Eastside West Restaurant & Bar

Marina / Cow Hollow, San Francisco –

One of three catty-corner bars that make up The Triangle – the undeniable heart of the preppy Marina singles scene – Eastside West Restaurant & Bar is a quiet and stylish seafood joint for much of the week.

Fridays, however, see a flood of young blood start trickling in for Happy Hour, with former college frat stars snagging a stool at the well-lacquered bar for cheap bottles of Bud and a few oyster shooters. Sculpted banquettes fill the main dining room, where trendy locals prime the night with pitchers of sangria and minty mojitos, while elevated wooden tables along the windows in the adjacent room provide street views.

Although it’s likely the button-downed bros will be too concerned with the Giants’ game on the TVs and projection screen to notice the group of coeds that just walked in, such preoccupation becomes impossible by 10pm, when the venue becomes a fortified fountain of flirting, fueled by pitchers of Summer Wind and loafered revelers grooving to Top 40 and hip-hop.

Bottomless brunches on the weekends draw a crowd as well, though it’s markedly less rowdy since patrons are usually recovering from last night’s Jäger bombs.

Eastside West is only one corner of the infamous Triangle, but it’s a perfect destination to spot ‘acute’ guy or girl, be ‘complementary’, or just get ‘obtuse.’