Rose’s, the home of an always-reliable weekday brunch, has dishes like breakfast pizza with ham, fontina, and eggs, or French toast bread pudding with caramelized apples and whipped cream. Pull up a seat at one of the sidewalk tables or step inside the cozy dining room.

The doomsayers may say downtown San Francisco is dead, but Devil’s Teeth’s outpost inside the Embarcadero Center seems to prove otherwise. Nowadays you don’t have to trek out to the westside to get the bakery’s well-loved biscuit breakfast sandwiches or an array of baked goods including cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, scones, and cookies. Note: There’s no real seating here but you can take your meal to one of the many seating areas around the center.

Step inside this small cafe for a weekday breakfast that blends California cuisine and Filipino classics. The tight menu includes the usual fare — think avocado toast, waffles, and a breakfast burrito stuffed with tater tots and bacon — but also items leaning into Filipino inspiration. A sisig breakfast burrito makes a solid start to the day, or a sisig rice bowl with brown garlic rice and two sunny-side-up eggs. Orders can be placed online for pick-up if you’re running late to the office. 

Head to this sunny, new(ish) restaurant for breakfast and brunch. Chef Andrew McCormack applies fine dining techniques he picked up cooking at restaurants such as Quince to breakfast fare like eggs Benedict and peach cobbler French toast. He and the team make everything in-house including English muffins, butter, hot sauce, and bacon. Start with the sugar-rolled doughnuts and don’t sleep on the samusa potato pancake inspired by San Francisco’s many Burmese restaurants. 

A new player in the plant-based restaurant scene — from the same team behind Wildseed — this restaurant opens at 9 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends. The chilaquiles are to die for, Vietnamese iced coffee goes for just $5, and the interior design is incredibly cute.

Lers Ros Thai chef and owner Tom Narupon Silargorn teamed up with Varidda Voraakom and Steve K. Tavanit to bring Cauliflower’s breakfast staples — delicate omelets and a horde of Benedicts — to the east side of 16th Street. (For what it’s worth, Pork Store Cafe keeps the west side of the street handled.)

Things once looked grim for the Inner Sunset’s favorite Korean American diner. The restaurant closed in July 2020 after about 30 years in the hash brown game, but managed to reopen under new ownership in early February 2021. Now new owners Chol and Young Lee are cracking eggs and fermenting kimchi for returned longtime fans and newcomers alike.

Le Marais’s Castro neighborhood location serves a full menu of French breakfast fare plus, of course, a spread of freshly baked pastries. Choose from options such as a cheesy croque-madame, several types of omelets, French toast, quiche, or avocado croissant toast. Plus, there’s a selection of coffee and espresso drinks to enjoy alongside your leisurely morning meal. For a quicker experience, try the Ferry Building’s sister location, Grande Creperie.

This counter-service restaurant is a major player in the San Francisco breakfast sandwich scene. It’s all about perfecting the East Coast-style BEC, which comes on a poppyseed-covered Kaiser roll and sports an ample layer of melted American cheese. Other options include the PEC (that’s pastrami, egg, and cheese) or HEC (ham, egg, and cheese), though if you want to break away from the classic format, try something like the Horse on the Roof, a two-hands-required sando stacked with steak, two eggs, and two kinds of cheese.

This popular Mission District breakfast spot serves arguably one of the best breakfast burritos in the city. Fans crowd the small, counter service space to choose from several breakfast burrito options including the O.G., which comes filled with either bacon or sausage, cheese, garlic aioli, eggs, and tater tots. Toasts, breakfast sandwiches, breakfast tacos, and more round out the menu.

Mohamed Ali Abdelmeguid’s cafe inside the Southeast Community Center — where the city’s newest farmers market pops up outside — is home to budget-friendly open-faced breakfast sandwiches and pastries every day of the work week starting at 8 a.m.

There are few diners in San Francisco with more than 40 years of mom and pop experience. Ann’s in the Excelsior is just that, continuing to dole out greasy hash browns and juicy sausage links on Mission Street at ultra-budget-friendly rates.