Asqew Grill

«Meh. I’ve experienced better.»
This is true. I came here only for their MAC & CHEESE and I should have went elsewhere! There’s only a few places to get mac & cheese when you’re on your 1 hr lunch break so I was quite stoked to find that Asqew has m&c. I got an appetizer size of it for $ 3.99 (pre-​tax). Brought it back to the office to only find that it’s lukewarm. After a few more bites, I realized that Asqew’s Mac and Cheese is only a creamier version of the Blue Box m&c. In fact, I think the Blue Box one tastes better b/​c Asqew’s macaroni is on the mushy side… yuck.
I’m avoiding Asqew Grill’s mac and cheese unless it’s my only option left in San Francisco…

Good food but busy place. Pretty average food court place.
I’ve never been to an Asqew Grill that wasn’t in a shopping center like this.
Food presentation was good, but not the best.
I’d try all the other places in this food court before going back here.

Conveniently located in the San Francisco Shopping Center, Asqew is a run of the mill BBQ stop. It satisfied my craving for BBQ but it wasn’t impressive at this location. The food from their other locations have been better.

Mall food.
It’s often a risk, but I do have to say that more times than not, this Westfield Food Court has produced a few yummy meals in my many visits to it. Today however, was not one of those days.
I ordered the blackened prawn skewer and I should have known when I saw «prawn» they would attempt to fancify it and leave the shell of the shrimp on. This would be fine in some places, but today, this turned into one hell of a super messy lunch experience.
Picking, dissecting and yanking the shrimp out of its shell, along with its little legs needing to be dismantled. Sounds appetizing, huh? Well, the shrimp actually were once I finally got to them, but the mango crap they put all over it was squishy and gross. Definitely not an order I would do again.
My friend on the other hand had the lime chicken and it looked tasty, so perhaps next time I will order that. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

If you want to try Asqew Grill, try one that is in one of San Francisco’s many quaint neighborhoods, as opposed to the over-​priced and ritzy SF Centre mall. $ 15 got me a meal that I could have easily purchased at half the price at another location.
That being said, this place is tasty. Fresh Salads, tender meat cooked fresh as you order, and friendly service staff. Although I do think that there are better options for salad at the SF Centre (think Soup Company), this place is a great solution for those that can’t decide on where to park.

Asqew Grill… fresh, grilled skewers. Great idea for healthy, grilled eats. But for some reason you guys failed with the one you opened at the Westfield. I guess you can’t expect much from a food court, but did you really have to dumb down this version?
I had the Mango Lime Ahi Tuna skewer with Cilantro Rice. The only good thing on the plate was the mango lime salsa, but when I ran out of that I realized I had nothing to wash down the dry tuna and excessively charred fish and veges. Grilling is great, but not when the char overpowers and drowns out the flavor of the food. But in this case it helped cover up the fishy fish. Yeah I know, I ordered fish so I should expect something fishy right? But when your fish is fishy it is likely not fresh! You follow? I’m so clear and concise!
I also tried the mac ‘n cheese because someone suggested it to me. I just have to say it gets dead last on my mac ‘n cheese list. I had flashes of the cafeteria mac ‘c cheese back in the grade school days where they were too cheap to even use Velveeta. Can you say processed cheese powder? That mac ‘n cheese so did not rock…

I have the kind of hangover that even a fistful of vicodin and a breakfast martini couldn’t touch. It all started last night at the Westfield Food Court. And now, every time I throw up in my mouth a little, all I can taste is the food I inhaled from Asqew before embarking on my «Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride» of a night.
Usually a huge fan of Asqew, I was really really disappointed in the undercooked chicken and boring salad I had at this outpost last night. The only good thing was the beer, which I drank excessively to make up for the poor quality of the food. I say pass on this location– the Laurel Village location and the Haight location are far better. And faster too, if you can believe that.

Blech. Reconstituted, previously frozen chicken is disgusting.
I ordered the BBQ chicken skewer that came with grilled corn and mashed potatoes. The only thing I liked was the BBQ sauce. I swear the chicken was just mushy bits that oozed water as I chewed it. The corn was simply inedible. The mashed potatoes were at least something I could consume, but they were instant and pretty gross.

Nothing like 3 pieces of chewy undercooked lamb, overcooked squash and mushrooms, and cold rice to brighten your day. And all for only $ 11!

I decided to give this place a chance after walking by so many times. I went here for lunch and 2 items caught my eyes. The ahi ahi and the bbq chicken and ribs. The ribs definitely won. I placed my order and paid and moved to the side to wait for my food.
From this side of the counter I can see the spinach and bbq grill area. There was 3 Latin guys just standing around talking with each other.
One says out loud to himself «so many people!!!»
One guy had a hand towel which he wiped his nose with. Gross!
The 2^nd guy also had a hand towel which he twisted around and wiped sweat off his forehead.
One of the guys started up the grill. After about 5 minutes, he started placing skewers on there to cook. He took a metal scraper and proceeded to scrape the grill with it. After scraping, he took a big black brush and cleaned the scrapings off the grill. And yes this was right next to the skewer that was cooking.
Then the guy walked back over to the other 2 guys to join in on the conversation.
What did I see while waiting patiently for my food? Well besides the 2 cooks with hand towel issues…
Some food fell out and the cook picked it up with his bare hands and tossed it back in the container.
While placing plates of food on the counter for pickup, his hand and watch touched the food.
A woman picking up her to go order asked the cook about her food cuz it was her first time eating there. The cook didn’t know English so he nudged his coworker to talk to her. She asked about the skewers and he responded rudely. She said out loud «the attitude of the staff here…» while walking quickly away. I feel her.
Slowly 10 minutes turned into 15 minutes. People who ordered after me were given their food.
After about 20 minutes I went to ask about my order.
The female Latino cashier rudely said «I’m only the cashier. You have to talk to them to ask about your food.» She points to the cooks and I follow her gaze. What were they doing? Standing next to each other talking. Hmmm… big surprise huh?
The other cashier next to her was friendly and asked «what’s wrong?»
The woman turns to him and still with the rude voice and says «She’s asking where her order is.»
I went over to him and said «I’ve been waiting for almost 20 minutes for my food. Can I just get a refund?»
This guy (tall African American) turns to the cooks and ask what’s taking so long. They were VERY rude and mean to him. One guy points to the monitor and said in broken English «There’s 3 orders!!!»
The cashier told him I’ve been waiting for my order for 20 minutes now and they were just giving him dirty looks. The guy at the monitor said that the cashier (the woman) didn’t put my order through. What!!!
I said to the cashier «can I just get a refund? My lunch break is over now.» He gave me my refund.
I have never went to a place where there are so many incompetent and lazy workers. The only hard working employee there was the male cashier. I think he’s new cuz he was in such high spirits. He was very nice and friendly. And… he was happy to be working there. Unlike the rest of his coworkers.
One of the cooks started gossiping with the female cashier in Spanish. I turned around to see if there was anyone in line behind me. There was this guy who’s been waiting there when I asked for my refund.
I am soooo glad I didn’t eat here after witnessing all the dirty acts from the staff. I will not be coming back here again.

This location really doesn’t do Asqew Grill any justice. I’ve tried the one in the Marina and it was EXCELLENT. The Castro location is great as well. The problem this one has is no one knows how to make the rice correctly. Their soggy rice really turns me OFF!
This place is good for a quick lunch while shopping at the Westfield or if you’re already in the area.

This weekend has inadvertantly been about Asqew Grill and Kombucha. The Kombucha is another story, but Asqew…
This location in the mall seems a bit sloppy, but I get it, you’re in the middle of a food court without a real kitchen, I’ll forgive you.
I always get (regardless of location) the Thai BBQ chicken, which is usually the best balance of sweet and savory. The thai bbq sauce was all over the place though and made everything, including the rice, too sweet.
I ate it anyway because I am a fat pig. That’s, yet again, a different story.
I’m off to review the Asqew on Haight St, which’ll be a couple of stars above this one.
Not bad, but overall, I’m back again at the «Why didn’t I get Thai food?» dilemna. I shall never stray again!

OK so for lunch on the go in the City… This place was for sure a yummy place to snag a decent shish kabob American style. I had the Texas skewer which was chicken/​corn with their BBQ sauce & mashed potatoes. The food was very very tasty and the corn was soooooooo Sweet! I was so licking my fingers… lol
So I was kinda split on the Service. The guys behind the counter were so cute, friendly, charming and oh so willing to help. But dang it, I hate having to come back 3 times to make sure the food was to go, that there were utensils and napkins. The service, that could really use some serious help. They had no napkins available when I spilled my drink on my shirt and hand and since we got our stuff to go… NO forks or anything in the bag except our food.
I will certainly return for more tasty food on the menu and hope for cute guys and better service!!!

Continuing my spate of recent awful dining experiences, I made the mistake of thinking that the Asqew in the shopping mall would be similar to the Asqews elsewhere. It’s not.
You don’t get to do the mix/​match thing that you get to do at the other Asqews. And I understand that, since they’re working with less space and without a full kitchen. Ok, just warning you.
But the food came out horribly undercooked to the point where it had to be sent back. The meat was stringy and flavorless. I lost my appetite pretty quickly, and that’s hard to do. And just so you understand how bad it was, I actually *like* my beef to be on the medium-​rare side, so this isn’t a case of bad expectations.
I don’t know where else you should go in the mall. It all looks kind of awful. But I’d definitely pass on Asqew in the future…

Kinda surprised by the negative reviews — either I was really hungry and anything would taste good, or I hit it on a good night (or I have really bad taste in food… possible too). Anyway, we were famished and were looking for something quick in the mall. For food court were were really surprised by how good it was. The BBQ chicken my husband ordered was the better of the two. My tuna was also very good (lime or something), still rare in the middle and tasty. Rice was a bit odd, but I love just about any rice+sauce combo.
We’ll be trying out one of the locations for sure.

I was disappointed! I’ve been to the Asqew in the Marina District and in downtown San Jose and they gave much bigger portions of the side dishes. I was also a bit annoyed when they substituted my husband’s ahi tuna for salmon after confirming with the chef that ahi tuna was there.
Just lackluster food and service to me…

During the Neanderthal era, at the dawning of mankind…
…take-​out was always a challenge since prehistoric man could not communicate with each other very well. The following reflects the prevailing challenges:
Caveman #1: «Me want meat.»
Caveman #2: «Me too. Where we go?»
Caveman #1: «Asqew!!»
Caveman #2: «Gesundheit.»
Caveman #1: «Me have idea… meat on stick.»
Caveman #2: «We eat raw?»
Caveman #1: «We use fire.»
Caveman #2: «What’s fire?»
And thus a concept was born… and now it’s in the bustling Food Emporium at the Westfield Shopping Centre. Well, big whoopty-​do. For whatever reason, the food is not quite as satisfying as the skewers served at the one in the Marina on Steiner. I’m not sure if it’s the speed factor of rushing through the orders or just the overall lackadaisical manner I seem to find pervasive in this glamorized food court.
I had the $ 7.75 Balsamic Beef Skewer with Mashed Potatoes. It was a bit chewy, but it is what it is. I sat in between a gaggle of teenage girls with little bowls of ice cream from Melt Gelato and a bulbous woman eating the equivalent of three meals in Mexico from Andale. But the potential for «We Are the World» unity was quickly dashed by our mutual indifference to one another. If the point of the food court is to encourage the brotherhood of man in the same way experienced by Neanderthal cavemen, I say they have failed.
FOOD — 3 stars… meat on a stick… is it so complicated?
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… it’s a mall, stupid
SERVICE — 3 stars… pretty quick despite the crowds
TOTAL — 3 stars… Asqew…Gesundheit…Danke shoen

Don’t you hate when youre hungry and you settle for the quickest thing around you?! I was in the city visiting friends and we had a hard time deciding where to eat. We were headed to Moma and wanted to eat nearby. We ended up at the mall which has a great selection of new places to eat in the food court.
We sorta just did a monkey see monkey do when it came to decide so we had one Ahi Skewer and one Beef. I had a side greens salad and a corona. The ahi had a fishy taste which was expected for mall food. The beef was OK. It would have been tasty if they cooked it med rare.
I think the mall version of this restaurant may be under par because my friends raved about the shrimp which wasn’t offered at this location. I will try the one in my city and re review if need be!

With all these «Useful» revews about this growing franchise, Matt let wifey ordered her lunch here and Matt waits and order elsewhere. Wifey was starving and ordered the full meal of Thai-​Beef over the Jasmine rice and Diet Coke, which cost nearly $ 13.00.
Wifey was disappointed with her meal, because she kept chewing and chewing the tough beef like a dog. Also her Diet coke was «FLAT», but the Jasmine rice and the sauce was «good». Wifey wasn’t too happy with her meal from here. Matt’s anitcipated meal from Asqew Grill will wait.

Located on the coucourse level of the Westfield San Francisco Centre (home to the brand new Bloomingdale’s), this Asqew Grill is probably one of the better dining choices at this upscale food court. I had the peppercorn encrusted ahi skewers over garlic mashed potatoes, for $ 10.25. The portion was pretty good, food was tasty and nicely presented. Beware that it may be difficult to find a table at the dining area on the weekends.
Bottom line: Good food court option. Not as wide a selection as other Asqew Grills.