San Francisco Thai Bar-B-Que

09/​24/​2007
This is one of the place that I have to say is best with their Beef meat ball and very yummy marinaded Bar B Que chicken and boy! they use to have this dish, BBQ oysters with the sweet tangy sauce on them and man the first bite make you feel like there are nothing better in the whole wide world .But too bad they no longer provide that dish. I have been their faithful customer for the last 15 years. This place was established back since 1981 and they used to have more locations but since there are way too many thai restaurant poped up on the scenes they became smaller to focus on their now original place. It’s small place but well provided for if u have some group you wanted to bring in. I just love this place.

It is tasty, fresh, cheap and quick. Can’t beat it. If I still lived on Potrero Hill I would go there every week. I still make the trek over at least once or twice a month. The food isn’t amazing, but it’s good. I like the Basil Chicken and veggie soup. Don’t come here expecting anything fancy. Just drop by if you want fresh, inexpensive food without a fuss. Friendly service and… oh, the carafe of wine for around 8 or 9 bucks makes me giggle! Why can’t every place have a carafe of wine for that price?

Pros:
— delicious
— cheap
— speedy service
— good location
— great for take-​out
— did I mention delicious?
Cons:
— weird dining room
— weird kitchen (part of it is outside in a courtyard to your left as you enter)
— the bulk deal they obviously got on the brass metal signs that are all over the place
I definitely recommend the noodles!

I’m with Annie M.
I’ve been here twice and I think it’s pretty mediocre, too.
Bummer, I really want to love it.

Everything is always very satisfactory — not spectacular, but very satisfactory. Love the Twilight Zone weirdness. The prices are very good and I love the family feel of the service. Very short hours but, hey, it’s not that kind of place.

Roach! That was what was under our flower centerpiece the last time we went there. It ran out onto the table and tried to take shelter under my plate. I smashed it dead and showed it to the waitress. She said, «I take one item off bill»
Classy…
I used to like this place, but… LIVE ROACH! ON THE TABLE! and kindof bad attitude afterwards to boot.
C’est la vie. Je né visiterai jamais encore.

I am so in like with this place!
Old-​faithful, security-​blanket, favorite mug, framed photo, kind of like.
I can always count on a few things…
#1 Great service
#2 Amazing Pad Thai
#3 Crazy-​good Duck Salad
#4 That l finish ALL of my sticky rice and then feel slightly uncomfortable for the next 18 hours.
Hoorah!
I was introduced to SF Thai BBQ back in high school by BFF Esa Y. She and her family had been regular customers since she was a little girl. Without fail, every time we went in there, they would recognize her and greet her by name. You gotta love that!
I love how it’s never too crowded and is a nice meal without breaking the bank. If Potrero Hill were to lose this gem, it would be nearly worthless (Farley’s and Goat Hill Pizza might keep it afloat).

This place is so weird. If you have read the other Unilocaler’s reviews you probably get the idea. This place can’t figure it’s own self out. I mean, are we Italian, a bbq joint, french? I thought this place was a ribs and mashed potatoes place for a while because of the bbq sign out front.
Anywho, this place ain’t bad and all in all my food (yellow curry dish) was good for the low price.
Some of the fun oddities of the place: jasmin flowers every where. I am pretty sure they sent one of staff members to just pick them off the streets and then bring them back. I like Jasmin A LOT but to have it every where seemed excessive. It was through out the bathroom.
Another funny thing is the extensive use of a label maker throughout. I think they must have received some deal on a label maker a while back and so decided to label everything. I am talking about the wood placard labels with the metal engraved cover. I mean, for instance, they have a framed poster with a label underneath describing the scene. And they have another label in the bathroom that tells you that the hot water really was hot (they didn’t lie).

I’m with Alyssa — I don’t know how this place stays in business (much less has such a fabulous rating).
I don’t know what happened to SFTBBQ — when we first moved to P-​Hill their food was pretty decent, but the quality has consistently slumped over the last few years.
We gave them another shot about a month ago and were sorely disappointed by mushy Pad Thai with sketchy prawns. We won’t be back.

I was shocked, SHOCKED I say, to see that this place has four stars on Unilocal.
Let me preface this review by saying that I was really in the mood for soul food at Hard Knox, but due to their ridiculous popularity, my crew and I were forced to look elsewhere. Unsurprisingly, San Francisco Thai Bar-​B-​Que was virtually empty.
Yes, the place has an identity crisis. Is it Italian (see glass bottles of preserved vegetables in window)? French (see country-​cute tchotchkes on walls)? Thai (see menu)? But that’s something I can get past. I’m a substance-​over-​style kinda girl, and it’s not like I haven’t had my schizo moments either.
Given how enthusiastic other Unilocalers are about this place, I would assume that the key to it is to not order the Pad See-​Ew, as I did. Hoping for a steaming pile of thick, heartily flavored noodles, I was instead presented with a tepid pile of suck. Thin, bland, lukewarm noodles successfully hid the four shrimp for which I paid an extra dollar. Fortunately, the waitresses were good with the bread refills, otherwise I would have left hungry for something other than love. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve felt a man’s touch? But I digress.
My lunch companions and I ordered some mango & sticky rice to finish off the meal; I was hoping it would be enough to salvage this place from One-​Star Hell. Whether the black hair adorning the top of the dish was intentional or not, I am sorry to say that no salvaging took place. So to One-​Star Hell it goes.
San Francisco Thai Bar-​B-​Que, you are dead to me. Hopefully next time I head out to Dogpatch, Hard Knox will be open and I won’t be hard-​up and there’ll be peace in the Middle East. Or at least two of the three?

Tasty, cheap. Try the succulent Thai style bbq ribs, marinated in cilantro and comes with a sweet clear dipping sauce. The carrot salad, flecked with peanuts is delicious too. Yellow curry servicable, nothing special. There are carbs aplenty — bread and rice.

Dining here was one of those, «what the hell let’s try this» moments. It was another perfect day and I was walking away my lunch hour when I stumbled on this Potrero jewel. The homely yet tidy bistro is set up in two parts, cashier and togo pickup counter and sit down and chow room.
I ordered the BBQ duck special with rice. I meandered around the place gawking at friendly neighborhood types enjoying their meal. Quaint little signs like «Girls & Boys» above the bathroom added a nice nostalgic ESL touch to the place. The staff were friendly in a motherly sort of way and apologized for the wait — apparently phoning orders for pickup is popular. Eventually my daydreaming fizzled, my name called and I headed back to «real life» at the office.
I was starving by the time I got to eating and wasn’t disappointed. Beneath the crispy duck skin lay succulent meat with hardly any fat. The BBQ was paired with broccoli and carrots in a vinegary sauce wrapped in foil to guard its heat and prevent embarrassing leakage. The sauce and meat paired with the rice was heaven.
I can’t wait to wrestle my co-​workers from the office to try SFTBBQ’s delicious, dry-​rub BBQ and its other tasty dishes.
Bonus quarter of a point for adding two slices of doughy french bread and a pat of butter to my bag.
[03/​01/​2007] update: had lunch here again and got the most unf***ing believable pork chop special. It was grilled and resting on a bed of delicious mango, onion, vinegary salsa, paired with rice and green salad. Out of this world! $ 10
(4.25 * stars)

Generally very good, and what’s not to like about mango sticky rice, probably the all-​time best dessert ever invented in the history of the world, even more so than crème brûlée.
I also take out their chicken satay when I have a party. It’s what I call «catering» my party.

One of the first places I ate at when checking out Potrero Hill. Has a lot of interesting color from the photos on the walls to the bullet hole in the window.
Food is great, I love their fish dishes and their minced Thai basil chicken dish. You can’t go wrong with a carafe of the house wine (cheap too). Their carrot salad hits the spot as well.
Pro:
Cheap thai place that’s close to home.
Con:
Cash only Would give them a higher rating if they accepted credit cards.

This place lacks in spacious seating and good signage it makes up for in the charming and friendly staff, local ambiance and good food. I always get the Duck special or the curry chicken. Portions are just big enough. I would LIKE bigger portions, but that is just because I am a big fat old gluttonous American. .. I work just a few blocks away and this is far and away my favorite sit down lunch place, yes even more than Goat Hill.

It’s one of the odder Thai places I’ve been to. A bread basket before your main Thai dish, wine specials, pasta-​themed décor… It could easily be mistaken as an Italian restaurant. Their peanut sauce was unlike anything I had ever seen – so dark, at first glance, I thought it was a slab of meat. The food wasn’t anything special, though, I also didn’t have the BBQ (obviously).
But from entry to exit, the service was very hospitable. «Thank you» are the only words you really need to exchange. Seating is tight, but it’s homey. Signage is hard to see from the outside, as it blends in with the paint. Thai BBQ is different, and a nice respite from the white tablecloth restaurants along 18^th Street.

We had lunch here on our first day checking out our new neighborhood about 3.5 years ago. Loved it. The food is light, fresh and delicious. Even better it is such a bargain!
A full dinner for 2 with the ½ carafe of wine is about $ 20. My personal favorite is the noodles with beef bbq meatballs.
Only downside is that they only accept cash.

This review is a placeholder of sorts, because I found out last night that this place…
*** IS NOT OPEN ON MONDAYS ***
I’m really eager to try it, so I’ll go back soon. I just had to point this out to avoid another Unilocaler’s future frustration.

UPDATE — 3÷23÷2008
Since I haven’t been up to Portero Hill for several months, I only just found out this cozy mixed-​up-​identity place closed this past November. That’s a shame, though it was good to hear that the owners made their own decision to retire after 25 years.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
ORIGINAL REVIEW — 8÷20÷2006
I like this place, but I wonder if it has an identity crisis. It’s a Thai BBQ restaurant, but they have those Tuscan pickled vegetable bottles on the window sill, sun-​faded posters of pasta and the wine country on the wall, and toasted French bread on the table. If they had checkered tablecloths, it would be like the meatball scene in «Lady and the Tramp».
But there is nothing very Italiano on the menu except an option of having egg noodles instead of rice as your main dish accompaniment. It’s mostly their delectable barbecue, some curries (in the $ 6.95-$ 8.50 range) and a few more traditional Thai dishes like a decent though not outstanding pad thai ($ 6.95). I usually come here for the Bar-​B-​Q Duck entrée for $ 7.95, which comes with a fresh side salad and the noodle/​rice option.
Make sure you have a splatter-​guard on your chest or at least a bib because the sauce will come up and splash you if you aggressively suck the noodles. The Bar-​B-​Q Chicken is also good for a dollar less. The big noodle bowls with your choice of meat are also hearty and a bargain for $ 6.50. The space is small for seating, so it usually fills up quickly, though this evening (Sunday) was quiet there.
Service is very cordial and efficient. If you want atmosphere like Khan Toke, this isn’t the place to go unless you want to break out in «O Sole Mio» and do your Don Corleone impression. This place indeed makes some barbecue that is hard to refuse. By the way, they’re open for dinners all evenings except Monday and for lunch just Tuesday through Friday.
FOOD — 4 stars… Bar-​B-​Q just like your Siamese mama used to make in the bayou
AMBIENCE — 2.5 stars… buona sera, signore e signori
SERVICE — 4 stars… quick-​quick
OVERALL — 4 stars… Barbecue squisito… cue for big Godfather kiss on the lips

I’m really surprised this place hasn’t really made the SF cheap eats lists. The sign reads San Francisco Bar-​B-​Que, so I think that’s why it may get passed over. If you’re in the mood for a traditional BBQ meal, you’d be thrown off by Thai style menu. However, if you’re looking for Pad Thai or Curry Chicken, you won’t find that here either.
What you will find is very tasty BBQ’d meat (chicken, beef, pork, duck) over a bed of noodles or and/​or salad. And it’s cheap! My wife and I ate there last night for $ 15 out the door. We really need to go here more often.