The restaurants that should've been on the top 100, according to readers
Acquerello, one of the Bay Area's best Italian restaurants, did not make the Chronicle critics' Top 100 restaurants list in 2026. (Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle)
The Chronicle revealed its complete new Top 100 Restaurants last week, celebrating the best in the Bay Area's dining world. Naturally, many readers who did not see their favorite spots ask: Why is this restaurant not on the list?
To assemble the Top 100, restaurant critics MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez spent a year eating at hundreds of restaurants throughout the Bay Area. Inevitably, some were cut from the list, while many more, including some truly excellent restaurants, were left off - 100 sounds like a lot until you consider the vastness of the region's dining scene. So we once again asked readers what restaurants they think should have made the 2026 list.
Three of the top five reader mentions last year - Dalida, ranked No. 49; Ernest, ranked No. 89; and Lazy Bear, ranked No. 100 - appeared on the 2026 list following our critics' latest visits.
This year, a wide variety of restaurants were represented by the more than 100 reader responses we received, but there were several that readers seemed to agree on. Read on for the five most frequent picks, listed in alphabetical order.
Note: Responses have been edited for clarity.
Acquerello
The Chronicle's critics have included Acquerello in San Francisco in their lists of the Bay Area's best Italian restaurants and restaurants with the best service. Several readers praised the two-Michelin-starred restaurant based on these details.
"Perfect service, formal but not stuffy. We are always treated as special guests. The food is very creative and perfectly prepared. We always find something surprising and memorable," Chris Coen wrote.
Acquerello was a regular entry on former Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer's Top 100 lists, and last appeared in former critic Soleil Ho's 2019 edition.
A chef works in the kitchen at Chez Panisse, as photographed in 2019. (Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle)
Few Bay Area restaurants have as enduring influence and popularity as Berkeley's Chez Panisse. The restaurant's founding focus on seasonality is now ubiquitous and generations of its chefs have gone on to open their own restaurants. It last appeared on the 2018 Top 100 list.
"How can you have a Top 100 restaurants list and not include Chez Panisse, the restaurant that revolutionized American fine dining?" reader David Wood wrote.
Patrons dine on the patio of Foreign Cinema, as photographed in 2014, in San Francisco. (Jason Henry, Special to The Chronicle)
San Francisco's Foreign Cinema has won over diners since 1999 with seasonal dishes and films projected onto a wall in its open-air courtyard after the sun has set. Readers largely applauded Foreign Cinema's food, service and longevity.
"A restaurant that's been around this long often gets tired. I have never detected tiredness in its menu, the food itself, nor in the wine list," wrote Susan Sawyer.
Foreign Cinema last appeared on the Chronicle's Top 100 list in 2019. This year, the James Beard Foundation named it as a semifinalist in the outstanding restaurant category.
Numbing fried chicken from Good To Eat in Emeryville. (Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle)
Contemporary Taiwanese restaurant Good to Eat is the youngest restaurant among the top-five reader picks. It began in 2019 as a popup specializing in dumplings before moving into a fixed location in Emeryville in 2022. Dishes such as crispy fried chicken and braised pork over rice have earned it a place in our critics' top Chinese restaurants list.
"Amazing food, lovely service," Yvette Hills wrote of Good to Eat, one of the Bay Area's few Taiwanese restaurants.
Customers look over a menu as they chat and dine at the bar at Kokkari. (Lea Suzuki/S.F. Chronicle)
"The ribeye, the lamb chops, the grilled branzino. The bar," is what reader Joe Santos likes about Kokkari Estiatorio, the longtime upscale Greek restaurant in San Francisco's Financial District. Other readers praised the restaurant's ambiance and service.
