This soup is a great afternoon snack.

Eddie Rickenbacker’s
133 2nd St
(between Minna St & Natoma St)
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 543-3498

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My lunch time dining experience though was just OK. When I first walked in I was pretty excited because I really like the old tavern/bar look and it seemed like a pretty cool place but my experience wasn’t so spectacular. Maybe it all started with the cloudy, sour iced tea or maybe our server’s sour attitude… but I was thrown on the wrong foot within the first 5 minutes.

My friend insisted that the calamari at this place was awesome so we ordered it as the app. If you like simple, fried calamari, the basket at this place is really good. The calamari is mostly rings and not so many tentacles, the rings are tender and easy to bite/chew and not as rubbery and dense as they are at other places.

For lunch I ordered a cheeseburger and fries. It looked great when it came out – the bun was nicely toasted and the fries were golden brown. When I was cutting it in half I noticed that there was only 1 slice of cheese (cheddar) and that it was the oily, cheap kind that didn’t cover the entire burger and that most of it had melted into the bun, so there was hardly any cheese left on the burger, waaah. So I slopped it with ketchup to mask the no-cheese flavor. It was pretty well done too = greasy from the cheese but dry inside.

My friend ordered the half rack of bbq ribs for lunch. They definitely looked better than they tasted. We were pretty sure that whoever was cooking them left them in the smoker for too long because they were dry and felt like biting into a piece of cardboard. It was nice and saucy though, but even good sauce can’t make hard dry meat good enough to wanna tear apart.

All in all, the experience was mediocre. I felt like I wanted to stay and hang around and have a beer because the place looked really cool, but honestly, I was really put off by our server’s “the world owe’s me something/i’m too cool for you” attitude and non-friendly service, so it made me want to get the freak out of there. Just because you work at a bar restaurant doesn’t mean you have to be so UGH. If I make it back someday, I hope I have a better time, because people deserve to have a good time at such a laid back place.

PS. I’m especially sensitive to these kinds of restaurants because I, myself, used to work at a bar restaurant as both a server and a bartender, so I understand the pangs of customer service and working in the restaurant industry.

Ben & Nick’s
5612 College Ave
(between Keith Ave & Ocean View Dr)
Oakland, CA 94618
(510) 923-0327

Viewer Rating: [ratings]

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We were only sitting there for uhhh, 2 nanoseconds when the bartender slid 3 small dishes in front of us – each containing a small square piece of white bread, a piece of salami and a square piece of melted cheddar cheese. …What is this I ask? My friends then told me that they give out FREE munchies at the bar… this toasted cheese salami treat was only the beginning….

We started off with a round of my favorite drink, the madras (vodka, cranberry, orange juice). I have to say this right now: THIS WAS THE BEST MADRAS I’VE EVER HAD. It was made with fresh squeezed orange juice and didn’t have that thick, pasturized taste of regular bar OJ… this drink was amazing – fresh, fruity, light… totally hit the spot.

The other thing I like about this place (and it could be at turnoff for other people), is that Eddie Rickenbacker’s doesn’t dim the lights to darkness inside — they keep the lights at a healthy brightness.. so you can see the people you’re talking to and the food/drink you’re eating.  I appreciate that… especially for the photos.  I guess what I’m also trying to say is that Eddie Rickenbacker’s just IS.  It’s a bar/restaurant that’s not trying so hard to be “something” else.

Lastly meet Mr. Higgins, the “fattest cat” in San Francisco.

Eddie Rickenbacker’s
133 2nd St
(between Minna St & Natoma St)
San Francisco, CA 94105

Viewer Rating: [ratings]

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