3 San Leandro Restaurants Called Best Of The East Bay

SAN LEANDRO, CA — We all have our favorite restaurants, but it's also an adventure to try new places.

Eater San Francisco publishes an ongoing list of "38 Standout Dining Destinations in the East Bay," with three San Leandro restaurants —Top Hatters Kitchen and Bar, Noodles Pho Me, and Bluebird Pizzeria — on the list.

"For quite some time now, one of the Bay Area dining scene’s most poorly kept secrets has been that many of the most exciting restaurants aren’t opening in San Francisco anymore," Eater writes. "Instead they’re opening in the East Bay — all over Oakland and Berkeley, certainly, but also in places like Richmond and San Leandro. The truth is, this side of the Bay is jam-packed with excellent restaurants, from high-end tasting menus to cash-only taquerias."

The East Bay 38 honors long-time standouts, along with new discoveries.

Here are San Leandro's entries on the list:

Top Hatters Kitchen and Bar

Eater calls Top Hatters Kitchen and Bar, "San Leandro’s most thrilling and ambitious new restaurant of the past couple of years." During non-pandemic times, Top Hatters has a "lovely dining room and intimate family-style service." But the restaurant also successfully pivoted during forced indoor dining closures by adding items to the take-out menu and creating picnic grazing boxes that Eater calls "everything you need to throw a little Vietnamese fresh spring roll party at home."

Top Hatters is at 855 MacArthur Blvd., San Leandro, 94577. Call the restaurant at 510-777-9777

Noodles Pho Me

"Perhaps the Bay Area’s only Lao-style pho shop," Eater writes, "Noodles Pho Me has become a true neighborhood favorite over the years, cultivating a faithful following for its exceptionally friendly service and its comforting noodle soups — the pho differs from the most common Vietnamese styles by virtue of its darker, more intensely flavored broth."

The restaurant serves other Laotian favorites.

Noodles Pho Me is at 377 Bancroft Ave., San Leandro, 94577. Call them at 510-850-5080

Bluebird Pizzeria

"For every hundred Bay Area restaurants that promise 'East Coast style' pizza," Eater writes, "there’s only one Bluebird — a family-friendly, real-deal New York-style pizzeria in San Leandro that serves what many of its fans believe to be the best pizza in the Bay Area, straight-up."

The owner is a New Jersey transplant whose move west included recipes for tangy-sweet East Coast style sauce and crunchy-chewy crust.

Bluebird Pizzeria is at 496 E. 14th St., San Leandro, 94577. Call them at 510.562-1199

Visit Top Hatters website

Visit Noodles Pho Me website

Visit Bluebird Pizzeria website

See Eater's East Bay 38 in its entirety.