Gilberth’s Rotisserie & Grill

Great food, great prices. Highly recommend!
My coworkers and I picked this up today and what a great decision it was.
Try the yucca fries!

All I can say is the Yucca fries! I repeat the Yucca fries! Don’t get me wrong I’ve tried a few of their plates for lunch and recommend to give them a visit… But my affliction again the Yucca fries!

I used to eat lunch here daily when I worked in the area, often with a cool friend who had great ideas on customising her meal. Gilberths were always willing to comply with the unusual but interesting requests. My tastes were more simple but the food was always at or beyond expectations.

Dinner review.
Wild boar empanada — ⁴⁄₅
Chicharone — ²⁄₅
Fried brussel sprouts — ⁵⁄₅
Alligator tacos — ²⁄₅
Rotisserie chicken — ³⁄₅
Lamb chorizo burger — ⁴⁄₅
Fried apple pie — ³⁄₅
Churritos — ⁵⁄₅
Overall, «I’m a fan.»

The ceviche… holy god. What the hell have I been eating my whole life? We got here early, so the place was empty. The fried brussel sprouts were excellent; basically everything spicy fries try to be.
At first bite, the chicken was a little underwhelming. The missing step was to squeeze the grilled lemon over the top. It really made the flavors pop. What a rhyme!
The couple that sat down next to us smelled like baby powder. That’s not the restaurants fault! By then, we were about ready to go. Go early like we did, enjoy a margarita and the sunset. Great service, great restaurant!

Price: Definitely order the rotisserie chicken half pound. For $ 14, it’s a ton of food for the money. But they get you with the $ 5 sides. I recommend the papas fritas on the side, they are very good.
Quality: All of the food for the most part was delicious, but I guess I can nitpick. I wish the skin on the rotisserie chicken was crispier, but it was softer and didn’t feel like it was seasoned. The sweet corn is very good, but not sure how to eat it with the sour cream. Seemed like an odd match. The crispy pork belly was amazing.
Service: Food came out in a timely manner, and wait staff was very attentive.

Ordered lunch from here. I got a Chancho Sandwich– pork loin, bacon, prosciutto, gruyère, and red wine braised fennel. I love all of that so I had high hopes for my sammich… I thought it might be salty, but it was way saltier than I expected.
I’ve heard good things about Gilbirth’s so I was sad that I didn’t hit it off with the sandwich. Maybe something else next time.

Overpriced for the portions. The only dish with a decent value are the plantains. I spent $ 40 and was still hungry.
If you had to order here, I would recommend the carne, polenta, gnocchi, Brussels sprouts, pork belly, and plantains (obviously).
Duck was too dry for me.
All the plates come out ridiculously hot.
With all that I ordered, I am quite disappointed. No wonder this place is pretty empty.

This was an absolutely delicious meal! I ate here a few times and this was with my gf on the later side one night so we were not super hungry.
We ordered the ½ chicken and a Palmito Asado salad to split and it was plenty of food for us. It was also super tasty! Highly recommend for a nice casual dinner.
The space is small, so you are close to your neighbors and the noise travels a bit, but the service has always been very quick and kind and the food is great.

3.5 stars. Cool vibe. Came here at 630 PM on a Wednesday and was not busy at all. Had the Brussel sprouts which were pretty amazing. Then had a beet appetizer which was also good. My main course was the braised pork– good, but a little dry. Service, however was a little disappointing. For as slow as they were, the servers were not attentive at all. Sure they were nice, but not attentive. The food did come out quickly, though.

What an exceptional meal! Two of us shared everything. The flavor combinations were unique and were not something that I could easily replicate at home. This is a great location for a romantic dinner date!
We started with the brussels sprouts appetizer ($ 8), which was delicious. The quartered brussels sprouts had a dark roasted color and a lemon and grated manchego cheese flavor.
Then we shared the salad with roasted carrots and kale, also good ($ 8), but overshadowed by the brussels sprouts.
We had the ribs and steak entrees. The ribs had a spicy tomato-​based barbeque sauce and were super tender. ($ 15), and came with a side of quinoa with black beans. The steak entrée ($ 25) was tender and had a nice charred flavor and a buttery sauce on top, served over roasted carrots with a side of roasted potatoes: soft on the inside, and crunchy on the outside.
Flan for dessert ($ 8), with tasty French Press coffee ($ 4).

It was dark, loud, our table was slanted and too close to the people next to us. The service wasn’t great. The food was okay. We shared a lot of small plates. sweet corn, empanadas, alligator tacos, and brussels sprouts. The alligator was tough, the brussels sprouts were salty, and the empanadas were dry. The corn was the best part of the meal — otherwise I would’ve given it two stars.

This is such a hidden gem in the middle of the Dogpatch. We had lived in San Francisco for a year and decided to try new restaurants in a new area. We walked by Gilberts and decided to have dinner here. It was a weeknight so there was no wait. The food and service were so great! My favorites were the brussel sprouts and the sweet potato fries! We ordered a variety of dishes to try and everything was delicious. We will definitely be back whenever we are back in the city.

Food: There are definite highlights. Yucca fries with the aioli. Deep fried goodness! Overall, the food is average with some highlights here and there (ie — very yummy mozzarella sandwich but I wish that the bread was «thinner» — it is too much bread).
Service: Average. I’ve been going here for 1.5 years and they always feel very overwhelmed and it translates to the customer. I feel like I’m putting them out when I order.

Was here for a quick lunch. Service was efficient, the food was solid and the ambience is great. Nothing incredibly fancy. It was low-​key and had a really good vibe.
Parking = street.
I recommend:
–The chimichurri steak sandwich — melt in my mouth delicious and the freaking bread alone gives me the chills.
–The brussel fries with manchengo cheese
— The churros (enough to share)
Price point is about $ 12 – 13 /​person, not including tip.
Enjoy!

I’ve been here for lunch twice now with my co-​workers. We usually come in a group of 5 to 6 and it’s perfect. If you come after 1 PM, there is plenty of seating on week days. I usually get the rotisserie chicken sandwich, which comes with a side salad for under $ 10.00. It’s perfect. The Yucca fries are also to die for.

This has become one of my go-​to spots since moving the office to Mission Bay. Gilberth’s sits rather unassumingly along a block of industrial chic businesses and is very pleasant in both décor and food offerings. Every single item I have ordered has been outstanding, and the staff seem to enjoy bringing you the food (which just makes it taste that much better). The sandwiches are a little messy, but worth every stray drop. Don’t forget to check the daily specials — even the burger was amazing.

I’m surprised at the history of reviews for this place. Service was very good. The people were friendly, response, and attentive. The atmosphere is fantastic.
The food was mediocre. Wild Boar tasted like some mediocre beef, a few other dishes were very average.
–Anand

It was an easy get-​together for a couple my immediate colleagues whom we really care about after a day in the wine country, and since they were moving in less than a week, I was trying to find a suitable place that wouldn’t present challenges related to either reservations or parking. Dogpatch seemed like a good idea, and since Jamie W. and I had just been to Piccino, I thought we should give Gilberth’s a try since advance word on Unilocal was pretty solid. Interestingly though, it’s rarely that full anytime we stroll by compared to the likes of Hard Knox Café, Long Bridge Pizza or Smokestack BBQ in the same neighborhood. I guess those are more grub places, and Gilberth’s aspires to be more like Piccino and Serpentine but with a Latin twist.
For a party of eight, it worked well. First, we started with appetizers. We shared the $ 12 Tacos de Lagarto, an intriguing variation that takes alligator meat and combines it with salsa fresca and fresh avocado, all of it sitting in a velvety sauce with a chocolate flavor called kuut bil paak (photo:
). An exotic treat. This was followed by a cheesy Cuban taster, the $ 8 Betabel Con Queso de Cabra, which combined baby beets, goat cheese and olive oil into a heated ramekin and was accompanied by toasted baguette slices (photo:
). A little salad was needed, so the $ 8 Lechuga Asada fit the bill with grilled little gem lettuce, bacon vinaigrette and Manchego cheese (photo:
).
The hit of this round definitely belonged to the $ 10 Bocadillios de Alce, another interesting use of game, this time elk sliders topped with roasted garlic slaw and served with simple potato chips (photo:
). Those were gone in record time. Marginally disappointing was the $ 10 Chicharon, which was tasty but a somewhat paltry portion of crispy pork belly, braised lentils, pickles onions and salsa cruda (photo:
). The entrees were good but paled in comparison to the jazzy starters with the $ 17 Cubano, a San Francisco-​style take on the classic sandwich with braised pork, pickles, gruyère cheese, tostones, oregano and aioli encased in a crispy tortilla a bit like a high-​end Hot Pocket (photo:
). A solid sandwich but rather overpriced for the quantity.
Better was the $ 26 Borrego al Coco, which was a nice shredded chunk of coconut-​braised lamb with mofongo, adobo sauce and cilantro pesto (photo:
). Now we’re talking Havana nights. We ended the evening with the $ 7 Churritos since they were eminently shareable, irresistible mini-​churros with a thick chocolate dipping sauce (photo:
). Overall it was a grand evening. Everyone was happy with the attentive service, especially when they stayed late to accommodate us. Jamie and I paid a second visit a few weeks later, and we were slightly less enthralled. It started well with the fiery $ 8 Grilled Shishito Peppers (photo:
). I moved on to the $ 12 Mejilliones al Vapor, which turned out to be a small bowl of baby mussels with crumbled chorizo, cherry tomatoes, jalapeños and olives (photo:
).
Delicious but the baby size threw me since I was expecting the more French bistro-​style, so this was a bit of a miss. I added the $ 8 Palmito Asado, and again, the rather paltry size disappointed me even with the bold flavors of grilled hearts of palm, arugula, avocado, grapefruit and toasted pepitas (photo:
). Jamie had more success with the size of his entrée, the $ 14 Hamburgesa de la Casa, a house favorite from what I could tell with Gilberth’s burger, lamb, chorizo and melted gruyère cheese with house made fries (photo:
). Although ordered as a side dish, the lightly fried Maduros (Plantains) worked nicely as a dessert as well (photo:
). When is that Cuban travel embargo lifting again?
FOOD — 4 stars… tasty Cuban dishes with a California-​style gourmet sensibility that works more than it doesn’t
AMBIANCE — 3.5 stars… fairly quiet and dimly lit space with some tables a bit crowded
SERVICE — 5 stars… quite stellar on both occasions
TOTAL — 4 stars… overall a genuine find in Dogpatch for fine Latin cuisine, a rarity for me and Jamie lately

???
(2 stars)
Cute space, too dim of lighting, ok food, not the best customer service. Kind staff but lack service.
IF the restaurant is ¹⁄₇ full, plenty of empty tables, and you squish all guest next to each other at the back tables, IF you decline a request of guests to move to an empty table elsewhere because ‘that’s for other people with reservations” (FYI it’s near closing and there’s only 5 people and over 25+ seats available), IF you don’t refill water the entire time yet other waitstaff walk around to fill waters at other tables NEXT to you but don’t ask you because it’s not their table — SOMETHING IS ABSOLUTELY WRONG WITH THIS RESTAURANT’S SERVICE.
1) who are these empty tables for? There aren’t any reservations. Nobody is here. Reserved for GHOSTS, imaginary friends, aliens, who?!
2) it’s not attractive for guests to call out waitstaff asking for water refills. Raising hand like grade school.
3) asked to get leftovers packed and was given a box. Maybe it’s do it yourself service here from fetching water to box your food.
4) the food was decent but for the prices expect customers to want service to match that
COSTILLIAS DE CERDO — guava glazed baby back ribs, rice, plantains. Plenty of ribs that are chewy and kind of tough with mediocre taste. Shouldn’t ribs almost worth an Andrew Jackson be fall off the bone? It wasn’t worth the $ 20. The place was so dim I could barely see the details of my food and how it was executed. The red rice and beans was typical. The plantains were very delicious. Perfect texture and sweetness.
CHICHARONES — this dish was way better than the babyback ribs. A crispy chicharron laid slightly covering the braised pork belly pieces. The braised pork belly was Succulent and everything a pork belly could ever be. The yucca purée was nice, reminded me of silky mash potatoes, the onion and pickled cabbage added an extra level of flavor!!! Highly recommend.
Will I be back? I really wanted to like this place but one try was enough.
Until the next review…