Eldo’s Grill & Brewery

This is totally a slap from the grave… this place sucked. The mid range brewpub with the stylized Mexican restaurant was odd… as… hell.
Now it’s Wunder Beer, and I love it. Yay for change.

Where’s the beer?
Just tried out Eldo’s brewery. Our waitperson said something about change in ownership or starting the brewing operation over, or yada, yada … No Eldo’s beer for us. We did have some pale ales on tap, from Sierra Nevada and Santa Rosa (?) One was nice and hoppy, the other nice and malty. Good enough, I guess.
But we stayed for the food. The only pub food on the menu was fish and chips or a burger; the rest looked like taqueria food. We tried empanadas, pozole, and sauteed shrimp. Wow. Even if they never brew again, we’ll go back for the food. Everything tasted so fresh. So simple and good, but somehow they seemed like new dishes to me. I never knew hominy or masa flour could taste so good. To me, that’s the best of california cuisine. When the simple ingredients shine through, and I love them. And I did. The spicy shrimp was amazing, too.
The service on our night was just fine, and the techno music was way too loud.
I can’t wait to go back, but I hope they brew beer there too, some day. And turn the music down.

This place is great for most all occasions. From a date, to birthdays to grabbing some beers after work. They have happy hour every day and their pilsner is great. The ‘eldos fries’ even rival the giants ball park garlic fries.
They have a pretty good sangria as well which in my opinion is better than cha cha cha’s, primarily because they have fresh fruit in there, unlike the red mystery fruit which comes in Cha’s sangrias.

Sometimes, expensive mediocre food and so-​so beer accompanied by snarky service is cool. but when we’re like the ONLY people in the joint, this faux-​snobbery is not appropriate.
I’ve been to Eldo’s twice, and didn’t really like either experience… and i’ve decided not to go anymore.

The only reason we remained eating here was for the burgers — very good.
ONE beer on tap?! Which was difficult enough to get in front of me. The bartender was relaxed to a fault, and this is not the style of restaurant to «dine» at.
I think the manager/​owner was sitting in the corner as well, completely ignoring the 3 tables of people in the place, also conveniently ignored by the bartender. Dude, you’re supposed to SERVE, not wait for someone to wander up and order. And manager? How about you ignore your blond friend and worry about the few guests you have?!
And, yes, food is OVERPRICED.

The beer was WARM — they called it «room temperature» — still it was gross. They claimed a temperature problem with ALL their beers or something ridiculous.
The food was overpriced for mediocre every day American food. We ordered vegetarian nachos and it took them ONE HOUR + ME complaining to bring it out to us! Of course they comp’d it but still. Completely ludicrous. To make matters worse, the service was nonexistent. The waiter never came to follow up and let us know where the heck our food was he only stood from a distance and watched.
Even at the very end, when we paid our bill, the waiter never came to get it from us — we had to walk it over and even then he didn’t acknowledge or even look us in the eye when taking the bill from our hands.
That was my first and last experience with this restaurant.

For being a brewery and tapas place, I’m kind of surprised at the prices here. The food is definitely inventive, and tasty, and I am usually a fan of about half of the beers they have on tap at any time (personal palate preference).
Despite my grumbling about the cost, I do keep going back in hopes that I’ll find some diamond in the rough on their tapas menu. The small portions that tapas implies means that I get to try a variety of different dishes, and as they say, variety is the spice of life (that or Mrs. Dash is… I forget).

Beer was good.
Food, wwwaaaayyyyy overpriced, not creative, and worst of all, not that tasty.
I am so tired of places using the word «tapas» to describe giving you smaller portions of unappetizing food at a greater cost.

This is the worst beer I have EVER had at a brewery. It may be the worst beer I’ve had in my life — it’s up there anyway.
Yucky, yucky, in my tummy…
It only costs $ 3, but even that’s too much — Eldos should pay people who finish a beer $. It’s a challenge I couldn’t complete…
Service was bad, too.

Worst Restaurant in the Inner Sunset:
I suspect that this is the absolute worst restaurant in the Inner Sunset. I mean it when I say that you are better off going to the Burger King across the street — at least the food at Burger King is cheap.
The food here is below average, the beer is mediocre, and the prices are unreasonable considering the quality. To be fair, though, I’ve only been once — so I can’t really speak to the whole menu. However, what I did have — was just poor.

It’s a Friday night and it’s pass 11pm, why was it so empty in here? I don’t know, that’s why I am asking…
Great big, open space, perfect for a large parties. All beers on tap are only $ 3 for the holiday season. I’m not sure if I’ll go back here again, but perhaps I will since one of the guys I am currently seeing works a block away so we may stop by here once in a while for a drink. The only reason why my friends and I were here last night was because we were waiting for my guy to get off work. Once he arrived at Eldo’s, my friends split because we have been drinking/​eating since 6pm.
After my guy finished his beer and mine, we headed out to The Mission. Yes, you guessed it… Delirium, baby :-)!

You know, with my high standards for SF breweries and all the negative reviews both here and from friends, I looked at last night’s trip to the last brewery I hadn’t yet visited as something I just had to get over with before heading to the Fireside.
But I actually really liked it. We weren’t there for food, so I didn’t get to try the infamous fries, but we were there for four or five rounds and had a great time. We got there a few minutes after Happy Hour ended (we had no idea) and the bartenders gave us the Happy Hour prices. He also only charged us $ 5 for the third round for no apparent reason.
I was quite disappointed that they only had 2 Eldo’s beers available, an IPA and a Wheat, but both were quite good. They had a few guest taps that were interesting, as well.
The one star off is for the lack of house-​brewed selection, and for the décor, which was reminiscent of Thirstybear, which evokes bad memories, and I also have a thing about breweries being «nice.» I think they should all be scummy and divey. I mean, it’s just BEER, ferchrissakes!
It’s no Magnolia, but this is definitely an option for drinks whenever I’m in the area, and I look forward to seeing if my good experiences continue, or if this was a fluke.

This WAS by far my favorite neighborhood place to hang, but now the excellent brews are gone and the food has gone downhill… still way mellow atmosphere, if you’re into that.

ELDON’TS!
Sometimes reading others reviews of an establishment is much like trying to have the will power to not look at a horrific car wreck, as you approach as hard as you try you still look.
And that’s what happened on a recent visit.
$ 44 later and $ 1 was for being charged for sour cream… W.T.F.
As others have written… believe them, keep your $ in your pocket and have the pleasure of a dining experience elsewhere.
We should have known when we sat down to see this great space was near empty.
It’s flatlining, I predict that this establishment is soon to close should it continue in it’s present state.
My pasta dish was hospital bland.
There were only 4 beers on tap, obviously the brewmaster is on vacation or just lazy. Go to any brew pub and a proud brewer will
feature at least 5 choices with flavor!
My one star is for my generosity… it has no positive reflection for (ELDON’TS)

BOO!
My experience here was so bad. I am trying not to let it ruin my night.
Reasons to never go here:
1. OVERPRICED food! I couldn’t believe the prices and the value. Each typical Tex-​Mex platter was at least $ 15. I would totally pay this for good food. I guess we were there during happy hour however we received no ½ off discount. Maybe I missed something but I think the waiter just hated me for:
2. Appetizers served AFTER the meal was served. When I asked the waiter about this he was totally rude and defensive. He didn’t offer to cancel the order and said that he thought we were sharing… I have no clue why this would make a difference… it was annoying for 2 people instead of 1? We were waiting for the notorious «Eldo’s fries» by the way. AND the fries tasted horrid. They were not garlic fries whatsoever. They tasted like they were frozen and reheated. nasty. And I think they were at least $ 5.
3. Snotty, slow, arrogant, rude generally crap service. All this while the place was empty. The waiter offered no recommendations, no friendliness whatsoever. He seemed annoyed that we’d walked in and interrupted his baseball viewing.
4. The Tex-​Mex entrée was also terrible. It was so soaked in grease and nastiness I didn’t even recognize what was what. I feel gross after eating there. Nothing but grease and cheese to make up for the lack of flavor.
5. No chips and salsa at the table AND those available on the menu were $ 4.50! Rip off.
Now, to be fair, here are a few things that did not suck:
1. My companion said the pale ale was decent.
2. The architecture inside is kind of cool– though random for sure
3. hmm… I guess that’s it.
I pretty much hate this place.

I just don’t get giving this place more than 1 star…
I first hit up Eldos when they were just opening — before they even had a brewmaster! Back then the bartenders (owners/​partners?) were cool, the place had tons of potential, and I was happily looking forward to (once again) having a cool brew pub about 5 blocks from home.
Since then, things have continued to slide downhill over the last few years. Apparently they catch crowds later at night, but every time I walk in there I feel like I’m providing charity to a business about to close. At least they don’t wave Street Sheet in my face.
The riddle is: What do horses from merry-​go-​rounds, jazz music, black-​and-​white photos, microbrews, and tex-​mex food have in common? I’m hoping the purveyors know, but I haven’t figured it out yet. I made the mistake of ordering the «eldos fries» off the happy hour menu this evening — this was the final straw. Reading the reviews here I now understand that these are known to contain bleu cheese and chili oil. I asked for fries with ranch dressing — seems sorta standard in the world. So the subsitute the bleu cheese for ranch dressing — and serve me a plate of garlic fries over chili oil and ranch. I can’t stand garlic, chili, or bleu cheese — so I picked at about 4 fries, and left the rest there.
Gal behind the bar didn’t notice that the plate went untouched, nor offered any help in alternatives. I think it’s time for this place to close down for a few more years and then have some other romantic souls try once again to re-​open it to be a successful brewery.
One final request — I hope these owners clean the tanks out when they leave, unlike the GG brewery folk (that’s why the space was unoccupied for years).

The brews here are pretty tasty and the everything is fairly priced. Love how it wasn’t too crowded and super quick service. Definately one of the cooler places in the neighborhood.

$ 3 pints at happy hour peaked our interest, but the brew was seriously lacking. We sampled three different beers and none of them really stood out. Nice enough service and atmosphere.

The french fries are served with chili oil and blue cheese. They are amazing! But then again I was stoned (a little). They go really well with an IPA. I had the baby lamb chops. Although I feel for the baby lambs, I can’t stay away from their chops. It was unclear on the menu that the portion for this entrée was a tapas portion. The arrival of my «entrée» was a buzz kill when I realized I wasn’t getting a full sized baby lambchop portion for $ 13. Oh well, it tasted good.

This place, a mixed marriage between an upscale café and a microbrewery, has decent food, although the menu — a hodgepodge of pub crub, Mexican, and Italian — lacks focus. Friends have given the beer thumbs up, so maybe if I were a drinker I’d find the place more appealing. If ale’s not your cup of tea, there’s really no reason to come here.