Concierge.com's insider take:

San Francisco's best hotel with a view, the Mandarin Oriental occupies the top 11 floors of the city's third-tallest building. The apex of the Transamerica Pyramid rises at eye level, and the Golden Gate Bridge looks like a child's toy in the distance. The 158 contemporary rooms are subtly Asian-style, with Chinese-inspired furnishings and a bold palette of gold and cinnamon red. The smallest rooms are a bit tight on space and have only a view of downtown's towers, but the big windows make them feel larger than their TK 350 square feet. For the best sightlines and more elbow room, request a corner location—these have bridge-to-bridge vistas. For pure indulgence, it's hard to beat the Golden Gate Mandarin King rooms, which have a bathtub perched in the window. Service is the hallmark of the Mandarin Oriental chain, and here it doesn't disappoint. Need a new charger cord for your iPod? Call the concierge, and it will be in your room before you're back from Alcatraz. Downstairs, Silks restaurant serves Pacific Rim cuisine in one of the city's most intimate white-tablecloth dining rooms; the MO Bar serves full afternoon tea.—John Vlahides