Kezar Bar & Restaurant

Nice bar in Cole Valley. Came here on a rainy Friday for post-​dinner drinks and was able to score a table. Nice interior and attentive hosts. All the more reason to come back for dinner.
Though, it was a little awkward having a little girl play on the phone as the strong, but delicious Boulevardier I had quickly helped me turn up. Oh well. :/

Have to update this highly outdated review. Service is way better than it was years ago. They are really nice and make you feel comfortable. But really, what I need to make clear, is that the food here is most excellent. It is fresh, always tasty, and the rotating specials are great. It has a mexican/​latin flair to it that you just would not expect, and they execute it consistently well. Also… their drinks are great. Not fancy, but great. An amazing value… the kind of old school, large, over poured but tasty drink you can’t find much of any more! I love this place.

So the owner reached out via FB and was responsive to my concerns. However there was no appreciation that I went to social media BECAUSE the staff on duty basically blamed me for complaining about the situation.

I had the Lamb Burger with Feta Cheese here and I highly recommend it. The burger is prepared just right, so lean, tender and juicy. The feta cheese goes perfectly with the burger — unless you’re allergic, don’t order the burger without it! I know I should probably try other burger places in the city, but I can’t wait to find an excuse to go back soon.

It tasted so nice for me and all my boys. We are Iike those kings who ate that time. Awww. It was a real nice for us. My boys.

Stopped in kinda early this evening for a burger and a glass (or 2) of wine. This spot is in my hood and I don’t know why I have never stopped in here. Burger was juicy and perfectly cooked. The ingredients and toppings are all house made (bun too!) and are delicious. Fries were perfect.
I see a lot of reviews for slow service but my waitress was awesomely attentive and responsive. This could be because I was early.
Overall I loved it and see myself coming back for more.

We used to live in this neighborhood and visit Kezar every week in the nineties. Lovely to return to this bar a decade after we moved to a different part of the city and find the same great bartender and gracious service.

We had a wonderful dinner with great service. We had starters of fried calamari and oysters. Both had great sauces and well presented.
Main courses were ribs, patty melt, Caesar salad, and mac and cheese.
The ribs were plentiful and in a nice stacked display. They were cooked properly, not full of fat
The patty melt was perfect– cooked medium rare with lots of onions and cheese.
The Caesar salad actually had anchovies
The Mac and cheese is indeed made with smoky cheese, a large portion, and tasty.

Those two stars are for the food which is still great. So yummy.
What prompted this review in the first place is the poor service. It seems to be a general attitude of «whatever» across the board.
I initially sat at the bar and eventually moved to a table because of the vibe and lack of service. The woman at the bar was not welcoming in the least. I don’t need a welcome wagon but a friendly hello or some welcoming gesture is appreciated. There were two other people at the bar. I eventually was able to ask for a menu. The woman just handed over the menu. The guy near me was also just clearly waiting and waiting to pay for his drink.
It was a nice day and so I decide I should sit at a table for better service so I could enjoy my meal and what I’m paying for.
The table service was not that much better… The waitress was helpful for the order taking only. She never wiped the dirty table so I asked another person (who delivered my drink). I was never asked if the food was okay, or if I wanted or needed anything. (Another napkin would have been nice.) My empty plate and glass (directly in front of me) were never ever cleared… even after I asked for the check, received the bill and paid for it and got up and left.
I have never criticized service before but this was exceptional, from people with whom I interacted with directly and general observation of others. A negative review is something I don’t like to do.
I haven’t been here in a while. At this point my guess is that whomever is doing the hiring has the same lack of service attitude. Hope it changes back, it’s a great spot otherwise.

Solid menu all around. When I can’t choose on where to go out and eat, this is always wins by default.

I love kezar restaurant! I come here at least once a week, always to see Andrea and holt, they are the best always friendly, Andrea and I talk, and holt and my boyfriend talk about baseball. Its never a bad time, absolutely great home feeling. I grew up in the neighbourhood, and have been coming here my whole life so maybe I’m biased but I can’t say enough how much I love these people!

One of the best neighborhood bars in the city. Period.

The food was meh. I had the pastrami Reuben and it was very tough and chewy pastrami. Salad had no dressing. My friend had the wings and they were bland and not much flavor. Waited over 15 minutes for the check and finally left cash on the table for the estimated bill. The wait staff is excellent at avoiding eye contact. It was not busy at all; they were just uninterested in having customers

Solid establishment. Went there with a couple of friends after a reading provided by my graduate program. I ordered a couple of beers and some fries. Mostly because the fries were the cheapest thing on the menu. I enjoyed the atmosphere, the vibe, not just from the restaurant but from the clientele. The staff was great. No single people to single out hut they had great team work, which I like. I would definitely go back but probably only for a happy hour or just happened to be in the Cole Valley neighborhood.

Very attractive and enticing place to go, situated on a corner. is a little tight, though

Drinks and dinner. In that order. Both quite well.
Darkish, in a good way, with skulls, stars, candles, and an occasional shake from a passing N. If you like enjoying an intimate drink and meal with your significant boo, along with some peeps from the neighborhood, this place will do.

Update: it’s cosy if not super warm. Nachos need more guac. Meatballs are good & garlicky.
Great bar. Friendly local spot. The burgers are great — veggie and lamb versions in particular. They make their own bread for the buns and they are fantastic. Really like the food here. Pop in often to sit at the bar for a drink and a bite.

I guess I’ve been spoiled by the gastropubs de Boston, because to me, Kezar was ridiculously shoddy in terms of quality of cocktails and food… and isn’t the whole point of being a «gastropub» serving *high-​quality* food that pairs well with your libation of choice? Not sure that Kezar got the memo… which is too bad because the service was great.
Our waitress was quite friendly, and convinced me to try some tequila drink (oh, I guess Kezar is schizophrenic and also wants to be some kinda Latin-​y place AS WELL AS a gastropub) since they were fixing it with blood oranges… however, there was no blood orange (or flavor) in my drink. She was nice enough to apologize and get me my original choice — before I was persuaded to try the aforementioned orange-​tequila mess. Too bad that second cocktail tasted like gloomy tears and terrible gin… I couldn’t bear to drink more than a few sips of it, so needless to say my memory of the nachos we ordered is crystal clear.
They were edible, but nothing to write home about, and CERTAINLY not up to what I consider «gastropub» standards. When I think «gastropub,» I think of things like crispy pork belly sandwiches with green curry aioli and pickled carrots paired with beautifully hoppy craft microbrew IPAs… not microwave-​able cheese-​laden nachos and almost non-​potable cocktails.
The only saving graces were the nice ladies who served us and the cool star-​shaped lights that adorned the windows and ceiling. Sorry, Kezar, but that whole experience was just too subpar.

We came here last week to try something new and can summarize the experience as «meh».
The food was mediocre. I had the three cheese Mac and Cheese which was not all that tasty. I asked the waitress what cheeses were in it an she had mentioned a smoked mozzarella, but I am pretty sure the other cheeses were smoked too because man, was that overpowering! It was so cloyingly smokey that it bordered being inedible. Also the consistency of the béchamel sauce was goopy…
The service was okay as well. She checked in on us a little too frequently for my liking but it’s better than having to flag someone down constantly.

Elyse makes a spectacular Makers Manhattan.
I strongly urge you to order one with her.
The food has always been good, but seems to have gotten better.