The Grind

This place used to serve food that was worth the price but the quality has declined significantly in the last few months. The coffee is decent, as is the croissant french toast, but their scrambles are greasy and their regular french toast is bland and soggy. Eat here if you’re starving and need a quick fix but if you want a good breakfast/​brunch you’re better off finding another spot in the city. Maven, Kate’s Kitchen, and NOPA are all within walking distance and offer far superior brunches.

Waited in a long line and then waited 20 more minutes for a soggy breakfast burrito. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love the pool it left on my plate or having to finish it with a knife and fork.
Though the menu was huge, nothing really stood out to me. Maybe I’ll try an omelette next time.
The outdoor-​indoor patio area is super nice!

I come to this place every often they have great omelettes and nice outdoors eating on hot days. They have fair to good customer service. I love this place for breakfast/​brunch

My new favorite spot for lunch! They have a little bit of everything for everyone. I’ve been here now a handful of times. You have the option to sit inside or outside patio which is great. Service is awesome always quick.
Cobb salad– generous portion and taste amazing! (However ask for the dressing on the side)
Chinese chicken salad– two thumbs up!
Chicken Ceasar– good but a bit over dressed.
Patty melt– delish
Garlic fries– they’re ok, nothing like the ball park.
Blueberry crumb cake– fresh and to die for.
Smoothies– Meh, a tab bit over priced.
Iced coffee and regular coffee– not bad! However if you want whipped cream they do not have the proper lids for them!

Really solid breakfast/​lunch spot.
Lots of really good options. My go to is the breakfast burrito with bacon. Ask for your hashbrowns inside the burrito. This is a game changer.
I also recommend the following
— Nutella Waffles
— The Grind Scrambler
Sometimes the food can take a while to make but it’s definitely worth it. This place can also get really busy around brunch time on weekends so go early or later to avoid the crowds

This is my go-​to spot when I’m craving sweets like french toast or pancakes. They’re usually spot-​on, but something was off about today’s Banana Nutella pancakes. They’re priced at around $ 8.75 with tax for a stack of 3 pancakes with a drizzle of nutella and half a chopped banana. This recipe/​presentation should be revised as they were mostly dry and flavorless even with the added toppings. Coffee is also .50 cents per refill now.

I’ve been invited here by my friend. First time actually to be here.
The facility here are awesome and simple! The staffs are accommodating. It really wasn’t your typical or usual place compared to the other restaurant or fast food!
I tried their Meaty burger with curly fries (since I love burger, whatever the kind of taste of it, wouldn’t be that different with the other burger houses). I was amused by it’s appetizing content! I was like, feeling every bite I make :)
With the best service they offer, no wonder this restaurant will become a best place to continue the day!

I was a regular here for many years but lately they’ve forgotten my order on several occasions and treat me like I’m not there so I gave up.

I just stopped here for a quick bite of a pastry and some iced tea. The ginger peach iced tea was especially refreshing, and I had free refills too. I had a good couple of pastries: a raspberry bar and a lemon cake. I can’t vouch for any of their other food, but what I tried was pretty good.
I also like the vibe of the place. It was very open, with lots of light, and it had almost a cafeteria feel. There were several people there working on their laptops or having coffee in the mid-​afternoon.

Came back just for the bagels, which are delicious but also HUGEEE. Got two: one with hummus, avocado and veggies and the other with cream cheese, avocado, and veggies. Once again, HUGEEE. All the ingredients they use are fresh, the bagel is slightly toasted/​crispy, and it’s stacked. And it felt slightly healthy so I didn’t feel too bad eating it.
And I’ve always found their choice of music for a brunch spot confusing — it’s like super intense EDM/​trap music which I really like but not usually my first choice at noon on a Sunday.

Was able to order right away, breakfast burrito came fast and hot. Was not expecting the breakfast burrito to be as big as it was. I was recommended to add hash browns inside of the burrito and it was awesome. I told myself only to eat half… that didn’t happen. I recommend this place and have to say it’s one of my top places for breakfast.

I had a wonderful Burger and fries tonight and it was brought to my table HOT. The losers at Kates Kitchen couldn’t manage to do this on Saturday night so it must be extremely difficult.
The Grind was clean and the staff very friendly. I will be coming here from now on for Omelette’s on the weekends and my Burger Night’s.

I came here on vacation. I love breakfast so much and I was so excited to come here with my boyfriend. I have a bad gluten allergy and they were listed on Unilocal as a «gluten free» option. I asked the cashier what options I had. She was not helpful at all. I asked a few questions more and her response got worse and worse. It was $ 16 for 4 ounces of eggs and fruit… Completely over priced. The only thing that was good, was the cappuccino. My boyfriend had to wait for his food forever. I was already finished with my meal. I worked in restaurants for many years and this is not how you give great customer service. The owner should really look into training his employees.

Solid, homey brunch food. It’s seat yourself and on a Sunday morning, it wasn’t too crowded, unlike so many places in SF.
The menu is pretty extensive and it took so much willpower to not order everything on the menu…
We ordered:
— the Hash Brown Hill: just a pile of hash browns topped with melted cheese avocado and sour cream. How could this not taste good?! Although low key disappointed this did not come with more hash browns or fries on the side like the other House Favorites :(
— Grind Combo: solid choice for brunch if you can’t decide what to get
— Bagel with cream cheese, avocado, cucumber, sprouts, tomato: super random addition but we were so stuffed had to save this for later. Their bagels taste super fresh and they’re pretty massive!

A great breakfast /​lunch staple for the neighborhood. Good service, quality food.
Favorites:
Breakfast Burrito
Turkey Bacon Croissant Sandwich
Cobb Salad
Curly Fries
The only thing I have had that I’m not a fan of is the regular french fries (just not crispy enough for me).

got a burger and curly fries, nothing too special but a decent filler, $ 15 with lemonade, not too expensive but service not all that great either. the bus boy was nice, but thats pretty much where the customer service ended. i ordered a lemonade to go with no ice, lady put ice. i kindly apologized and said i asked for no ice. I guess she was mad because she had to fill a new cup, but she was no longer smiley.
classic «cool» hipster vibe here, not a huge fan. dont plan on going back.

Good place for a hearty breakfast and a good cup of coffee. Had the Grind Scramble with hash browns and sourdough toast… really good! Looks like it gets crowded fast and seating can be a little tough to find when it does.
Has a good vibe, staff is cool. Also, in case it matters to you, the restroom is pretty clean!
I’ll definitely be back to try something else on the menu.

I wish I could love this place since it is my neighborhood café (and I adore my neighborhood) but they are terribly rude, on several occasions. The Baristas for some reason think they are a gift to the world and act accordingly. I am a daily soy/​almond milk latte drinker and the final straw came when I ordered my usual large soy latte and was given a regular milk latte. I wanted to make sure it was a soy latte since the super cool barista only said «latte.» She said no its a regular latte and that I need to specify next time what it is I want before it is made. Oh really? (sarcasm) And then she proceeded to charge me an extra 50 cents for a mistake they made, which is fine. I just dont need barista hipster attitude especially since I am a regular. If you love lots of morning tude and snooty high horse service, this is your place!

I really enjoy the food here, and have never had one thing I didn’t like.
The breakfast burrito with the hash browns inside vs. on the side is perfection. The sandwiches are fresh and filling: club sandwich, tuna melt, and burger, all yummy! Have them with the curly fries if you’re into that sort of thing. My friend favors the garlic fries. And I am ordinarily not a salad-​person, but the Oriental chicken salad or the beet salad with a soup on the side makes for a filling (but light) lunch.
I would go more often, but the service is consistently very slow. I understand the restaurant does not have waiter service, so by slow I mean the lines always seem to be long, and it takes a longer time for food to come out than most places I am used to. This is especially true during weekends and lunch time, obviously (I have never been here in the morning).
I get it; they are always super busy. And there are very few brunch options in the area. Is it worth the wait? The food is really really good, so I would say it’s worth it only if you are not prone to getting hangry. The fact that it takes so long is a testament to the freshness of the food, I think.
I get takeout more often than I dine in. They usually quote my pick up time as 20 – 30 minutes (except for one New Years Day, where takeout order wait time was estimated at over an hour! The busyness they experience is no joke). The service is not super friendly, nor have I ever experienced them being outright rude as other reviews have said. I think they just do their extremely busy job and aren’t here to make friends. With the lines they get, I don’t blame them.

Love this place! I’ve had the breakfast burrito, bagel with cucumber and Nutella latte and they were all delicious– the latte was heavenly. Service is quick and the portions are big! The burrito could easily be 2 meals.

Each morning we woke up in the Lower Haight with a singular thought. How fast can we move our legs to carry us down the street to The Grind. Banana pancakes? Check. Breakfast croissant? Check Check. French Toast? Check. Check. Check. Strong, robust coffee? Check cubed. So worth it. Pay no mind to the less the four star naysayers. Cinco Estrellas, facilemente!

LOVED this place!!! Very friendly service!
Great menu selection! Full on coffee selection as well! Had a delicious latte and the most amazing scrambled spinach and feta egg! Hash browns cooked to perfection! Also have a section with a lot of baked goodies. Yum! May have to hit this spot again before we leave.

Such a delicious little place. The menu was tempting on so many things… Finally broke down and had the biscuits and gravy with sausage. Drooling still thinking about it. It was amazing. Must go back and get more, and get that same waitress because she was so cool.

I stop in here regularly after morning rides up Hawk Hill. There’s usually only a few people in the café around 7:30 am on weekdays, so we bring our bicycles up on the front porch area outside instead of locking them up.
Last time I was here, I got the Sicilian omelette (pesto, sundries tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, and feta cheese) with a side of hash browns and sourdough.
The coffee is decent and served in either a mug or a pint glass (kind of novel).

Meh.
Portions are big. Food is just ok. Coffee is very metallic tasting.
I had the patty melt. They asked me how I wanted it cooked — I said medium-​rare. It came out well-​done. And I’m pretty sure no matter what I would have said it would have come out that way. So, I don’t know why they ask. I got the cesaer salad… again, not great. A bit bland.
Four of us ordered together. I got my food first, waited so long that I started eating. And had ate nearly my entire meal before my friends got their eggs and hashbrowns. I’m not a fan of restaurants that serve one meal before the others.
My friends’ meals looked ok and they enjoyed them. I probably won’t visit this place again and would say that the street has much better options to choose from.

So solid!
My go-​tos are the salads, the hot pastrami sandwich, and random breakfasty items like scrambles, breakfast burritos, omelettes, and the like… but everything I’ve seen has been above average and the menu is vast.
Prices are reasonable, people are generally pretty nice, good space/​outdoor seating, good wifi, and CURLY FRIES too… it can be hella packed on weekend mornings though, and I think it must be in a guide book of some sort, because there’s often foreign tourists slowing down the line.

The Grind is a good neighborhood go-​to spot. The selection is vast, with many types of sandwiches, burgers, salads, omelettes, and scrambles in the $ 9-​$ 11 range. They also serve pastries, bagels, pancakes, French toast, and soup. The food doesn’t wow, but it’s good enough.
I especially like that the scrambles are made with a layer of cheese on top. Perhaps to balance out that excess, they only give you a small lump of butter for two slices of toast. I always ask for more.
The hash browns are thick enough that you get a layer of mash under the crispy exterior rather than just all crispy shreds.
Lines go out the door on weekends during brunch time, so this isn’t really a place to linger if you want to be considerate. At other times, it is chill enough for reading or working.
3.5 stars

Just came back from lunch, or should I say brunch? Came up on the french toast topped off with blueberries and the hash browns didn’t suck either!
Other things that were neat: tall ceilings, skylights, outdoor seating, outlets along the wall, and I hear they make coffee too. I’ll have to try the brew next time I’m out this way.

I came here for brunch Sunday morning before heading back to LA.
I had the Hummus, Avocado, Tomato, Sprouts & Red Onion bagel and it was ok. It kind of lacked flavor. Service was also kind of slow. The place was busy though.
Ambiance is OK and I was able to accommodate seating for a larger group of people.

While in SF, I stayed right around the corner from this little café. Due to its convenient location, I visited a handful of times. The coffee is fantastic, and the caramel latte deserves 5 stars. Unfortunately, I had two bad experiences with the service here so I have to say it’s a 3 star spot.
5 star visit my first time when I had a caramel latte and the Haight scramble with bacon, avocado, and green onions; both were delicious.
1 star visit the next time I came when I ordered an egg and cheese sandwich on an English muffin, was given an egg and cheese sandwich on a croissant, and the staff would not revise my order for some reason when I asked. I ended up scraping off the egg and cheese because I hate croissants and confrontation.
2 stars on the third visit because I ordered a bagel with cream cheese to go and ended up waiting 15 minutes for it.

Not sure how I haven’t reviewed the Grind before, seeing as how I grew up quite literally ACROSS THE STREET, but it’s not like reviewing restaurants was the cool thing to do in middle school, so here we go. Better late than never.
I’ll always been happy eating at The Grind if its convenient, because the menu is big, the food is solid, and you’ll rarely, if ever, leave disappointed. But even after all these years, its still far from being one of my «favorite places».
I went with the Grind Combo (Pancakes, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, bacon). It was definitely satisfying, as you get your money’s worth, but it was far from life-​changing.
Hashbrowns are dope. Crunchy, crispy, tasty and delicious.
Pancakes are good, although they’re a little heavy (as opposed to being light & fluffy), especially once you throw syrup on them.
In short breakfast was as breakfast always is here, good, but not the best. Definitely think you can do better with Kate Kitchen or Eddie’s Café, nearby options which are both slightly better. If I could give 3.5 stars I would in a heartbeat, but as it is 3 stars will have to do.