Asqew Grill

The Asqew Grill is where I discovered polenta. What a great gluten free side! The chicken was pretty good. Would love to see more of these restaurants across the US! Will definitely eat there again when I’m back in SF.
EDIT: Just found out that all of these places closed. What a shame.

Come here every once in a while with my friends for dinner.
Balsamic beef is really good
Texas bbq chicken is good but comes with corn that is hard to eat
Cilantro lime chicken is delicious and is my favorite
Thai chicken is good but often comes out dry
Mac and cheese is really good
Mashed potatoes are really good
Casual dining and quick service.

Kabobs & salad… The food was just okay. Side note: they offer a gluten-​free menu.

This place was a regular stop for me. Good value, very polite service, and fast. Unfortunately, I can’t give them props.
Got a burger late — probably the last order of the night. It’s the same burger I always get, and I’m familiar with the taste. This time, it tastes (and smells) like they put cleaning products on the grill and failed to wash them off before cooking my food.
Sorry guys… can’t tolerate mistakes like that. Customer lost.

How do you F up tofu? Well, Asqew apparently knows how. Inedible and left 2 of my four pieces from my 1 skewer on my plate. My husband made the wrong choice of getting chicken which made him feel ill for hours.
Just terrible. Place is sad. Employees are sad. Food is sad. Eat elsewhere.

Was taking a class near here and decided to stop in.
The menu was quite large and as I stood there attempting to read the massive menu board and polite girl at the counter asked me if I knew how the menu worked, and then kindly explained it to me.
I love that they have a sample plate on display, this helped me understand the portion size of just one skewer, which are rather large, as well as the size of their sides.
Another glacé at the menu and I decided on one Herbed Salmon with Mashed Potatoes and water. My ordered was taken, payment done, I was given a table marker and water glass and sent on my way.
I found a table in the middle and noted how chilly it was inside. My order was brought within 7 minutes of being seated and it was so pretty. Colourful grilled veggies with salmon and a HUGE plop of mashed potatoes and a slaw.
Salmon was cooked pretty well, it was a little dry, but still flakey. Their were a lot more veggies then Salmon chunks (only 3 large and one small salmon chunk). But it tasted yummy.
Potatoes were great, smooth, garlicy. Yum Yum.
The plates here are small, as in the actual dish itself. I feel they should be a little larger for the amount of food they cram onto one small little white plate.
It’s a little expensive for the quantity of food, but the quality is very good.

This place doesn’t get the credit it deserves. 3.5 stars? Come on people! Oh, I forgot. Every time I eat here, the place is full of yuppies who let their kids tear the restaurant apart without leaving so much as a dime for a tip. They even have a «kids eat free» day. I don’t have kids, but if I did, you’d better believe I would generously tip any friendly restaurant that gave them FREE FOOD. I gotta give the Askew Crew props for firmly maintaining their charming composure while dealing with such an atrocious crowd. I normally eat here alone, so I’ve had plenty of time to observe this crass Laurel Village clientele.
Now that my rant is over, I’ll talk about why this place rocks.
Askew formulates a perfect balance of healthy and hearty. You can indulge in beefy skewers, delicious hot wings or a juicy burger without risking a heart attack. Their menu has something for everyone. They put coconut milk or something similar in their rice, which makes it a drug. By drug, I mean I’m addicted to it. By addicted to it, I mean I want it NOW.
Also, I don’t know if it’s made in house or not, but the marinara sauce they provide with bread sticks is so phenomenal you could almost drink it. I’ve even filled up on the stuff more than once.
If you’re a first-​timer, go for the obvious choice and get one of their signature skewers. You won’t be disappointed.
Mike is a cool manager, John is a great chef, and Cassandra’s the cutie at the register. The food is consistently tasty and I love their beer menu. Also, they’re relatively inexpensive. What more could you ask for?

I didn’t particularly care for this place, but I’m not particularly upset by them either. They have mastered mediocrity – a bizarre feat, to be sure, but one that must be quite profitable.
I had the BBQ chicken with a side of garlic mash. The portion size was surprising – half a chicken! – but cooked so long and so wrong that it was as dry as David Mitchell and parts of it tasted of pure char. I want the meat, not the heat, guys, and I’d rather not need a glass of water after every bite. The garlic mash weren’t bad, but they didn’t really taste like they were made fresh from real potatoes. Haven’t seen how they’re made, so I can’t say for sure.
They also seem to have no concept of timing on the line, as my colleague’s order came a full fifteen minutes before I got my food, despite our ordering at the same time.
What put this up from 2 to 3 was the fact that they have a reasonably-​priced selection of some interesting beers, and the food prices are reasonable enough. I think I’ll stick to the other lunch options in the area from now on.

This place neither rocks nor sucks. It doesn’t rule, but it doesn’t blow. The food isn’t delicious, yet it isn’t terrible. It’s really not that good even, but then it’s really not that bad either. It’s not expensive, but you’re not gonna save any cash over your other options in the area.
Service can be passive if not ambivalent at times. I have no complaints, though. The staff all seemed cool enough. I just honestly can’t even remember any of them, so I guess they don’t make much of an effort to stand out in any way. They just fade into the wood paneled walls. Sort of like everything else there.
Overall, Asqew is a benign experience. I could take it or leave it. When I lived close by, I ate there fairly regularly probably more due to indifference or laziness than out of desire or craving for the food.
2.65 stars…

For delivery, this place rocks. I ordered the chicken and ribs combo.
Fast, fresh, well seasoned, tender and food didn’t lose anything during travel.
On my delivery list for sure.

I’m a regular here — it’s a perfect place for me to get a gluten-​free and low carb meal for less than $ 12 after tax and tip.
I usually go for the skewers with either wild salmon or the free range chicken along with a salad of some sort.
The only times I’ve been disappointed are when I go for rice — it tends to be on the mushy side so I recommend steering clear of that if you’re picky about how your rice is cooked.
They have a free frequent member card program here. I think your 11^th meal is free after you’ve punched in 10 meals.
SoCal has El Pollo Loco antibiotic chicken fast food, but we NorCalers do them better with skewers and fresh, gourmet salads at Asqew Grill.

asqew grill offers various skewer and hamburger options. either one is accompanied by a choosen side or salad. some q is also in da house.
sampling: traditional burger (reg. 7.79, daily deal =6.50)
–ordered med. rare. got red to grey meat with no juiciness, came across a bit of gristle. meat fresh but otherwise uneventful
come with onion, tomato, lettuce on ciabatta bun. fries not an available option.
–2 scoops of roasted garlic mashed potatoes. potatoes fresh but garlic flavoring light, not heavy.
foodnotes:
–service a 4, food only a 3
–maybe skewers next time. seem pricey but you get a side or salad also.
–watch for daily specials on floor black board.

It’s Monday night and my kids are pretending to be cats. Normally I could ignore this but they were using my leather chair as a SCRATCHING POST. That’s it! Everybody out!
«Where are we going?» asks my wife.
«Who cares? Out? A restaurant? The ASPCA?»
«The JCCSF gets us 20% off at this place called ASQEW.»
«Perfect. When does your phone say the next #1 is coming?»
«Arriving and 6 minutes.»
«Go Go Go!»
We arrive and find a table in the back where I can keep my little angels from irritating the other patrons with painfully accurate impersonations of Simon’s Cat. My wife comes back with a puzzled look on her face and a bunch of change.
«It was only $ 15.»
«For a burger!!!»
«For 3 burgers, chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, couscous, and drinks.»
«…seriously?»
“Kids eat free on Monday.“
See you next Monday, Asqew!

I’ll keep this simple:
Decent food
Fantastic service. Friendly. Helpful
Healthy, fresh skewers.
Come back for a quick bite to eat but so many other places to try.

It is unfortunate to admit that I have never really spent much time in Laurel Heights, given the close proximity to my physical home address. I used to frequent it when I was much younger, hitting up the nickle and dime store after swim practice to load up on candy, but that was the extent of it. My mother used to buy my Nautica jackets at a store there when I was younger, a couple years before they were in style. I remember when I was in elementary school when starter jackets were what was wadDUUP. I never got those, instead, receiving multi-​colored Nautica jackets and refusing to wear them, ashamed of its color schemes. However, my mom was a visionary and has timeless taste; these Nautica jackets became very popular in a couple years and alas, when I tried to wear my old jackets, they sadly did not fit. I love you ma.
After the Frost Child had her teeth cleaned, I tried to find a place in Laurel Village that would most stain her teeth. Unfortunately, I picked Asqew. The creator of the Der theory, re-​allowing me to enter this realm through the Bifrost ordered the cheeseburger and I ordered the peppercorn encrusted ahi tuna skewer and the herb salmon skewer. I don’t know what prompted me to order 2 fish skewers. I did not see the beef or chicken skewers for some reason. These are my complaints in numerated order:
1. the hamburger did not come with a side of fries; fries do not exist at Asqew Grill. Is it a foreign concept to them or are they ignorant of this unwritten law, I do not know. A hamburger and fries are a symbiotic union since the beginning of time. Asqew can literally throw the balance of this planet off its axis through this grievous error. As a result, the object of my affection was maligned with a salad. The cheese tasted like they came straight from NOT KRAFT, BUT LUCERENE packaged shredded cheese from Safeway. In addition, the chips tasted stale. Her burger taste tasteless of player… super charbroiled to the point of being burnt and tasted like absolute shit.
2. my ahi tuna skewer tasted very dry as if it was pre-​made. i honestly make better ahi tuna better than that. it’s miso like sauce saved it as I dunked it in completely.
3. my salmon skewer was the same. it tasted very fishy which is a sign of not being fresh.
Asqew Grill serves very mediocre food, or at least the cheeseburger and seafood. The saving grace was the mashed potatoes, however, you can’t really fuck that up. My fish just did not taste fresh, very fishy while the patty in the cheeseburger tasted flavorless and burnt. That’s only the main parts of our meal.

Fitness junkies like me NEED to find this place.
First of all the skewers taste fantastic. Ive had fish, chicken, and beef – the thai tuni was incredible! Get two skewers with a salad, thats like $ 13. Considering the number of rubbish salads in this town where they charge you $ 9 for a bland salad with some type of supermarket packaged turkey in there as the protein, i think this is a fantastic place to get a meal.
The proteins themself are not greasy or oily, or heavily fatty; you can even get the sauces on the side if you’re really conscious about that.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this place!

Fitness friendly.
Seriously. Today we decided to walk home from church, 1.9 miles, and Laurel Village was just about at the halfway point. Perfect!
Skewers of grilled chicken, healthy, healthy! Two Thai chicken sticks over a salad, with iced tea. Healthy! Two Santa Fe chicken sticks over jasmine rice and a Coke. Sorta kinda healthy (that’s my order). $ 29.84 + tip, and about a 10-​minute wait while the crew prepared our piping hot chock-​full chicken kabobs. Seconds on the beverages were free.
I liked the pepper they put on the Santa Fe chicken; I’m pretty sure it was cayenne. Yes, you can laugh about McCormick’s, but it put a nice little buzz in my mouth without any long-​lasting burns. I really must belong in this neighborhood. Also, there was much more chicken on these skewers than the other reviews suggest. I would have been satisfied with just one skewer.
Then it was time to resume our walk. There. Healthy!

In all fairness, the food here is usually good. There have been a few times where the chicken is still pink or the artichokes aren’t cooked through, but overall the food has been good. Lately they’ve gotten a little skimpy, too. The problem, though, is really the customer service. We usually order delivery, and without fail on every single occasion I am put on hold when I say that I want delivery. I’ve waited up to 4 minutes on hold! Finally, the last few times, I wait exactly 60 seconds and then I hang up and order from somewhere else.
I will still try to order delivery when I’m in the mood, but I won’t wait on hold for more than about 20 seconds before moving on. Sorry Asquew.

Don’t ever get delivery from here. The food is ok when it finally gets to you, but it’s cold.
I ordered delivery and was told 50min. Ok fine. 1h 15min later, I called, just to make sure that everything was ok. «It’s on it’s way.» I was told. another 20 min go by and I’m very hungry. Finally, 1h 40min after I ordered, my doorbell rang. The food was good and all (if it was up to the food, I would give it 3 stars) but it was cold.
Go here for food, but don’t ask for them to bring it to you.

Excellent food, good portions, quick service and affordable too! I could end my review right there, but that just wouldn’t be me.
You order from the front counter, you grab your own seat, and you can help yourself to as many drink refills as you’d like. So if you’re on a budget, order an appetizer and a cold drink and fill yourself full of liquids. Don’t get me wrong though; I haven’t done that. I was simply thinking that one can do that at a place like Asqew’s.
Tonight I had the Chicken & Rib Combo (
) along with a soft drink. The restaurant was kind of empty around 7:30 PM so there were many tables to choose from. The wait for my food wasn’t too long, and the portion was large. I can eat, and I rarely leave food on my plate, but tonight I took home leftovers. For the combo you get half of a grilled lemon garlic chicken and a nice slab of baby back ribs (about five bones) served on a bed of fresh cole slaw. You get an additional oval plate with enough roasted garlic mashed potatoes to feed two adults. These are not Boston Market-​sized miniature chickens either; these chickens are the size of the fryers you find in your supermarket poultry section.
The ribs were very meaty with just a bit of pork fat and fall-​off-​the-​bone tender too. They were basted in a sweet, slightly tangy barbecue sauce. The chicken was very nicely prepared. Under a golden, crispy skin was a very succulent bird bursting with flavor. I ate the dark meat half, and could do no further damage taking the remaining quarter chicken home with me.
I really loved the flavor of the roasted garlic mashed potatoes, but I found fault in its texture. The potatoes were whipped smooth with good garlic flavor, but if it’s going to be a «mashed» potato I definitely prefer some lumpy texture in there. With a smooth potato it’s almost like eating baby food. Maybe when I’m older, and I lose all of my teeth I’ll appreciate these potatoes more.
For the record, I had two drink refills, and as I sit here five hours later I can still feel that meat sitting in my belly.