This addendum to the beloved Commis, in the form of a lounge-y cocktail bar with formidable food offerings, has taken to greeting visitors here for the sideshow on its own.

Website: commisrestaurant.com

Address: 3859 Piedmont Ave., Oakland, Calif.

Phone number: 510-207-9747

Number of seats: 24

Entrée price range: $7-$22

Popular dishes: Commis levain bread with chicken skin butter and herbs; slow poached egg yolk with smoked dates, alliums and malt; Pacific oysters with quince ice and horseradish crème fraîche

What others say: “CDP, the stylish follow-up to chef James Syhabout’s two-Michelin-starred Commis, is now open in Oakland’s Piedmont neighborhood. The name is an acronym for chef de partie, the supporting role to an executive chef, and an apt description for Syhabout’s new venture: It’s a natural extension of the adjacent restaurant where guests can lounge with cocktails and small bites before, after, or instead of a tasting menu experience.”  — Ellen Fort, Eater San Francisco

Commis levain bread with chicken skin butter and herbs

Cocktail service

Stately and elaborate but warm and inviting, this fantastical lynchpin of China Live —  an ambitious food hall in the heart of Chinatown —  takes cues and entertainment tips from 17th-century China.

Website: eighttables.com

Address: 8 Kenneth Rexroth Place

Phone number: 415-788-8788

Number of seats: 48

Prix-fixe tasting price: $225

Popular dishes: Barbecue 'Shao Kao': kaluga on duck skin, Iberico char siu and siu yuk sandwich; Four Seas Dumpling: Russian golden osetra, sea urchin, bay scallop and trout roe; Miyasaki A5 Wagyu beef with baby gailan hearts and wallapa 'oyster' sauce

What others say: “Because of the price and pomp, some might consider it the French Laundry with chopsticks; a Qing Dynasty-style Quince; a less-austere Benu. But, really, Eight Tables is unlike any restaurant this side of the Pacific —  and exactly what chef Chen intended it to be: dinner at his place.”  — Rachel Levin, Eater San Francisco

The dining area

Black cod

The latest creation of Adriano Paganini, whose other restaurants include Belga, Flores, Super Duper and Lolinda, focuses on highly refined yet accessible pastas and pizzas in an earthy, elemental Italian mode.

Website: amanosf.com

Address: 450 Hayes St.

Phone number: 415-506-7401

Number of seats: 90 inside, 40 outside

Entrée price range: $12-$16

Popular dishes: Bucatini all’ amatriciana with tomato, pancetta and pecorino; Monterey squid with ceci beans, Castelvetrano olives and romanesco; Tuscan fried chicken with braised cavolo nero, fennel pollen and lemon

What others say: “Paganini has outdone himself in creating a restaurant that has neighborhood-friendly prices, backed with great food and a winning, casual esprit de corps that also makes it a prime destination for visitors.”  — Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle

Monterey squid

Bucatini all’amatriciana

Hetal Shah, who worked at Google, opened this home for complex and modernistic Indian cuisine in the area around the Civic Center.

Website: august1five.com

Address: 524 Van Ness Ave.

Phone number: 415-771-5900

Number of seats: 100

Entrée price range: $20-$36

Popular dishes: Palak Chaat: Baby spinach leaves dipped in chickpea batter with tamarind chutney and yogurt; Bison Keema Pao: Ground bison with caramelized onion, soft buns, bacon and quail egg; lamb chops marinated in yogurt and tandoor-fried with cashew paste, cheese, mace and cardamom

What others say: “The face of a bejeweled maharaja covers an entire wall of August 1 Five, the modern Indian restaurant in San Francisco’s Civic Center neighborhood. Maharaja Bhupinder Singh was an early 20th century land owner known for his opulent lifestyle and epicurean leanings. And this sleek 4,000-square foot restaurant, with its gold-tipped peacock decals, booths of shimmery teal velvet and slate leather stools, could very well have been his man cave.”  — Jessica Yadegarden, The Mercury News

The interior

Bison Keema Pao

Elegant Japanese food as imagined by the wife-and-husband team Caroline Smith and Sunny Simmons has found a home in a bathhouse in the Tenderloin.

Website: onsensf.com

Address: 466 Eddy St.

Phone number: 415-441-4987

Number of seats: 24

Entrée price range: $10-$15

Popular dishes: Cabbage and eggplant gyoza with miso, lovage and chicken jus; local sardine skewers with tamari and togarashi; trout poke with crispy rice, avocado, shiso, kohlrabi and soy

What others say: “The concept behind Onsen, a Japanese spa-restaurant in the former City Automotive building in the Tenderloin, is anything but gimmicky. Maybe your first mental image is of shrimp tempura in the steam room, but from top to bottom (and from dry sauna to cold plunge) this model is a paragon of elegance.”  — Peter Lawrence Kane, SF Weekly

The bar

A tabletop spread