Francisca's

My girlfriend and I had a wonderful time at Francisca's! We got the tasting menu with wine pairings, which is a great deal at ~$80! The chef, Manny, is a character who not only cooks amazing food but greets everyone personally when they sit down to eat. The food is sort of an eclectic mix of Italian and Caribbean food, and every dish was spectacular. If I have anything negative to say, it was that the service was sometimes a little uncoordinated (e.g. wine pairing coming a little before or delayed after the course it was supposed to come with), but the food and wine were amazing and the ambiance was truly unique.

I love this place! Wonderful food and the people are incredibly nice.

Spectacular food made by a talented chef and crew. They remembered us when we came back a second time! A great value for the money. We will return often!

We had the vegetarian 5-course tasting menu. No salad, no protein. Two courses were extremely simple carbs (white pasta with a sliced mushroom, and a bowl of creamy white rice). The standard dessert was panna cotta topped with fruit, but instead of making a vegetarian dessert they just served us a bowl of the fruit topping. I would pay $25 tops for this meal. Definitely not worth $39.

First time here. Great experience. Our friend had the tasting menu which was a great value, delicious, and nicely served. Two of us had the chicken arepa and I had a salad. All lovingly prepared and excellent. We hit it on a slow night which Manny says was due to Burning Man. I would have thought a restaurant of this caliber would have been crazy busy. Manny and his wife, Katerina, were super hosts and one of the highlights. Will definitely return.

Manuel's flavors and presentations are terrific. The place is a little out of the way from where we live and definitely minimalist. But the service could not have been more attentive and individualized.

We didn’t order the four course dinner which seemed to aggravate the waitress
Decided on tacos. The waitress was rather rude telling us that we could not have two beef and two chicken tacos so we ordered and order of each and switched plates...rather irritating. The tacos were very small, with little on top,and only one very small greasy premade tortilla. The food was old, cold, and very greasy served on paper. Including an order of lukewarm yucca and a dab of sauce Without any wine or beer the bill was$45...what a ripoff. Saturday night it was empty and I can see why.
We will not be returning

Delicious tasting menu. Small but excellent wine list

It was spectacular. Highly recommend

Francisca's is an undiscovered gem on the San Francisco dining scene, I'm always surprised it isn't booked solid when we go there. It's excellent, high-end food at what, for the quality, is a reasonable price. The service is good, not stuffy. The wine list isn't extensive which might be an issue for some folks but it was fine for us. We bring our high school aged kids here and they love the food and are comfortable in the space, which isn't always true of restaurants of this quality. Of course they're San Francisco foodies so your mileage may vary. It can get loud later on in the evening, but early on it's quite comfortable.

I would absolutely recommend this restaurant. Delicious, innovative & beautifully presented food. 5 star food at 3 star prices.

Delightful place, and a great value. We had the tasting menu, and plan to go back soon for the arepas.

It was my birthday dinner and it was wonderful!! Great service excellent food and perfect ambiance !!

Really fun evening! Great, unusual food (high end without being stuffy), amazing owners/staff. We got the tasting menu- wonderful!!!
We live in the east bay and will definitely go back.

Nice tasting menu from SF Funcheap. Good, fresh fruit cocktails (made with soju). Be sure to mention the 2-1 cocktail special, and the 5th course on the four course tasting menu advertised on funcheap. We ended up liking the fifth course best! Very reasonable prices for a tasting menu in San Francisco. You can tell the chef takes pride in his work. The staff was also wonderful. Very attentive. Still, this is not a michelin star type dining experience. Same utensils throughout the 5 courses. Intriguingly shaped plates. Medium size portions. I'd go again. Great location (just South of central Mission District and before Bernal Heights)>

Fantastic food and outstanding service. The problem is the noise. The music was extremely loud when we walked in...so loud that we almost walked out. When we couldn't understand the waiter when he told use about the menu, we asked him to turn it down, and fortunately he did. But the acoustics in the restaurant are still poor, so a loud table can make a big difference. Some acoustical tiles might make a big difference.

The portions were really small. I am not a big eater but I was still hungry after dinner, so disappointed.

Francisca's was a great find. I will gladly go again.

We had a good time. The menu was limited & they had run out of a few dishes but overall, it was a good experience.

This place offers incredible value for the money. The food was great!

Wonderful four-course meal (interesting, creative, riffs on Italian fare); they accommodated two vegetarians. The four-course is reasonably priced by SF standards. Service is personal. Sommelier was very knowledgeable and we just went with what she suggested. Very festive environment. It is loud/energetic. Owner, I definitely recommend a "padded" side or corner for us older folks (over 50).

We enjoyed the four course fixed price dinner with drinks. Wine also is very reasonable. Service was excellent, overall a fun experience!

Ambience and service were absolutely great! My only complaint is that the portions are small. It's all about the presentation of the food. So don't come here starving. Have a snack before you go.

A solid outing but maybe not quite as good as the dinner I enjoyed here before. The French Toast was reasonably tasty. They do not provide syrup but the french toast had a sauce on them that was just as good as syrup. It comes with potatoes which were good though not remarkable. I had a side order of fried yucca which is akin to french fries (more like actual chips in fish and chips) and were pretty tasty. It was accompanied by a tasty dipping sauce. Coffee was outstanding but is charged by the cup (not disclosed when I asked for a second cup which I foolishly assumed be a refill)--at $3.75 per cup the bill can escalate. For those who prefer alcohol the restaurant offers bottomless mimosas at $12 which seems like a bargain. Service was very attentive throughout the meal. While I would come back from time to time I really do think dinner really stands out much more.

I tried a chicken arepa and a burrata arepa. My wife and I split a caesar salad. Everything was delicious.
We enjoyed chatting with the chef.

Interesting food and lively atmosphere with only fair service. We went to celebrate a birthday, they forgot about it, and said they do not comp a dessert in such situations.

Manny the owner was so personable and offerred many suggestions for diet restricted individuals. You can beat the $15 corkrage

As vegans, the menu was a delight. Great flavors, good service.
I look forward to returning. I just wish the owners would do something about the noise levels. There's nothing in the restaurant to dampen the noise, and we could barely hear the descriptions of the food or each other across the table. Could have been just one of those nights...

Presentation was nice, flavors were average or above average, value was poor (small portions).

We picked Francisca's as the Chronicle had it in its Top 100 restaurants in the bay area. Much of its write up focused on how friendly the husband/wife team are, and that you felt as welcome as a member of the family. Must be a pretty dysfunctional family and we were the black sheep or something as they were terribly unfriendly from start to finish. No warm welcome, just taken to a table and handed menus. No explanation of the menu. Three of our party ordered the four course fixed menu and I ordered just tacos. Imagine my surprise when my tacos arrived immediately and prior to my companions even receiving their appetizer. Awkward at best. Not a nice experience at all and the food was just fine, great standout in anyway.

Wow, what an amazing experience! Delicious, fresh & healthy food, creatively designed & executed, served with warm, personal attention by the chef and hostess, at unbeatable prices. In San Francisco, no less - we will be back, again & again!

I dined there once. It was so exciting and good, I dined there again...and brought 2 more friends. I will dine there again - as often as possible.

I had a wonderful meal at Francisca's. The tasting menu is a real bargain at $39. It is very filling without being too much food. Very satisfying! The cuisine the night I dined was Venezuelan oriented with which I was completely unfamiliar. The soup which had a black bean base was silky smooth and flavorful. The gnocchi is made from yucca and totally delicious. It was supposed to be augmented with lamb. I am not not a fan of lamb but Chef Manny substituted chicken instead--a kind and generous accommodation. I added an arepas dish was was especially delicious. The dessert was a generous portion of ice cream with homemade churros which was a lovely way to finish the meal. The restaurant itself is on the austere side but totally comfortable. The restaurant is very clean as is the spacious bathroom I visited. The service was attentive throughout my visit. Chef Manny is friendly and outgoing--a perfect representative for his establishment. I definitely want to go back and try some of the Venezuelan style tacos. I also want to try their weekend brunch as well
The menu for that sounds great. Francisca's makes a point of offering vegetarian options and Saturday brunch is totally vegetarian. This is great news for friends and family who lean in this direction. I enjoyed my meal and my dining experience. I definitely will spread the word and will certainly go back very soon myself.

Food was very good. Ambiance relaxed and fun. Love the owner/chef Manny, who made a point of coming to our tables, explaining some of the food and making us feel welcome. Totally able to easily flex vegetarian vegan etc.

This is a hidden gem! Serving beautiful food at a fair price. Everything on the tasting menu was delicious.

Terrible service, bad food. Poorly described sandwich was the only thing worth eating.

Unbelievably loud. That alone would stop us from returning. We all had fixed price menu. The service was excellent, but; while the food was good and the presentation lovely, there was very little to actually eat. 2 of us went home and ate.

Wouldn’t return although 3 blocks from my house. Too much noise, too little food. Having a friendly chef doesn’t make up for that.

What great value. The 4-course menu is 3-4 times less expensive than "downtown" restaurants. Beautiful presentations. My only complaint is the noise level need to be contained.Perhaps accoustic panels hung from the ceiling...carpeting?

What a treat! I discovered Manny many years ago at Mr. Pollo and was super excited to try out Francisca’s. I took a friend from NYC. It absolutely lived up to my hyped-up expectations. The food is sublime. We got the tacos and arepas, but the tasting menu was being served all around us and looked amazing. That next! There was a moment where I felt like the 80s music was a little loud, or maybe it was that the loud music was a little 80s, but it only lasted a few songs and then both the volume and quality of the music were perfect :)

This is the kind of place that is worth coming back to again and again, as Manny is the ultimate host and always stops by the table to give extra attention to his "regulars." I absolutely LOVE the tasting menus...always a great variety, and the wine pairing is totally worth it! Great food, great service, great host.