Park Chalet
Category: American (Traditional) [Edit]
1000 Great Hwy(between Fulton St & John F Kennedy Dr)
San Francisco, CA 94121 (415) 386-8439
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street, Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Lunch
- Alcohol: Full Bar
212 reviews
Neighborhood: Russian Hill
"I am in love with this restaurant! I have eaten here on several occassions and it is consistently delicious! I have taken my friends and…" read more »
276 Reviews for Park Chalet
I recommend bringing a large party to Park Chalet.
The requirement for having the family up from the valley was a restaurant with parking so I picked Park Chalet. The service was great, really. My husband rejected the clam pizza saying it was too gritty and they brought a sausage pizza in its place, which he loved. The manager returned to ask if the pizza was okay. We were a party of 20 and everyone told me I picked a great place. My nephew asked for super hot on the hot wings but said they weren't hot at all but loved that they weren't too vinegary. Try the shrimp and scallop ceviche, it was great! Would like to return to eat on the patio.
Ah, Park Chalet my sweet. You've got the good stuff. Taco Tuesday?! Except for the fact that after several 2 for 1 magaritas the average human can put away, hhhmmm, 10 two dollar fish tacos it's great. I look at it as $20 of little tacolitos is 3 days worth of burritos at La Corneta. Not an equitable trade.
Service is always great for me but I go there often and have heard some people complain that they've waited for ages for orders.
The crowds can downright fierce on sunny days and weekends which puts the beachdwellers (myself included) in a downright foul mood.
The atmosphere is cool, especially the chairs in back or on the patio under the heat lamps. Those fair weather weekdays bring out the families and pets to the grass area so it feels like you're at a friends house.
The food. I really can't say unless you cound beer as sustenance.
Sidenote. If you're walking through the park trail from the Sunset side (like me) be prepared for glassy eyed pervy looking old guys looking for some "temporary friendship". Not to worry ladies, they aren't wanting it from your side of the human race. When I'm walking back through there late at night in an absolutely hammered state I think of how if I stumble and fall a pack of wild Chesters will pounce upon me.
I refer to that whole experience as The Gauntlet.
I like the outdoor feel and the light menu. The pizza's are crisp and delicious and the soup is warming to the insides when it's a bit chilly out. Top it off with a nice glass of wine and you are all set.
People are dressed a little too well here sometimes, but it's not enough to where I feel weird about it.
Genuine murals by the WPA in the lobby are always worth a look.
Food is good, but a little pricey (though not as pricey as its upstairs neighbor).
Drinks are good too, great selection of sherrys and frou-frou drinks, but expensive.
The best part about this place though really is the back - adirondack chairs, heat lamps, random dogs...if you want a beach view that badly, just go in front every 5 minutes and stare.
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OK, this new update feature is a huge improvement over my sloppy dashes and dates, so I had to try it out...
This one is hard to take back. I know, I was harsh. But I seriously HATED this place. After trying many times to get a table here during the day and being subjected to a Keystone-Cops-meets-Paris-Hilton level of service, this place was near the top of my shit list. Do not mess with me when I'm hungry.
But the food here is actually really good. I could cry for the chef because by the time most people eat it, they are probably seriously pissed off.
How did I find out? The Mr. and I discovered the secret: go here on a cold night. We were seated immediately, the food was YUM (I had the grilled asparagus and the wild mushroom pizza, he had a burger he reported was perfect), and our service was excellent.
For the daytime, the review below still stands (except for the part where I made fun of the food). But if you're looking for a place with easy parking and good food at night, I say go and enjoy.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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02/11/2008
Great idea! Fantastic location, beautiful room, big cozy fireplace... And inexcusably piss-poor… Read more »
I love this place.
who could ask for a better location?
Food:
The hotwings have asian flare and are delightful.
The deep fried brie is about as good as it gets.
Drink:
The sage press and the Rosemary Pear martini are creative, and always well made
The beer is yummy. A fav of mine is the playland (and who doesn't love the little postcard coasters of the beer labels?)
Music: well, they lost me on this one, cause they stopped having Five Am come down and play, which makes me sad, and yet they still keep that band pollo del mar which altho good, is way way way too loud. You can't even hear yourself think.
Back when Five Am was a regular on their calendar, you could count on myself and an entourage of friends making the hour + trip down to the city at least once a month, maybe more -- I still go, but now it's more for a lunch treat on a weekend before hitting the beach or after a walk through the zoo.
ps - the wine wednesdays (half priced bottles) are fun, and the Taco Tuesdays are good too, but not great enough to warrant the trip from Sonoma County on a weeknight
pps - the service is um... eh? but as long as you don't expect much, you'll be fine.
Just came for lunch on a Sunday after playing golf with my group across the street. We had been to the Beach Chalet a few months ago and weren't impressed so thought we would try this. I ordered the Sticky ribs and a side salad.
The others ordered the burger and ahi tuna sandwich which was just average. They say the bun was too dry. Anyways the ribs show up and the presentation and sauce abundance looks fabulous. I dig into it to find it is way too salty, tough, and barely any meat. They were basically the worse ribs I have ever had in my life. That is pretty low! But they were terrible. I didn't even finish them and gave them away and my mates didn't like them either.
The salad i ordered was average at best. The beer was ok, but to tack on 4% for the SF Health Care ordinance was B.S. I didn't vote on that shit so don't stick it to me, and your prices are already high so I won't be coming back. I should have ate at the golf course across the street.
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If i could give zero stars, i would. this place is like an abusive boyfriend. for the last two years, i have tried to love it. i want to love it. i keep coming back. only to get smacked down. not anymore. i have moved on. see you later suckers. organization = zero. bartenders = zero. food and bevs can be had elsewhere. don't get your hopes up, folks. THEY DONT CARE. oh, and dont think a seat at the bar means you'll get a drink... the masses behind you will get their's first. weird. so, after witnessing 5 people (i'm not exaggerating) around me order their drinks and food and not being acknowledged... i left. but i dont matter. there are plenty of fools out there who dig this place. hope they grow up and acquire some taste and personal respect. until then, enjoy crappy service because you think the place is cool. you'll learn. your time and money is better spent elsewhere.
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We didn't have a positive experience. I hear Taco Tuesdays are pretty cool, but we went on a Wednesday night to celebrate a friend's birthday and... I was disappointed to say the least. In fact, as the person who suggested this restaurant to the rest of the group, I felt really guilty. Despite my apologizing, people were actually PISSED at me. That's how much our experience sucked.
It might be a decent place for two people on a date, but I wouldn't go here with a group larger than 3 or 4 people.
So... what went wrong here? The food tasted okay, actually, but for a brewery, their beers were mostly terrible. One of my friends remarked that the VFW light was the "worst beer (he) ever tasted" and that he "didn't like the Hef, and I ALWAYS LIKE HEF!" The biggest problem was in the portions. For $10 you get 3 pieces of beer battered Mahi Mahi that are the size of Chicken McNuggets, and for $15 you get TWO mini-skewers of steak. In other words, it should be $$$$, not $$, because for one person to eat their fill you'd need to order 3 entrees, and you'd probably still lose some weight.
On the plus side, this would be a great place to go eat if you're on a diet.
To top it off, our waitress was quite the B..., and she really wasn't cute enough to pull off that kind of attitude. I thought they're supposed to TRY to get our tip money.
This is a fun place to take a group on a sunny afternoon or in the evening. Bar serves generous tasty drinks; my bloody Mary was of a great quality. Appetizers are simple but very tasty. Especially excellent was preparation of Charmulla Snap Peas and Delta Asparagus. I tried Mediterranean Style fish prepared in wine-tomato sauce. It was very flavorful and tender. While there we were entertained by an excellent jazz quartet; one negative was that the musicians played so loud so you could hardly talk. So if you want to have a quite dinner but still want to enjoy jazz, i would suggest having dinner at the Beach Challet upstairs in the same historic building ( worth taking a tour around) and then coming down for a drink at the bar and excellent live entertainment.
"Somebody get me a manager"
Been here twice and the service is terrrrrrrrrrrible. Truly unacceptable. My most recent visit was with my two girlfriends, post wonderful sunny day spent at Baker Beach. We wanted to go somewhere where we could sit out side, enjoy the sun, some cocktails, and good food. Park Chalet seemed to fit the bill.
We arrive and are greeted by monstrous parking problem and a 45 minute wait to be seated. We of course don't blame the restaurant for this, it's just something to be aware of if you are visiting. We proceed to the bar to lubricate for our wait time, and Mojitos sound great. Turns out they're out of mint.
Me: "OK, so do you have anything like a Mojito that you could make instead?"
Bartender: "Nope"
Me: "OK I'll have a glass of Pionot Grigio, thanks"
Finally we are seated outside, by this time its cold and sitting outside, is not so good; but ok, we are hungry so whatever. We take a look at the menu and listed are about 5 cocktails very similar to a Mojito....hmm...
Our server arrives, my friend had a bug fly into her wine glass so she wanted another, and I order a Mojito, just to be sure that my bartender friend was not lying to me just because he did not want to crush up the mint. I ordered a back-up margarita just in case they really did not have mint. We also order an appetizer and entres. This story could get really long so Ill give you the short version:
It took a half hour to produce our French fries, which we got before our drinks. Our entres were delivered to another table by the bus boy, where the jerks at that table did not tell the poor man, those were not theirs. It took another 40 minutes for the jerks at that table to deliver our entres, it was at about that time that our waiter came out with our drinks. Our waiter had no knowledge of what was going on.
Park Chalet is a beautiful restaurant, set in a great location, and the food is actually pretty good. However, if you can do anything to avoid the service, DO IT.
I would suggest going there on a sunny day sitting in the lawn, and self serving drinks by just walking up to the bar and ordering, maybe just order your food there too. That's the only way I'll ever go back there.
I'd actually say 3.5 but eating outside near the beach with music playing bumps it to 4. Expensive yes but I didn't leave disappointed. I went with a large group on a gorgeous day so the fact that we got a table at all astounded me. I mean we got there at 3pm or so on a Sunday and it was crowded as all hell. I believe I had a salad that was lovely, a bit small but wonderful. Everyone else's food looked great.
I'd very much like to come back but maybe with Mom or Dad.
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I've been to Park Chalet on two occasions.
The first experience was just to get drinks at the bar and hang out after dinner for a friend's birthday. The place was not packed at all, service was good since no one was there. The ambiance at night is pretty simple and chic, and there is plenty of space for all of your friends to pretty much own the place. (we stayed inside by the way, way to cold to be outside, although it's a great idea in theory.)
The second experience was for dinner on a Monday night for another friend's birthday. This time we had a sit down dinner here. The menu isn't very extensive, They section out the menu in to Booze, small plates, and then full dishes.
The small plates sound good, but are way over priced. My boyfriend ordered the lobster plate, not knowing it was a small plate, and paid $13 or so for like three hush puppy sized balls of lobster meat. He was very sad, and still very hungry.
I was wise enough to ask my server what the difference was with the two tuna plates they had. They were both similar in price. He said one is a small plate and the other is a sandwich. Of course, I opted for the sandwich, b/c I was starving and I was all about volume right now. After seeing my bf's disappointment I was glad I got the sandwich.
My Tuna sandwich came on a nice hamburger bun like roll, nicely toasted with garlicky relish mayo sauce. The tuna, well I originally had the impression that it was going to be more seared tuna than fully cooked fillet of fish. So I was a bit disappointed, b/c it was pretty much fully cooked and BARELY pink in the very center. The fish was seasoned well, and came with lettuce tomato and red onions. It was good enough I guess, but not worth $13.25. I definitely like the seared tuna burger at Taylor's at the Ferry Building much better.
The garlic fries and the shoestring onion rings were all very good. Pretty standard, you can't really mess it up.
I tried a slice of the Mediterranean pie. It was alright, your typical thin crust gourmet pizza, nothing spectacular. I would probably order one of the pizzas if I came back probably b/c it is the most bang for your buck in terms of full sized dishes in the menu. It was fresh and came out piping hot.
Would I come back? Probably not on my own terms, there are way too many good restaurants in the city to go to come back here, but chances are that I will be back for someone's birthday here again. It's a good venue for that, prices are alright, own parking lot, and plenty of space to seat groups on the weekdays.
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Nothing beats it on a sunny day... (it's a GG Park, near the Beach)
and nothing beats it on a cloudy day (it's got a fireplace)
Cool staff, great decor, interesting food
Could use some better discounts on drinks at happy hour
God, this place kills me. It has so much potential to be really awesome and just misses the mark. They're food is good, but not great. Their beers are good although a tad pedestrian at times. Like call it whatever cute SF themed name you want, but that beer is essentially Bud-Lite. Although I do like their IPA. But I wish they would branch out and make some more daring beers. Blonds, reds, pilsners....boring! Their food is also good, but not fantastic, and is way over priced. However, I do like Taco Tuesdays and I do like the live bands they have. It's also great when it's really nice out there and they roll up the glass siding on the restaurant and it's all open air. I guess I just wish this place was a little more down and dirty and not so family friendly....
3.5 STARS
Taco Tuesdays! Great fish tacos and awesome prices on beer. They open up the patio doors when the weather is nice which it not too often in San Francisco especially by the beach. It's a very chill spot when you're not by the bar. Food and drinks are good but the service is just mediocre.
Great Tuesday spot.
Hello baked Macaroni and cheese, have we met?
I have been here once and I want to go back simply for the baked Macaroni and cheese with chicken. It is to die for. It has every kind of cheese imaginable in it, including blue cheese my favy. I know there are about 300 reviews for here so I will skip the crap, here is why you should come here:
1. The baked macaroni and cheese, yes that reason alone is good reason to come here
2. it touristy
3. you can sit outside in these cute little chairs by a fire pit
4. its a pretty happen spot it was about a 45 min wait for 2 on a Saturday
5. its across the street from the beach
6. the drinks are good
Overall pretty good place, a lil pricey though 2 margaritas and mac and cheese was about $40.
Why four stars? It's not that the food is great, it's not that the service is excellent. Then what?! I think I like being near the beach and the park, having all those windows to look out of, and the fact that you can sit outside. I don't have a yard so this is four stars for me.
We've gone here whenever we have visitors but the other night hubby got off early so we decided we wanted a drink but not really a happy hour crowd...somehow we ended up here. We each had a drink, he had the porter ($5.50 for a pint) and I had the Sage Press ($8.50). Man, sage in a drink, awesome! And the Mediterranean pizza ($12.95).
Hubby was starving and loved the pizza - me, eh. It was okay. Anything with lots of feta should be good right? Maybe I wasn't in the mood for feta.
So again why four stars? It's casual, but yet a bit a little nice, and you're in the park and near the beach. Location, location, location. You might not be able to see it all, but somehow knowing what you're surrounded by just relaxes me.
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The beers are good, not great. Taco Tuesday, okay tacos and crowded. The food here is not very good. With one exception, the Mac and cheese. other than that this place is not very good. It's fun when the suns out and you can find a seat outside. 1 out of 10 times ive been able to sit out there. People post up there forever! The bartender here are terrible!!!!!!! They just don't get it. I had the worst margarita here ever just recently, the thing was bitter and tasted like piss. I will only go for the beer now.
Seriously get another bartender that knows how to make a drink instead of pouring beers one at a time. Yah, she knows who she is. They recently got rid of their best beer. The California Kind. Now I won't go there anymore.
My advice, go somewhere else and get a beer. Try La Trappe in North beach. Excellent evrything and huge beer menu.
okay i've been here a couple of times. it's okay. the first time i was here was on a date and the food really wasn't that memorable. i've been here other times after flag football games and bay to breakers - yes i made it to the very end. yikes.
its great on nice days when there isn't much fog near the ocean.
I've come here on two occasions. The first time was for a Taco Tuesday special. It was fun and inexpensive.
The second time was for my own birthday on Monday, and I must admit that I was severely disappointed with the portions and costs. Although I didn't pay for it, I felt really really bad for my friends who did. If you ordered a burger, you were pretty safe with the portions. Everything else was pitiful. I ordered the Big-Eye seared Tuna and out came a tiny plate with 5 slices of fish. Where was I? I wasn't at some fine dining restaurant. I was at a brewery and I expected some larger portions.
I had a good time because I was with friends but the food was unacceptable. I won't be coming back here anymore. It's a shame because I do enjoy the ambiance.
Thanks to my friends for treating me to a great birthday but no thanks to Park Chalet for the measly dishes.
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What is happening to this place? Did you change your menu to include flavorless food, and bland service?
1st observation,: you are definitely not understaffed, so what are all of these employees doing standing around? Where is the leadership? Who is driving the bus? Hire another bartender, they are stretched very thin.
2nd observation: The menu is changing, but the constants are being slightly altered? What the heck happened to the chopped salad? Did you change the dressing? It is too heavy now. Why did you take out the prawns? Are you messing with me?
Last time I checked it was not cool to keep the chicken bones on the shredded chicken that goes in the mac n cheese. You can't play "make a wish" on a wishbone that gets swallowed.
Don't get too cocky Park Chalet. Just because you are so popular right now, don't forget what gets you nominated for Homecoming Queen.
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My very dear friend got her Mini Cooper's window smashed in here, and had all of her luggage stolen out of it. Management and staff were strangely sympathetic saying that happened there all the time and they'd had their cars broken into regularly. So FYI, their parking lot is a dangerous place.
Dear Park Chalet Management and Employees:
Yesterday, I was so excited to finally be able to come visit Park Chalet. It was a beautiful warm day and I wanted nothing more than to bask in the sun, drinking one of your finely brewed beers and possibly fill my tummy with some of the things from your menu. But none of that came to fruition.
My friends and I arrived a little after 7pm. Your bar was about 30 deep with patrons trying to order drinks. The indoor tables were almost completely filled and your rather large outdoor area was dotted with others doing what I came to do, eat, drink and be merry.
I spotted 4 empty tables. Count it. 4. That could have easily sat 12 people and that's without worrying that it's so crowded, you might get an elbow to the face while you try to enjoy the aforementioned finely brewed beer. So what do me and my other 2 friends do? We grabbed a seat and sat down.
While friend #1 went to bar, me and friend #2 sat waiting for a waitress to walk by. Once she did, I politely called for her and asked her if we could get some menus for ordering. She stated that we weren't properly sat by the hostess, so no, we could not have any menus. Even after I spoke to another waiter that was going off shift and he said he'll speak to the waitress on duty, she still walked right by our table several times, not even acknowledging us.
Later, a person that I can only assume to be one of your managers came out and told us, not all the other tables, just us, that the back patio is now closed. It was not even 7:30pm. By this time, we had 4 more people with us, 2 of which were children, and those 4 had already been at your establishment and had been seated properly by the hostess. The assumed manager went on to say that people had been waiting for over 2 hours to be seated outside and we simply walked up and sat ourselves and therefore would not be allowed service.
I understand that you have guidelines to running your business and I'm not out to purposefully break them. My friends and I entered through the park and we were unaware of the people waiting in line for the 4 tables that were completely empty and unbused. It was after all my very first visit to your establishment.
If there were people waiting, why were there 4 empty tables? Why hadn't they been bused and fill with patrons? It definitely wasn't your lack of staff, as I saw several waitstaff floating around just on the side in which we were seated. And not to be rude to those waiting, but we had sat down and were very ready to order. We are paying customers just like everyone else and we had small children who were hungry.
I do not appreciate the way we were treated. Not at all. I know I'm just one of thousands who visit Park Chalet daily, but I can say without hesitation that I will never set foot in your establishment ever again.
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Came here with friends who have liked ordering off the menu. We were here on a Sunday around 1 p.m. The only choice is the buffet. $30! Seriously. For a brunch buffet. Not shocked? OK, this is a buffet (they're not really serving you) and they tack 18% gratuity on your bill for service! Still not shocked? You deserve to spend $90 for brunch. Have at it.
Beer was good (hence the two stars).
This is a great place for a backyard like hang out- I like coming here for a nice day of chilling- drinks from the brewery are great- nice IPA on tap. It can be very slammed on a weekend- no place to sit and service can take forever due to the capacity.
The mac and cheese and the burger are pretty gubbin but not cheap. I think the burger is 25 with all the fixins.
I've never eaten here but have had good service both times I've come for drinks. This last time there were two guys on guitar. A fun, mellow Friday night sort of thing.
I haven't been out to the garden area but it looks cute, seems like it would be a nice weekend thing if it isn't overrun by tourists.
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Came here today for the beer specials. Every Monday and Tuesday $3 dollar beers! Great microbrews - try the red or porter. I'd recommend starting with the porter (dark, malty) and move to the red (lighter but still on the darker side). Fries were good too. Sit outside and enjoy the great outdoors and people watching with random people walking by sticking out their tongues at you. Yes, that really did happen today.
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Came here the other day. Sat outside, then inside, then outside again, then inside. It was sunshiny and nice. Service was good. Our waitress was a sweet heart.
We got some fried fish and spicy snap peas then split a cheesey burger. Everything was great.
I like that they have big chairs outside for sitting and drinking. Lots of fun and not so fun people were there.
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This is living!
On a typical cold and brisk San Francisco afternoon, you head out to Great Highway, which is as far west in San Francisco as you can go without stepping straight into the ocean. You park, take a stroll on the beach, while watching the waves crash, smelling the ocean air, and absorbing the beauty of the blue skies.
Then you look across the highway and admire the Golden Gate Park, in front of which sits the Park Chalet.
Park Chalet is a large restaurant with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. The top half of the restaurant is referred to as Beach Chalet, while the bottom half of the restaurant, including the amazing outdoor area, is referred to as Park Chalet.
You can enter even on a Monday night, and you will find the place crowded. From the looks of it, it's not just tourists though, unlike Cliff House, just a short hike up the highway, which is perhaps the #1 tourist hotspot. While Cliff House offers a better view, Park Chalet is just more relaxing and casual, although equally buzzing, if not more.
You go to the bar and place your beer order. They have a rather large selection of brewery beers on tap, including an interesting, extremely tasty Belgian Ale which had a fruity taste to it, and a whopping 9% alcohol volume. I tried their India Pale Ale, which was pretty decent but not my ideal kind of IPA, but keep in mind I'm a stout lover - - and not all IPAs are created equal. You place your order at the bar also, for whatever food it is you might be craving for that night. As a rule, with beer, one must have greasy food (yes, this is a rule) so we ordered their Macaroni and Cheese, as well as an order of Garlic Fries. They hand you a number, and you're to go to out back to find yourself a seat, and wait for your food. (They have table service if you choose to sit indoors.)
Out back, on what looks to be part of the Golden Gate Park property, is a large "backyard" type of area with ample space, picnic tables, Adirondack chairs with wooden ottomans. You find available seats and plop down to find that it's very comfortable. Sit back, and take a sip of your beer with the sun shining on you, and the ocean breeze, which can be incredibly strong in this area, while present, is minimized drastically due to this area being behind the building.
Soon, your order is placed before you, and it's piping hot. The Mac and Cheese is some multi-cheese variety (I did not get a chance to look through the menu on this day but it tasted like Gruyere, perhaps?) and I had to admit, for a fancy Mac and Cheese, this was quite good, with a crusty top and lots of creaminess under the crust. The Garlic Fries were excellent, but could have used more garlic. They were, however, perfectly fried potatoes.
Most people who visit San Francisco have been to Cliff House.
Very few will have visited Park Chalet, and if the weather cooperates, I highly recommend you bring your visitors here, or just come with your local friends for a good beer, and good "beer food".
5 stars for the location, beer list, and concept - - 3.5 stars for the food itself, but who comes here for the food?
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Wedged between the sands of Ocean Beach and the flowers of Golden Gate Park, and overflowing with lots of spiky-haired and/or retro-glasses-&-beard-sporting hipster folks cavorting with their respective crews? Talk about a sea-n-bee-scene (sorry).
Now I knew that Park Chalet is run by the stroller mafia on weekends, so I thought I would check out Taco Tuesday. Indeed, I had a hard time imagining that anyone set foot out here during the week. But, the second I came in the door, it was like being back at Sam's Anchor Cafe all over again: a big open space packed with tons of small tables (all full), a two-person-deep ring around the bar, despite it still being daylight out, and waiters scurrying around like mad, all giving the place a very hectic feel that I can usually do without.
Fortunately, the food isn't nearly the rip-off that Sam's is, but still, $2.50 per tiny taco and 2 pint-glass margaritas for $9 isn't empirically that great of a deal, especially when they're not exactly the tastiest in town (they arrive at the table so fast you just know they've got a pile of them sitting in the kitchen). I must say that the eclectic live music (courtesy of Diego's Umbrella) really helped set the scene, and as an after-work drink destination you could do worse (assuming you work anywhere remotely nearby). But overall, I prefer the Beach Chalet.
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OK....if it's sunny out and you are chillin' in the back w/ your crew and the BBQ is flowing and the tunes are rocking then I can justify the outrageous prices, overworked and overwhelmed service, small food portions and mediocre taste. But come on, when you dine inside (downstairs) what's up? You make the beer in the back room, why is so expensive? Fuel costs for delivery from the back room? The portions are tiny (even considering the plates are supposed to be small, tapas-style) and at times I've had unedible Ahi here and the sticky-ribs are more like sticky toothpicks with sauce on them. Last time there I got the burger (safe bet?) and it had a handful of fries with it ($13 burger w/ 5 fries?). I live a few blocks away and see the delivery trucks in the morning as I walk my dog, the fries come in huge bags from Cisco...why so skimpy on the portion? Come on.....
Stick to the sunny days outside, bring a blanket, eat the BBQ, devour the desserts (this is where they actually shine) and suck up the cost as to it's location.
Park Chalet - count your blessing for tourist traffic because you are losing the local contingency (as made evident by your desperate attempts to bump biz on weeknights with events like "Cougar Singles Night")
EVERY single waiter, bus-boy, and host/ess that came our way was rude to us and acted like we were some broke ass kids that they didnt want anything to do with. I've never gotten so many dirty looks in a restaurant! Let's see there are no vegan options so I decided ordering a veggie pizza without cheese would be the easiest option. Our waiter did not pay attention to our order and ended up messing mine up by telling the chef to make a pizza without sauce instead of one without cheese. The chef messed that pizza up anyway and made a regular one so the waiter came by and explained to us that was why the wait was so long. We stopped him and cleared up that I asked for a pizza without cheese not without sauce to which he replies "So what? You want like a piece of dough or something?" Uhhmm excuse meeee! After more waiting the pizza came and lo and behold there was no sauce on it. It was also the thinnest pizza I've seen in my life, it literally couldn't hold its on weight. No joke! Who knew it was so hard to make a cheese-less pizza. Hey guys put ONE vegan option on your menu and make it easier for all of us. When I asked to take the rest of my meal to go, a different angry waiter took my plate from me and came by 10 mins later and loudly DROPPED it on the table in front of my face. This place blows. The view of the park was nice, the food was alright, but everyone who works there needs to pull their head out of their ass. I am never coming back again. EVER!
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This place has great beer, but on a Tuesday it is way too loud, tacos are teeny for $2.50, and there are a lot of 20-somethings here. The live music was decent, but the acoustics were awful, bouncing off the cement floors, walls, and glass windows.
Sorry, but I'm used to the mission tacos. Ya just can beat em.
UPDATE: Patio service sucked. They brought out the food without any utensils. I had to get up from my seat, go inside and take the silverware off a vacant table inside. LAAAAAAAAME. The burger was good, but really tiny.
BEER is still GREAT! That gives this place an extra star, otherwise one star.
I accidentally came here on day that Fat Tuesday coincided with Taco Tuesday. Someone call the Tuesday police!! It's party time!
No veggie tacos so I got the corn fritters which were good enough. The tacos were apparently fine b/c I think he ate 5. The sole purpose of this review, though, is to warn fellow yelpers away from the margaritas. Tasted like soju and gatorade.
I'm all for Tuesdays so I suggest checking the P. Chalet out, just opt towards the cheap beer NOT the cheap tequilla.
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Yay for laid-back outdoor drinking!
I visited this place after the beach yesterday (5/15/08) on the warmest SF day I could hope for. Grabbed some patio chairs and a pitcher with Justin H. and set out to enjoy the day.
There's a large indoor area open to the outside where they serve seemingly very nice food (didn't order any) and a large, crowded bar.
The indoors blends into the outdoors on the back grass, which is basically Golden Gate Park. Adarondack chairs support happy drinkers and benches bring couples together as everyone socializes and cools off with alcohol. The scene is liveley, the mood is relaxed, and the drinks are... a little pricey.
The only ding here is that their home brew (we got the lightest one, I forget the name) was not only $20 a pitcher, but was of mediocre quality at best.
Nonetheless, this is probably one of SF's best outdoor drinking places (not counting drinking in public places). Come on a hot day, put on your shades, grab a beer and people watch.
The Park Chalet is awesome. Taco Tuesday rocks!! $2.50 tacos (beef, chicken, or fish) $3 beers, and 2 for 1 margaritas ($9 for two). Plus they have live music which, even if it is bad, provides good entertainment via watching drunk fools trying to dance. It's great.
The other food on the menu is quite good as well. Many different small plates, hamburgers, pizza, salads, and they have a kids menu.
This is the place to go on a beautiful day as you can order your food at the bar and go out back and sit on their lawn and let your kids run around. Although beware.....when it is nice out it is very busy. They also have a BBQ on the weekends out back which sounds good although I haven't been to it yet.
Great bar, good wine list, and the servers are great. Come and have fun!
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The beer is good and that is all.
Service is slow on an epic scale. The music is the same week after week and not very good the first time around. And the crowd, well I'll hold my tongue there.
I've been going here for a while, but mainly because it is close to home and not really any other reason.
Beware, the Richmond is a pretty safe neighborhood, but people prowl around this place. A friend had his bike stolen a year ago and I most recently had a bag stolen from my car. Those two strikes have left a sour taste that overpowers the draw of good beer in close proximity to home.
I may find myself stumbling over here on a sunny lazy afternoon, but for the evenings I'm done.