Smile BBQ

I ate here because it said BBQ but the BBQ Chicken was just ok. Not even BBQ as the lady just warmed it in the microwave. Totally disappointed. The first time I step foot in this divey restaurant about 2 weeks ago, I ate a cheeseburger and it was not that great either. I see a lot of people eating breakfast here, so maybe that’s the way to do it here. Cheap and probably the better option. They are a small business and given how hard it is to compete with all the fancy places in the mission along with all the burrito joints, and just something a little bit different in the mission, I am giving them 3 stars eventhough they are more like 2.

On a scale from McDonalds to Foreign Cinema in terms of ambiance, Smile BBQ is a dump.
But dangnabbit, it’s my dump! Sure, there’s a bullet hole in the window. Sure, the waitress speaks a broken mess of English, Spanish, and Korean. And sure, there might be some dirty and dusty countertops. But the food here is surprisingly solid — and cheap! Get your questionable breakfast for $ 6 and get the hell out of there.

Breakfast is simple and affordable. Server is attentive and knows most of the customers. Good food and Spanish language tv rocks!

Smile BBQ wasn’t all smiles. they no longer carry hot dogs listed on their hanging banner. «well done» the lady answered sternly when i asked for a medium rare.
hamburger.
eats: hamburger (3.70)
–well done means it was tasteless,
–ingredients fresh but burger wasn’t to my satisfaction
–cheap, so 2.5 stars.
crumbs:
–menu is breakfast-​centric
this may be their best offerings.

Have less than $ 8, but really want a burger & fries? Stop into Smile BBQ and sit down at the counter. Not really sure why they call it BBQ, but just go with it. I will miss this place when my office moves out of the Mission.

Time: 1:42pm/69°F sunny
Purpose: My buddy just went to US Bank ATM withdraw so out of curiosity step in to see what smile BBQ meant.
Ambiance: Narrow place only counter seating with one 36in flatscreen a hispanic guy was munching on fries watching a Spanish channel. The place is own by a older Chinese couple how odd? I guess that guy wanted to watch his native shows and was a paying customer so can’t say no. Too stuffy inside with the two basket fryer right next to grill it was not a good scene for me, allergic to deep fried foods. Place is very patriotic to the SF Giant’s lots of pictures newspaper clippings and figurines plaster all over. One oscillating fan with layers of dust stuck on blades from years of usage.
Staff: Not one person said hi or how can I help you. The husband in corner peeling away russet potatoes wife cleaning the fryer. Not that I wanted to order anything but won’t hurt to ask me.
Cleanliness: Needs a good ventilation system, wipe down front window dead flies near edges of metal connectors. The stools were not well kept grease stains from customers getting up from eating greasy food.
Eats/​Drinks: Didn’t come to eat anything so can elaborate on that.
Products: Burgers, fries, wings, hot dogs, chicken strips, cold&hot drinks, sides, salads, apps etc.
Punch Line: Nice little place to hide from someone after you, could be me.
Final Thoughts: As it goes some places welcome you will open arms some don’t even bother knowing how deep water they’re in already serves no purpose to be helpful anymore, that’s what you’ll get here. Come if you want a quick bite sitting there no one to talk to or even ask of everything is okay. I thought I was gonna be a repeat customer if they treated me well but wow window said BBQ there wasn’t any smell or BBQ just deep fried food smell.

You’ll walk into a combo of Spanglishtanese… baseball memorabilia and most likely a spanish gossip show. oh the essence of Frisco
Breakfast is good and affordable, Lunch is more of a teaser.
Lilly is great she remembers the customers, their preferences and has a great attitude.
Boss lady is very rude, my friends and I left a $ 10.00 tip for Lilly and she came and snatched it before Lilly got to it.
I love this lil neighborhood joint, minus boss lady.

Been coming to this place since I was little til this day I have not been disappointed with the food. It’s cheap and good.

It was a little questionable walking in, so I opted out of anything non-​veg. Got the grilled cheese, which was nothing mnd blowing, but served the purpose of a quick, meal on the go.

I came in here not expecting much at all, yet left with a smile. Decent food and decent service. the denver omlette was omnomnom so good! I will definitely be back to try the bbq out at some point soon as well!

The idea is awesome, the execution is terrible.
Take a nice cozy space reminiscent of old school diners and lunch counters and keep it alive as a locals place, or even update it with some awesome food.
Or do as Smile does and keep it as a pit of a hash hall serving sub-​par hangover food, though it is a locals place.
The charm is there for sure. It’s a small joint and you sit at one of the little stools or take a seat in the back and read old National Geographic magazines. That’s kind of about where the good ends. The food is literally probably something you could make yourself. Everything is pretty average or below and it can take awhile even with a modest crowd. The smile omelete (maybe one of the more «original» things on the menu) and hash browns were ok at best. The service is pretty abysmal. There’s one woman for the entire place and she was more interested in talking to other customers than helping most of us. It took about 10 minutes just to get the check as I sat there with an empty glass and napkin on plate.
This would be a one star deal if it wasn’t so comically cheap. A hidden gem I wish I hadn’t found.

Get an omelet or hamburger, they are great and super cheap. As other have alluded, other menu items are not the best bang for the buck, and this isn’t really a bbq place. I come here a lot (close to office) and the service is consistant. Whether it’s a consistency you like is up to, but the owners have a certain charm to them.

It is best to come to this place at around 12 – 2 p. m when there is not much people eating. The retaurant is quite small, I’m guessing the occupancy is about 40 people. This place is quite expensive. The Korean Lady charges $ 1 per piece of Bacon, who charges that much! I guess only her. I would also like to add that this in NOT A BBQ PLACE!

How this place got 3 and half Unilocal is beyond me. I’d rank it right up there with Tu Lan (which I Unilocaled about a while ago). I went in there expecting bbq. This is not a bbq place. I ordered the bbq pork and rice, expecting something southern, maybe with some sweet and tangy bbq sauce. No. Instead, I got kalbi style pork cooked with onions and rice on the flat top. I think the rice was supposed to have peas and corn in it, but somehow I only found 2 peas and one kernel of canned corn. No sauce. Nothing. The woman behind the counter literally barked at me demanding to know what kind of hot sauce I wanted (Tabasco, tapatio, or asian style) I suppose they should get some points for having a variety of condiments, but really I think they are there to cover up the flavorless food they serve.
This place is cheap, I’ll give them that, but with so many other amazing restaurants in a 2 block radius, this place is a definite pass.
So to review:
Good:
3 different hot sauces
Cheap
Clean
Bad:
Ambiance
Not friendly AT ALL
Bad food
Misrepresentation of bbq

A dingy hole-​in-​the-​wall, Smile has remarkably low prices. I got a half chicken with mac salad and a lot of rice (I don’t think it was fried rice, but it was brown-​colored white with a little bit of corn and peas). The chicken isn’t bad, but not amazing either. Like most Korean restaurants, you get a stick of gum here, too (no, this place isn’t Korean, just Korean-​run), but not the typical melon flavor.
Decent enough.

The only reason I come here is the food is ok, quick, and inexpensive!!!
The waitress is a nice girl. Make sure you give the tip to the waitress or else the owner will keep it for herself!!!
The owner (don’t know her name) but she is a piece of work! Just a plain rude bi@tch!!! She has no manners on the phone or in the restaurant if you want to call this hole in the wall.
THIS IS THE SPANISH VERSION FROM MY CO-​WORKER
La dueña de este lugar
«tiene que tener una extra empleada»
la muchacha sola hispana trabaja muchisissisimo, y siempre esta ocupado que bueno!!! pero la dueña prefiere ahorrarse empleados y trabajar estresadamente,
ojala trabaje con mas calma y compartiendo su trabajo con una empleada mas dos si gusta y asi vivir la vida mas agusto, y no super matada la comida es rica
espero que si emplea una persona mas y les siga llendo super bien,

First off as far as I can tell this isn’t a proper BBQ place. There is BBQ chicken on the menu but I’m willing to bet that it’s actually baked chicken slathered in BBQ sauce.
I ordered a BLT for $ 4.15 and added avocado for an extra $ 1.25 because that’s the way I like it. Somehow that total came up to $ 5.50 including tax. The sandwich was small, it didn’t come with enough bacon tomato or avocado; plenty of lettuce though.
I might give this another try for Breakfast someday.

Being rather adventurous (and hungry) for lunch I decided to check this random place out. Mind you, I work off of Shoreline Ct. in South San Francisco and for some unknown reason there is nothing to eat around here despite the multitude of office buildings.
I got the lunch special #1 to go which was basically a roasted chicken thigh and leg over some rice. If I wasn’t so damn hungry I probably would’ve been pickier. The lunch wasn’t bad at all. Granted you got to be one of those people that like meat on the bone. I’m easily satisfied anyway. Plus the whole thing cost $ 4.50. Can’t really beat that.
: needs to do more searching for places to eat around my work area:

Ode To Smile BBQ in haiku
Burger and 1 gum
Food tastes delicious like fat
Rude boss loses star

This place is a total hole-​in-​the-​wall greasy dive … and I love it for being that. Of course, you have to know what to expect and what not to expect from such an establishment. Clean? Not so much. Convenient? Oh yes. Cheap? You betcha!
My office is located nearby, so I’ve only been in for quick lunch bites. $ 4 for a cheeseburger and fries. Can you beat that? No, you can’t. It’s a little bit of a gut bomb, and I don’t want to know what kind of meat it is, but it gets the job done. I see people ordering all sorts of other stuff here and scarfing it down, so I presume they either have iron stomachs or the food is decent. You make the call.
The service here is a little weird, and this owes in part to the layout. The place is only like 6 feet across, and in the front there’s the grill, so you have to squeeze by anyone standing there. The Korean lady at the grill (with, presumably, her husband) never says anything to me, but directs me to sit down at the counter even when there are no seats available and all I want is some take out. The waitress hovers behind the counter (which is a very awesome little feature) and is very good at her job.