Hard Knox Cafe
2448 Clement St
(between 25th Ave & 26th Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94121
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
213 reviews
Neighborhood: Jack London Square
"Uh yeah. It's that simple. Chicken and Waffles. I remember going to Roscoe's back in the day. Now that it's gone, Home of Chicken and…" read more »
20 Reviews for Hard Knox Cafe
She wanted Mac n Cheese, and I felt like a Po Boy' so I tried to get us a reservation to Farmerbrown. Never been, but been wanting to try it for a while. No luck, so I checked out the other Southerny options.
I found Hard Knox's other location's reviews enticing so we gave it a shot. I wish I knew they didn't have a liquor license yet, because I felt like a beer.
Food was good, not great, except for the red beans and rice, which were exceptional.
I'll give it another shot when they have it together a little more.
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Like many of my Richmond District fogheads I was excited to see a soul food restaurant open in our side of town. So me and 2 buddies went there the other night to check it out. We got in about 8 PM and waited for 15 minutes to get our table.
FOOD: Smothered chicken, fried chicken. Both well cooked but bland in flavor. I didn't know it was possible to make tasteless gravy until now. Blackeyed peas & rice were good. Collard greens were dry and overly garlicky. French fries looked and tasted like the kind you buy from the frozen section at the supermarket.
Corn bread was decent, but not outstanding.
SERVICE: Our food was taking forever, so our waitress came over and apologized, and took our order again. Did she forget to put it in? Turns out the kitchen forgot to make it. Even after she came by, it took another 10-15 minutes for our food to come out while other tables were getting served.
BS: Don't advertise beer if you don't have your license yet.
I might give it another try in a month or so, hopefully they'll have their act together. Most importantly though, the kitchen has to improve the flavor - bland and dissapointing is not a good first impression.
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My skinny ass and me really enjoyed the 3 piece fried chicken here.
My skinny ass and me also liked the red beans and rice.
Yams were good too.
Mashed potatoes lacked something divine that other mashed potatoes usually don't lack.
When it was all said and done, my skinny ass was satisfied. That was a good meal for a good price, my skinny ass said.
I think this is a good place for all types of asses.
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When I saw the "Hard Knox Cafe Coming Soon" banner go up, the anticipation of having a plate of fried chicken always calling out to me a meer 3 blocks away from home was just too much to bear. But finally it happened...
The fried chicken was good - juicy and moist. The spare ribs were good too.
The sides were kind of disappointing though - the collard greens were kinda dry and the yams had way too much nutmeg in it. I want to taste the yams, not the nutmeg! The mac and cheese was good - but unfortunetly came out cold... French fries were dry too.
Service was good, despite it being kind of busy. I'd defintely still go back. How can you not when you know southern comfort goodness is only 3 blocks away!
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Ok, I was going to start off with an annoying rant about people who write reviews of businesses BEFORE they open to the public and how lame that is, especially when the review is only 1 star, which is something that will hurt a business and is entirely un-fair to do to a brand-new establishment, and how WACK some people can be by writing pointless, invalid reviews based on nothing because they have yet to sit in the restaurant and eat the food and experience the service but just THINK that it probably sucks. But, I really hate negativity, so I just punched a wall, wrote a few nasty PMs and flagged all the reviews instead. Moving on...
I am ecstatic that this space didn't become a sushi restaurant or nail salon like every other place on Clement, complete with a "Grand Opening" sign that never goes away. What is up with Asian people and their 10 year long "grand openings"? (Only answer that if you are Asian, please. Otherwise, it was a rhetorical question.)
Hooray for Soul Food!! After PHYSICALLY SITTING in this establishment and TRYING THE FOOD I will give it four stars because the food, although not excellent, was decent and a nice addition to my block. The SERVICE WE RECEIVED was outstanding. The chicken sandwich THAT I ATE was good and there is a variety of sides on the menu to choose from. Also, this would be a nice place to share a pitcher of beer with friends before walking to the nail salon next door for a mani-pedi!
Considering that they JUST OPENED YESTERDAY there will be plenty of room for improvement and will up date accordingly after I have ACTUALLY EATEN THERE a few more times.
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We ordered at the start of the FIRST quarter just as they were putting out the fire during the New Orleans and San Antonio game...the corn muffins arrived right away. They were warm and moist...Good sign already right??? NO!!! Our actual dinner did not arrive until the start of the THIRD quarter! Even after they acknowledged our dinner was late, the kitchen did NOT manage to pound it out.
I had the Beef Short Ribs- it was tender and fell off the bone, but the taste was pretty bland. Every other table ordered the Fried Chicken and it looked amazingly GOOD...should have been a sign for me to order it too.
Overall, definitely a good addition to the neighborhood. It's a loud and fun place, the servers were friendly so I will give the kitchen another chance very soon since I am always in the neighborhood.
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The ONLY thing I miss about Texas is food like this (I bet you thought I was going to say President Bush...NOT)! The country fried steak and black eyed peas are as good as you can get without enduring the heat and humidity of "The South".
The service was fast and courteous. The ONLY issue I have seen is that the mobile devices the waiters use to input your order are prone to errors.
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Yes, you can never have too many soul food places. Need to balance with number of Chinese restaurants in the city. This place is a good, upper-mid level place for food. Still getting their routine down in the new place( went there last night), but they've been open only 2 days. I'm sure on Fridays and Saturdays you'll have to wait. Parking is bleh... I'll go back many times
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I'm failing to understand the validity or the point of reviews written in 2007, as they should have nothing to do with a place that opened a week ago.
With that said, I actually did go to Hard Knox, when they were OPEN, so I'll do more than rate the big screen TV I saw through the window while they were still working with their contractors.
Oddly, the ratings given for a place not yet open were higher than what I'm doling out.
Hard Knox opened too early. Yes, I know they are new, but don't put a selection of beers on the menu you're giving me until I can order one to go with my dinner. And no dessert? Maybe they could have held off a few more weeks until that worked out and created some sweets for the menu during the wait. The cornbread muffins are delightful, but not quite a meal finisher. They were great as a start but were very crumbly and messy. Smear with lots of butter and go all the way with indulgent naughtiness because there's no other way to get the muffin in your pie-hole.
My 2 joiners had the 3-piece chicken and smothered chicken. The 3 pieces were a leg, a thigh, and a wing- no breast for you boob men out there. The collards were not quite cooked so they had a tough and chewy texture.
I had the veggie plate which was so not spectacular. I know it's only vegetables, but soul food tends to satisfy the soul, which means all healthy foods are in some sort of sauce or with a seasoning, right? Mixed veggies had no sort of flavor enhancement, but whoah, it was like a clove bomb went off in the yams. The fallout was not good.
The middle stripe of my dinner plate involved some black-eyed peas and rice. Though they ended up being the tastiest thing I ate, I wanted more from Fergie's namesake.
The interior was kitschy/cool with Grandpa's old tools all over the place. It made me want to go put an old beater up on blocks out on Clement and give 'er an oil change. I liked the "we're-in-a-shed" feeling but it wasn't the prettiest decor choice. I also envision lots of small children gouging themselves on the jagged edges of the wavy metal wallcovering.
We paid about 12.00 each for a party of three to have dinner and an NA beverage. Fabulous Arnold Palmers! I might be back after they are up and running for a while to scope the beer selection and check on dessert.
Shoes required. Cloving optional.
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Hard Knox Cafe is such a nice addition to this neighborhood. I've been to the 3rd Street location quite a few times but I was so looking forward to this second place as it's closer to home. Wow-much bigger place and looks like they had a lot of fun decorating the place. My waitress recommended the shrimp creole special Thursday night and I'm so glad she did-excellent heat and huge portion. At first, I wanted to order some sides but I would have been hurting pretty bad if I did. The corn muffins, as usual were delicious and great in soaking up the creole sauce! Looking forward to coming back!
I am a little confused as to why there are five reviews already and the place just opened today 4/30. How could anyone say if it is good or bad when they have could not have been to the place prior to today. All the reviews are dated prior to today.
Anyhow.... I would give them 3.5 stars if I could. Service was great but the food was not what I expect flavor wise. Sadly, at least with the dishes I tried, Zatarain's (from a box) is better.
The mac and cheese was instant, at least tasted that way. If I wanted that I would get a box of Kraft, which I think is what they use. The chicken salad was pretty good
I will definitely go back and try other menu items but I am a little leery. I was so hoping this place would be great given the proximity to my house
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I often frequent the 3rd street location as I work down by AT&T park. I love this place! One can only imagine how happy by boy and I were to know that their second location was opening up 12 blocks from home. We just went today as they are still in their "soft" opening. They are getting a feel for the neighborhood and trying to correct any mistakes or concerns that customers see. I am giving them 5 stars for the following reasons. The food is just like the 3rd street location..GOOD!! Sometimes you go to places that have opened a new location and the food just isn't the same. Not here. Their staff is amazing, friendly and helpful. It is a nice addition to Clement street, just as another yelper stated. Although I am a sushi LOVER, it is good to see something different for us to enjoy. They will be having their "grand opening" at the end of the month. You can be sure that we will be there!
for their opening day,
this place was pretty packed for lunch.
i've been a fan for awhile and i still am.
fried chicken is always thumbs up and their corn bread is UTTERLY delicious.
its a good thing i live 1.5 blocks away, because parking around here is a real nightmare.
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There was alot of seating at this restaurant compared to their other location. Our waitress just seemed to be rushing us since we sat down. She asked twice oh is there one more person in your party? (My hubby was parking the car). She brought us the warm sweet corn bread muffins that were really yummie. Our food took awhile to come out as we saw other tables who ordered after us get their food first. The waitress asked us if we wanted more muffins and of course we said yes. But when another waiter came to our table with muffins he only wanted to give us two extra instead of four (we were 4). I thought that was not good for business to do that. But anyway, we didn't say anything. When the food came my ribs were cold. I don't usually like to complain in restaurants because I am always afraid they will spit on my food but I had to tell the waitress. So everyone else was eating while I was watching them. My hubby had the fried catfish which did not come with any type of sauce. It was one bit hunk of catfish. Not what I expected. I thought it would be smaller pieces of fish with some kind of tartar sauce. My friend had the fried chicken which she said was just okay. And my other friend had the fried chicken sandwich which she seemed to enjoy. I had ordered beef ribs but I guess they messed up my order because I ended up having pork ribs. The ribs were just okay. I think I make better ribs at home myself where the meat actually falls off the bone. I had a tough time with the ribs because the meat was not tender. We won't be back to this location. Hopefully in time they will get better.
My wife and I stopped by last night to see exactly where they were located. The guy inside said they'd be open in 2 weeks. It has the same industrial look (red chairs and corrugated steel wall coverings) as the 3rd street location, it's bigger and has a second floor. We could see 1 flat screen TV from our vantage point outside.
Yeah, it's finally open! We ate there tonight (May 1) and it was Awesome! Just like the 3rd St location only bigger and way closer to home! They're still in the "soft opening" mode so expect things to not be perfect yet. Of course I had to have my fix of fried chicken w/ collard greens and yam! I couldn't have a Hard Knox brew because they don't have their liquor license quite yet. Apparently you can even email them your take out orders by going to the website.
Their smothered pork chop is to die for it......
The fresh corn bread, all the side dishes and the gumbo... damn, I gotta go now.
Fried chicken is totally money too!!!
I had dinner at their 3rd street location last night. The owners tell me they plan on opening in late April/May. So be patient, they will be open soon and you'll be able to feast on their Southern food :)
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just ate here and was pretty happy. the short ribs were damn damn tender and nice (lots of gravy that was savory but not too salty) and the greens were good and bitter (that is good).
the staff was so so nice too, they were efficient and considerate and clearly happy and proud things were working out with the new place. there were a few "colorful" customers who rolled down the hill from the VA on a bender but they got their food and took off.
will definitely come back to try out more of the menu. nice addition to the United Nations food-court that is this end of Clement Street. Hard Knox Cafe will help Bills represent the USA among all of the member countries here like china, myanmar, viet nam, india, russia, italy, and on and on.
I miss brother-in-law's barbeque. They were so mean making me want them so much. We're talking blocks away smelling the barbeque and wanting it even if I wasn't hungry.
Ok, now HardKnoxCafe is promising to open up down the street. So mean! HardKnox, your website boasts delicious catfish & ribs-- even a vegie-combo plate for Starla! I'm taking away a star from what I'm sure would be a rave review for not opening up already, and for your future meanness!
update: I have stepped foot inside Hard Knox Cafe on Clement Street. The guy who greeted me at the door was the seriously, the friendliest on the block, ---ok, not friendlier than Spiros. The evening before was their grand opening, which I had definately been waiting for. There was a crowd inside the door and everyone seemed oh so happy. I was informed by the friendly guy that they would be adding more beer to their beer list and that upstairs was suitable to parties. Ok, I still have not eaten here, but this past week my daughter did as soon as they opened their door, and she was superhappy about the barbeque. One whole star for making my girl happy. I will be back for more than a delightful conversation with my new neighbors. I need to make sure Starla doesn't flag me.
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After half a year of peering in the window, watching the old Greco Romana awning go down and coming soon tarp going up, now replaced with a baseball style logo, an industrial-themed interior with distressed sheet metal, yellow light bulbs, model airplanes on the walls, with blues tracks playing in the background, Hard Knox Cafe has arrived.
We tried a few must-haves, fried chicken and ribs. Our sides for the night were red beans and rice, mac and cheese, and collared greens. The food was pretty good. Though I wasn't too crazy about the sides, the ribs were very tender. Whether it was the marinating or the cooking process, the rich BBQ flavor didn't permeate all the meat, that was a little disappointing. The fried chicken on the other hand was tasty and came out hot and crunchy. Definitely a meal's worth.
Drinks were served in small mason jar glasses, I had my soda refilled four times, and while the service was great, it was a lot of times to have a conversation interrupted.
So after all this waiting, what's the verdict? I still have high hopes for Hard Knox Cafe. You can tell they've put a lot of time in serving customers an experience with a staff focused on friendliness and over-the-top (albeit, contrived) decor. I do think there's still an opportunity to work out a few kinks in the kitchen to make everything on the menu spectacular. Hard Knox is in my neighborhood, and the price/portion ratio is just right. I'm definitely coming back for more.
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