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Balboa Cafe
Balboa Cafe has occupied the corner of Fillmore and Greenwich in Cow Hollow since 1913, opening as a working-man's saloon and surviving Prohibition, multiple earthquakes, and more than a century of San Francisco's changing tastes while keeping its original wood bar largely intact. It's one of the older continuously operating bar-restaurants in the city, and it wears that age openly rather than sanding it down for a modern remodel. The Balboa Burger, served on a baguette rather than a conventional bun, is the restaurant's signature order — a thick, griddled patty built to hold up against a crustier, more substantial bread than most burgers get paired with, giving the whole thing a slightly different bite and chew than a typical American cheeseburger. It's a small structural choice that ends up defining the burger's identity as much as anything in the build. Balboa Cafe is now a PlumpJack property, part of the hospitality group with ties to California political and business circles, and that ownership has kept the restaurant polished without stripping out its saloon-era bones — the century-plus of history is treated as an asset rather than something to modernize away. The room still functions as a genuine neighborhood gathering spot, busy with a Cow Hollow crowd well beyond just people chasing the burger specifically. That combination — one of the oldest continuously run bar-restaurants in San Francisco, under contemporary ownership, still serving a baguette-bunned burger that's stayed a signature order for generations of regulars — is a rare thing for a business past its hundredth year. For a San Francisco cheeseburger list, Balboa Cafe is the essential "century-old saloon" entry — a thick, griddled patty on a baguette, served from the same Fillmore Street bar that's been pouring drinks since 1913.
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Causwells
Causwells has anchored a corner of Chestnut Street in the Marina since 2014, built as a neighborhood American bistro rather than a burger-first concept — yet its Americana Burger has become the dish most closely tied to the restaurant's reputation, cited often enough as one of the city's best that it's outgrown its billing as just one more item on a seasonal, farm-to-table menu. The Americana Burger is built smash-style: thin, hard-pressed patties cooked fast on a hot griddle for maximum crisp, caramelized edge, stacked and finished simply enough that the beef and the char do the work rather than a pile of toppings. That restraint is a deliberate contrast to the rest of Causwells' menu, which leans into more composed, seasonal small plates and craft cocktails served with a fair amount of presentation flourish. The restaurant has kept a genuinely loyal Marina following for its cocktail program as much as its food — drinks arriving in custom vessels and a room built for a lively, date-night and neighborhood-regular crowd rather than a quiet dinner. That the Americana Burger holds its own on a menu built around that kind of showmanship is part of what's kept it in local "best burger" conversations year after year. Causwells later opened a second location in Menlo Park, expansion built on the strength of the original Marina restaurant's reputation, but the Chestnut Street original has stayed the one most identified with the name and the burger. For a San Francisco cheeseburger list, Causwells is the essential "neighborhood bistro's smashburger" entry — a thin, hard-seared patty from a kitchen better known for composed seasonal plates and cocktails, proof that a genuinely good smashburger can headline a menu it was never designed to lead.
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