April 23, 2003

By Camper English

ONE SUREFIRE WAY to give yourself a pick-me-up is to put on your fancy-finest outfit and have a top-shelf cocktail in a top-floor cocktail lounge, hundreds of feet above the teeming, unwashed masses pathetically scurrying about on the street. Also, the views of downtown and the bay are great from up there.

Most of the venues below are located in hotel restaurants, and most are not known for their delicious food. Almost all of them are pricey, but hey – it costs money to run the elevator all the way up there, and the instant mood change makes it worth the extra expense.

You may end up enjoying your martini in the company of pre-prom diners, tourists, people celebrating anniversaries, and couples getting engaged. Later on in the evening, it's time for the golden oldies, so get down and dance. Jazz bands are the standard, aside from a few rebels getting funky with a DJ. Pay attention to the dress code. We like things sloppy in San Francisco, but it's far easier to feel superior to those 30 floors below you when you're better dressed than they are.

The view from the Carnelian Room, way up on the 52nd floor of the Bank of America Building, gets rave reviews. The food and service of the restaurant, however, garner mixed impressions. It's mostly a dinner venue with lots of private dining areas, but appetizers and desserts can be had in the cocktail lounge. Business casual attire is required for the cocktails, sports coats for dinner. There's no live entertainment. Cocktail lounge open Sun.-Fri., 3-11 p.m.; Sat., 3 p.m.-midnight, 555 California, S.F. (415) 433-7500, www.carnelianroom.com.

In the San Francisco Hilton and Towers, 460 feet above Union Square, Cityscape offers another great view of downtown, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Bay Bridge. The place is best known for its lavish and pricey Sunday brunches, complete with tons of seafood and a caviar bar. The dinner menu is standard American fare: steak and seafood. Cityscape is also open for cocktails every evening, with DJs (starting at 10 p.m.) playing '70s, '80s, and '90s hits. They take requests. The dress code is semicasual. Cocktails daily, 5 p.m.-1 a.m., 333 O'Farrell, S.F. (415) 923-5002, www.cityscaperestaurant.com.

The Crown Room in the Fairmont Hotel has been closed to the public for a few years and is now only rentable for private events. It does occasionally host holiday brunches on dates like Christmas and Thanksgiving. There's a nice view from Nob Hill, but you'll have to stick to the scenery in the basement Tonga Room instead. (It's different, but no less fabulous.) 950 Mason, S.F. (415) 772-5000, www.fairmont.com.

The Hyatt Regency's Equinox Restaurant, northern California's only fully revolving restaurant, allows you to get the head spins before you're even drunk. Each revolution takes 40 minutes – time enough to grab a drink or two, a light snack, or a dessert in the cocktail area. There are good views from the Embarcadero of downtown and the bay, but tourists often think that long two-level bridge is the Golden Gate. Suckers. There's no live entertainment but also no dress code. Cocktails Mon.-Fri., 4 p.m.-midnight; Sat.-Sun., 4 p.m.-1 a.m., 5 Embarcadero Center, S.F. (415) 291-6619, www.sanfranciscoregency.hyatt.com.

The Grandviews Lounge faces North Beach from the 36th floor of the Grand Hyatt in Union Square. The separate Grandviews Restaurant faces to the west. There they serve three meals a day, including a daily breakfast buffet. (There is no special Sunday brunch.) The lounge serves specialty cocktails as well as appetizers and food like burgers and fries, in a casual setting with no dress code. There is live jazz Tuesdays through Saturdays (7-11 p.m.). Lounge open daily, 11 a.m.-2 a.m., 345 Stockton, S.F. (415) 398-1234, www.grandsanfrancisco.hyatt.com.

A red and gold nightclub on the 21st floor of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, Harry Denton's Starlight Room is more suited for partying than for quiet dinners, with a menu of specialty cocktails and live entertainment nightly. The Harry Denton Starlight Orchestra performs swing, blues, '70s hits, and the like Thursdays through Saturdays, and DJs fill out the rest of the bill, Wednesday night's Indulgence party being a long-running favorite. No jeans or tennis shoes. Lounge open daily, 6 p.m.-2 a.m., 450 Powell, S.F. Cover charge Wed.-Sat. (415) 395-8595, www.harrydenton.com.

Live entertainment, dancing, and specialty cocktails are the focus in the Mark Hopkins InterContinental Hotel's 19th-floor Top of the Mark "skylounge." There's piano music during the week, and a band on the weekend playing swing, jazz, and a little bit of pop. The lounge offers nearly 360-degree views and drinks such as the Alcatraz and the Golden Gate, in addition to a "Top 100 Martini list." There's just one dinner seating on Friday and Saturday and a Sunday brunch. The lounge upholds a dress code. Lounge open Mon.-Thurs., 5 p.m.-midnight; Fri.-Sat., 4 p.m.-1 a.m.; Sun., 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 999 California and 1 Nob Hill, S.F. $5-$10 cover charge Thurs.-Sat. (415) 392-3434, www.topofthemark.com.