Pearl's Deluxe Burgers — Restaurant in San Francisco

UPDATE, 6/2025:

Pearl's French fries have changed. They are now skinny instead of thick - and they are frozen. Pre-cut. From a bag. I could tell because when I bit into one of them, it was stale. Even frying them further in a skillet was a fool's errand: they were wretched.

Look, I get that times are difficult, especially for restaurants - and no thanks to that despotic creep, Donald J. Trump. But if I'm willing to pay $17 for French fries, I want them to be the kind Pearl's used to serve: thickly cut, crisp on the outside, and pillowy on the inside. But, alas.

If Pearl's was willing to cut a corner on fried potatoes, I have to wonder where else they compromised on quality.

You lost two stars for food, Pearl's; do better.

Let's get the unpleasant bits out of the way: Pearl's Deluxe Burgers is a hole-in-the-wall eatery bordering the worst part of SF: the dreaded Tenderloin, aka "Home Sweet Home" to me. Ah! The unending shrieks of fire sirens and ambulances! The piles of needles choking the sidewalks! The uncollected rubbish! The various urine smells! The gun battles! The feces! 🥹🥰

(Move? Are you kidding? I have a rent controlled apartment, pal! Fat chance!)

If you can stomach that, then Pearl's offers an oasis for the tastebuds, and rewards the adventurous gastronome with perhaps the most succulent hamburger anywhere. On this occasion, I splurged on a Kobe beef pesto burger, which was worth every penny of the upgrade. Bursting with juice from the first bite, the delightfully seasoned and perfectly cooked patty bestowed a rich, decadent silkiness of texture on the tongue, and a comforting, tangy flavor on the palate.

While medium is the stated temperature at which their burgers are cooked, I could swear on a stack of Bhagavadgitas that the burger I ate was at my preferred temperature of medium rare, thereby exalting the entire, orgiastic experience. Samin Nosrat would weep.

Speaking of weeping, I took a chance on their milkshakes, and chose the strawberry. There is chocolate and vanilla, but the person I would share this food with happens to enjoy strawberry ice cream, and I thought, won't this be nice?

Dear Reader, there is nothing nice at all about their strawberry milkshakes - they are SUBLIME. Creamy ice cream enrobed whole chunks of the noble fruit, and we couldn't have been happier if a half gallon of Umpqua strawberry ice cream had materialized before us, heaven-sent. And if I had had any good sense, I would have saved my scrumptious French fries to dip into it.

Little matter: the entire meal was the perfect end to topsy-turvy day, and gave new meaning to the phrase, "comfort food." Go to...

We stepped into Pearls Burgers for an Avocado Burger and a Phat Bob Burger. They didn't ask us how we wanted it cooked and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were both perfectly medium well. They are filling burgers, they do not skimp on any of the ingredients which is awesome! We also had some garlic fries, and a 1/2 & 1/2 order of fries and onion rings. The onion burgers are too thin and were over-fried so not a forte of them, the garlic fries were basic delicious barely sauteed garlic topped fries, the crunch on the fries themselves was great though. The portions were satisfying for each side being $6 and $8 for the 1/2 &1/2 They also have buffalo burgers which start at $15 and they are amazing dense and Keto (minus the bread)- Paleo (minus bread) friendly burgers. You are able to customize the burgers as you please and they also have smaller sized as well as NON-MEAT options..Anybody can find something to eat here for sure.. They also have self serve pickles which is pretty cool Its a on the smaller side restaurant, clean and old schoolesh enough to be a casual chill place to go eat at before a night out, or simply to end the night off with a...

Walking distance from my hotel on a scorching 96degree day, I took a slow walk to Pearl's. Upon entering, there's a cooler of drinks on the left, next to an ATM. A chalk board menu rests on the wall, with a small bulletin board displaying their many accolades, next to it.

All of the tables and the little counter seating area by the window were full. I was delightfully greeted at the register and asked to place my order(excellent customer service). I ordered a mini deluxe (1/4 burger, lettuce tomato and red onions) with bacon and cheese ($6.99). I then ordered some frings (1/2 French fries, 1/2 onion rings) I asked for the garlic fries and was not charged extra. They have these mixtures with sweet potato fries as well.

The onion rings had to be the best that I have ever had in my life! Perfect crunch, perfectly seasoned batter and not skimpy on the portions either. The onions were not too crispy on the inside and perfectly cooked. Honestly, my favorite part of the meal.

My burger was good. It tasted fresh and was cooked to a perfect medium, just like...