Bistro Gambrinus

Good selection of beers, some eastern european dishes, sausages, and Warriors playing on the TVs. Kinda filled on a Friday night at the bar and at the tables. Food and beer was tasty. Slightly lower rating because service was slow. Seemed to have only one server for the tables.

We came here from San Diego, and was looking for place to eat. Unfortunate all Europe place was close for lunch brake. We found Gambrinus ! Food is awesome ! Next when we will come to San Francisco we are will come here for sure! So sorry for English !

It’s my first time in San Francisco, and I’ve been looking for some place to eat but all of the restaurants were close. So I found the gambrinus, and I was surprised by the quality of food, it was so delicious especially the beef stroganoff. Thank u the food was great

We simply in love with this place. My girlfriend and I paying weekly visits here to enjoy beers as well as food. This place have a wide selection of more hard-​to-​find bottled beer and roughly 11 drafts on tap, including lots and lot of ipa and stouts to choose from. I found my new favorite beer, Imperial ipa, here. They do flights and snacks as well, but I didn’t try any yet.
The main thing: All the the bartenders are very friendly.

The Drakes IPA was listed as 6 $. It took me 2 seconds to decide that’s what I wanted after I walked in alone and sat myself at the bar. It took forever for me to order it despite how slow everything was on a Saturday at 430 PM. Long enough to scroll through Instagram, return some emails and sit through Beyonce’s new video. I ordered a draft beer and was charged an extra dollar for CRV. It wasn’t even in a can or a bottle. And a dollar? Really? I think CRV is like 5 cents in California, maybe 10 cents at the most. Even still. With tax it came out to $ 7.62. I’m not complaint about the price, but I wish they were upfront about you having to pay an extra dollar for your drink. So obnoxious. Just list it as $ 7.00 if that’s what you’re going to charge.

First off I gotta say I love the way this place is set up, it is the nicest bar in the neighborhood, where you get to know the nice people that work there and talk about beer selection. Not the usual trendy spot, with the usual trendy beer with the trendy crowd. It’s got the good stuff and amazing food to back it up. Calamari is always a solid choice and the chicken tenders are an out of the ballpark joint for me, as far as appetizers that’s the best one period. Okocim beer and chicken tenders ftw. Oh and they have all the games on there too!

Went there lured by the promise of Eastern European food. Think borsht, bigos, goulash, pielmieni, pierogis and the like. To our surprise all that is left of the menu that is on the restaurant’s site (maybe they should simply update it) is kielbasa/​sausage and schnitzel, both were ok but nothing special, so we were disappointed with the lack of the typical and traditional Eastern European/​Russian fare. Without it, it is just another bar with bar food.

Good beer selection, although the taps don’t rotate much. Good option if your looking for some European drafts.

My go-​to neighborhood pub. Fantastic beer selection, laid back atmosphere, friendly owners & bartenders, and they serve beers in their proper glasses! I can bring anyone here: wife, friends, dad, uncle, etc. I hope hey always maintain the current atmosphere and vibe.

This is not a Russian restaurant. It’s not even trying to be one. If that’s what you’re looking for, forget it.
Also the hunters sausage tasted like a thawed Safeway sausage and my friend’s shepherd or looked like vomit.
Only thing I can recommend here is the beer selection.

Pretty good, if what you’re looking for is shitty bar food and some screens on the wall. Also, did I say the food is dirt?

This place is no longer serving Russian food. A regular gastropub menu is here now, a few sausage plates. Too bad.

Great food! Great beer! Coming back soon! Bratwurst was excellent and the chicken tenders were the best I’ve ever had and I’ve had a lot in my lifetime. Staff was friendly and manager/​owner was waking around making sure everyone was happy.

Lots of great beers, European and American. Good food, plenty of TVs. Sometimes they give me looks for asking them to put on (American) Football when no one seems to be watching the TVs anyways. Haven’t been during late night hours but have enjoyed the laid back feel during evenings.

Great food.
Amazing beer.
A little too hipster to go to on a Saturday night if you are over 40.
Will definitely go back, but on a Tuesday.

Only bar that I have been to that carries my favorite beer on tap: Shöfferhofer Weizen. Food is great and the staff is friendly. Love this place!

Great neighborhood spot. Lots of beers on tap, wide selection of bottled, and good food. One of the best places in the area! Staff is always friendly. Nael is the owner and often behind bar when we go– he’s always helpful with tips and lets us taste a variety before we decide.
We have tried a few different meals and they’ve mostly been good but nothing beats the Schnitzel!
Don’t bother getting a burger– they’re just ok. Plus, that’s not what you come here to eat, the rest of the food is great. Cabbage rolls are another go to.

I go to usf and it’s literally across the street, great place to go in the afternoons. Chill crowd, good prices, and delicious food! Definitely worth checking out!

Phenomenal galupke. The recipe was true to form, but everything was done with attention to detail. It tasted amazing. Highly recommend.
Great beer menu, too!

Live in the neighborhood and friends always talk up B.G. so we went tonight to celebrate my belated birthday with two good friends and my partner. Nael, the owner was stupendous. He runs a great little bar with a wonderful selection of beers and it has all of the trappings of a great place, good food, huge portions, great service and smiles from everyone that works there. What in the world could anyone do but find this to be a comfortable, inviting and enjoyably night out with friends or a special someone? The Beef Pelmeni were the best. The Caesar Salad was huge and delicious. The Stuffed Cabbage Rolls were like my Grandma’s so many years ago who hailed from Odessa on the Black Sea.
Had a great experience tonight and we will all so happily return and bring other friends who will be as impressed as I was. Although I do not drink, the water and ice is not bad either!
Thanks Nael for a great dinner and a wonderful spot to enjoy again and again and again.

Food here is excellent! I love the lamb burger. Have to go whenever I’m in the city. The beef stroganoff is good as well. I love the huge selection of imported beers on draught

I’ve probably been to Bistro Gambrinus 20 times, at least 20 times. It was right down the street from my SF apartment. They have awesome beers and delicious food. You can’t beat the sausage selections and I love the German-​Russian fusion feel they have, although I’m not sure which they identify with. I always get the beef pelmeni and the meat loaf.
Great for dates, great for drinks with friends. Nice low-​key feel.

Excellent neighborhood bar with FANTASTIC BEER SELECTION!
No frills, GREAT MUSIC PLAYLIST, very casual.
Food quality has been mixed:
FRIES ARE AMAZING!!! …while it’s hard to mess up fries, the type they have are excellent English batter style and are always perfectly cooked!
Homemade LAMB BURGER PATTY WAS AWESOME! However, the quality of the bun and veggies left a lot to be desired :(…totally disappointed me since I paid $ 18 for the burger (I did add bacon, avocado and mushrooms to get to that price… but needed the B&A to save the experience, since mushrooms were canned and almost cold and all other veggies were wilted and sad and the bun was stale and super low quality).
BRATWURST are solid… boiled isn’t my favorite… would rather grilled or broiled… but it’s the traditional way right? Good quality and decent taste. SAUERKRAUT was also solid and very enjoyable, not much flavor.
THOSE ROASTED POTATOES THOUGH! #dreamy Perfectly seasoned and cooked!
The staff all seem nice enough… though none of them seem to have any kind of formal training in service… so my first couple times going in I was not very pleased with their lack of professionalism and courtesy… but it’s a casual hole in the wall bar not trying to keep up with industry standards… so I will not rail on all the things they could do better and will just be glad they are there for an awesome beer and bite!

Eastern European eatery with a large selection of beers on tap.
Ate the hunters sausage over kraut. My mom had the cheeseburger. Solid but unspectacular.
Quiet neighborhood vibe. Close to the corner of Masonic and Fulton, so parking could be dicey, but near a major transit line.
Will return.

3.75 stars.
Great college haunt (USF) with lots of nice beers on tap. There were lots of students making lots of noise, so if you’re looking to have a conversation, you’ve been warned.
I visited when the weather was warm and it was pretty hot inside the restaurant (A/​C would have been nice, but I get SF isn’t the A/​C kinda place normally.)
Service was friendly, but inattentive and slow. Funny, it didn’t really bother me… I guess I had lowered expectations due to the abundance of taps and noisy college kids.
Food was good — I ordered a pita wrap that was actually a lavash filled with ground lamb, pickles, onions, lettuce and secret sauce — I loved it!
In all, I really enjoyed my visit and would return for more beers and food.
3.75 stars.

This place has a ton of beers to choose from and luckily for me I decided to give it up for lent (why do I do these things! Grrrr) so I ordered a glass of red wine, which was good but not amazing, they only have about 5 to choose from. Anyway after I was given my wine I wasn’t checked on for another 20 mins and I was starving! I had to flag him down to take my order.
I ordered the cheeseburger medium with mushrooms and fries. The fries were great, the burger could’ve been better, I really wanted to like it but it was dry and salty but huge, so that was a plus.
You could tell that this is a neighborhood place where there’s regulars who keep coming back, I on the other hand won’t if I’m in SF.