Om Sabor — Restaurant in San Francisco

I wish I had listened to the other Yelp reviews complaining of terrible service at Phonobar. However, I was in the area for a performance and was dining with a friend who eats vegan, so I gave it a try—huge mistake.

Let’s get this out of the way: The food is fine, even very good. But it does not make up for the horrible service, which is the worst I have experienced anywhere. It was a busy night, so we were initially sat at a ledge near the door. This was okay, though chilly and people kept mistaking us for hosts. We also had to flag someone down to order. When a table opened up, we asked if we could move and the servers helped us. I had to ask for a spoon for my soup, but that was fine. This is—really, truly—all no big deal and I wouldn’t mention it all, except it’s relevant to the rest of this saga.

Now the new table, our service basically slides to a halt. We had to ask twice for the rest of our items to arrive. The first time we had to ask was understandable—we’d moved tables and it was a busy night. The server asked what we’d ordered and we told her. Then we had to ask again—and, again, she asked what we’d ordered. By the time the last of our items hit the table, we were way behind schedule and asked for the check. The server presented us with the bill, which my friend quickly glanced at, paid, and signed. We finished our food and left in a rush to make our event.

We were a block down the road when someone runs up behind us. It was the host, who waved his iPad in our faces and said, “Hi, yeah, you didn’t pay your bill.” My friend and I assumed this was a misunderstanding and told him that we did. “No, you didn’t,” he said angrily, again gesturing at the iPad. At this point, other people nearby are staring. He’s making a scene. We keep telling him that we paid—he keeps saying “no” and rolling his eyes, getting more and more indignant. We explained to him again that we had paid the server when our food hit the table. “Which server did you pay?” His tone was FULL of accusation. We described the server. He demanded that we go back to the restaurant to sort this out.

At this point, my friend and I are frustrated. The performance’s doors close at 7:30 and we aren’t sure if we’ll make it now. On our way back, my friend explained this and said that, honestly, we hadn’t been happy with the service. Instead of asking us why, he said aggressively, “I know you weren’t happy with your first table, but it was a busy night.” The initial table wasn’t the problem, and it was so weird for him to assume that. I said that the table was fine, but that the food took a very long time, we’d had to ask for our items twice, and that now we were being chased down for a bill we’d already paid.

Back at the restaurant, I encouraged my friend to pull up her bank statement. There was a charge from the restaurant. This was the bill we’d paid, which was about $20 less than the bill he’d claimed we skipped out on. Clearly, his server had made a mistake with the transaction. My friend showed him this charge. Instead of taking it off the bill, he told her that he would charge her for the second bill and then cancel that first charge. We got no apology, despite this being THEIR mistake—though he did say, “Hey, if you want to come back after the show, you can each have a drink on me.” Uhhh, there is no way I’m going to come back after that! Also why not offer to take some drinks off of the tab he insisted on us paying? Or why not just let the $20 difference between bills go and admit a mistake?

Aaaand we should have asked him to deduct the original payment from our tab—because, reader, are you surprised to learn that, a week later, both charges remain on my friend’s card?

If I could give negative stars, I would. Do yourself a favor: Trust the reviews and don’t eat here—unless they move locations and/or overhaul their...

I'm so glad I finally got to try this delicious vegan spot! As a non vegan, I have to say I was super impressed. Especially during the dessert course, I actually said that I forgot we were at a vegan restaurant!

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by every single staff member. It was such a warm welcome. We found a nice table in the back lounge area. It has such a cozy vibe and the music was really eclectic and enjoyable. The booth and chair seating were so spacious and comfy which is honestly a luxury in SF. Overall it was a very relaxing experience. Throughout our meal, our server was really attentive and efficient.

As for food, the cauliflower wings are a MUST! Omg I don't know how they managed to make these taste so good. The texture was just like meat and the sauce was tangy and sweet. I honestly prefer these to actual wings now. My vegetarian friends were super happy with them too. Another big hit were the ceviche tostadas - crunchy and packed with flavor. The beet salad with the pistachio basil pesto was also phenomenal and another crowd pleaser. For dessert, we could not believe that there was no butter in the pumpkin chocolate pastelito because it was so flaky and delicious- everyone was fighting for the last bite.

For drinks, my husband really liked the mezcal old-fashioned. I got The Last Word gin cocktail and it was so refreshing and perfectly balanced. We can't wait to go back and try more. I'm still dreaming of those...

This is a must go to vegan restaurant. I’m not vegan and if I didn’t know that Om Sabor was vegan I wouldn’t have been able to tell. Om Sabors vibe is chic, layback, vibey. Great place to grab food with a friend or date night. Service was on par, staff was helpful and welcoming. But the food… oh boy—-Heaven! During my visiting I tried the kale salad, chicken wings, and bbq Mac and cheese. The kale salad was well dressed with the right about of vegan cheese, pepitas and sweet potatoes. Savory, nutty, umami, earthy, beautiful. The bbq mac and cheese was also good too, the quality is great of vegan cheese used here is impressive. I really can’t tell the difference lol. That said, the bbq mac & cheese was a little too much going on in my opinion but how do you know go overboard with a bbq mac and cheese. Only critique for me was the mac and cheese as I felt it wasn’t a cohesive dish. It was a bbq mac but also garnished and too with a Mexican food flavor profile (avocado, cilantro, onions). Lastly the chicken wing, my favorite outside the salad! The wings looked real and tasted real. I don’t know how they do it but the crisp of the wings and vegan ranch really set the bar for me and what vegan restaurants can do. Love love love Om Sabor, will definitely be coming back! (Thank you for feeding my soul and awakening me to another genre of food I’ve yet to...