Some of the beautiful parts of Hwy 1 are pretty high-up and winding (Big Sur area in particular), but the scenery is spectacular. I like SLO, but it’s pretty hard to beat the Monterey Peninsula for the combo of beauty and (as stated pretty accurately by @beefnoguy above), decent mid-tier restaurants. Here’s a link to my Monterey post from a couple of years ago – I doubt much has changed:
http://foodtalkcentral.com/t/a-week-in-monterey/3596
For San Francisco, we love Sam’s Grill, a very old-school place with waiters that came with the building. Simple fresh-fish preps. It’s in the financial district, and only open Mon–Fri. For a similar place that’s also open Sat. night (but good luck getting a table), there’s Tadich Grill, which is even older. And yes, definitely Ferry Plaza on Saturday morning. My vote is for crabcakes or breakfast at the Hayes Street Grill stand, or a grilled cheese from Cowgirl Creamery. My daughter loves the porchetta at Roli Roti. Go early to avoid the crowds.
Also, we like (and I may get laughed at for this) Brandy Ho’s, up off Kearny & Pacific at the edge of Chinatown. A bit of a dive, but good food. We go for the smoked ham w/garlic, and the onion pancakes. In fact, I’ve just defrosted a bag of the smoked ham and garlic from a previous trip, and that’s lunch today. The ham is really smoky. We’ll see how it survived the freezer.