DNA is good - but it's a club for the actual artist and music to go - and less as a place to hang out on a random night

It depends on the music and scene that interests you. Most SF nightclubs are event spaces that host independent promoters of recurring events, so the music and attendance can vary. You'll generally get best results if your friends will be there and you want to see the performing artist(s).

My favorites are Public Works, The Midway, and 1015 Folsom

It was almost a decade ago I was living in sf but I remember 1015 Folsom’s audio quality was terrible and they had a lot of basic mainstream acts. Maybe it’s improved since then though. Overall SF’s local artists have a cool style and some of the warehouse events can be cool, but the club scene was not my cup of tea.

Madarae is newish but pretty good too, depending on your tastes in music.