Cantina del Tigre — Restaurant in San Francisco

We had diner at the cantina to celebrate my wife’s birthday. The atmosphere is a bit noisy but vibrant. We had fish crevice which was excellent, a shrimp dish in a tomato marinate which was so so, the excellent chicarones as well as the Afro bites which essentially is fried fish over a coconut rice which also was very taste. The drink menu is limited and my tequila sour was anything but a tequila sour. They do have only a few wine choices but do serve freshly brewed beers from their own micro brewery. Where things fell apart was the service. There were way too few waiters for the amount of guest. We had to ask four times to get some hot sauce and when it finally came we had concluded our dinner. To get another drink was almost an impossibility and we waited for a long time to get our bill. But the issue which really upset me was that they served us a nice tasting flan with a candle for dessert - which we had not ordered - after we had asked for the bill and I assumed it was their friendly gesture towards my wife’s birthday, which I had informed them about when booking the table. Hence i was completely taken a back when presented the bill and they charged us for the flan which we never ordered. At that point i was so frustrated with their lack of service and i did not want to get in an argument with the waiter that we just paid and left. What kind of hospitality is that that you pretend to offer a birthday present and then make the guest pay for it? Safe to say: we...

I will say the food was exceptional and all very delicious. It is a Caribbean twist on traditional Panamanian 🇵🇦 food. Even the locals I went with said it was like fancy Panamanian food. We loved the coconut shrimp appetizer. I got the tamel shrimp and rice dish and it was delicious. One person ordered the pork dish and it was warned in the menu that it takes 45 minutes to cook, but it seemed to take longer. And honestly, I can’t figure out why it took so long. They should figure out a way to prep this dish ahead of time so people don’t have to wait. The result was we all got our food and one person at our table had to watch us all eat. We of course shared our food with her. But so silly. The cocktails and mocktails were all delicious and carefully crafted. We should have made a reservation but I was told by the locals that it would be fine at 6pm. It was fine, we got a table. But we had to sit outside on the patio where the open air kitchen was and it was sweaty hot 🥵 by the end of the night with a full room of people. Inside was air conditioned and lovely. Named one of the 50 best in the world, I would say the food meets the expectation. I would just go back and eat inside and encourage no one to order the 45...

Very rarely do I go to a restaurant and leave completely satisfied. Luckily, every moment at Cantina del Tigre was great. From the ambiance to the food and drinks, to the service. Everything was on point. And each dish was more impressive than the last.

I often avoid things like mixto ceviches at most places because one of the items won’t be fresh but at Tigre, every ingredient was fresh, well prepared and flavorful. The patacones, delightfully, crunchy and warm. The pesca frito and tamale flavors were distinct and delicious.

Servers were attentive, patient, and very knowledgeable. Also we loved the scoop shaped plaintain chips, so useful for scooping up the ceviche juices with every bite!

Furthermore, the day before we had gone to a restaurant named Market. Comparatively, Tigre was very fairly priced. It’s not cheap street food of course, but it wasn’t unfathomably expensive either. Only a tad bit overpriced, but justified and well worth it given how happy the experience was.

I highly recommend this restaurant, and I rarely do that, you can see by my past reviews restaurants need to tick off very specific criteria to get good ratings and this one...