Carl’s Jr.

On my list of Tenderloin — SOMA survival guide.

This place is such a shit show. My friend had to eat something and this was the only place open near us. It was midnight and this place was packed with a bunch of characters. Of course I have to use the bathroom. Some lady stops me before I go in and talks me out of it. Says there is literally shit on the floor. I can’t.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, but this place takes it to another level. Just don’t. Not worth it even if you are craving waffle fries. Just go home hungry or eat that Banquet frozen dinner that’s been sitting in your freezer for a year.
On a positive note, it’s close to BART.

Sometimes in life you just got to live life by the edge and eat at a bad scary place. Sometimes it’s boring eating at a safe place. The food is ok but gosh darn this particular Carl’s Jr as some good entertainment.

Good enough fast food, but some of the clientele are extremely unruly.
Main benefit of going here would be if you live in the Hastings Tower, want a hamburger, and don’t want to have one delivered. Or if you just wanted some minimal exercise walking here and back. But, be brave. It is probably safe, but it feels stressful.
I liked the Carl’s Jr at Powell more.

Five stars! Not because it’s a great restaurant, but because it’s the scariest place I’ve ever been to! Scarier than International Boulevard on a Friday night. Is this a social experiment? Is it a homeless shelter disguised as a Carls Jr? Is the bathroom so dirty and so bad that they won’t let me in to use it and suggest that a public restroom is cleaner?
Props to the security guard who let me use the employee bathroom. Much appreciated. This is an experience like I never really had it in a fast food restaurant. Well, I’ve been to afterbar rush at restaurants in the rural Midwest, where there is a good chance a fight could break out or some kind of drunken drama. But you know what to expect so it’s not that scary. I don’t know –perhaps I’m being a bit elitist for not empathizing with what a homeless shelter might be like. But to be fair this isn’t the StarvingtTiny Tim variety of homeless, this is cell block H hooked on cat piss homeless.
If a Carl’s junior executive walked through this place, or the health department, or anybody with clout for that matter, it would be quarantined and obliterated off the face of the earth. Seriously, Carl’s Jr corporate, you gotta check this out, this is not good for brand equity. My guess is that the franchisee had good intentions but then became one of them and is now sleeping on a street corner in the Tenderloin.

I was feeling hungry so I decided to stop by for a burger since I like Carl’s Jr. in general. Big mistake. Homeless people kept drifting in and out of here and the clientele is very ghetto making for an unpleasant ambiance. Granted, it’s fast food but this place is in a horrible location with all kinds of sketchy people milling about outside. To top it off, while I was trying to eat, there was a verbal altercation at the restroom and neither the staff or the security guard did anything about it. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough and as I was leaving I could hear someone ask aloud if anyone had 30 cents because she didn’t have enough to pay for her order. I’ll never come here again even if I were desperate and if I had seen all the earlier reviews I wouldn’t have done so in the first place.

I’m not sure why I had any expectations for a Carl’s Jr in the Civic Center area. Let’s ignore the fact that there were probably — actually, almost CERTAINLY — numerous drug deals going on there in the middle of the day. This inclination afforded me ample time to enjoy the hustle-​and-​bustle of the restaurant — I ordered my lunch to-​go and spent only seven minutes in a place where even Walter White would’ve overdosed.
In the comfort of my workplace two blocks away, I wrestled with the fish sandwich meal I ordered. Actually, it was less of a fish sandwich and more like a soggy fish-​flavored patty smacked grotesquely against two non-​matching pieces of almost-​bread. The whole thing was dripping with what was purported to be tarter sauce, but tasted and looked more like shaving cream mixed with expired mayonnaise.
I tried pulling it apart. I ditched the bottom bun and set it aside. A pigeon came to my table, looking for a bite. He looked at the piece of soaked cardboard that Carl’s Jr calls a bun, then promptly flew away. Congratulations, Civic Center Carl’s Jr. You’ve somehow managed to repulse San Francisco’s pigeons with your food. Now I have seen it all.
I tossed the rest of the meal and turned to the drink. When I first laid eyes on that paper cup, I thought it was bigger than any medium drink cup I had ever seen. In fact, that was probably accurate. I had never seen a medium cup as large as this one. I felt it had a chance to salvage the worst $ 12 I’ve ever spent on a meal.
Unfortunately, the drinks are filled by the people behind the counter. They did a terrible job. My Blue Powerade looked like a bucket of ice with some blue food coloring dripped on top. This legendary cup died in vain.
Don’t go here. Don’t let your friends go here. That is all.

This establishment is not just a bad overpriced hamburger in a nasty setting with awful customer service and physical danger to the customers, but more or less a reminder of everything that is wrong with modern society.
Where other burger joints are trying to attract customers, this one, by virtue of its location amidst a lot of drug addicts and helpless tourists, has increased the price of a basic factory farm fast food burger, poorly and suspiciously prepared, from $ 6.00 or so a year ago, to about $ 8.50 for even the most basic of burgers. There are dozens of establishments, even in an expensive city like SF, that would gladly present you a bigger, tastier, more healthy, more local burger for that price. A block up the hill there are there are some diners that, however sketchy, will make you by hand a bigger, tastier, more memorable burger at much lower cost. There are many sit-​down restaurants that serve burgers for that price or somewhat more, some of the best things you ever tasted. Since when was crappy fast food supposed to be so expensive? I truly think they are selling crack to tweakers here.
Other than that — no bathrooms, weird line, not much selection, staff that doesn’t seem to care, dangerous surroundings. Really, there is almost no reason for any human to get their food here. Another block or two away there is a 24-​hour drugstore that has sandwiches that, if not heated, are at least sealed in plastic wrap to assure you that you will not get some disease.

I love Carl’s Jr but whoa since when did the SMALL combos become $ 10 or more?! Mine was $ 12.50 for a jalapeño burger and small fries & small soda. I checked my receipt, they seem to have charged me extra for the soda, so I spoke with the manager about it and he said it was part of the combo?! I knew the scene here but was not expecting the ridiculous prices and extra charges for something that’s already included. It’s probably a SF thing because of the rent going wayyy up too high (anyone here also think they’re doing it on purpose so that the super rich people could have all of SF to themselves?!)

It’s a place that exists!

Avoid this place at all costs!
Use to go here on the way to the bart, tonight, while waiting to order some guy tried to steal my cell phone out of my pocket! made a scene, and the ahole security just let him walk out the door! when confronted on it, he said what am i supposed to do (I dont know your job and detain him for the cops?
the idiots behind the counter were no better and looked at me like I was the problem.
its a shame used to be a nice place, needs to be shut down as a public nuscense

This food does not look, smell, or taste edible. Never eat here.

The Carl’s jr was a Carl’s jr. I have this a five star because the security guard, black gentleman with the long braids was the man! I saw him a couple times tell people they couldn’t peddle in the place, but above and beyond he walked around, asked how everyone was doing and if he could help. Above and beyond high five to that guy

Thought the cashier was going to spit in my
burger when i asked for no onions. He was not having a good day

Probably the saddest fast food place on earth. Came in here late at night to pick up some food with my buddy.
1. Got yelled at by some homeless/​drug-​addict person for not accepting the chair he got for us to sit down on???
2. Some lady kept begging my friend and I to buy her food.
3. EMT came and carted someone out.
4. Some guy asked if I wanted to buy some raw steaks off him.

I think this place is a randevous for homeless, crackheads, drug dealers. Or I probably stepped into some sorta reuinon. I was very Surprised at how nice the employees were. Thus the 2 stars. It’s a fast food restaurant so what do you expect? The burger was greasy but the fries were good.

Crackheads and tweakers as far as the eye can see. Well… more the length of the restaurant.
In my drunken haze, I had a conversation with the security guard and the guy working the counter. I like to hear weird crazy stories and these two guys were the ones to tell them.
We got criss cut fries and zucchini coins and they were both just fine. It might have been dirty in there, but I couldn’t tell because my beer goggles don’t allow me peripheral vision or really any other perception outside of staring glassy-​eyed at my boyfriend’s ass. I wanna go back again just to sit and observe.

I can’t decide if this or the Union Square Carl’s Jr. is the worst in America, but it’s one of the two. Seriously I can’t fathom any other location being worse than this.
It’s a combo daytime homeless shelter and extension of the drug market that operates right outside in UN Plaza around the BART entrance. Plus prostitute rest/​work station at night. It smells like you’d expect for this clientele and god help you if you set foot in the bathroom. You likely won’t get in because some schiz bum is camped out in there for 2 hours but you don’t want to anyway. It’s for the better. Pee in the fountain with all the other locals instead so it can spray and waft in the breeze all over the farmers market.
Random snippets of conversations I overheard the two times I went in here:
1) «Yaw nigga I had to go out the window wit da Mossberg while we was drivin and it was like PLAWT PLAWT»
2) «Shit man the fuck you tryin to do to me you know I’m on parole why the fuck you bring that shit in here»
The funny thing is they still overcharge like a muh just because It’s Downtown SF even though there ain’t no tourists or techies in here except the most clueless and lost. They generally don’t seem to do the national specials and the combos are insane priced.

great place very interesting. on the way in you’ll have a line up of people trying to sell you canned goods. Then when you get in you’ll have someone who will want to join you in your meal. Well they wont wanna join you while you dine. They just wanna join you in line and try to get you to buy them something. I wasn’t a fan of the bathrooms here. One time I was here and I saw this guy throw something that looked like a filet o fish at the cashier. ha a filet o fish, I was like what the hell, was that a filet o fish how’d that get in here.
Theres some stains in here an its pretty dirty. I don’t think they maintain this place very well.
The location is great cuz theres a farmers market pretty close by.

I have no idea how this location maintains two stars. Maybe crackheads now have Unilocal access. Watch your back and check your order.
I love Carl’s Jr. but this location needs to be (A) closed or (B) cleaned up.
This location is a **Stain** on the Carl Karcher Enterprises, Inc. name. Please read Katie N.‘s review.