The American Planning Association has rated North Beach as one of the ten great neighborhoods in America.
I know North Beach. I've lived there, I know the politics and for 30 years I have been a North Beach coffee habitue.
Unfortunately, the sentimental forces, so appreciated by the Sentimental APA, have made sure that North Beach is dead. Dead and probably gone. There is not one single "good" restaurant in the area, though a dozen have opened and failed. (I happen to like Rose Pistola these days but it is not in the top 25 S.F. restaurants.) The food business is tourist oriented; actually pizza oriented.
Ordinary tourists tend to avoid North Beach, most of the time, because
it is desolate to their eyes. Not a single store they recognize in
about ten blocks.
No Kinkos, no Verizon, no Gap, no Starbucks...nothing
friendly and familiar. Most tourists in North Beach are from Europe,
ones with an academic and sentimental perspective.
The neighborhood is actually dangerous after 10pm. Gangs from San Jose and the East Bay patronize the clubs on Broadway. Even 40-50 police on duty and clearing the street of cars, does little to stem the fighting and danger. A dead zone for business is a live zone for gangs.
North Beach is embalmed, certainly resting in its coffin for the rest of my life. It is like visiting Lenin's tomb. I visited Lenin's tomb, you may want to too.
Footnote: Marshall Kilduff said the same thing I did, only better.