Besharam

Excellent flavors and options. Don’t let their credit card requirement for online reservations deter you.

it felt like very personal, close to home dining experience. the staff were super friendly and I would definitely recommend it to anyone it the San Francisco area, especially those of indian descent who are perhaps missing home.

We looooved everything and ordered half of the menu! Great brunch. Want to go back for dinner service!

Great food and service. Very tasty. Authentic flavours

The food was great and we lucked out that the restaurant was quiet on Sunday brunch. Service was good without being intrusive and the space is fun. I will definitely go back and hope that it's as quiet. I imagine it can get quick noisy when there is a crowd.

Good flavors and interesting Indian food. Service was good.

Great spot! Good quality Gujarati food. Service was good - staff was very friendly, although also a bit slow. They also did not have a lot of stuff listed on the menu, which was a bit disappointing as we were not there late. Would go back there for a casual dinner.

Good ambiance and food. Service kinks need to be worked out desperately. Waited almost 20 minutes before even approached for drinks and then apps came before drinks and one app was already out.

We went to Besharam with friends & none of us are experts on Indian cuisine. However, the menu and the wait staff were great at guiding us to what we should order. The food was quite tasty & we had a great time experiencing new flavors. Would definitely go back.

An incredible addition to the neighborhood! Great food and the friendliest of folks!

Limited vegetarian choices. The appetizers tasted good but nothing extraordinary. It was regular easy to cook items. I was disappointed with the entree. Only one vegetarian choice - dum aloo. Ordered it and found out that it was a mix of squash and potato with very little potato. It is a normal vegetarian dish and not even a fusion. I was disappointed with it. The service was awesome. The person serving the food was genuinely interested in ensuring that we had a good time but the food does not stand up to the good service. Overall, disappointed with the restaurant. I was expecting yet another good fusion Indian place in San Francisco.

The best. Warm, helpful, quick and attentive staff. Innovative, skillful food. In truth, I should have paid a lot more for this meal and I’m happy to recommend and support these people and their art. My standout dishes noted in photos.

Superb, unique food. Fantastic service and a great ambience - will definitely be recommending and definitely returning.

Went there to celebrate Diwali and was delighted by how creative the menu was. The BBQ wings are super! The sauce is to die for. Great appetizers! The main course was served Thali style with a fish, chicken and vegetarian option. Amazing flavors! I really loved the Shreekand Cheese Cake! It took me back to my childhood. The service was on-point. So warm and friendly. The only thing I will note is the cocktails. There is a lot of potential with the flavor profiles they have but the result falls a little flat. I suggest a visit to Besharam; you'll find it warm, welcoming and utterly delicious.

Everything was a little off: pacing (took 25 minutes to get anything, even drinks, then everything hit at once), service (one waitress worked the entire place), decor (the lighting was too bright and seemed fluorescent), some of the flavors, the entree arrived lukewarm. This would be okay if the food were exemplary, but it wasn't. The food was mediocre (on par with what you would get at any run of the mill Indian joint, except for the grilled shrimp, which tasted like something I would make at home and not be very pleased with). There was one waitress working the entire restaurant.

Food was delicious. Good flavors, balanced, and new things to try. The service was a bit slow, especially as it got busy, and we had a hard time catching a server to get drinks, etc. Lots of families.

Super delicious, interesting and fun! Loved the cocktail, and all the food especially blue cheese naan and undhiyu kadhi. Very reasonable price for what you get.

Delicious & inventive Indian, but something needs to be fixed about the service. We ordered 4 items for 2 people and got each dish delivered half an hour apart, so we were there over 2 hours. When we asked the host about our food, it didn't speed up the process, but it did result in duplicate charges on our bill. I can only recommend this restaurant if you are eating family style (one dish at a time would have been awkward if we weren't sharing) and literally don't care about time. My companion had been here once before and also complained about the service on his previous visit, so it seems like a persistent problem rather than a bad night.

Cool atmosphere and idea but waiters don’t walk you through the menu or provide direction for the experience. Food was good, but nothing to get too excited for.

Server had no clue
Food was good
Sat in empty restaurant in middle of dining room seems silly
They try hard though

Incredible lamb chops. 10/10 would recommend for its creative take on Indian classics

Good, authentic food. I am from the land so I know a little about how it’s supposed to taste :)... I would say though the food was great, I was confused on the main course - if it came with bread/rice or not. I mean it’s an Indian restaurant. We ended up ordering more bread than needed because our host didn’t specify that the entrees came with bread and rice.

The food was phenomenal! It was authentic tasting with a western twist
Chef patel came out and greeted us ...humble and passionate about her cooking !

We loved our experience hope to come back !

Still in its first 100 or so days, Besharam is a vibrant entrant to the San Francisco food scene. The food was inventive and flavorful. The cocktails were terrific and paired beautifully. Can't wait to see how this new gem evolves over time, and it's even more satisfying that they are working with Restaurant Opportunities Centers on social justice issues.

Do not let my, and other, reviews of slow service stop you from going to Besharam! We regularly eat out in the City and if a review mentions bad service, we might stay away. Howver, the great food and friendly service here more than make up for the very very slow service. Make a reservation and just reconcile yourself that the food is worth delays in cocktails and courses and checks. Our party of 5 tried various craft cocktails, as well as a standard Martini. All delicious. We also tried just about every appetizer and main course on the menu, and were like OMG after every one. That good!! Creative, authentic, fun. All host and service staff were very friendly, just their bandwidth is stretched. It seems like they started the evening with only 2 or so staff, and by the time extra staff arrived, it was too late to get back on track. But: Go, enjoy...this place is a ‘must visit.’

Slow service, food only ok, Katy Perry blasting, overpriced

Lovely twist on Bengali cuisine. Nice staff and excellent food. He pre fixed menu is an excellent value. The venue can be a bit loud and the staff has a lot to cover but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

There are quite a few Modern Indian cuisine restaurant in SF that offer a hipster take on classics. IMHO, this one hits the spot for taste, innovation and authenticity.
We go for Sunday brunch and have never been disappointed.
Thumbs up for #HipsterIndianCuisine

Read and article and decided to give it a try - OMG! Impressed! They first blew our minds as our server, Michelle, who enthusiastically walked us through the philosophy and food descriptions and helped guide us in our selections. Indian food with a twist - and what a spectacular twist. Everything was amazing - we were there for lunch and she told stories about their dinner and brunch menus and we are hooked. Chef came out and spoke to us too - was a lovely lady. The food has a kick to it, but if you cannot handle spicy, just let the kitchen know - what a beautiful way they have about themselves to understand customer preferences. We will be back - just LOVED it!!!

The service needs to step it up. I've been there twice and both times I've had just awful service. I was hoping the first time was just a fluke as they were new, but unfortunately it hasn't gotten any better. The food is superb- I liked everything I had. Not sure this place will be there long if they don't step up front of house.

A great concept that was overshadowed by extremely mediocre service riddled with amateur mistakes. At the very least, the server could have been more attentive. If you can’t balance checking food, welcoming new guests, and following up with current guests within a 10 minute time span, something is wrong. Does Besharam not have the money to pay for quality servers or do they not do an effective job of training? There was a span of 30 minutes before my server came back. I did not even stay for dessert, even though I had paid for it via the pre fixed price. I ate a few bites of my main entree which came 40 minutes after the previous course and then I had to run to my next engagement. Truly, an incredible disappointment that was, in the end, greeted without any remorse or compensation —a sure fire solidification of one of the worst restaurant experiences I’ve had to date. Luckily, my girlfriend’s birthday was not ruined by this blip in our evening.

Bottomless mimosa lab was fabulous. Raspberry rhubarb was my favorite. Entree was solid but didn’t knock my socks off. Lots of other creative menu choices though, so I’ll be back. Friendly, attentive service.

Our server was great - she was attentive and provided details on questions my friend and I had about the food.
When I booked the reservation the dinner menu was a la cart however when we dined the dinner menu had changed to a pre fix menu. I'm a picky eater and was disappointed that the menu had changed - I would not had gone here for dinner had I known that was going to happen (I realized this a few hours before and it was too late tot change plans).
The food was fine, my lamb entree was very fatty and a small portion.
If you want to try a variety of foods then this might be good for you - if you are specific about what you eat then the pre fix menu isn't the way to go.
Also, we sat at a communal table even though we had reservations. I didn't see any tables for two people (4 people , bar seating or communal table).

Pretty disappointed. Bad service. Ok food. Wouldn’t recommend.

Amazing dining experience! The flavors of some of the dishes we’re familiar, but their presentation & preparation were fabulously unique. We were able to try the new tasting menu which had only been out for 5 days, and couldn’t be happier that we had the opportunity to taste nearly everything! Chef Heena puts so much love & attention to detail into her food - every dish was deliciously made & vivid in their colorful presentation. This place gives you the taste, feel & experience of being in someone’s home but with a thoroughly personal spin. Highly recommend! (we will be going back for their brunch ASAP<3)

Delicious food and great service. Fun adaptations of some traditional Indian dishes and friendly staff. Great addition to the neighborhood!

I love the relaxed feel of this place – like a comfortable dining room in a friends home. I definitely would return to try more dishes.

We had seen an article on the mural in the restaurant and then read up a bit more on the restaurant. We liked the concept and decided to try for a Saturday Brunch to celebrate my birthday (a little early - but family is traveling). The service, despite it being almost empty, was slow. They did agree to substitute the paneer with chicken in the Paneer Makhani dish - surprisingly there was no other chicken option, other than the waffle + fried chicken. They charged us $4 extra which seemed a bit much, but turned out to be a great decision. The Fried chicken, which was on the menu, was delivered burnt. The Paneer Makhani was average, like any other Indian restaurant - hence definitely not value for money - perhaps the flavor suited the chicken more. It is quite surprising that they charge almost double but don't deliver the quality for the price. Our server also made sure that we knew that 4% of the 18% charge for tip was for healthcare. So I included the extra 4% but did not think it was justified. On second thoughts, while she should have been faster, I suspect that the burnt chicken was the cause.

We ordered all vegetarian and vegan dishes. Everything was really delicious. It's a small place, so good for small groups, but I would not say a very kid friendly place. I am Gujarati and it was nice to go to a restaurant that served food I grew up with.

We had a strange experience. The bartender who turned out later to be our waitress as well, didn't seem to know what she was doing or what she had at the bar. Kept telling us she was out of something and then finding something. At the end of the meal she informed us that even though the gratuity was included, she didn't get it directly so we could leave extra just for her.
My friend and I were pretty surprised to put it mildly!