Pakwan Restaurant – 16th Street

Great Pakistani dive restaurant in the Mission. Food is very good, inexpensive, quick service, great for take-​out. Would prefer if the food was less greasy.

I was never a fan of Indian/​Pakistani food until
My buddy brought me here. Everything was good. The butter chicken was bomb. The tandoori chicken was tasty. They also had this bread that had beef inside it… That was Amazing too. Great prices too.

Food was good. It’s not as good as shalimar but it was the closest to me so I went. I ordered chicken tikka and Naan. I also got tandoori chicken that was great.

Pakwan is undoubtedly one of my favorite Indian/​Pakistani restaurants in the city. Although it’s usually packed on most nights (particularly on Friday and Saturday nights), the food is reasonably priced and definitely worth whatever wait you might have. I’m a big fan of the fluffy naan here (get the garlic naan!!), and my standard dishes of choice are always the chicken tikka masala, chana masala, and aloo palak. I would highly recommend the samosas as well since they provide an amazing way to start off your meal.
Pakwan has the uncanny ability to pack so much flavor into each dish. Even more, this place is BYOB… say whaaaat?! ⁵⁄₅ for sure.

In a city/​region with really good and authentic Indian or Pakistani food, Pakwan doesn’t stand out. Having heard great things about this place, I was excited to try it but left disappointed with the vegetarian options.
I ordered the paneer makhani with garlic naan and neither stood out as anything exceptional. The paneer makhani was extremely oily to the point that there was a visible layer on top. To me, it seems it wasn’t made fresh or else they wouldn’t have separated. The garlic naan was stale and tough to chew. The one good thing is that this place is BYOB.
It can be difficult to find a place to sit so you may have to wait for a while. Also, they don’t care too much about customer service.
If you’re a vegetarian, I’d recommend not coming here because you can get better curries at other places. If you eat meat then you may enjoy this place.

Ordered the chicken tiki masala, nothing special here. I think naan and curry is even better. Also no shrimp curry dishes.

It’s been a while since we’ve visited. We still like the spicy lamb, eggplant dishes, but it’s not quite as good as it used to be. .and the place has gotten way dirty especially the bathrooms and the hallway leading to it… So I may not go back there again.
Cleanliness… 1 star
Food… 4 stars
Service… don’t expect any service :)

This is such a good find! I had the Chicken Boti Kababs and Garlic Naan (pictured) and it tasted just like how it would back home in India at some of my favourite spots.
I’m taking one star away because their restroom was in really bad shape — quite unclean and slippery. Apart from this one detail, this is a great place to get some Pakistani /​Indian food.

3.5 stars. I ordered the chicken tikka (dry, not masala) and my husband ordered the chicken biryani. The chicken tikka was delicious and the price was very reasonable.
The biryani was lacking spices and could not be enjoyed on its own. This was disappointing.
The ambiance is similar to a fast food restaurant and let’s just say go to the bathroom before you go. That chicken tikka makes up for it, though, so we will be coming back!

The environment is chaotic, and this place can be more operationally efficient.
Pakwan was REALLY busy on a Friday night. You order at the counter and find a table to sit at. No table fo yoo? Tough luck, buddy. They call your number for you to pick up food. Yet, when the restaurant is rowdy, it’s hard to hear things. So people end up hovering around the pick-​up counter. Cramped much?
But it’s crowded for a reason, eh? (Yes, I have turned Canadian for this review). The chicken biriyani is a popular dish, as is the saag paneer. Their dishes definitely have some spice. Tasty food!

Not sure why this place has an average 4 star rating with over a thousand reviews.
Living in Chicago, I heard a lot that San Fran has some good Indian/​Pakistani/​Desi food from more than 20 people, I was looking forward to enjoy that one meal I had assigned for Desi food for my vacation here. And… was highly disappointed.
Food was just ok. Garlic naan was very dry and hard, and the entrees (we almost ordered everything on their menu since we were a big group and excited). Some items were missing the most basic flavors.
The place is self service, which We didn’t mind, but the plates, spoons, the entire dining area and bathrooms were dirty. Again We would have ignored that bringing out our most positive sides provided we received some good food. But We didn’t.
Anyways, if you would like to check this place out please do not have high expectations or go there drunk.

Cash only. Order at the front. Huge portion of a «side of rice» and small portion for my actual meal of chicken tikka masala. I very easily was able to count out about 7 pieces of cubed chicken.
Delicious food but meh, something was off.

Why does this place average four stars? The food is alright (there are so many better places in San Francisco) and everything is dirty — the plates, the cups, there’s sediment in the water, the bathroom is gross.
I did not enjoy my experience here.

Honestly, one of the better Indian spots I’ve had in the city, and that says a lot. Pakwan is not only delicious, but it’s also in a convenient location and more than affordable.
We had an array of dishes from lentils and chickpeas to naan and vegetable curry. Classics, yes, but this space is BYOB so wave goodbye to every other Indian spot you thought you ever loved.
My favorite dishes were the yogurt-​dipped garlic naan and spinach chicken dish. Nourishing, but not too heavy. The veg dishes were cleaner than one would expect, so order up on the greens and beans.
The atmosphere here is casual and very spacious. Optimal location for hitting the bars afterwards or catching a show.

Very affordable and solid Indian food. I had the tandoori chicken, the garlic naan and the chicken tikka masala here. The tandoori chicken leg was huge (if you’re not sharing) and so flavourful. The chicken was juicy and grilled just right with a tang of spiciness. The garlic naan was fluffy and more importantly, not too dry. The chicken tikka masala was more spicy than I expected but quite creamy and went very well with the naan. Flavour wasn’t as rich as in other restaurants I’ve been to, but still very good.
The restaurant was quite crowded and can be difficult to grab seats but food came out relatively quickly, making this a quick no-​frill place to grab food for a very reasonable (and cheap in SF standards) price.

Pakwan gets pretty busy most nights. It is a sit-​down place, but you order at the counter and wait for them to call your number. You also have to get extra plates, utensils, cups, etc. yourself. It’s BYOB though! I always see plenty of groups drinking beer or splitting a bottle of wine.
My standard order is basmatic rice, chicken tikka masala, saag paneer, tandoori lamb chops, and garlic naan. So delicious!!! You cannot go wrong with the chicken tikka masala or saag panner. The lamb chops are tender and a bit on the salty side, but go really well with the grilled onions that come with it. My craving for Indian food is always satisfied when I come here!

Good prices and delicious indian food. However if you are into feeding your eyes with delightful cultural impressions you should consider going somewhere else — its self service and the environment is not very authentic, but I don’t mind that.
I liked the fact that you can bring your own beer — great for a beer enthusiast who’s fed up with the regular beer assortments.
Worth a try!

We went here for lunch on a Sunday afternoon. It was almost empty. The ambiance is in tone with the neighborhood, kinda run down, very smelly and kinda broken. The place it self service so make sure you order before you sit down for the long wait.
We ordered samosas and chicken tikka kebabs for appetizers. Unfortunately they came out almost 45 minutes later, just after our entrées. The samosas were very average. The chicken tikka was very tender and flavorful and probably the only thing I liked about the meal.
We ordered a bunch of entrées:
Saag Paneer: Not bad but the spinach was overcooked till it was black and had no vibrant green colors that spinach should have.
Butter Paneer/​Chicken: We ordered both of these. They were both terrible. The gravy was clearly frozen and reheated from an old batch and had no flavor whatsoever. The chicken and paneer were both overcooked and dry, again, frozen.
Daal: Tasted ok but was undercooked
Naans: Plain and Garlic naans were all undercooked and too fluffy. They lacked those slight crisp burnt bits that bring out the tandoori flavor. The Onion naan on the over hand was burnt completely black.
Veg/​Lamb Biryani: Ordered both. They were very greasy but tasted ok. There was a generous portion of lamb (you guessed it, frozen) and veggies in the respective biryanis and they held the flavor from the whole spices pretty well.
Overall the food was barely average, the service was extremely slow and the ambiance is not one you would want to frequent. The one good thing though was the large portion sizes for the price. It’s rare to find that in the bay area.
I probably won’t go back here or recommend it to anyone after this experience.

I tried this spot out on my firat night in SF. We were in the mood to try something new and this place seemed pretty popular.
Everything is made fresh to order and you can taste it in their dishes. We tried the Tikka Masala, Butter Chicken, Basmati Rice, and Garlic Naan Bread. All the dishes were flavorful and people complained about the portion sizes but I thought it was good. 8 was stuffed and didn’t even finish my plate.
The staff aren’t the friendliest but I think it may just be a cultural difference.

Another Indian/​Pakistani place tried but still not good enough when compared against to my favorite Indian/​Pakistani place, Shalimar. Every time I Unilocal an Indian place, I always have to mention Shalimar because the bar has been set really high. Every Indian restaurant business owner will hate reading my review because of the constant name dropping of their competitor… that is until a restaurant proves me wrong.
Got the garlic naan (too dry) and the chicken curry achar (not spicy enough). Cheap and the food is decent at best. Service is nothing to be expected from places like these. This place is comparable to Naan N Curry to me, which is a probably an insult to most Indian restaurants.

My go-​to spot for Indian/​Pakistani food. I have nothing but good things to say about this spot. It’s fresh, quick, and affordable. I highly recommend ordering the Chicken Tikka Masala, and the Lamb Biryani — it’s a little spicy but very manageable with a side of their fluffy garlic naan. These dishes complement each other very well and are good size portions.
Make sure you also try their sauces, their sweet & spicy sauce is my favorite. Order at the register, and wait for your number to be called and grab water from the fridge, cups, plates/​utensils.

FLUFFIEST NAAN EVER.
Seriously, this garlic naan haunts my dreams in a wonderful way.
So you have less than ten dollars, you want quality Indian food, and you’re in the Mission. What do you do? Go to Pakwan. This place has that hole in the wall/​cafeteria vibe with all the bars you want nearby.
The eggplant, paneer, basmati rice, and naan are my favorite combination. My cousin and I can be full for $ 25. Unreal. And the options that Pakwan has to offer are wonderful. He’s a vegetarian while I’m a meat eater so it was nice to be able to go to a place where both of us can be completely happy and not feel like we’re missing out on anything.
I moved to NYC recently yet I still think that Pakwan remains to be one of my favorite Indian places — and there’s a lot of great places out here. Between the value, portion size, casual vibes, and of course, delicious food; Pakwan is a top choice.
BUT remember: whatever you get, the naan is the perfect vehicle to deliver it.