Rickybobby

Ricky Bobby is officially closed as of January 30^th. I’ll miss those crawfish grits, but then again I was already missing them because they took them off the menu and replaced with more burgers. In this current playing field of burger wars and not being listed on the burger heat map from Eater that had to hurt but also say something. Was it a good burger? Sure, it’s good, but does it compete with the current crop from Causwells, 4505, Marlowe, ABV, Black Sands (also Lower Haight and damn good), etc — no. All the best to them and perhaps get back to the crawfish grits and lobster mac type of food and keep it simple.

Pretty good. Drove a hour to come try it. Beef +bacon burger and garlic parm fries. Good combo.

Indulge your inner glutton. This place has a great small menu with some outstanding selections. We had the pork fries and the mac n cheese with pork and they were both outstanding. I walked out with an unparalleled case of the ‘itis, which in this case, was just perfect.

Hmmmmmm delicious comfort food. We weren’t sure what we were feeling for the night so I chose the neighbourhood (Hayes Valley) and my bf narrowed down the restaurant.
Be warned, the place is filled with an extremely smoky bbq smell as you walk in. Good or bad, up to you to decide. The place is a communal style of dining so we shared a large bench table with another couple. The waiters were extremely friendly and service was pretty quick. We ordered the 1) bacon beef burger — your arteries will hate you but it was SO SO SO GOOD, 2) sweet potato tatter tots — so delicious, I am definitely going to make this at home and 3) jalapeño mac and cheese — a bit watery for my taste but this was my bf’s favorite.
It was a bit loud for more intimate conversation because you literally have to scream to get your message across but that’s kind of the expected atmosphere.
Would definitely come back with some friends for a bite sometime!

When you’re not full from your first dinner… come here!
When you want to eat comfort food. Come here!
When you want to be as loud and obnoxious as you wish. Come here!
When you want to be carboholic (fries, tater tots, mac & cheese, they got them all). Come here!
When you just want a chill place to eat. Come here!
Overall, I like their big portions, their staffs, and their crawshrimp grits.
I hope you give this place a try. Cheers!

From Great to Disappointing
Rickybobby was one of my favorite comfort foods spots I’d recommend heavily to out-​of-​towners until my last two visits including an extremely disappointing one last night.
When did Rickybobby become an overpriced burger bar?
I had been talking up the restaurant to coworkers and a recent house guest, and last night the menu was pretty disappointing. The crawdad grits (ringer) and seasonal peach arugula salad were nowhere to be found. An alternative greens (caesar? no) wasn’t available and though the biscuit (not to be missed) and pork fries were a delicious heartstopper, my guest’s burger and fries were so-​so. The bill came out to $ 40 and was overwhelmingly meh.
The Lobster Mac and Cheese, once touted a steal at $ 12, was now $ 19.
6 variations of a burger, wings, fries, and tots isn’t enough variety to strike a chord on *southern* kitchen appeal. Add to the paltry menu beacoup bucks and Rickybobby just doesn’t carry that cheeky charm anymore.
Want an amazing burger? Head to Box Kitchen behind the SF Chronicle building in soma – Box Burger and brussels sprouts are a steal and still my favorite burger, ever.

Ordered pork fries, fried chicken sandwich and smoked wings. I’m a foodie and pretty tough on critiquing food, well all 3 of these were so incredibly delicious with just the right balance of richness and complexity while having a straight forward solid hearty food taste you would expect. I have been craving it since and almost went back the very next day.
Friendly staff. Simple set up of large community tables. Great spot for groups. Not too noisy, right size space.
FREAKIN AWESOME.

Go with friends — and share. This way you can try a bit of everything!
* beef and bacon burger — I think this has been ordered each and every time I have visited. How can you go wrong when the bacon is mixed in the patty?!
* sweet potato tots — delightful spin on a classic
* pork fries — pulled pork, waffle fries, cheese sauce, buffalo sauce. Maybe one of the most indulgent fry concoctions ever!
* fried chicken sandwich — yes
* their pickles are actually pretty good (SF for some reason has trouble making a good pickle)
* communal tables
* beer and wine only
* good service — but usually slightly low staffed
* make sure to try their seasonal offerings as well — I haven’t been disappointed yet

Utterly gratuitous; completely satisfying.
Other than it being slightly overpriced, I enjoyed our meal here and would definitely return. We had:
— The all-​beef burger — stuffed with just enough extras (onion rings!) to make it special
— The sweet potatertots — slightly too sweet for my taste, and not very texturous (I was expecting something like regular tater tots, but these required far less chewing), but fun, and pretty cute
— The honey-​sriracha chicken wings — great glaze; solid
This was definitely enough food for two people.
Next up: the fried chicken sandwich; pork fries; and jalapeño mac ‘n cheese! Can’t wait.

inb4 «you’re crazy»
I’m not a huge fan of burgers… but the burgers at Rickybobby are really something special.
I got chicken wings because I was an idiot. But honestly, the chicken wings were pretty good too. My friend got a burger, and my boyfriend got the pork fries. I tried the pork fries and was immediately jealous that I didn’t get it.
Then I tried the burger.
I don’t know what’s in that burger, but it was everything a burger should be:
Juicy, Meaty, Oozing– basically making me regret I didn’t get one.
I’ll definitely be back to try new things on their ever-​changing menu.

Great place been here once before by mistake and loved it enough to want to come back!
The seating is like Picnic bench style, literally. So it’s pretty cool. Unless you’ve got people phobia.
Came here with our friends right before closing, we only waited like 60 – 80 seconds to be seated. End of night is s good time to come, the last time I came for dinner on a Saturday night it was packed!
I got the corn bread Mac and cheese with the option of pulled pork added on top $ 14
The fish burger $ 12
Comes with extra fish on side (waiter recommended it over the fish and chips, so I took his advice) it was really yummy with coleslaw and tomatoes.
Sweet potato tots $ 6
Just the right amount of salt to compliment the sweetness !
Me and my bunny split each dish and lad plenty to take home

Once I heard that the chef from Broken Record (featured on Food Network) moved over to Rickybobby, I bookmarked this place right away! With all the rave reviews, I thought this place would be amazing, but the experience was a little lackluster…
We ordered the famed pulled pork fries, jalapeño mac and cheese, and the honey sriracha chicken wings. The food was just A-​OK. I wouldn’t come back for anything in particular except the pulled pork fries, which were super flavorful and had a large portion! The jalapeño mac and cheese sauce was a little thin, but I did like the small bits of cornbread that were mixed in with it. The honey sriracha wings were good, but nothing to write home about. The chicken was cooked well but I thought the portion size was a little small for the price.
The atmosphere is super loud so you kinda have to yell when conversing. Service is friendly and food comes out fast. The menu changes a lot, so don’t expect to see lobster mac and cheese or any other things you might’ve gotten excited about from Unilocal pictures, lol!

Personally, nothing out of the ordinary [yet] that would make me come back.
The menu changes every so often, so they didn’t have the crawfish grits that I was hoping to try. The waiter had told us they are known for their pulled pork fries, jalapeño mac n’ cheese, and their beef & bacon burger. We ended up going for everything but the burger, and order the honey sriracha chicken wings instead. Pulled pork fries were good. a little tangy from the buffalo sauce. Cheesy, sauce-​y and loaded with green onions — my favorite dish of the three. Japapeno mac n’ cheese… definitely had better mac n’ cheese. I thought the cheese flavor was very light; overpowered by cream than anything. Consistency was very watery and my friend and I described the consistency as «soup». Honey sriracha chicken wings were glazed nicely — sticky, sweet, and that mild sriracha heat kicks up on you as you keep eating. Still, I felt the kick remained mild and that was that.
Atmosphere is very casual and very loud. If you’re not in a group of 6+, you probably will share a table. (I saw only one small table that seats 4). With such casual and loud environment in addition to tables being pretty wide, we end up talking to each other as if we’re yelling/​screaming. I can’t count how many times my friends and I have repeatedly asked, «WHAT?» or had to lean our heads in to hear each other. Not a pleasant way to converse over a meal in my opinion.
The burgers and sweet potatertots seem to be very popular, so if I’m ever back here I’ll probably give that a try.

Sweet potato tots — ³⁄₅
Pork fries — ⁴⁄₅
Pulled pork Mac and cheese — ⁵⁄₅ — Cornbread jalapeño pulled pork slurry. Delicious.
Shrimp po boy — ²⁄₅
Country Sausage burger — ²⁄₅
Bacon beef burger — ³⁄₅
Western all beef burger — ³⁄₅
Peach bread pudding — ³⁄₅
Overall, the mac and cheese is «as good as it gets.»

I’ve been avoiding this place for… well, since it opened. I just didn’t think a business named after Will Ferrell’s NASCAR-​driving moron in «Talladega Nights» sounded worthwhile since it struck me as a drunk frat boy fantasy. And in a way, it is. Co-​owners James Moisey and Shane LaValley opened it a couple of years ago after serving time as the pop-​up chefs at Broken Record, a dive whiskey bar that featured a back room where you could gorge on cheeky faux-​white-​trash creations like Duck Confit Potato Skins and Lobster Mac n’ Cheese. I liked it because Guy Fieri did such a good job of positioning the appetizing artery-​clogging food as can’t-miss vittles (review:
). So I got over my long-​standing hesitation and tried Rickybobby late one evening.
Oh yeah, I remember when this location was a satisfying Indian place called Rotee several years ago, but when I entered, it had a completely different vibe. Loud and young with seating available at large tables only. Certainly not an ideal set-​up for a solitary diner looking to eat in… well, solitude. It was nearly full except for one table where a couple of young hipsters heaved a sigh when I was seated with them. I guess I brought the coolness factor down considerably. I smiled at them with an uncertainty reflective of a wallflower adolescence and immediately turned my head to look at the chalkboard menu. There was no sign of the audacious dishes I remembered from Broken Record, mostly bar bites with entrée prices attached (photo:
).
I bypassed their more famous Beef & Bacon Burger for the $ 13 All-​Beef Burger since it had more fashion-​forward ingredients like heirloom tomato slices, creamy fontina cheese and truffle mayo (photo:
). What came out was quite juicy but almost excessively so as it quickly got sloppy to pick up with confidence. It really turned the bun into something of a wet rag despite being toasted, and the whole point of using heirlooms and truffles got lost in the execution. Still, it’s hard to knock a burger that tries that hard. It was overshadowed by the $ 6 basket of Sweet Potatertots, a creative take on tater tots, lightly crisped and accompanied by ketchup and ranch dressing (photo:
). Highly addictive but overwhelming in quantity. Half of them came home with me. The hipsterati were on their own.
FOOD — 3 stars… burger didn’t do it for me but those potatertots were like crack
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… party on, dudes
SERVICE — 3.5 stars… young staff was much nicer than the customers
TOTAL — 3 stars…“If you ain’t first, you’re last.” — Ricky Bobby

Great service and menu, but food just isnt on point. The meat they use for the burgers is good quality but the flavor is completely masked by all the strong flavors. Truffle mayo is way too strong, it overpowers the meat and the fontina cheese. The presentation of the burger was nice, but for $ 13 i think they could have added a side like fries or tots. Also, ambience is super casual with communal style tables, but i dont think the prices reflect that. If i returned i would order the burger with everything on the side, it has potential.
Again, great service and thats probably what gave this review 3 stars instead of 2!

Kinda like the best and worst gastropub you’ll go to.
It’s the best because their whole menu is pretty legit. It’s elevated bar food. Great for groups with their picnic style tables. The worst because their beer menu is surprisingly mediocre. 7 – 11 has a better selection of beer.
It’s the worst because this location is a MF to get too and parking especially in this ‘hood is a bitch x 10.
Me and the boys came here after hitting up some indoor batting cages. We literally ordered everything off the menu so we could share family style that the table next to us gave us weird looks.
Their green chili cheeseburger ($ 13) was on point with the New Mexico hatch chillies. You can taste the bacon that they grind into their patty. Good size burger, none of that Umami burger slider shit over here. Definitely top 3 burger in the city.
Other standouts…
1. Crawfish grits — rich, creamy, flavorful and I’m not even a crawfish guy.
2. Pork fries — like the ‘Merican version of carne asada fries except sub in pulled pork and waffle fries. I like how how they plant an American flag on top, instead of landing on the moon, we landed on this huge mound of tasty goodness. So good you’ll wanna grow a mullet.
Finished everything off with their cinnamon toast crunch sundae. Hell yeahhh MF!

I like to feel pretend that I know all the hidden gems in the city (and in all other cities), but I must give credit to the boo for always being on the hunt for new places to satisfy my Elitist appetite. Sometimes I feel so high maintenance o^.^o
We arrived around 7pm on a Friday, which is essentially a death sentence for SF. (Or maybe that’s just for the places that I pick because I jump on the Unilocal bandwagon and end up in the popular packed-​like-​sardines spots) It wasn’t too crowded and there was no wait for a table – their layout of communal tables has great utility in seating people, and it’s actually not that awkward. Plus, you can see what other people order and see what looks tasty!
The menu essentially consists of upscale comfort food. It’s a nice twist on Southern food; you could tell that thought was put into creating specialties and it is not the standard fried chicken-​grits-​jambalaya menu of Southern food where you get full after eating half the fried chicken. Rickybobby’s has unique renditions – it was a difficult decision so we had to forfeit the pulled pork fries and the sweet potatertots because we already had 3 entrees for 2 people: x
(++) Crab cake & Asparagus, $ 14 (old bay aioli, cherry toms, meyer lemon vinaigrette): I’m usually not too crazy about crab cakes or fried food in general, but this was perfection on a plate. The thin panko crispy layer contrasted the fluffy, flavorful interior, one-​upped with the savory aioli sauce. The grilled asparagus and cherry tomatoes were on point and as memorable as the crab cake.
(++) Lobster Diavolo $ 18 (penne pasta, mozzarella, peas, crispy bacon, spicy cream sauce): Sorry Boston, but lobsta mac n cheese makes lobster rolls look lacking. The spicy cream sauce has quite a kick; together with the earthy touch of peas and the ultimate comfort food known as bacon, there is a lot of dimension added to the lobster mac n cheese. They do not skimp on the lobster either; there’s a satisfying amount of lobster meat chunks.
(++) Crawshrimp Grits $ 15 (fiery shrimp broth, cheesy grits, house pork sausage): Honestly I’ve always been afraid to try grits because to me it sounded like savory oatmeal. (But when the boo suggests something, you don’t say no; indeed it turned out to be very delicious) The grits had an interesting and amazing fluffiness reminding me of tofu or Asian rice porridge only more flavorful from the crawfish and the spices. There are a lot of toppings on top, so you need to mix it up like bibimbap.
Costs a bit of $ but definitely worth it, and it could easily be marked up had this been at some fancy gastropub featured on SF Thrillist.
RICKYBOBBY. For some reason we keep thinking it’s Rickyhobby, perhaps because the food is so good it seems like someone’s hobby, crafted with passion and perfected over time.
Easily accessible by N Judah, vintage décor with campfire lamps and bold artwork, friendly servers, creative food, and SHO DELISH!

Hands down the best mac and cheese I have had in the past 10 years. Shoveled the carb heaven smothered in cheese into my mouth heaping spoonful by spoonful. How was it delicious? No idea. Could have been the macaroni was perfectly cooked and the combination of cheeses and «stringiness» was delightful.
Tater nachoes were pretty delicious too. Smothered with melted cheese, dolloped with sour cream — cant go wrong.
Ended the pretty amazing meal with the oreo bread pudding. WOW. Carbs on carbs on heavenly carbs.
Will glady be back.
They will not seat you until your entire party is at the restaurant.

I’ve actually had this one ready to post for a while now, but I had been planning on saving it for my 900^th review. Obviously that plan changed, but the fact I was saving it should tell you just as much about how I feel as my actual review. Even then, I still feel like this might be a little premature. Not because I’m undecided on anything, but because I don’t have many dishes to write about (read: I wish I tried more things!).
Following in the footsteps of Broken Record, Rickbobby offers up a full, gastropub menu of delights to enjoy. I can’t say for sure since I’ve never been to the former, but the food is exactly the same as I understand it. In any case, rest assured, there are awesome eats to be had — burgers, sandwiches, mac n cheese, fries, and so much more.
– GARLIC FRIES
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The order was huge and the fries were both crispy and garlicky. If anything, they might have actually been a little too garlicky. Still, I would rather have too much than not enough. I just wish we had gotten it with some Parmesan cheese!
– LOBSTER MAC & CHEESE
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I’m not sure if it’s still on the menu (seasonal?), but it’s definitely worth a go if you see it. So much cheesy goodness! There could have been a little more lobster, but the chunks that were in there were really meaty.
Since Rickybobby isn’t all that large, and because they’re just so darn popular, expect a wait for a table on any given night. However, it’s worth it. Delicious food, friendly staff, and beer! Oh the beer… as if I needed even more reason to come back one day. Four stars for now, but perhaps an upgrade to five once I get to try more things!