Reviews
Press
Hours: Monday-Saturday 8AM-3PM
Wednesday-Saturday 8PM-3AM
Sunday 8AM-11PM
It's Tops Coffee Shop
1801 Market Street x Octavia Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 431-6395
Take Out! Call (415) 431-6395
AWARDS
America's Best Diners - Travel & Leisure Magazine - June 2013- "San Francisco's" pick &
Northern California's only winner. "This joint is swimming with antiques." - "The menu is a mix of old and new, with classic hand-dipped milkshakes selling just as well as the recently added stuffed waffles.
Best of San Francisco-7X7 Magazine-05/27/2010-Best Ways to End the Night
Entertainment & Nightlife-"For Surrealsies" "prepare to be both entertained by the sodden
shenanigans and nourished by the bacon waffles. Everything tastes better with bacon
especially at 2 a.m."
Top 10 San Francisco - DK Eyewitness Travel- 2008 Top 10 Sunday Brunch Venues-
"A classic diner- their flapjacks are famously good"
Best of the Bay - The San Francisco Bay Guardian- Editors picks for Classics
Best Diner in Which to Have a "Twilight Zone" Experience
Best of San Francisco - SF Weekly- Food and Drink
Best Place to Grab a Post-Midnight Snack
San Francisco Chronicle Magazine - No Jive Java Joints- by Tori Ritchie and Sam Whiting
winner for Creative accessorizing of waitress uniforms "Pink, with It's Tops stitched
across the heart." and Winner for Patty Melt The fries are "excellent with the patty melt."
San Francisco Focus - Best of the Bay Area- the Ultimate Insider's Guide
Best Hamburgers- "oozing with juice and fragrant with onions"
Best of San Francisco - SF Weekly- Food and Drink
Best Diner- "It's as real as it gets"
Best of the Bay - The San Francisco Bay Guardian- Editors picks for Food
Best eggs and pancakes fix- "This one's no surprise: It's Tops Coffee Shop serves the greatest brunch in town, hands down."
Best of the Bay - The San Francisco Bay Guardian- Editors picks for Food
Best Diner Personality- " 'Sugar' makes you believe her waitress-with-a-heart-of-gold
is the real thing." "Sweet as candy"
RECOGNITIONS
Television:
Bay Area Back Roads- February 23, 2003
Evening Magazine- September 29, 1998- with Dame Edna
Books:
7 Squared-49 Pictures of San Francisco, 2010, pg 24.- Photography by Jeanne Hauser
Character Cafes of the World- Phantom House Books New Zealand, 1997, by Grant Sheehan, pg 15
Cool Places to warm up in San Francisco- Hot Studio Inc., 2005, by Laura Dorothy Haertling,
2 a.m. stop on tour, with It's Tops Coffee Shop featured on book cover- front and back.
Not For Tourists-Guide to San Francisco- 2005
Zagat Survey- San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants, 2001, Zagat Survey, LLC, pg 56
The Rough Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area- 7th edition, Rough Guides, 2006, by Mark Ellwood and Nick Edwards, pg 195
San Francisco Sidewalk Offline Restaurant Guide- Sasquatch Books, 1997, pg 112
San Francisco As You Like It 20 Tailor-made Tours for Culture Vultures, Shopaholics, Neo-Bohemians, Fitness Freaks, Savvy Natives, and Everyone Else- Chronicle Books, 1998, by Bonnie Wach, pg 93 "the eggs are damn good, but the blueberry and banana pancakes are the real ticket.
For an Edward (or Dennis) Hooper-esque experience, come here during the wee hours (they're open till 3 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday)"
San Francisco's Ultimate Dining Guide- Pine Cone Press, 1988, by Don and Betty Martin, pg 69
"old fashioned diner is stuck in a time warp"
Magazines:
Newsweek- March 3, 1986 Lifestyles, pg 54- Hey, Dottie- Diners are Back
"And sometimes you hunger to be eating that burger in a place that has earned its cutesy-pie
name over the years, that was actually there in the '50s, like San Francisco's It's Tops Coffee
Shop "
Sunset Magazine of Western Living- Market to Market- November 2002- "other Market Street
standouts range from glossy One Market Restaurant, down by the Bay, to the 70-year-old
It's Tops Coffee Shop, with tabletop jukeboxes and dinner available until 3 A.M."
San Francisco Focus on the Bay- June 1998- Food, pg 86- Counter-Fitting
Classic Counters- "It's Tops Coffee Shop is the real thing-a classic diner with counter top
jukeboxes, knotty pine walls, orange seats , and cheery waitresses in pink uniforms."
Trade Magazines:
Turtle Soup- June 1989- pg 34- "I've driven by a thousand times and wanted to stop in", and "more folks seem to be finding the time to stop and enjoy a refreshing taste of yesteryear at It's Tops"
Frank Magazine #9-by Tim Rowland
Weekly Newspaper Publications:
The San Francisco Bay Guardian- The Neighborhood Breakfast- January 20-27, 1988
"Talk about your neighborhood breakfast spots, this is about as cozy as they get. If the
knotty-pine interior doesn't get you, the old soda fountain will.
The San Francisco Bay Guardian- The Native's guide"- Diners Around the Bay- February 19, 1986
The San Francisco Bay Guardian- Champions of Breakfast Desperately Seeking Scrambled Eggs-
August 14, 1985 by Art Kleiner "the buckwheat pancakes and waffles are excellent."
San Francisco Weekly- Side Dish by Harry Coverte- July 14, 1999 "All right, there is It's Tops--
but that's just the exception that proves the rule."
Newspapers:
San Francisco Chronicle / Examiner
R. B. Reed - The underground Gourmet- A Coffee cafe- April 11, 1979
Robin Davis- Food Section- Burgers, Shakes And More- December 10 1997, pg 6- "The food at It's Tops can be great--especially the pancakes, which may be the best the city."
- Diner is a 50's Time Capsule- pg 6- " Over the years, the Chapmans
have changed the music in the boxes, but have returned to'50's
because it fits the restaurant best."
Date book- December 14-20 1997, Ask the Critics- Best burgers- "It's Tops: This family-owned
'50s-style diner-coffee shop offers a great burger, loosely formed and served on a cornmeal-
crusted bun."
Sunday Comics- September 22, 2002- Zippy, by Bill Griffith zippythepinhead.com
San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle- May 19,1985, Hip Hangouts- Retrofitting the '50s
"They've got an old-fashioned fountain and serve breakfast all day."
Orange County Register- May 23, 2009- by Paul Rodriquez- San Francisco in two days- 9 a.m.
"OK, breakfast time. Where? There. Old place. Red and White." "The old-timer feel. So
many strip mall 'soda shops' wish they were like this. But really aren't."