Paragon

Great service and good (4-​star) food, but *do not* get the «Arrogant Bastard Ale». Definitively the worst beer that I’ve ever had the displeasure of encountering. Obviously this is not Paragon’s fault, but the stomach ache and headache that ensued for the following 5 hours detracted from my experience at Paragon. The beer is yeasty to the point of being more a poorly done Kumbucha than an alcoholic beverage. The flavor is practically indescribable and absolutely vomit-​inducing (I feel queasy just thinking about it).
TL;DR — DO NOT EVEN TRY THE ARROGANT BASTARD ALE.

Had a lunch meeting here. Food and service was great as it was pretty crowded for a Friday. Our table started off with the Calamari, which was lightly battered and tender with a great sauce. I had the White Bass Fish Special which came on a bed of lava beans and bacon. It was delicious as the skin on the Bass was crispy and the fish was flaky and flavorful. The Salmon Pea Risotto was good but my Crispy Bass was definitely better. The Caesar Salad with the fresh anchovies totally hit the spot for me. For the area, i like the ambience of the restaurant but wish there was a more exciting & creative menu.

Went there on an SF Giant game day, but early, (was never crowded). Cold wind blowing into the restaurant from the garage door that was fully open. Even though there were very few on the cold patio, the wait staff was not allowed to close the door. So, we sat there inside the restaurant freezing. Service was insanely slow, even for SF. Got a couple of rounds from the waiter when we first arrived, but had to order from the bar after waiting 20 minutes and finding our waiter in the back room on brea, k after the small rush of giants fans had left for the game. A secondary waiter finally showed up to deliver the drinks I had just ordered at the bar. As for food, calamari is good, but the hot wings are so bathed in sauce as to be gross and a complete mess. Drinks are slow to arrive.
This place could be great, but the staff couldn’t care less. Speaks to upper management I would think. I used to love this place but ownership changes have brought on the suck.

The red headed waitress just told us we had to leave if we weren’t ordering enough in her section. She said to us «you all have to leave now». With empty tables around us. Is that how you treat customers?

Décor is nice, the place is very loud and it’s only half full this evening. We tried the burger and the mac & cheese. The burger was, just a burger and nothing to write home about, American cheese on it, was this a fast food joint? Plus I expect a little more from a 17 dollar burger. The Mac and cheese tastes like boxed with a bit of good cheese on top. I’d skip it!

Came here after the Giants game and was able to nab outside seating with my party of 4. Ordered a Paragon hamburger with garlic fries to split with my friend and a Paragon Ice Cream Sandwich dessert. Paragon Burger was ok, did the job to soak up the purple rain shots, 2 beers and white wine I drank earlier in the day. The garlic fries were pretty good however super disappointed with the ice cream sandwich. Me and my friend was craving desserts and unfortunately that dessert didn’t work for us. Should have read the dessert description more carefully because I was literally thinking an actual ice cream sandwich, it was pretty much deconstructed. I’d probably come back here just for beers, skip the desserts!

Bar with food. Come for the drinks.
Came in right after a Giants game. Were seated immediately and told ten minutes until the kitchen closed. Simple menu. Got salad with seasonal berries (blueberries & blackberries) greens tossed in balsamic dressing. Exactly as it said. Chicken sandwich, exactly as it says no more, no less. Food came out pretty fast. Come for the drinks, food is an after thought. Filled me until I find something to really eat. Fast & fair.

Paragon is a decent restaurant/​bar that is perhaps figuring out how formal an establishment they want to be.
As a happy hour spot, it’s lovely on a sunny SF day with a little area that you can sit outside. They have a wonderful list of beers on tap that for the most part are not run of the mill. Happy hour from 2:30 — 5:30pm. Order some Brussels sprouts chips to go with drinks then. Lunch service feels a little stuffier for the menu. The blackened catfish sandwich was decent and held up well. Decent seasoning on the fish. The tombo tartare appetizer was bright and lively but at $ 16 like the sandwich, toe the line at being just a little overpriced for what it is.
Service is good though and for that, I like Paragon more as a bar than a restaurant. There are better dining options around but for quick drinks before a game, Paragon is a decent choice and definitely a respite from the packed crowds at MoMo’s.

Food was good. Service was very slow especially for lunch when people are trying to eat and get back to lunch. I don’t know maybe they are trying to be more European, but I had places to go and people to see.
The food was quite tasty but the lack of attention was disappointing.

I gotta say I came with a party of five and we shared dishes-​holy shit-​everything is very very good!!! Seriously I am so glad I found this place through a friend-I’ve been missing out. I will be back! Delicious!!!
Met the executive chef quickly-​professional and quite cute. :)
Come check it out-​the food and causal fun ambience will call you back over and over again. Did I mention it’s across the street on the bay and right by the ball park? Yea, it’s a winner. Your tummy will thank you.
Come hither. Good date spot for sure.

Absolutely the worst restsaurant in the ball park area.
* over priced
* mediocre food on a good day
* miniscule portions
* rude service
* Happy hour: 7 $ cocktails, except for the mixer, that’s an additional fee.
I recommend Momo’s a block away for a better happy hour ($ 5 food and cocktails) and similar prices but much higher quality and much better experience.

Fairly overpriced. My pasta was just OK. I felt very heavy a while ago after having eaten it. Blah
Waitress was great though.

Had an event here tonight and was in the lounge /​bar area. Service was great and got to try some finger foods including chicken skewers, friend shrimp wontons, duck tacos, crab cakes, donuts w/​chocolate sauce and Pana cotta.
Everything was bite sized and good. Nothing to rave about exactly, BUT for group events service is really key, and this placed killed it.

I have lived in the neighborhood for ten years and give this place a try every few years and they still don’t get it.
1. Get the drunk guy who sits at the end of the bar all the time OUT. He scares people when he stumbles out and jumps on his scooter.
2. Clean the bathrooms
3. Change the menu
4. Are the guy bartenders that hard up that they need to hit on the clients
5. Change out the enter bar staff except the woman. She seems to get it.
6. Tell the bartenders spend more time behind bar.
7. A lot of screwing around when the guy managers are not around.
Please clean this place up so the neighborhood has a place to eat. We are tired of 21^st. and Red Dog is clueless.

New to the City, first evening out (Friday 8pm), got lost on the way to a bar my friend’s coworker recommended but saw the lights at Paragon and decided to duck in. The hostess greeted us with a smile and let us know it was open seating in the bar. With a little luck we were able to grab two stools together. The bartender gave us a menu and a few moments. He suggested the Aqua Fresca, which was sweet but good, seems like a summer afternoon on the patio kind of drink. It’s a little too much sugar if it’s the first drink of a long evening. My friend had the Cucumber Gimlet, I’m not a gin drinker but this could bring me around. It was clean and refreshing.
My review of Paragon would have been much higher if not for the «over served» guy at the bar next to us. He was completely intoxicated and got to the point of bothering us but the bartender and other staff did not bother to intervene. They were still serving him, I’m hoping it was non alcoholic but he kept insisting it was Hendrix and tonic. When he got too touchy and started trying to take sips from our drinks I was able to mouth for help from one of the other patrons. So «not Doug» and and the guy who uses the washer on his floor Bryan, thanks for the rescue. Normally I’m not a damsel in distress, but being new to town I was not sure if me taking this guy to the floor was going to get me arrested.

Saturday night was the second time that I have ever been to Paragon and have loved it both times (also ordered the same 2 things each time… they were THAT good)
My friend and I decided to sit at the bar and started off with a glass of wine, I ordered the Pinot Grigio which is always a good choice.
I was pretty set on ordering the mac and cheese and the brussels sprouts since those were the two items i ordered last time and loved. The bartender was very friendly and helpful when we asked him to explain half the menu to us since we were so indecisive on what our third split item should be. We then noticed at the bottom of the menu (in small writing) that there was bread available upon request. Obviously we asked for the bread and between the mac and cheese, brussels sprouts, and all that bread (served with olive oil/​balsamic/​chilli flake combination), we were surprisingly full and didn’t even need a third item **side note: the steak sounded absolutely incredible and i will definitely be ordering that next time.
FOOD:
Mac and Cheese — really creamy and delicious with some sort of crusty topping on the pasta. Pretty heavy, good to share (need more than just this though)
Brussels Sprouts — had bacon in it. SO YUMMY. wow.
This restaurant also happens to be about 3 blocks from my apartment so there is no doubt in my mind that I will be back very very soon for that steak

I asked some reliable sources for recommendations for dinner while visiting SF and this was always shouted first. I made a reservation but needed to change it to more people the day of (from 5 to 7). I was told no way they could accommodate the change because they were completely booked, which is understandable. Until I got to the restaurant and was one of two tables of diners in a place that still had probably 20 more empty tables. I figured it would fill up as we ate but never happened. Disappointing.
The food was fine. I had fried chicken, with a starter of tuna tartar and almonds — all of which was adequate. Bit earth shattering but fine. They did not have my first choice for dessert (again, incomprehensible because of the lack of people there) but the second choice (ice cream sandwich) was fine.
The list of cocktails was creative but not the place to go if you want a varied or top wine selection. My grapefruit cosmo was quite good.
The servers were sweet but there was a little miscommunication on the front end even letting our server know we were there. I would understand if we had not been the only table in the restaurant at the time.

We came here super hungry for a Friday lunch and weren’t disappointed.
We ordered:
Calamari — Really good and crispy! They’re served with both the rings and the «leggy» ones… eep!
Mushroom Cigars — We ordered this based on the raving reviews. They really are THAT good. The sauce to dip them in complimented them perfectly
Mac & Cheese — Can’t beat a super cheesy dish that just screams ‘Murica. I’m a fan.
Steamed Mussels — Classic mussels that tasted really fresh. It was served in a spicy sauce that was different, but really enjoyable.
The service was really good. Our waitress was attentive and really friendly — one thing was she forgot about my co-​workers drink :(
Other than that, it was a perfect leisurely Friday lunch out on the patio!

Not at all impressed. At our table and the two next to me, we were frequently forgotten and had to ask multiple times for our drinks, water and tabs.
I had the broccolini ($ 7.50), asparagus ($ 12) and mac ($ 7.50)… None of which blew my mind. The vegetables had minimal flavor and were more on the bland side. The Mac and cheese was pretty decent but not enough to be the only reason I come back.
Everyone claims to have the best Bloody Mary… Not terrible, but not remotely close to making my top 10… Heavily weighted in horseradish.
The flavor, or lack there of, doesn’t match up with the cost. The entire menu is overpriced for the reality of what they offer (assuming the food makes it to your table…)

We came here for Happy Hour only.
Friends loved the Moscow Mule and I got the Ruby Cosmo which was a little too easy to drink! I could’ve had 4 of those! Yum! One of the best girlie drinks I’ve had.
We also got the mac and cheese that was good. Calamari is good too, it’s not just the rings but the head too which I like. I didn’t try the chicken wings but the others did and thought they were good. We did have 2 orders of the mushroom cigars. You’ve got to try those! The texture inside is smooth so don’t expect chunks of mushroom. It’s like it’s been blended to a paste and rolled into the same crunchy wrap like springrolls.
We sat outside and got really good service. The heat lamps came in handy since it seems to be always windy:)

I’m back at it, with the American (New) or should I say «old» since these types of restaurants seem to have many similarities.
You know you are at American (New) if:
–Beets are present; could be substituted with other non-​pronounceable menu items (X)
–Alcohol list is longer than the food list and even spans an entire side of the menu (X)
–The three F’s — fresh, flavorful, and fancy food
–The décor is American (New) — you will know what I am talking about if this is in fact true (X)
–Good for work lunches. Yes, I did come here for a work lunch (X)
Menu: This one was missing the beets, but don’t worry, they still had fancy names on the menu like «frisee» and put fruit in salad! Also, the entire back menu is still drinks. Soups, salads, sammies (still don’t say this or you will merit an eye roll), and interesting starters and sides.
Food: I ordered the field greens salad. The seasonal fruit was blackberries and it tasted fresh. The fries were actually the best part — thin cut with just enough garlic and crispiness to make them addictive. The grilled cheese also looked killer, coming out in the shape of a heart (ironically enough). Dipping it into the tomato soup is apparently also highly suggested.
Atmosphere: American (New). That’s sufficient.
So Paragon fits the American (New) bill quite perfectly. Nothing too exciting about the salads, but sides and fries that were far more addicting.