Brenda's Meat & Three — Restaurant in San Francisco

I grew up near the American south, and miss the comfort foods, so decided to check out Brenda’s. It is a bustling, cute little restaurant. It has kind of an upscale diner feel. The atmosphere is lively, even in the middle of the afternoon. Don’t miss the cute outdoor courtyard. Service is attentive and friendly and they serve brunch late - so if you want pancakes, french toast or eggs and bacon late on a weekday, stop by. Servings are generous so you may want to share. The molasses black walnut iced coffee was like sweet tea, coffee style! It’s a little syrupy with a molasses tang - hard to drink a lot of if you’re not used to really sweet beverages. And very caffeinated. The shrimp and grits was unlike any I’d had before - it had a lot going on flavor wise. The base grits were kind of creamy and bland, with a layer of melted cheddar on top. Then the tomato sauce was sweet, garlicky, and spicy all at the same time. Little bits of bacon added chew and saltiness, and the chives added some acidity. It was a little too rich and sugary for me - I wish there was two versions, a simple cheese grits with shrimp and chives, and maybe a separate dish with shrimp in a tomato stew. The apple beignet was fresh out of the fryer, hot and crispy on the outside, soft and doughy with warm apple filling. I always think of beignets as delightful airy little pillows - these were definitely not that. It felt like they got the spec wrong - these were hefty, dense egg-shaped donuts. It was still satisfying in that it was fried and warm, but there was way too much bread and the texture was off compared to the expectation. While it was a fun experience - how often do you find po boys in SF? I am not sure I would go out of my way to go back. Everything was good, but nothing was a stand out. I left still hankering for some home cooking. Maybe it’s time I learned some recipes.

— Update: I came back several months later, this time for dinner, and found some winners on the menu. The cream biscuit was excellent, probably the best I’ve had in California - buttery and crumbly in all the right ways and still so soft. The mashed potatoes were comforting and flavorful, and the collard greens were tasty with no bitterness. The fried chicken was also very good and super crispy. The servings were big so enough to take half home as a second meal. I would still give four stars, not for the food this time, but because the restaurant was super dark at night and...

Simply Terrible Service.

My party of three showed up at the restaurant for breakfast/lunch around 11:00am. We were told that we could order either breakfast or lunch. We ordered sweat tea and unsweetened tea. The sweet tea arrived with Watermelon in it. Never have I had Watermelon in my sweet tea. It might have been a good idea for them to warn us. It did not taste very good.

We ordered three meals and an appetiser. 12 to 15 minutes later, two meals arrived. We mentioned the appetiser and the third meal. The waitress left and returned about 5 minutes with the appetiser. 5 minutes later the waitress returned and looked at the table. She said, " Are we missing something??? Shocked, we calmly said "the third meal was never served." She actually should have known this given in this restaurant... the waitress (she) serves the food to her guests. The waitress became flustered and went to check the order.

Five minutes later, the manager came to the table and apologised saying the third meal was never entered in the system. She apologised and said that they were working on it in the kitchen and it would be out shortly. For the next 15 minutes... I watched my waitress and the manager go in and out of the kitchen more than a dozen times. They were busy serving other tables their food. By this time it's been about 30 minutes that the two other meals had been served. They were finished eating. I had to get up and find the manager. I told her we were leaving and wanted the bill. Two minutes later the manager delivered the bill and apologised again. She then said, "Don't worry, I comped the third meal. " Can you image the disrespect? I have been in the restaurant for more than 50 minutes without being served. I watched my party finish their meals and the manager was so generous as to "Comp" my meal that was never delivered. Needless to say, I was appalled and not happy.

Here is what happened... There was a mistake and my meal was never entered in the system. Then when the mistake was realised, the waitress didn't know what to do. The manager then came over and assured me they were working hard on it. Then... she DID NOTHING to insure the third meal was hurried along. How long does it take to cook a hamburger? I waited 15 minutes with no response.

Terrible. Simply Terrible service. And when the manager tells you something is being handled... DON'T...

Called in on a Saturday morning at 10:20 AM expecting it’d be hard to grab seats but they told us that we would be able to get seated without issue. We rushed over and they were right— no wait at all.

First time here at the Meats and Three location having gone to the original on Polk years back before the pandemic. Had fairly high expectations given the hubbub around this place since and am pleased to report that it delivered.

We ordered quite a few things for two people: the four-flavor selection of beignets, a cup of gumbo, the biscuits and gravy with a chicken cutlet, and the pork hash. On the side I had a coffee (Mr. Espresso is their house coffee) and it was about what I’d expect of a diner-style cup.

We started with the savory: the gumbo paired with our entrees could have been a meal of its own. It was just the right consistency you’d hope for where it wasn’t too soupy or too loaded with the sausages or rice within. The rice was sprinkled on top so it wasn’t too sauced up before we consumed it. Nice.

The biscuits and gravy was fine, with the star being the chicken cutlet that I ordered it with. Chicken was nice and juicy, the batter was crispy, and everything complemented the gravy well. I wish there was a bit more gravy as I approached the end of the dish it felt like I had some additional biscuit that I would have enjoyed more covered fully in gravy. The eggs (over easy) were on the side.

A small complaint here, moreso an observation, is that the plate was too big for the biscuits and gravy. There was a lot of empty space on the plate and the eggs could have simply covered the eggs. Given the small real estate of the table, it was actually quite crowded for a two-top.

My partner has the pork hash and she enjoyed it immensely. She ordered it with the biscuit which was perfectly complemented with their jam. I had a bite of the pork hash and was pleased.

Beignets were fine: perhaps we waited a bit too long to eat them as everything kind of came at once. We were stuffed so we had to bring them home. (Best consumed fresh and hot of course)

Overall, would come back. Would love to try more of the eponymous meats in the future. The small sliver of fried chicken I had was delicious so definitely will be back for at least that.

A five star...