Pancho’s Salsa Bar & Grill

Chicken and pork tamales are good — they don’t skimp on the filling. Their chicken and steak burritos are good too. Very fresh ingredients, good quality meat with few fat pieces. Burritos are large and very filling. Can never finish a whole burrito, so only eat half for lunch and save the other half for dinner.

This was a cool place to come to on a Sunday night. My food was delicious! I highly recommend the chicken and steak fajitas. They were the
. I wish they would open a location in my city. I will definitely be making a stop back here the next time I am in San Francisco.

I’ve been going here for years and the quality has been getting worse for the past few months. They used to be good. The produce and ingredients were fresh and clean but now the burritos are sloppy and the size is really small compared to before. I hope they pick it back up but i doubt it because like I said before it’s been going downhill for several months now.
There is a specific lady who cooks in the back, she does a fine job but she makes them small. However, there is a man who cooks majority of the time and it’s just plain bad. I won’t be going here anymore. Sorry Panchos.

20 minutes for a steak burrito that takes 5 minutes every where else. The couple in front of me also looked really annoyed that their order was taking forever. Wasn’t even crowded, just those 2 orders and mine.

food: good
Place: lots of Mexican decoration
Recommendation: get a quick bite and keep partying

Service is slow. I have an hour lunch and my order took 40 minutes for just a burrito and fajitas. One customer walked out angry with his order due to him waiting so long. They didn’t even offer chips for us to munch on while waiting (which most taquerias give you in the meantime). The cashier seems confused with the orders as well. The cashier and cooks could use better communication and flow. I can’t even enjoy my meal anymore because I only have 10 mins to eat.
Don’t make a hungry person angry!

I love Pancho’s! Best Mexican food on Polk St. The décor of the restaurant is interesting and endless. I usually order the steak nachos, and my boyfriend gets the chicken burrito. The nachos are bomb dot com. Seriously — Mexican food on Polk St doesn’t get better than here. The salsa bar has this insanely spicy salsa that I love, and the thick-​cut jalapenos are a must. Their special of the day is usually worth a try!
Everyone needs to stop bashing about the service and have a little more patience — you entitled brats. Yes, it gets busy here. Yes, they will put you on hold on the phone because they are currently client-​facing at the register. Do you not get that? Don’t you live in SF? It’s like this everywhere. This is a taqueria, not some fine-​dining establishment. Polk St people are a disgrace.
Panchos lifer.

Meat in the burrito was super dry. Not too many alternatives for Mexican food in this neighborhood. It’ll get the job done if that’s what you’re craving and don’t want to go far.

I’ve never been disappointed coming here. Their salads are great, their meat is flavorful and juicy and did I mention they make their own tortillas? Oh and that they serve breakfast all day? Mmmmm breakfast for lunch…

I’m stunned such a mediocre Mexican restaurant can exist in San Francisco. This reminds me of the Mexican food I’ve had in rural Nevada on road trips. I ordered a super carnitas burrito (my standard) got big slices of unripe tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, cheddar cheese, unseasoned carnitas, poorly wrapped burrito. Chips and salsa were okay? Idk
I guess all the fratty tech bros who live in Polk Gulch/​Russian Hill think this spot is great but holy shit I haven’t had such a bad burrito in awhile.

Been going here for over 10 years and it’s consistently been a good semi fast food Mexican place my favorite are the cheese enchiladas with rice and beans the staff changes times but recently I’ve had the pleasure of being served by Malinda she was incredible!
she manage to keep the entire restaurant coverd when I was there

Usually enjoy panchos, nice people, good ingredients.
However today I watched them bang utensils on the trash and immediately use them to spoon food for customers not just once but multiple times, it was to empty the stuff stuck to the utensil. They were also eating and dipping something while cooking, without gloves and without washing between putting things in their mouths. It’s not horrible but it doesn’t make me feel good that the rest of the kitchen processes are sanitary.
Happy to adjust my rating if management put a new policy in place.

Busy as always. But it’s worth the wait!!!
I had a vegan burrito! They have fresh ingredients and you get to see how they prepare your comida!

Dear Panchos,
I like your food, but will no longer be patronizing your restaurant, since your telephone customer service is so lousy.
Every time — and I do mean every time — I call to place a takeout order, the conversation goes exactly the same way:
You: Hi, Pancho’s on Polk St, how can I help you?
Me: Hi, I’d like to place an order to go: a chicken burracho burrito, no chips.
You: Can you hold on please?
(few minutes later after dealing with customers in line)
You (same person): Hi, Pancho’s on Polk St, how can I help you?
Please. Please. If you’re not in any way ready to help me when you answer the phone, simply say «Can you hold please?» and come back when you are. Every other restaurant in the city has this down, so I’m sure you can do it too.
I’m going to try to again in a few months, and will update this review with my results.

I don’t think 4 salsa’s constitute a «salsa bar»
I live close by so I was really hoping this place would be good. But–
Bad service with mediocre food. Had the «steak burrito» although it had very little steak (3 pieces) It did have a lot of retried beans. Service took too long for lunch. And the cook was walking around like she had nothing to do, and there where 8 tickets in the window! It was a busy lunch and both cooks took time to get themselves a soda when they could see customers waiting for their orders. No love and it shows in their food.
The only good thing I can say is the chips were good.
Wish I would had read the reviews first. Next time it’s Nicks Tacos or the Mission.

They need to change the hours posted outside their door. I live in the neighborhood and walk by all the time yet have never been. On Friday night after having a few drinks I figured a burrito would be the perfect treat. I was pretty hungry and I remembered that Panchos stayed open till 12:00, so when I arrived at 11:00 I was not a happy camper when they said they were closed. Change the hours posted so you don’t make more people hangry.

Food
Chicken burrito with all the fixings — yum purdy good
Service
Yay accepts card. Order pickup at counter. Nice people
Atmosphere
Festively Mexican

If you think I’m going to say this is one of those hole in the wall Mexican restaurants that has awesome food, then you would be right!
It seems like enough people know about it that «hole in the wall» might not be the proper term anymore, but it is small in terms of size and only having one person working out front, has that authentic feel rather than Americanized Chipotle, and is pretty easy to miss — luckily, my lack of ²⁰⁄₂₀ vision doesn’t hamper my good eye for yummy Mexican food.
I initially was sucked in when I saw the bar — the salsa bar! I love tomatoes and salsa. The pico de gallo here was amazingly fresh and perfectly spiced. Even better, you can just get a whole pint to go for $ 3.25! Pico is usually expensive so what a deal. There were verde and hot salsas. I would rate all highly on the salsa scale (on deliciousness, not spiciness). Although, the hot salsa did have a kick! I didn’t get the guac, but it looked super fresh.
Offerings: Typical authentic Mexican fare… but wait! They have vegetarian burrito… filled with not oily disgusting veggies, but steamed veggies. And my favorite veggie of all — squash. So burritos, tacos, salads, tortilla soup… just imagine typical Mexican fare and you’ve basically imagined the menu.
Prices: Prices here are super reasonable. Portions are large.
Service: As with your usual hole in the wall, lots of people were in line and only two people were in the kitchen. Be prepared to wait a little to order and for your food.
So Pancho’s (Salsa Bar and Grill). Not only do you deliver on the «salsa bar» promise, but the taste as well. (insert upside down Spanish exclamation mark here) Olé!

My homegirl and I (mainly just me actually) were hankerin for some Mexican food. She Unilocaled a bunch of places nearby and came to the conclusion on panchos. I didn’t really like the name of it personally, sounded to me like one of those taquerias down south that’s made by a bunch of white dudes who would prefer French fries in their burritos. But we walked in and found it was the real deal, with some funny decorations on the wall that all fit the atmosphere.
I pretty much always order enchilada plates wherever I go for Mexican food. But something caught my eye this time. Hand made tamales. It didn’t matter what else I read, I knew my decision was already made. My homegirl got the fish tacos, which also had handmade tortillas. Both plates were delicious, but the tamales were the real fucking deal. So moist and delicious pork inside. And it came with this green salsa on the side of the plate that is simply fantastic. Tremendous plates.
The salsa bar is pretty good, I was expecting more for it being made multiple times daily. Pico was good, the green salsa was a bit sub par, kinda watery but I’m gonna chalk it up to being like 10pm when we walked in. The red salsa had to have been one of the hottest salsas I’ve tried at a Mexican restaurant, most places don’t even offer shit this spicy.

Food is so good but only three stars cuz is no enough people working there, in busy time you need to wait a lot! I know they want to save money but they sacrifices the quality of services!
I was working in restaurants and for experience I know this issue and is really bad overwhelme the persons working, never the services in your place is gonna be good! That problem is not talking good about managers and owners!