Yeah Alcatraz is a HARD PASS from me too. I love museums, but I didn't like MOMA in NYC ; maybe I just don't like modern art. The MET was amazeballs though. Palace of Fine arts looks cool, I'll see if she wants to check it out or do Land's End or both.
I don't mind doing super touristy things , as long as its something I think is neat. Like going to the top of the Empire State building, same with going to the top of the 101 in Taipei ; both were cool even if you have to pay money to ride up an elevator. Alcatraz just seems dumb and I dunno what there is to do or see at the Warf so they weren't even on my radar. Im most looking forward to hand feeding deer at Nara it seems so cool!
I won't recommend any touristy things, other than checking out the Golden Gate Bridge from
Battery Godfrey. It's a really nice view, and less congested than the regular look-out points. Its somewhat of a local's knowledge place, you see some tourists there, but for the most part it's pretty empty from the crowds.
There are 2 barcades I used to go to when I was living there.
The Emporium SF and
Brewcade. Both are fairly close to one another, close to the
Lower Haight area.
The Hayes Valley neighborhood is a great place to get lunch/dinner. It's got a lot of nice restaurants and bars, and it's close to the Union area but far enough from it that you don't get the riff-raff spilling over. I recommend
Monsieur Benjamin (french) and
Papito Hayes (Mexican) to eat at. Excellent food.
If you go down to the Mission District, there are a lot of great coffee shops, and more great restaurants to eat at. Valencia St is where it's at. I recommend a Peruvian place called
Limón, fantastic food and it was probably my favorite restaurant in the area.
Mission Beach Cafe is a great place for lunch/brunch. It gets busy there, so expect a wait, but the food is also excellent.
If you're interested in pastries, and baked goods, there's a really popular bakery in the Mission District called
Tartine. It's one of those more hoity-toity places that always has a line of people waiting to get in. But the pastries are incredible though.
Chinatown is ok, I guess. Not really that exciting, tbh. There are so many other neighborhoods in SF that are much more interesting, and less touristy feeling. Clement St. in the Inner Richmond area is what I'd call a more real Asian area of SF. It's more Vietnamese, but it's a cute neighborhood with a lot of food options as well.
Ok, I lied, just one obvious touristy thing to check out if you're into science: California Academy of Sciences is in Golden Gate Park. It's a really good Science Center place to go to, they put a lot of money into it and there's always a lot of things to look at and learn about. We used to go there frequently with our daughter, and even my wife and I enjoyed it.
Let me know if you need any more recommendations. We lived close to Hayes Valley/Lower Haight area for almost 2 years and we tried to explore the city as much as we could. There are a lot of hidden gems in that city, aside from the more broadcast touristy things to do.