AJ’s Bbq And Cafe

it’s a shame that I’ve seen this place for close to a year, but only tried it for the first time two days ago. The prices are amazing and the dishes offered are even better. Going there for m third day in a row today. Highly recommend!

Place is pretty good. The menu has changed since they first open. They didn’t know if they wanted to be a traditional Filipino spot or a hip Filipino fusion. They seemed to have found their niche sisig fries is pretty good. The price is kinda expensive tho. But if still go back if I don’t want to drive to top of the hill.

My friend and I tried came here for lunch and we shared A LOT of food. We each got a pork and chicken skewer. We also got dinuguan and chicken adobo with pancit.
The chicken adobo was not my favorite, I didn’t really taste the sourness of most adobos I’ve had. It was also my first time eating dinugaun and it was good! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t bad.
The bbq chicken skewer was my favorite followed by the pork skewer. I loved the char on both of them and there wasn’t too much of a burnt flavor! I loved it! The pancit was also really flavorful.
For the price, I would definitely come back!

Amazeballs! They totally took care of us for my daughter’s graduation party. I ordered the BBQ chicken skewers, Shanghai Lumpia, and they kindly accommodated my with my very last minute Pancit request. When I arrived, they were just finishing up my BBQ order so when I took it home it was still piping hot. They were kind enough to carry the trays to my car. Kevin was very gracious and accommodating when he took care of my order. I’m blessed to live close by so when I get a craving, I don’t have to travel far.
Reasons to come:
–OUTSTANDING service
–Yummy food
–Kickback atmosphere
–Really nice staff

These guys are the best! Not only are the food excellent, they provided me with the best service too! I called last minute, 2 hours before the company potluck was going to start and they took my orders with no hesitation. 5 stars for the food, service… everything! Highly recommend them and this won’t be my last time ordering from them. It won’t be last minute on the next party: D

Bbq is great. I ordered the bbq special. I did half of half (pancit and rice) with Bbq chicken. Great combo to order. I like the pancit a lot. Great place to get a meal for such a pretty good deal.

This is my new spot to go to!
It is not a super fancy place… WHICH I LOVE!
There is too much of the flashy and show off places in the Bay in my opinion.
Now this place is more of a Neighborhood/​Community reflection of a business.
I ride the BART and the Muni and grabbing a fast cup of coffee and a few donuts does not break my wallet in two.
Several times I go in, buy a cup of coffee a donuts and buy a combo plate to go for lunch at work later that day.
And I pay a lot less than the lunch my co-​workers pay buy going to some fast food spot near by.
GET THE CHICKEN KABOBS! These are the best deal ever! Clean and Fast protein and you can get two of them for around $ 5.00! I get several of them as that I am looking for clean and lean forms of protein in my diet currently and kabobs just fit that perfectly for me!
Thank you!!!

I bought a bacon cheeseburger and cheese fries and it was just the bomb! Everything was great as well as the portion, but the reason I gave 4 stars was because the bun of my burger started to break apart, besides that, it’s the worth to come back !

Best pork BBQ in town. Plus the place is so clean. Not the average restaurant but very good enough to get good food after work.

Shut up. Just shut up.
I wandered in here while waiting for a friend by Bart, and I noticed a burger for 4.50 and I thought dayuuum this is my kinda place.
I asked for some samples of the food because I have never had Filipino food presented to me in this way, and was like whoooaaaa it tastes like home cooked!
I had the pork tselog (shut up and get this) and some spinach goopy stuff (also get this, ignore my usage of the word goopy).
They had Turon, fried plaintain, sitting on the counter fo a dolla, so I had to get me one o those.
The pancit noodles were like whatever for me, but I wasn’t expecting too much excitement from it, seeing as it was balancing out all the freaking deliciousness hitting me from the tselog and stuff.
It’s not fancy, it may not be authentic, but to this random dude who loves cheap, real food, it sure boiled my potatoes.
Go there. Eat their food. Be satisfied.

so glad i came here! 6.99 for 2 item combo and 5.99 for 1 item. deal! we had laing, chicken bbq, popcorn chicken, lumpia. all yummy! will definitely be back!

I had been dying to try this place and putting it off since it was a bit of a drive for me. But when I was in the area I made sure to stop in for some take out. I ordered the BBQ chicken, pork, and pancit. They were out of lumpia meaning it’s probably great lumpia (should have come earlier).
Overall I thought it was very good. Huge, tender, juicy chunks of chicken and pork on a stick with tasty marinade and smokey grill flavor. I would definitely be a regular here if it was a little closer.

Really good bbq! I didn’t like the pork as much as the chicken but both worth high 5s. I definitely recommend checking it out

If you are near Balboa Park Bart station, and craving some good Filipino BBQ, this is the place to go. Everything I have tried here so far have been delicious. Also, another reason why I kept coming back to this place is their A+ customer service and friendliness. It seems like a family owned restaurant and is awesome how positively they treat their customers.
If you want to make your belly and yourself happy, AJ’s BBQ is the place to go.

These guys might be a new neighborhood favorite! I usually go to Crazy Pepper next door but I noticed a few months ago that they were opening a Filipino spot so I kept my eye on them. I finally checked it out today.
I walked in and was warmly welcomed. I told the gal it was my first time and she helped me and described some of the hot foods. There was chicken adobo, taro leaves in coconut milk, chocolate meat, pancit, and and bbq skewers. I got a two-​item combo with taro leaves and skewers with a side of pancit/​rice.
It was really good! BBQ skewers tasted great and the taro leaves reminded me of a thai curry/​creamed spinach dish. I had a turon (banana egg-​roll) for dessert and it was sweet and crunchy (other places might serve it soggy and cold).
I saw the pics for lechon on Unilocal so I asked about it, but unfortunately it’s only available on certain days. They did suggest I call in to check next time so that was considerate.
What I also liked about AJ is that it’s clean! A lot of Filipino places in SF/​DC are older shops where cleanliness is not a priority, so it was refreshing to see.

AJ’s BBQ and Café always taking care of me!
I’ve been here multiple times and I’ve always felt welcomed when I come here. I ordered a few dishes for a party and it was plenty of food. I gave him 2 days notice and he was very timely. He had everything ready on time and even came in on a Sunday to make sure that everything was ready to go! Great customer service!
Kevin is the REAL MVP! He treats me like FAMILY every time I come here! I would definitely recommend my friends and family to AJ’s BBQ and Café!!

Damn, it’s crazy how so many people wanted to review AJ’s as one of their first reviews. If a reviewer has less than 10 reviews, there’s no way I’m taking them seriously. If they have less than 30 reviews then I’ll take what they say with many grains of salt. I agree with some of their points but others? Nawwwwww.
I stopped into AJ’s to order some lumpia, a chicken skewer and chicken adobo over rice., about $ 11. The lumpia and the adobo are nothing to write home about but the chicken skewer was full of flavor and seemed pretty fresh.
They have a cafeteria /​Panda Express style counter so, to me, that says my food comes with ??? if I’m ordering at the end of the day. Who knows how long that stuff’s been sitting around? I didn’t get sick so I always count that as a personal victory.
They have a small parking lot which accommodates around half a dozen cars and literally right next to Balboa Park Bart.
The overall service was okay but I’d only come here if I was too lazy to walk to Mission or Ocean.

I feel for business owners… especially in SF. Not only is rent ridiculously high, you have to make sure your Unilocal game is on point. I know people want to support their homie’s business by writing glowing 5 stars reviews but it’s misleading to the rest of the public. If your food is that bomb, then let it speak for itself.
AJ’s popped up under «hot new businesses» and I was surprised to see 20+ five star reviews. That’s a rarity for an Asian restaurant especially one in the cutties. I often do work site visits nearby and have seen this same business change their name 3 times over the course of 8 months: Icy Bottom Café to Nina’s to AJ’s. Rebranding, I suppose. AJ’s serves breakfast, sammies, Filipino food (turo-​turo style), boba, tea, and coffee. CC’s accepted. Private lot with 5 – 6 spaces.
Based on the pictures, I thought there was going to be a huge spread of Filipino food on the steam trays. Disappointingly, they only offered 6 items. On the day I went, they had chicken adobo (chicken stewed in garlic, vinegar, and soy), dinuguan (blood stew), sisig (chopped pork w/​chili, lemon/​vinegar, salt & soy), laing (taro leaves cooked in coconut milk), kare kare (beef & tripe stew in peanut sauce) and bbq skewers (there were only 2 left). While the Unilocal pics looked really enticing, most of the food didn’t look very fresh when I visited at 11:30 am on a random weekday. I picked the 2 items that looked the best for a combo plate: kare kare and pork bbq. With rice, it was a reasonable $ 7.50 (+$ 1 surcharge for kare kare):
.
Everyone has their own tastes but I didn’t think AJ’s has the «Best Filipino Food in the Bay Area» as others claimed. I thought it was decent… for SF. Instead of oxtail, they use beef stew meat for the kare kare. The beef stew was a bit tough and stringy but the honeycomb tripe was very soft. I liked that they add the green beans when you order so they stay crisp. The peanut sauce was on the blander side, lacking in peanut-​y flavor but otherwise fine (I dislike salty foods). If you like salty, you can ask for bagoong alamang (shrimp paste). The pork bbq was fatty with a nice char, and covered in a savory sweet glaze. The cook said, they don’t use msg but I could taste it in the bbq glaze so those with msg sensitivities, beware. One thing that I expect Asian restaurants to do well is properly cook rice. The rice here was hard.
The staff was fine. Dude kept on calling me «my friend» which I thought was kinda cute.
«Hi, my priend…»
«My priend, the kare-​kare is presh…»
«What else, my priend?»

I am happy that this is a new Filipino spot but I am unsure of how I feel about the food!
Came here hoping to get my grub on and it was not as memorable as I would have liked. When you enter you immediately see the food containers and the smell of the food is popping all over.
The menu suggests that they serve breakfast and lunch. I decided on a combo plate. I went with the chicken adobo but it looked like there was only a little left. I was hoping the get some pork menudo but that was not an option. Hence, I went with the sisig. I am continuing to give sisig a chance until I can find a place that makes it close to Ma’s.
The folks that work here are extra friendly which I appreciated very much. They welcome you and are very energetic which I have no idea where they get that energy from.
There were not a lot of people here when I stopped by but that was fine. The parking in the front is somewhat confusing. You have to be going west to get into the lot and on top of that the parking area in front is way way way TOO small. If you back up too much you may wind up going into traffic. Just be aware of your surroundings.
Once I got my food I headed home to eat. I opened the food container and then I realized something seemed different. It was the adobo. First off, the size of the chicken was somewhat small and the taste was distinctly different from any other I had ever had. Too many small bones and not what I had anticipated. Still trying to figure out the portions. The sisig was a bit cold as well but the flavor was good.
I finished this meal feeling confused and unsatisfied. I just cannot put my finger on this meal. My high hopes weren’t met but I can at least say that I tried. I am now curious about the lumpia here. Hmmm… I might return to give this place another try.
That’s all for now folks!!!
#restart #tryagain?

Oh you thought hangry was bad? You obviously forgot about hleepy: a zone beyond hangry where you’re so spaced out you order everything in front of you and don’t stop till you’ve exhausted all options or you twerk out the servers.
Filipino dining format «turo turo» meaning «point point» (at what you want to buy). Well somebody needs to rename it to turo turo turo turo turo turo bc I ordered 6 dishes. #nosharing
(^_​^) BBQ Chicken Skewer (
)
(^_​^) Saucy Meat (
)
(^_​^) BBQ Pork Skewer (
)
(^_​^) Creamed Spinach (
)
(-_​^) Lumpia (
)
(-_​^) Sisig (
)
Turobro said Dinuguan available Tuesday; not sure if every Tue or just tomorrow. I want to try the breakfast menu, but I doubt I’d be on the block from 6 – 11 am. I wish all-​day breakfast. Rounding up to 4 stars. Salamat!

Affordable, authentic, and delicious Filipino food! Lumpia is 10 pieces for $ 2.75, BBQ is savory and saucy, and try the sisig! Also, this restaurant has a wide variety of selections including different types of flavored fries, boba smoothies, and coffee. Parking is available right in front of the restaurant.
The family and owners of this restaurant not only provide quality Filipino variety, but they really make you feel at home. A very friendly staff and the chef is very passionate about her cooking.

I’m here 4 out of 7 days of the week just to get the bbq stick. Chicken or Pork it doesn’t matter I’ll eat both. I always gotta get my bbq fix from this place. They also have other authentic Filipino food that’s really good like their pork sisig that’s packed with a lot of jalapeños and onions. If I’m not in a mood for Filipino I’ll get their juicy burgers here.
Also in the mornings when I have to take Bart they have silogs which is one of my favorite go to for breakfast. Not only that they have coffee and pastries if I want something really quick to eat.