Abrazo — Restaurant in San Francisco

Apparently their drinks menu is good.

That would make sense, because I would need some hard liquor to swallow a mediocre selection of appetizers and mains.

Hyperbole aside, there are things to like about Abrazo, but the price to quality ratios are not one of them.

17 Washingtons for three little scoops of bone marrow should be all anyone has to know about this establishment, but their Spanish paella was fairly good , and their other dishes were serviceable, so is it worth its price?

Is anything worth its price?

I don't think anything good ever comes out of answering those kind of questions. For Abrazo's other aspects, there wasn't much of a question; their service was perfect and the atmosphere both at its front and in the restaurant's hole-in-the-wall inner rooms was charming, in a Maquis-guerilla-fighter-in-the-Spanish-Civil-War sort of way. It really elevated the otherwise lackluster food.

After we finished, a kind old lady stopped us and told us she really loved the place, so your mileage may vary; I certainly...

Zarzuela was warm and inviting and practically impossible to replace. Abrazo means to embrace and this place does not do that- it is cold and uninviting. They should let the wonderful Spanish memories go with Zarzuela and start from scratch. I’m not sure what this place is trying to be. They are charging $5 (!!!) for bread- a staple in any Spanish restaurant. We ordered the Gambas, which were the highlight of the meal, except one of the best parts of Gambas is dipping bread in the sauce, and they don’t serve it with bread, so yup, $5 more for bread. The lightly fried vegetables were basically tempura (why?!). The polpo was okay but served with rock hard potatoes. And the paella... just does a disservice to the name. My boyfriend referred to it as “soupy hard rice”. And it came with 1 shrimp. Just 1. At one point we joked we wanted more bread, and they brought it out and charged us another $5! I hope they take a hard look at what they’re doing here and try a new approach. So sad for this...

Our daughter picked this restaurant to celebrate her achievement in school 2 weeks ago. Glad that we made a reservation since they were very busy. There were several tables with large groups and it took some time for our server to get our orders. We have been to Barcelona several times and love Spanish food. The food was good but not amazing. I was a little disappointed with my paella since it was dry and little seafood. The bread was excellent but expensive. It was a very expensive dinner and drinks for 4 people. It was a good night to celebrate since the ambiance was festive. Not sure if we’ll be back again. Also, parking is not easy and my husband parked our car several blocks from the restaurant. I would like to acknowledge the bus”woman” who was very attentive...