San Ho Won
The grill runs on lychee charcoal and sits behind the bar, so from your seat you watch a cook glaze your short ribs and turn the mackerel.
Why go
Corey Lee and Jeong-In Hwang cook here, and the MICHELIN inspector who gave the room its star describes what the technique is for: impeccable ingredients to make for dishes of surpassing depth and purity of flavor, whether it be the humble kimchi or a rarefied cut of beef.
1 That is the argument of the place in one sentence, and it is why the aged kimchi jjigae with soy pickled ramp sits on the same list as the beef. Julia Chen scored it 9.5 and opened her review on the short rib: each glistening piece of short rib has edges charred to caramelized perfection, and shiny lines of fat running lengthwise.
2
Order this / avoid
- Order: the house double-cut galbi, the chunjang pork ribs, and the spicy chicken tteokbokki, which arrives still sizzling in a black pot. Chen on the tteokbokki: "Ordering it is non-negotiable." Sarah Cooper, who cooks at Sun Moon Studio, says the raw fish is the thing people miss: "Raw fish might get overlooked with all the hearty meat options on the menu, but it's excellent and refreshing."
- Order: the egg souffle as well, which the Chronicle's critics call
a cloud of steamed custard that's moments away from taking flight.
6 Eater points first-timers at the House Menu and a Chilsung Cider alongside it.4 - Avoid: turning up on the night without a plan. There is no waitlist, so a missed walk-in means waiting until tables turn.
What locals & experts say
- MICHELIN Guide California, one star:
The kitchen's assiduously refined technique deftly combines traditional Korean tastes with a sense of novelty.
1 - The Infatuation SF (Julia Chen, September 2024), 9.5:
The galbi from San Ho Won is the best in San Francisco.
2 The Infatuation is owned by JPMorgan Chase. - Sarah Cooper, The San Francisco Standard (November 2025):
My folks were full after the banchan, and I lost track of the number of times my brother said, 'This is insane.'
3 She was answering where she takes out-of-town visitors, and she has been bringing family for years. - MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, ranking it 20th in the Bay Area for 2026: San Francisco has no deep bench of Korean barbecue, and this is the room it does have,
Corey Lee and Jeong-In Hwang's temple to all things grilled.
5 - The same two critics, a year earlier, name what the coals are for: short ribs, and pork ribs
varnished with savory-sweet black bean paste.
6
Good to know
- Booking: as at Chen's September 2024 review, tables go up on SevenRooms twenty-nine days ahead, mid-morning. A couple of walk-in seats go when the doors open, with a line forming half an hour before. There is no waitlist, and tables start freeing up late in the evening.
- Timing: dinner only, and the room is full every service.
- Getting there: an unmarked white building on Bryant at 20th, deep in the Mission.
Verdict
must-visit — A MICHELIN Star, a 9.5 from the Infatuation, and a working chef who has been bringing her family here for years, all pointing at the same grill. Corey Lee and Jeong-In Hwang run lychee charcoal behind the bar and the evidence for the cooking is specific on both ends of the menu: Michelin praises the kimchi and the kimchi jjigae, Julia Chen calls the double-cut galbi the best short rib in the city. The banchan arrive as a service in themselves and the tteokbokki comes out still boiling. The only thing standing between a reader and this table is the 29-day booking window, and the entry tells them how it works.