Balboa Cafe Review

The best place to have a drink or meal. Great service, great food and drink, great patrons. A great place to be social and meet new people. An SF institution.

Balboa Cafe is so yummy - I've dined here for dinner a few times before and one time for brunch. The quality, service, and ambiance in general deserves 5 stars.

Fun place at the Marina. Outdoor dining. Good food and drinks. Masks required.

Balboa Cafe is known as the the place to hookup with MILFs and Cougars. It's one of the major destinations in the Blue Triangle nightlife spot of the Marina. I feel short there because the average guy is 6'5" and the women are about 5'10". Most of the people are blonde and seem to be So Cal or Marin Transplants. Speaking of transplants, the women often have fake boobs, face pulls, and Botox.

Oh, by the way, the food is legit. The burgers are awesome!

Great if you want to go cougar watching or want an espresso martini

I think this place is a bit too overpriced for what they give you.

Worst service I have ever experienced. Travel the world for work and like to find great place for a pint and people watch. Do not go there! All I can say.

A long time top-spot in San Francisco because of its high standards, genteel ambience and well-dressed clientele

Service and food is really good here. It's old school San Francisco. Definitely five stars

Wonderful food and service. Best Bloody Mary's in town.

The Damage (no drinks): $45-55 for two

Neighborhood bistro serving classic and reimagined American cuisine. Service is warm. We liked the soups and pasta as well as the Cheesecake

~~TRY :
// Cheesecake
// Todays Pasta
// Todays Soup

~~OKAY :
// Petit Filet

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Nice place, good vibe, ok food, ok drink .... but when an Italian friend raised his hand to a bald waiter, he was harassed out loud and for everyone to hear in good tone that this gesture is rude, my friend asked for a break , was upset and the waiter continued to harass. It was my first time in this bar and I don't like to complain, but I think it would be better for him to explain the culture that is different and my friend is a good guy. Anyway my friend failed, I agree with the waiter, but it was unnecessary and as rude as raising a hand.

The french roll burger is one of a kind, nice location and has an old yacht club type feel to it

Used to be very fun and homey, now too uppity for my taste. Expensive too.

This is the place.
This is a lifestyle.

Traditional and conservative bar and restaurant for professionals. Its a great spot for breaking bread.

Younger crowd, 25-40, Saturday night. Good vibe. Used to be an older crowd.

Good spot for a drink with indoor and outdoor seating. Large bar with plenty of space and a fun, upscale vibe.

Great burgers great ambiance good and great service

You get what you pay for at this neighborhood eatery, and then some. I like it a lot. A whole lot.

Good bartenders. Good food. Good place to meet people

Fun popular place that has a mixed crowd. Staff and clients are personable and friendly. Good place to go to meet someone. Dinner was good too

Very nice place nice staff sitting out side is not that bad win you half people like this serving you great.

The more things change the more they stay the same. In this case, that's good. The classic American menu is still tasteful and tasty. With its hub corner location in the "Triangle," picture windows filling the long walls, and cool crowd of tourists and locals, this place has timeless lively vibe.

Very good late night snack and scene. There's a few great spots in the Marian, this is definitely one of the best!

The chicken popcorn is better each time there. I love their new green tea drink that has pink bubble and white color in the middle looks like cream or something.

Old standby spot. Perfect spot for some drinks and maybe a burger. Always a nice crowd at the bar. Top service.

A great neighborhood cafe, great food and friendly staff. Go there every time I am in SF. Walk around the neighborhood to get a sense of place.

The mob of drunken fratboys pour into the intersection at 2 am. Josh, egged on by his equally inebriated brothers, vomits onto a passing car's windshield. They cheer wildly, chant his name, Josh, Josh, Josh! Another legendary night to add to others dimly remembered.

My friend and I went into the Balboa Cafe around 7:00pm on a Thursday evening and immediately were shown to a small table in a little nook. We thought it was great because we could hear each other and converse while we drank our Manhattans (which were quite good). Then we noticed as the restaurant filled up we could no longer hear one another at all. When I read reviews saying that this restaurant has great "atmosphere" or "ambience" I wonder if they ate at the same place or did that reviewer eat there when the restaurant was not busy. The din was deafening.

I ate at the Balboa Cafe last time about forty years ago. The interior hasn't changed much since then so I don't understand why the acoustics are so much worse.

We both had an Ahi Tuna Salad that was quite good and an artichoke appetizer what was yummy and complex. So, the food and service were fine, but I won't go back without noise canceling headphones.

Raucous, sceney, boozy, in a classic atmosphere. A fun place to day drink & people watch.

Pleasant outdoor eating with a ncely varied menu with great attentive service.

Really comfortable neighborhood restaurant not packed with tourist. The people watching is enjoyable. The menu is good top to bottom. The artichoke is fantastick. Great wine selection, and superior mixologists at the bar.

Bartenders in white coats with an upscale vibe. This is a good place to be seen and meet someone new. If you like your Bloody Mary's spicy this place has you covered.

Great service. Excellent bloody Mary. Spicy like I enjoy it.

I love Balboa Cafe. A great place for food or drinks. On a really cold night grab a hot buttered rum and it will keep you warm for the rest of the night.

excellent food and oh so convenient! don't miss the creme brulee.

This is the classic multi generation, upscale, fun bar where the bartenders wear their signature white coats. Packed nearly every night with all ages and ofeir bartenders wear white coatsten flirting between the age groups (cougars prowl on addition to middle age male revivals). Their burger is excellent as are several of their food items. Enjoy the food if you go early enough to eat, love the crowd as it evolves throughout the evening.

Solid, classic style bar and restaurant with bar tenders that can make real cocktails and a kitchen turning out reliably good eats. Don't let the dated sign or 'saloon' title fool you, the food is excellent. The menu features many familiar favorites like pork chops, scallops, deviled eggs, and seared salmon, all prepared in a classic style with just a small, unobnoxious twist (unlike some places that try to reinvest familiar foods and wind up ruining them in the process).

The pick up place if you're new to town, 20 to 30, and like to brag about the 45 foot sailboat & BMW you don't have. I guess the women must feel this is the best they can get & they might find a guy they can change & mold into what they deserve. Unless one of those older guys really do have a BMW & a cabin at Tahoe. Then they can dump one of the 22 year olds for the real deal. Hard to believe any woman would believe any of these pick up lines.

Great service. I didn t have to wait long. Friendly staff & good food.

Come get yourself an old fashion!
Comfortable and entertaining staff with a rich atmosphere that makes you wish bar itself could stat telling it's stories.

This place gets a bad rep bc of all the Marina goons that frequent this bar but the food was excellent. This is the full white tablecloth service within a traditional setting so you should know what you re in for. Between the prime rib, wine selection, and fried calamari, this was exactly what anyone would want on a Sunday evening. Can t wait to come back and yes, the food was as good as the picture.

Cougar mecca! The people watching is always fun here, the mixologists do it right on the cocktails, staff is always nice and will check-in to make sure you're drinks get refilled. A fun spot for drinks on the weekend, but can be tricky to get a seat. Great for a calm experience during brunch and lunch hours. Definitely crush your hangover with their burger! It's big, juicy, and packed with flavor.

Nice night ambiance. Looks like a very nice and safe neighborhood.

Sitting on the sidewalk drinking delicious wine in the sunshine... things could be worse. A great spot to while away a lunchtime. Food was equally good, and the staff was exceptional taking great pride in their service and really looked after us well. Given it was kinda busy, it was surprising that we weren't chased away to give up our table for new customers. That was a nice touch. Great spot, definitely recommend!

It's cool rather go somewhere else but the wife loves going there.

Cool place to watch the game on Sunday!
Good drinks and food.

Some of the best people in San Francisco work here. Owners amazing. Great food. Must try. Crab is wonderful. Cheers

Bright and busy bar that's also an excellent place to bring your ladyfriend. Snacks are a little pricey but delicious, so don't be a meanie and treat yourself. The bar may only get four stars from me but the staff get five. Knowledgable, friendly and attentive. Local or visitor, you'll enjoy this place.

I love balboa! Great burgers, fries, and cocktails! Also, the Guinness on tap is quite delicious from here.

Great breakfast, burgers, cocktails, and more! Friendly staff.

If you speak English this place you will love, great place to meet very beautiful people

an bartenders are pretty rude. older crowd and very clique...

The manager is extremely lazy and rude. Tall older white man with glasses. Lazy.

I used to live around the corner and I would go here often for the Balboa burger. Perfectly cooked juicy patty with pickled onions on a baguette. Yum. And I love the feel of the place, very old school.

Lively watering hole with decent cocktails and service. I especially liked the boulevardier they made me. It can get a bit loud though.

Nice and relaxing place. Cute setting. Nice to meet locals!

The food was very tasty, was there for a company lunch. The prices seemed higher than I would have paid for the meal and drinks. Was there during the holidays, where they had specialty cocktails that were a little disappointing.

Discover due to my colleague, and for the year I've work near them, always welcomed event really late, with smiles.

I was so excited to finally go out to restaurant. But did a wrong choice with this place.
I don t care that you should order at least plate per person, and 90min sitting limit, even not very friendly waitresses. It s all not a big problem for me.
Only fried calamari was just so bad, not any flavor, probably made from frozen seafood. And it was $16, expensive for frozen food.
2 stars for sunny outside sitting.

Always excellent food, eggs benedict is delicious and the fried chicken sandwich is the bomb

I am writing this review in the hopes that management will pay attention and move to correct whatever is going on.



I ordered a petite filet. What arrived was neither petite, nor a filet. The two chunks of dry, tough beef looked more like they had been carved off a tri-tip roast. I've had flank steak more tender. It was served on a bed of watery mashed potatoes and overly salted brussel sprouts roasted beyond recognition. (This idea of serving a main course on a bed of anything is a fashion that I hope will end soon. I am perfectly capable of mushing everything on my plate together if I so choose--not having a choice is a bit offensive.)

This is the second time I've had a bad experience at the Balboa in the last month, or so. Something is wrong--I hope it can be corrected. I really like this place. Always good service, good drinks and until now, good (sometimes great) food.