the best thing about san francisco...is that you can see oakland from there.

just kidding.

I like Puerto Alegre on Valencia across from cable car pizza (i think...beer memory). there some bar's around there too...but good? dunno.
Also your friend would surely know this....but you can take your bike on the BART (and maybe some of the muni buses/trains) so even if you want to go to berkeley and ride around or something like that...you still won't need the car....

have fun.