Marie-Christine asks:
I'm French, living in Paris and working for an IT company. I'm organizing a business tour (15 people aged 35 to 55) . . . spending 2 nights over SF on Feb 15 & 16. I know you are not a travel agency but I thought you might be able to give me advices : I'd like to find a place where we could have dinner or a drink, where there are no tourists. In fact, I'm looking for the last place where to go out in SF, just to do as the SF people do (when in Rome...). Do you think you could help ?
Well, of course we can help! In general, stay away from Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf, and most of China Town and North Beach--these places are tourist-heavy (though they do have some great places to eat and drink). Beyond that, if you want to do it like locals do, we recommend visiting Web sites that cater to locals, where the citizens themselves can leave opinions. Try Yelp, for instance; people that post comments are not shy about pointing out what's good or bad about a place, and they'll often mention the tourist factor. Another great resource? Look through some of the reviews here on SFist, particularly those written by our restaurant reviewers Sam and Ced (who originally hails from your neck of the world, in fact). One thing -- if you are avoiding places that cater to tourists, you'll find that your transportation options and convenience may be more limited as well. But, as you said, "when in Rome . . ."
In our comments section a few weeks back, a commenter known as "Anthony" asked
