Wahaka Restaurante — Restaurant in San Francisco

What a fun place. Wahaka has a strained relationship with authenticity because it goes deep into Mexican food beyond the usual fare you find outside of Mexico. The salsas, tortillas, seasoning, ingredients and presentation truly respect the gastronomic tradition, flavors and aesthetic of Mexico. However, they have shoehorned tropicalized sushi rolls into the menu as if they had been afraid people wouldn't want to eat just Mexican food all the time. I can respect that decision since it's a tough business to start with, let alone at this price point and catering to Panama City where diners are fickle and a bit fixated on their preferences, however misinformed they might be. Well, I won't be getting any sushi here anytime soon. What I am on board with getting here are their fun tacos, delicious, inventive margaritas (made skinny thank you) and creative main dishes. I liked that their tacos were served Mexico City style with round soft corn tortillas and two at a time. That way you can order 2-3 types without just filling up on one kind. The line drawings on the mural seem festive, but upon closer inspection they depict the poignant plight of the indigenous people. This could be a metaphor for all people in the Americas, as well as as respectful reverence to the ancestors of the patrons in the dining room. On a lighter note, t's very cool that they start the evening off with a classic Spanish pop playlist and then go into a DJ set mixing current hit music, electronica and 80s songs while reading the crowd. This warms up the Thursday crowd for a full mariachi band that delights everyone with infectious classics like "El Rey" and "La Bikina." After a few rounds of drinks, I dare you not to sing along, even if you don't really...

HIDDEN GEM!!! We had this booked our first night here and cancelled to go into Casco Viejo, it’s our last night and our hotel isn’t far so we decided to walk down for some food and very thankful we did.

Quiet night at 6pm on a Sunday but our server Rolando was really great and the food was really fantastic. The price point here is amazing for the quality of food and drinks. 2 beers and 2 cocktails, 5 different dishes to share between two of us and the check was $75. We skipped dessert only because we were stuffed.

Apologies for the photo as we had already started eating.

Only disappointment was not going to this place on a Friday or Saturday night as I can only imagine the vibe with a DJ and a packed house to be amazing.

We were staying close by but even if you’re not I highly recommend a cheap uber to bring you here, some really great restaurants around the city but if you’re a group or even 2 people this has a menu to order multiple things and share. Wish there was 10 of us so we could order...

Me and my (Black American) friends😲 went out of our way to visit this restaurant for a birthday dinner 5/21 & immediately were profiled by the security, hostess, and manager. After letting multiple badly dressed ppl inside, they held us outside to ‘look for availability’, however after ten minutes of waiting in the humidity - the manager met us at the door & cited my BLACK friend’s clothing as the reason why we would not be allowed in. Let the record show however, that my friend was in a $500 designer outfit,with his shirt tucked in.

We only wanted dinner - however bc of the lack of customer service now I have to be honest. if you’re coming from a place like NYC (or any other cultural hub in the world) this place will bore you. The club ‘looks nice’ but from what we heard from the outside - they’re still playing early 2000’s music & I’m sure the food is...