Nopalito — Restaurant in San Francisco

A fun spot in the middle of San Francisco.

I came here after work on a Saturday night. I hadn't eaten much over the day so was quite hungry. The restaurant doesn't take any reservations so you either come at an unbusy time or roll the dice.

Since we didn't show up until 815 on a Saturday night (they close at 10) we got lucky and caught the dinner turnaround and were seated immediately.

The restaurant is an open layout with the kitchen easily viewable from anywhere in the restaurant. There's a bar that seats 7 or 8 and the restaurant subtly bleeds into a patio.

Here's what we ate. Quesadilla Roja con Chicharrón - Mulato chile-corn tortilla, crispy pork belly, cascabel & guajillo chiles, jack cheese, queso fresco, onion and cilantro. This was probably my favorite dish. A crispy shell with a juicy, well seasoned,

Mole Poblanoon Poved - Braised half chicken, dry chiles, spices, plantains, ts, hoolate, sesame seeds, onions (contains peanuts) Mexican rice and tortillas. - a whole half chicken with tasty Mole sauce. Not too sweet and not too smokey. A subtle flavor that comes with delicious rice and as many corn tortillas as you want.

Trucha a la Plancha - Seared marinated trout, arbol chiles, braised butter beans, romanita and salsa verde picante. Possibly some of the best tasting trout I've had to date. A nice crisp to the skin and the butter beans are soft and have absorbed all of the flavor of the sauce. It also comes with unlimited corn tortillas as well.

Frozen White Guava Margarita - Pueblo Viejo Blanco, white guava puree, lime, Giffard Triple Sec. A fun drink with a good guave flavor. I recommend.

With 3 dishes and 1 drink , the bill came out to about $100 for 2 people. Probably enough food to have 2 people quite full. I would recommend as a "let's go have a nice meal that won't...

This place has nailed the secret vibe sauce - I'm still not quite sure how they managed to blend together the casual, laid back feel of a taqueria with a modern urban hang out look, but they did. Went there with a friend last night (a Thursday) and was told the wait would be an hour and a half, but 1 drink and 30 minutes later we were seated at the counter.

The waitress recommended we split an entree and two appetizers since we weren't that hungry. The carnitas were the obvious choice and also an indicator to me that we're getting way too competitive about the 7x7 "100 Things to Try Before You Die" list - neither of us like pork but this is on the list! We also got the chicken tamale and some fish tacos. The tamale was definitely lackluster and lackflavor, but everything else was just "pretty good." The carnitas were juicy and so easily shredable, plus make-your-own-taco has always given me that arts and crafts feel we all miss from our youth. Okay, yeah fine so I'm 23 and we did arts and crafts in my sorority in college, but anywayyy.

Halfway through, the waitress convinced us that sipping on some tequila with accompanying "sangrita" (no, that's not a little thing of sangria. It's basically really spicy tomato juice) would go well with the meal/is just the thing you do here. So from here on out it's tough to say if the meal really got better or if I just got drunker, but either way I left feeling satisfied, happy, and accomplished (yay 7x7 list) - a perfect way to gear up for the weekend - though I couldn't help but scowl at all the cute little dating couples on my way out, as I made a mental note to tell the next "pizza place down the street" date suggestion that we're going to Nopalito!

+4 stars for the great vibe, friendly staff, and overall experience. Minus 1 because the food...

What an underwhelming and extremely disappointing meal I had. For context, we have been wanting to check out Nopalito for years, and even have their cook book. Finally made it out for dinner.

Walking in is confusing. There isn’t a host per sa. Just a lady frantically running around who asked if we wanted to eat in. She seemed friendly enough, but that was the extent of if. Overall, the service was disjuncted and non existent. Everything is ordered via QR codes and you don’t even have a waiter to ask questions about the dishes. No one asked how our meal was or anything else. I had to flag someone down to get more napkins.

The food itself, overpriced and under seasoned. The birria didn’t taste like anything. It was just stewed meat. It didn’t even have salt. The chile profile was super muted and bland. They give you the skimpiest portion of chopped onions and cilantro to go with it and have the audacity to serve some tomato sauce and call it salsa. The rice was ok. The wife has the mole enchiladas and they actually were pretty good. I’d say they were too sweet though with the plantain.

We also ordered drinks. I wanted a beer but all they have are cans; all priced at $9. Cmon now. I don’t mind paying for a good beer on tap, but canned beer is just lazy. Anyway, a plus was the wife got the frozen guava margarita and it was quite tasty. I got the house margarita and it was the opposite. I didn’t taste any of the orange liqueur or even tequila. All I tasted was lime juice. For $15 it was a rip off. And again, with no server, I had no one to complain to about this or my food. $100 for a lackluster meal and two drinks, it just wasn’t worth it.

So while my wife had a decent meal, I did not and the lack of service just spoiled it for...