Chao Pescao — Restaurant in San Francisco

Quality Latin Comfort Food, Caribbean Drinks, and Modern Ambiance Make For My New Favorite Date Spot.

Chao Pescao is, hands down, my favorite Latin-Caribbean restaurant in San Francisco. I have been ordering from Chao Pescao since they were only serving take-out. But last week, I finally got to try them in person a month after they reopened. I was impressed.

If you like Latin comfort food with a Caribbean flair, this is the place. I tried their chicken empanadas, which are light, and come with a refreshing salsa. They also have the usual Latin suspects like fried yuca and tostones, which sound simple, but as a Latino, I know how easy they can be to screwed up. Their fried Yuca is my favorite. I also tried their Tajine fried chicken, another one of my favorites, which was bursting with flavor and somehow didn't feel greasy. It comes with three pieces, which makes it easy to share. Easily my favorite fried chicken in the city.

Their drinks did not disappoint either. As a Caribbean restaurant, they have quite the rum selection. I tried their house "Our Daiquiri" (which is made with El Dorado) and their "Chao Pina Colada;" both are great. They also have a solid selection of wine if you aren't into cocktails, but you should try their cocktails...

As far as the ambiance, Chao Pescao, more than lives up to the stellar pictures on their website, with a modern but still homey feel inside. The inside has some interesting art installations decorating each wall. They also had great music, classic Latin favorites like Celia Cruz playing the whole time. All that made it easy to pretend you were on mini-vacation while drinking Pina Coladas.

Lastly, the staff were very attentive and friendly, shout out to our waitress. We also got to meet the owner, and incidentally his wife. All in all, everyone was friendly and genuine without even trying.

Great food, maybe even better drinks, and attentive staff make for a solid San Francisco spot right next to city hall. 10/10 to one of my favorite restaurants...

Before coming here, I was a little suspicious of all the reviews here, as most of them are just 5 star ratings with 0-3 words.

Nevertheless, my friends wanted to try this place, so we came here for dinner. I have no complaints about service as they were very attentive and nice! Food arrived timely after ordering.

We ordered the tostones (fried green plantains), lechon cubano (pork shoulder plate), pan con bistec (ribeye sandwich), cemita poblano (fried chicken sandwich).

The food was all very good and flavorful, but it was way too salty for all of us! We were able to taste the salt on the plantains, fries, rice, sandwich; it was a little overwhelming to finish eating. Surprisingly, the chicken sandwich was seasoned just right (for me) and I did not taste salt as the main flavor. Would recommend the chicken sandwich! All the dishes were good, but depending on how salty you usually like your food, you may need to take some time to brush the salt crystals off your food.

That being said, probably one of the better chicken sandwiches I’ve had in the area. I’m a big fan of the avocado, pickled onion, cheese, and fried chicken combo. Their brioche bun was also amazing! Slight crisp on the outside but very soft and airy on the inside.

All in all, probably won’t come back since it’s also in the tenderloin, but wouldn’t be opposed to try again if my...

I saw this featured in Infatuation SF's Hit List, and unfortunately, we left a tiny bit underwhelmed. First things first, the drinks were excellent - we had the Pina Antigua and the Lula Livre. Both really tasty.

For appetizers, we shared the pork empanadas (de cerdo). It was a bit bland, maybe like it needed some salt. Thankfully it at least came with a spicy sauce, so we used some of that. We also shared a shrimp Caesar salad (cesar ala parilla con camaron), which was served as two halves of a romaine heart with four large shrimp on top. It was good.

We shared two mains. The steak sandwich (pan con bistec) had good flavor, but it maybe needed some extra chimichurri sauce or aioli. We opted for the yuca fries, but they were a bit tough. The fried chicken arepa (de cemita) was probably the most disappointing dish of the night. I'm a fried chicken fiend, but this chicken fillet just didn't have the tenderness nor the flavor. We ended up using the aioli that came with the yuca fries on the chicken, if that gives you any indication of the dish.

One last thing I'll mention is the lighting in the restaurant - it's currently a harsh white light (we joked that we were entering Saks Off 5th). The ambience would be much nicer and welcoming if there was warm/yellow lighting, particularly at night.

TL:DR - Lots of potential but not...