Pakwan Restaurant — Restaurant in San Francisco

I have been going to Pakwan restaurant since long (when they had only one in O'FARRELL st San Francisco). Was not aware of the Ocean Street branch and found it on Google search when I was visiting Fort Funston last month. Stopped by to pick goat biryani and beef Nihari. It was really good and biryani definitely beats the taste of biryani i have tried in their other branches. Nihari was good as usual. I do had non-par experiences at other Pakwan but this one was the best restaurant biryani I had in a long time. I am planning to test that again tomorrow to see if I was lucky just one time.

Update: Tried Goat Biryani again yesterday and it was great again. A bit less than last time though...they used a little more lemon than needed. I also had chicken kaRahi which was served in a "kaRahi" which make serving size quite good and it was delicious as well. I was tempted to go 16th Pakwan because I was passing by, but opted to drive 4 miles further just based on the prior experience....didn't regret it.

Update 7/2022: Had goat kaRahi . It was tasty. Reducing one start due to quite dry customer service experience at the counter where he conveyed the message "customer is not important and I am very busy". Made me wait for small things at least 3 times where my interaction would have taken seconds. For e.g. "can you give me an extra cup" replied with "you have to wait" and spent almost a minute preparing a grub hub or something similar togo order when the party was not even there to pick it up and then it took him 3 seconds to hand me the cup which was like 4 feet away from me. He could have said go ahead take it yourself or gave it to me in no time instead of asking to wait. Two more examples but it will take a lot of typing. I think he was stressed out...

Alright honest review time

So first step walking into this restaurant you are greeted with an artwork painting/photography of people of Pakistani influences. It was strange and intentionally Placed that Muhammad Iqbal and Jinnah are places in the back and far left but Malala was in the front and center…

They had music playing at this pakwan branch which was unusual as the other locations do not have music. My recommendation is to not have music at all.

The plates were different had a clay like feeling and texture. Very unique lol

Anyways to the food …

The naans were really good. Standard practice of pakwan , no complaints.

The bbq was also on par with other locations . The chicken legs were huge which was a surprise , and the chicken seekh kebab were good as well.

The nihari was a complete dissapointmwnt. It was so watery and just a masala liquid as an excuse for nihari. Barely close to what nihari is. (For reference I go to Karachi yearly so my tastebuds r up to date).

The aloo chicken qeema was like a 7/10 rate (I didn’t eat it but my friends did so asked them for their rating).

The chicken kabab Karahi, never heard of that but we tried it and it was okay. They didn’t have haleem today which I normally get at the Fremont location but that’s fine

The chai was accessible behind the counter so u have to ask staff for refills etc. also I saw that gulab jamun was in the fridge. Not sure why that’s so because if I wanted it it would be cold and not soft and warm.

Took a look at the mango lassi and it’s pretty much mango pulp drink lol not as much lassi , but that’s normal so not a negative lol

The outside environment is okay, although I think jones street pakwan tastes better lol even though it’s in...

I usually dont write negative reviews, i try to point out at least one good thing However, this is my first

I went with a friend to have lunch. This was my first visit to the restaurant. I was ok with ordering at the cash register. The woman behind the counter gave me a menu, I looked thru it and ordered. She tells me my number is 25 she points to a glass door refrigerator and says there's the water, I say ok I go the glass bottle is half filled n not covered, but dismiss it. As I'm walking to my table she yells the glasses are on top. I don't glasses but I do see silver type of cups. I ask these she rolls her eyes. Now I walk by another table and that person has an actual number on a stem. We sit down she yells out our number, we walk to pick up our plates. As we sat down she came over to drop off a plate of food looking frustrated, because she had to walk over to our table. The place felt cold not welcoming nor polite. There were maybe 4 other tables with one person each. I can't even remember what I ordered since I didnt eat. All because of the customer service at the beginning of my interaction. We were the only seniors there. So I thought maybe she didn't like elders, me being 74 and my friend is 61yo. We both have gray hair and we both have very friendly personalities.

My friend even left a tip which I remarked that it should go only...