with its in-house butcher shop next door. The restaurant serves hard-to-find menu items like wagyu tsukune and huge, dry-aged imperial tomahawk steaks making it easily one of the most exciting steakhouses in the city. There are also more than 100 wines available by the bottle or glass.

If you’re looking for a particularly luxurious steakhouse experience then celebrity chef Tyler Florence’s offering is a fit — it’s right there in the name, although technically the “Lux” refers to Charles Lux, half of the duo known as “the Cattle Kings of California.” The 7,000-square-foot waterfront restaurant at Thrive City is just outside of Chase Center, with a stunning leather and brass dining room designed by San Francisco design darling Ken Fulk. The pricey menu tempts with options like dry-aged tomahawk ribeye and filet mignon.