Don Pisto’s

Nick let’s go here after your haircut

One of the best places we’ve eaten at in SF. Food was exceptional — ceviche, carnitas, pescado. Be prepared to wait tho.
The four stars is because of obnoxious music. The only lowlight is they play blaring music that takes away from atmosphere. It is a young crowd hangout.
Try all you can drink pitchers for 90 minutes!!!

Love this place for brunch. Dinner is good too. Vibe is lively. Everything about this place is spot on.
Go for the spicy salsa verde and grilled Monterey squid.
Parking is a nightmare obviously so take a lyft.

Any type of Mexican cuisine is automatically a star in my book. However good Mexican food is something else. This spot hits it! From the cool vibe with the music and hidden entrance and the great service it’s all amazing!
First off right when you sit down they give you chips with salsa verde. The chips are legit addicting so watch out. I went through two bowls almost by myself. They are fried and salted to perfection.
The menu itself is simple and to the point. On the night we went they had a whole lobster for two with tortillas and a corn on the cob for special. We didn’t order it, but it looked delicious. The tacos are a must! The cameronoes and carne asada are super yummy. The guacomole is also a must. We didn’t have a chance to everything, but from the looks of the tables around is it looked amazing.
The service is on point. Our sever was super sweet and the staff was attentive. Always had water and asked if we needed anything.
Music was popping, the décor is real simple and chill and overall it’s a cool place to go.

Delicious tacos, chips and salsa! The wait is a bit long and uncomfortable depending on the time you arrive — we went Thursday evening around 8ish. We waited around 30 mins but were able to order drinks and got some chips and salsa. We ordered guacamole as well, but it didn’t get to us until we got to the table. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of standing room so the group of us were shoulder to shoulder and having to move around to get out of the way.
The tacos and salsa were worth the wait — we ordered two different types of tacos, and got two each. All was delicious and filling. During the service, we got warm chips which were amazing. The guacamole needed some heat, so we ended pouring some salsa into the guac. The salsa, btw, is relatively hot, so be wary.
The acoustics of the restaurant were kind of terrible, so you’ll definitely be able to have private conversations, only the person you’re talking to may not be able to hear you.

Location: in the beautiful and busy North Beach; I’ve never driven here (nor do I want to with those hills!) but it’s probably a 5 – 7 $ über ride from Montgomery Bart. I’ve gone twice — once on a weekday lunch and it was dead silent. Once on a weekend brunch and I’m pretty sure I almost went deaf. It is SO loud and rowdy and most people around you are on their 6^th cup of bottomless sangrias.
Service: pretty good at checking in and giving recommendations; you can leave your name and walk around, they will call you so you can show up within 5(i think) minutes to claim your table!
Food: I think they recently changed their hours to no longer serve weekday lunches (really sad because their elote GAVE ME LIFE). Shrimp + carnitas tacos are both freaking out of this freaking universe. Chips and salsa are amazing too. I love you don pistos. I’ll be back.

Come for the bottomless brunch not just the food. The 3 stars is for the food. Service is great — it’s always packed for brunch but you don’t end up waiting very long even if you’re a big group (impressive, unlike most brunch places in SF).
Chorizo & baked eggs: gooey sunnyside up eggs & sour cream done right but no chorizo to be found. I think they put in chorizo bits, similar to bacon bits… but I thought I’d get actual chorizo :(
Guac — relatively bland by itself but add a generous dash of tapatio and it’s good.
Camarones shrimp tacos — my favorite dish of the ones we had. Juicy shrimp and all the right toppings.
Carnitas tacos — meh, nothing special. Shrimp tacos were much better!
Note: this place is rated highly for its bottomless brunch experience and great service, not for having the best Mexican food! If you’re searching for the best Mexican food go to the Mission.

I was tasked with finding a restaurant for 6 colleagues who had various eating habits/​preferences. It needed to be reasonably priced near our hotels. And for me at least, it needed to be non-​touristy and actually good.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?!
Ok, it took me like 6 hours to narrow it down to this place. BUT it took like 1 minute to ask for a reservation online and they accomodated our party a week out. OK now we’re talking! They confirm the day of, we show up, easy peasy! We order drinks, eat some salsa (very good) and guac (not my favorite but not bad) and then order our dishes. And, what a miracle, everyone in my party had raves for everything! Two folks got the chicken special which they loved, another got the pollo asado which he devoured, my al pastor tacos were probably the best I’ve ever had, another liked her shrimp tacos.
WIN!

YUM. Everything I ate here was spectacular. The salsa verde was spicyyyy and I’m good with spice.
Everything else:
Guac — good
Ceviche — better than expected (I don’t really like ceviche)
Calamari — I prefer it fried but it had good flavor
Carnitas taco — YES
Carne asad taco — YES
Chicken– oh yes
All the meats were flavorful, tender, and overall superb.

Soy amante de la comida mejicana y este lugar puedo decir que es uno de los mejore sitios que he ido. Excelente comida muy fresca el servicio es rápido.

$ 19 bottomless Sangria, mimosa, and margaritas. They make their mimosas a little differently with some type of Aqua fresco, which makes them distinguishable. One of my friends didn’t really care for the mimosas, so I guess it depends what you are into. Be careful, they are on the more sugary end of the spectrum. We didn’t try the margaritas, but the sangria was decent. The great thing is that you can interchange your beverage choices throughout your 90 minutes, allowing you to intensify your day by mixing and matching different types of alcohol.
For our group of six, our average rating for brunch is as follows:
Quality of food/​drinks: 5. As one of my friends said, «I wish I could give 5 and a half stars if I could!» Coming from a bit of a snob, that’s for sure a compliment!
Hostess service: 2.5. Seemed like she hated life and couldn’t crack a smile. We had a reservation at noon and the seating logistics were super disorganized so we stood there for 15 minutes waiting while drop ins were let in. Uhmmmm not okay.
Waitress service: 4.5. The thin brunette woman was very attentive and friendly, helping us choose the best items on the menu. Thanks a lot! It would have been nice if the tables were set with knives so we didn’t have to wait for 5 minutes after asking twice AFTER the meals came out, but I’ll let that slide.

We met up with friends from out of town who were staying in the neighborhood. This was a really disappointing experience, which is a real shame because the food was actually pretty good.
So they don’t take reservations, that’s fine, I can deal with that. We checked in with our party of five and were quoted 45 minutes — 1 hour so we decided to go to a bar and grab a drink, since the host will call you when your table is ready.
At the 30 minute mark, we had just ordered our drinks and the phone rang to let us know our table was almost ready. So we chugged our drinks as rushed back only to be told our table had been given to somebody else, yep, she actually told us we took too long and gave our table away. We were also told that a table was paying and we would be seated there shortly. At this point we were at the 45 minute mark, so we had gone from having a table early, to no table at all to now at the quote we were given.
20 minutes later, we were still standing outside in the cold, waiting for our table. The host, kindly offered to buy a round of drinks for our party which was great. We were able to step inside and take a seat at the bar… Until, a server asked my friends if we were waiting for a table and if we were could we move so people could sit at the bar to eat. WHAT?! So we are now over our quote, invited into the place to enjoy a drink at the bar but we then get told to move!!!
Then, the part that really got my blood boiling. We were (sitting until we got told to move) standing by the bar, having finished our drinks, yep getting close to and hour and a half of waiting, we were shown to our table, a table for four, with a place setting on the corner to accommodate the fifth person. While right next to us and table for six sits empty. I asked the host, if we could sit there instead. Her response was, «No…» followed by something along the lines of: we can use that for a two-​top and a three-​top, so it makes sense for us to seat you here and use that for two parties. HANG ON A MINUTE, there are two empty tables of four there, one you are trying to squeeze five people at and the one next to it that sat empty the ENTIRE TIME we ate dinner.
So, when I questioned the reason she gave for not seating us at the bigger table, she kept saying no and that it was the table for four or nothing. Whatever, at this point we probably should have just left but I shut up and sat down. The server went over the menu, oysters of the day, ceviche of the day, family/​tapas style dining, we ordered our next drinks, and appetizers. After our food comes to the table and we are eating. The host offers us the chance to move to a different table, a table for ⁸⁄₁₀ (not sure) that had a party seated at the other end. By this point over 50% of the restaurants tables were empty, what it is with this place and seating small groups at «communal» tables when there are other tables open? We had food and were in the middle of eating so chose to stay where we were.
I have 10 years of hospitality experience and so many things were terrible here. Being made to move from the bar, being sat at a table too small for our party, being table our table had been given away, being told they need a bigger table to seat two parties when we have waiting 90 minutes, and no sign of a manager to stop by and apologize. There was some blonde haired lady walking around and socializing with various employees but not once did you talk to our party.
I will NEVER come back here, which is a shame because I liked the ambience and the food was pretty good but this service was painful!

Of all the times I’ve been to Don Pisto’s (and I have been A LOT) I have never once been disappointed. You hear me?! NOT ONCE, I SAID!
I don’t just give out five star ratings like candy, ya know. A place has to earn dat perfect score. DP’s definitely does.
Why, you may ask yourself, does a restaurant without a sign out front deserve a perfect score? Have a seat over there on the ground and I’ll tell you a story. A story of mouth-​watering Mexican food…
It all started in the shadow of a great Coit Tower where some dudes (maybe dudettes too?) decided to get together and make some of the cleanest and most flavorful dishes to ever pass through my experienced lips. They have a lot of seafood at DP’s, I especially enjoy the spicy tuna tacos and ceviche. They make some legit house salsa to go with your perfectly crisp chips as well. Heat builds off the spicier dishes and salsa quickly so get yourself a margarita, STAT!
Even going to the bathroom is fun at Mr. Pisto’s. It’s like a spelunking trip past the kitchen, down the dark stairs, by the party room (that never has a party in it…) and around the corner to guess which door is a bathroom. Fret not, it’s not that scary and the bathrooms are usually pretty clean.
Once you’ve filled your belly to capacity and beyond you’ll find a nice surprise. Señor Pisto does not charge very much. Pricier than your typical cheap Mexican place for sure. But not bad considering the exemplary service and astounding food quality and preparation.
A++++++ WOULD BUY AGAIN.

The food lived up to the high reviews! My sis and I were in the mood for mexican and found Don Pisto’s on Unilocal.We walked in on a Tuesday night but because there was a crowd and loud hip hip music playing, it felt much more like a Saturday night out. There was a 20 minute wait for a table for two so we took a couple seats that’d just freed up at the bar.
We ordered fish tacos, pork tamales, and the pollo asado. The food was great! Even the complimentary green salsa and chips were excellent. I also tried the wine Margarita, as this place only serves beer/​wine… something my sis informed was common in SF. They did their best with the margarita but I was definitely missing real tequila.
The service was good and everything came out in a timely manor. I recommend making a reservation since this place was bustling even on a Tuesday night.
**Make reservations
**Probably too loud for kids

Seated right away as it is super early for dinner in SF. Great table right by the window.
Ordered the Ceviche Mexicano. Really fresh salsa verde, awesome with tomatillos and a bit of jalapeño.
The ceviche was excellent as well with avocado, orange, poco de gallo and chile.
Reservations for six or more. Über it here, parking can be non existent.

Five stars. Plus another TWO stars. If I could give them more stars, I would.
I LOVE this place.
Amazingly fresh, flavored, authentic, delicious food.
Fresh tortilla chips. Fresh green salsa. Perfectly seasoned food. Simple yet incredible dishes.
Great little place without a sign on the outside so you enter at your own risk… of having a great meal! I came here for dinner with my boyfriend and was greeted promptly and happily by the host (he was great!). We ordered margaritas (very good) and were served the complimentary chips (again, made fresh and were hot) and spicy green salsa.
Our host explained that the menu is small since they have a small kitchen and that most items are on the menu to share. Well, OK!
We ordered the Spicy Tuna Tacos, Cheviche Mexicano, Carnitas pork tacos to share and was just enough food. Each dish was unique and mouth-​watering. Again, so simple but some of the most flavorful. Prices were absolutely reasonable, too. Especially for the quality of the food.
It’s a small little quaint place and then you go down the stairs to the restroom and it opens up to a large space perfect for private events– with a DJ set up and playing music.
I will be back. YUM!