Cafe Arguello

Ah Man! I went there the other night. They were closed up and no longer in business. Some new place under construction and it took a moment to find out as there was no address on the front.
So, No more of this place. New place opening up looks a little promising.
Oh well, there goes the economy I guess.

If I could give zero stars, I would.
Food = old and nasty. Nothing was good
Ambiance = if you like a retired gypsy dancing around you while you eat, sure.
Service = zomg so bad. Didn’t get menu for 30 minutes, didnt get water until we requested 3 times, food took 40 minutes they tried charging us an extra sangria, bill took 220 minutes.
Do not come here. Save your money for bacon wrapped hot dogs instead.

i was hesitant to go after reading all of the negative reviews, however i’d purchased a groupon certificate worth $ 25. upon approaching the restaurant my friend said he’d already been there and knew it was no good already. ggggrrreeat. we head in there and it’s uncomfortably dead quiet and pretty empty. nothing grabbed my attention so we ordered exactly $ 25 worth of food. the guy said «small eaters, huh?,» which i don’t think he intentionally meant to be rude but it comes off that way.
half way through an at best mediocore dinner we saw, through the corners of our eyes, a homeless man pushing a cart around stopped and staring straight at us. we look at him and he looked away. we looked away and he began to stare again. then slowly the blob of a man began walking directly towards us. we can’t help but stare back and he got right up to our window and motioned for food, with his hand much like an Italian person would passionately press their fingertips together and against their lips. this man at least made dinner interesting and broke the silence of the restaurant a little bit. it’s not the greatest sight to see while trying to enjoy (totally not the right word cause the action of «enjoying,» we were not.) a meal.

My gf and I have a list of restaurants that we want to try and Café Arguello was next on my list. well it didn’t hurt that we had a
gift certificate. I came here relatively early but this was pretty much dead… unless you count the flies buzzing around. I was told this place would be a waste of my time I still had to see for myself… boy did I wish I listened.
So we decided to try some of the happy hour items and the regular menu,
shrimp-​my son loved it but it was nothing spectacular.
olives-​I think these were the highlight of my night.
chicken croquest-​these were ok.
potato in spicy sauce and «roasted potatoes» with aoili-​they were the same thing with different sauces… good thing it was only $ 3 each
mussels in white wine sauce-​much better at cha3
clams in wine sauce-​it was just alright
Valenciana-​their mixed paella… boy was I disappointed… I have had better at other places and for $ 38 what a rip.
Lomo De Res-​they totally overcooked my steak… I didn’t even want to complain. I just wanted to get the heck out of this place.
Seriously.I would just save my money next time instead of coming here. Or try any other place down mission or valencia… I think I would have a much better time. Also I didn’t like that the service was lacking… there were only 3 tables. $ 140 for 3 people… definitely not worth it… and there was no dessert.

Apparently overpriced, but we got the cheap happy hour version. The place was lit like a cave and the tables sticky.
When I asked for a Fat Tire like my girlfriend was drinking, the «waiter/​bartender» came back with another beer already poured and handed it to me, assuring me that «it’s just like it. i think better.» It wasn’t anything like it, and why not tell me you ran out of the beer before pouring what you want? since that beer sucked, I asked for an Anchor next, which of course he ran out of too. He went through the same schtick about this other beer being just like it, when in reality it was all he had left. Strange, considering there was only one other table of people there.

Date: March 5, 2009 @ 5:55 PM
Occasion: Another Girls’ Happy Hour with Heather, Jannette and Alexis
I dragged my girls to this place after coming here last week with another girlfriend.
Social Scene: Once again the place was empty. We were the only people there plus another couple. It is so sad that this place is dead given that there’s no shortage of interesting activities on Mission.
However, empty just meant service deluxe for us. It also meant that we were able to get louder, bolder and more dramatic with each glass of sangria without getting mean looks from other tables.
(No live entertainment tonight)
What we ordered:
2 Pitchers of Sangria
2 Patatas Bravas
1 order of Shrimp Croquette
2 orders of Plaintains with Black Beans
1 order of Chicken Croquette
1 order of Chorizo
As we got happily drunk we got louder. We became order happy and ordered more from both the $ 3 Happy Hour tapas menu and dinner menu except at this point my memory started to fade due to alcohol-​induced amnesia.
We had a blast!!!
Tab: $ 100.74. In my drunkeness I remembered I had a
coupon that was good for $ 25.00 which made our tab less than $ 100.
People, come to this place for loud, rambunctious Happy Hour!

No, guys, no.
Don’t even think of it. Hike a little bit to Picaro. You will get much better Spanish food for the same price. I went a Sunday and the place was dead.

Happy Hour Score.
First of all they participate in
Gift Certificates, so I was able to get a $ 25.00 gift certificate for $ 2.00. Yes. It was $ 10.00, then with a 80% promo code, reduced to $ 2.00.
Second, I got my family together at Happy Hour for $ 3.00 Tapas and $ 20.00 Pitchers of Sangria. It was really good. We went through 2 Pitchers and about 10 Happy Hour Plates and a couple of the regular menu.
My favorite «Happy Hour» Apps. were the olives, roasted potatoes and chicken croquettes. Off menu — the white fish ~ forgot which one and calamari.
This is a good place to go while meeting up with people or an after work happy hour. They even have live entertainment with a dancer/​guitar player who gets the crowd involved. She was sweet.

This place has a marketing problem, not a problem with its food or its service, at least in my opinion. The food itself was good, but I can’t comment on the service, since at 7 PM on a Sunday my friend and myself made up half the restaurant’s clientele for the evening (and we were there for well over two hours). Once the other group left, it was just my friend and myself in the restaurant for the remainder of the evening — they were open, but no one was there.
We ordered tapas from both the happy hour menu (for $ 3 each) and from the regular menu ($ 8-​$ 10 each). To the reviewer below who was upset with the quality of the $ 3 tapas, I’m not quite sure if you have a basis for a valid complaint — they are less than one third the price of the full menu tapas and probably shouldn’t be compared to full-​featured tapas at other tapas restaurants, because they are clearly designed for snacking and not the full tapas experience. They aren’t the same as the regular menu tapas at a happy hour price, they’re actually different, much-​simplified forms of the regular menu tapas. I like that, because it gives you something to munch on while drinking sangria for virtually no cost. I wish other places had items like this.
The full menu tapas were clearly much more sophisticated in terms of presentation and food quality. I really can’t rate the quality of the tapas objectively because I haven’t eaten tapas in Spain (as appears many of the other reviewers have, or at least claim to have) and it’s not a type of food that my friend would typically go for.
I will be coming back, at least for $ 2.75 sangria and snackable $ 3 tapas (between 5 – 7, weekends included) since the location is fairly accessible although not in the best neighborhood. The regular menu feels overpriced but in-​line with just about every other tapas restaurant that I’ve been to in SF. I don’t think this place is a tier below Cha Cha Cha, down the street, which is always packed, and I just think it needs to be promoted better, because I hadn’t heard of it until I was personally recommended it (and I spend most of my free time in the mission).

The sauce is amazing! hands down my favorite Tapa place in all of norcal.
«calamares en su tinta» is so unique, the «escalivada» is has just enough spice to not overwhelm the vegetables. The live music is also a big bonus!

This place is pretty understaffed and overpriced (for the neighborhood it’s in). They do have pretty good food, though. We had an empanada with spicy grilled tuna, olives in a garlic sauce, shrimp with fresh chile lime salsa (?), and turkey patties with chile sauce over black beans (these were delicious). like I said, the food is pretty good, but the place is a little pricey for the 24^th and Mission corner and they only had 1 server.
Take advantage of happy hour for sure, that’s what we did. 5−7pm, half off sangria (reg. $ 28 a pitcher) and $ 3 dollar tapas (limited menu). You will be drunk if you do it right.

A restaurant this big absolutely needs more than one server. However, the food was decent, the ambiance was great, and there was a tango dancer at the restaurant for a live performance. A group of us went there during a rainy Saturday for a nice talk, food, and wine. When we got there, they were having happy hour specials, so we ordered a bunch of potato cakes, shrimp scampi type dishes, breads, croquettes, and of course some sangria and wine. Their sangrias were well made for the price that we paid ($ 3 per glass!). The paella was disappointing — I didn’t know you could make paellas with linguini noodles. Also, the chicken and the andouille sausage didn’t have much flavor at all. Mediocre at best in my opinion.
What irritated me most was the service. There was one server manning the restaurant when we got there and we were the only one then — he was very slow then. An hour into our dinner — at least 10 more people came in, our service was getting really really slow.
I am not sure than I’ll return here other than to see the live tango performance, for good tapas and service, I’d go elsewhere…

Café Arguello is awesome. Our server was a bit weird, but who cares … my gf and I loved their paella and ordered poached pears for desert.
2 thumbs up … or 5 stars … whatever.

This place is so awesome. My boyfriend took me here for my birthday. The setting is amazing, there was dancing and guitar seranading. We ordered and customized a paella and afterwards we ordered poached pears. The food is delicious and together with the setting is just perfect.
However I don’t recommend this restaurant if your looking for a quiet place to talk, but if you like busy restaurants it’s perfect.

I’m onto you Café Arguello…
From the moment I stepped in I knew something was awry. The first thing that caught my attention were the stained white cushion seats. Most restaurant owners would know better than this. White cushions? I mean you’re asking for tacky stains and in a place that is supposed to be upscale? Unless…
I was tempted to wink and ask the waiter with the suspicious accent (who had to look at the menu to even know what I was talking about) for «the special» as I looked around at two patrons that had to be undercover detectives.
I don’t remember how the food tasted it was probably alright but I feel like I should say something nice about this place or I might find myself floating down the river. SO here goes, «Nice…tables.»
I walked by Café Arguello recently to see a big white poster on the front door that read «Alcohol License Suspended.» Is it just me?
Disclaimer: this is just me being silly on Unilocal.And if I knew of anything shady going on I wouldn’t say anything anyway, I’m Black, we don’t snitch.

Came for happy hour and left anything but happy. Sangria for $ 2.75 and tapas for $ 3?! Sounds like a steal until your waiter tells you to order a pitcher instead and you realize that the tapas are microscopic. We were told the pitchers would serve 10+ glasses but they served six at most. Pitchers were $ 28! We were duped. The food was decent. I preferred the hot tapas over the cold ones, though. The irony of it all was that the best tasting part of our meal was the FREE bread and dipping sauce. We went through probably five loaves.
There were five of us and we each spent $ 25. I had two glasses of sangria and shared about ten plates with my friends. Keep in mind the plates were the size of large coasters so none of us were full.
We left at 8pm and the place was COMPLETELY empty. Clearly, with good reason.

Its funny how when a group of nine ladies go out, its always gotta be for something.
Are you with a bachelorette party? –Do you see penis veils on any of us?
Is it a birthday party?- Only if it means we get free dessert.
Nine ladies out on the town… just cuz.
Got a reservation right away.
Had a belly dancer with castanets that performed during dinner… even convinced two of our ladies to dance with her. No occasion. Just cuz. Even taught us how to do it. Dinner, a show and lessons? Awesome.
We ordered one tapas plate each. Platanos, Mango shrimp, Empanadas, Green beans, Mushrooms, Some other stuff I’m forgetting… but it was all awesome.
Six of us shared sangria. The other three a bottle of wine. Left buzzed and full.
Best part was the fact that it only cost us $ 22 each. Seriously I get anxiety attacks when we go out for family style, split the check kind of meals. I’m usually a lot poorer than most the guests and when it comes to $ 40 -$ 60 a person… I cry a little inside. Not this night. This night…$ 22 was just my speed.

I wrote this review that kind of sucked, so after thinking about it, I’m actually going to give this place 2 stars instead of 3.
Things that are good: Sangria, the two tapas we ordered, live music.
Things that are not so good: Pretty much everything else.
I could barely understand the woman who eventually sat us at a table because she was mumbling like a psychopath. Another review mentioned the «delicious tomato dipping sauce that came with the bread,» but now that I think about it we never got any bread. The flatware was essentially thrown on the table. Getting the attention of the servers was nearly impossible, to the point that I almost convinced my girlfriend to just get up and leave. Unfortunately, she has a conscience.
I may end up trying this place again, maybe it was just an off night. But I don’t think I’ll be going out of my way to return.

This place appears some what out-​of-​place in the heart of the Mission. The interior and exterior is semi-​contemporary while the rest of the street are store fronts.
Hmmmm, tapas on a Saturday night
We sampled these tapas:
***** SALPICON DE CAMARON-​Lime marinated bay shrimp
**** ALCACHOFAS ALA VINAIGRETTE-​Marinated artichoke hearts
*** EMPANADA GALLEGA-​Empanadas with tuna and spices
*** PATATAS BRAVAS-​Home style potatoes coated with a spicy sauce.
Sliced French bread was served with a delicious smoked chipotle sauce. The menu offered a house specialty with a few selection of paellas to share. I had ordered the squid ink rice seafood paella. It was surprisingly good and loaded with baby octopus, squid, fish, scallops, and shrimp tossed in a blue-​black rice bed. The two of us who shared the paella couldn’t finish the paella after chasing down the tapas.
Carla Cruz proceeded to provide entertainment for the evening with her slow strumming and tapping sounds of her Latin guitar. Carla’s bright green dress flowed with a train for the Gypsy flamenco dance which followed.
Our waiter gave good service and was attentive.

This place makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like a gathering of impossibly soft pink bunnies. The interior painted in deep reds is not hip in the way ramblas or other tapas places are, and that’s perfectly alright with me. Café Arguello is more conducive to relaxing, taking a deep breath and slowing down your pace. In other words it’s about enjoying the company you’re with, and savoring the good food. I have only been here once but I do plan on coming back during happy hour (tapas are only $ 2). You really can’t get a better deal than that.
For tapas I sampled the mejillones a la marinera. Mussels steamed in white wine, and served with a red sauce. I forgot my manners for a second and just cleaned that plate dry with every morsel of bread. The tortas espanolas, and other tapas had the same effect on me. It was just all around good food. The sangria, was one of the better versions I’ve had in a restaurant. I’m no lightweight, but this sangria had me walking around with flushed cheeks, giggling at random objects and mumbling silly comments. Liked it so much that when the sangria was finished and only the fruit remained I just reached into that pitcher and grabbed a handful of fruit. Total loss of composure there, but what was I to do when utensils were already cleared, the waitress not in sight, and the fruit stubbornly stuck to the bottom of pitcher? I guess forgetting manners was a theme for the night.
Sampling of conversation after 3 – 4 sangrias: Haahahaahaha, my cheeks hurt from all this laughing. PAUSE. hehehehe, can’t breathe, body is all tingly (clutching stomach in pain). hahahaha, damn we licked this plate clean. hahaha stop making me laugh!
I stumbled out of the restaurant, and hit the bed with a thud. That night I enjoyed the soundest sleep, much needed as of late.