Bell Tower

I come to this place once a week for a beer and lunch since I work up the street. It used to be lacking but the guys that took it over have done a fantastic job on customer service, hiring great staff, and just generally turning the place around. I’m loving the lunch specials and the talents of the new chef. He makes amazing meals that complement the décor and atmosphere wonderfully. The day and nighttime bartenders are engaging and fun. They pour yummy concoctions that keep the vibe rolling. I mean how many places have a corner view of Polk, floor to ceiling windows, outside dining, well made cocktails, nice people, and good food? NONE folks… Except Bell Tower.
The only thing I would recommend for the owners here is to expand the interior design. You guys have great 1930’s Art-​Deco pieces in the place. But the salmon paint and some of the dated features need updating. Think Metal laminate, refresh paint, and maybe something to tie it in with the gorgeous wood that makes up the bar. Let’s lighten it up and make it sleek… Watch movies like «sky captain and world of tomorrow». And check out pages like this for inspiration.

Polk Street is scattered with delightful, adventurous, trendy, and sincerely quality restaurants. Because of this, I hold a high standard for any restaurant in this locale. Bell Tower is certainly non excluded from this.
We popped in for an early supper after a day spent watching Sunday football. We sat down immediately and our server addressed us promptly. I ordered the house red wine and my table ordered a few beers. Our drinks came very quickly. We ordered nachos, sandwiches, and a cobb salad. Again, our order came quickly.
The house red wine tasted like… well, a house red. It was fine for such a cheap price. The nachos were served up in a very generous portion and were quite satisfying. Ditto for the cobb salad. Nothing we ate was awful, it just wasn’t special or anything worth returning for.
Overall the food is decent. The vibe was a little flat, perhaps due to the time of week we visited. With so much competition, literally footsteps away, I’m curious about how Bell Tower has continued to stay open. I mean, they have a PRIME location.

Amazing food, fantastic service, great prices, definitely worth a trip! Locals love this location for a reason, it’s not a tourist trap, it’s a place you want to frequent every week.

Live around the block!
The fish taco and the nachos are the best dishes from their menu.
Service is a bit slow!

The French onion soup was outstanding. My wife had the brie/​apple salad and she proclaimed it the best thing she had eaten on our two week trip so far. I also had the pulled pork sandwich and it was very good.
If I lived in the hood this would be my watering hole. The bartenders and servers were fantastic. Seems like it gets very busy (for a reason) so pick your times. Also one of the cooks had an awesome photo bomb when we asked the server to snap a shot of us being as it was our last night in SF. Nice job dude! Showed him the pic and he laughed.
Overall a great place that was recommended by a friend who used to live in the area otherwise I never would have found it. Check it out!

Asked for water with a beer. None delivered. Ordered cowboy spring rolls and they arrived with chicken instead of steak unbeknownst to us. The server never checked back in so that I could ask for hot sauce to help with the dish that was not as advertised. My glass is empty and so is my stomach. The only plus about this place is the French onion soup and Television for watching games.
Will think twice about returning since we received less than subpar service last time as well. I wish I didn’t like the soup so much.

I’ve always enjoyed lunch/​brunch here, but was shocked at how good dinner was. My girlfriend and I sat at the bar where we were well taken care of by the bartender (owner Barbie Tice, she’s the best). I had the grilled pork chop with savory cheddar cheese & jalapeño bread pudding & sautéed southern greens with bacon. It was amazing. One of the best tasting meals that I’ve had in SF. I will definitely be coming back for dinner.

FOOD
Fish and veggies
Chicken quesadilla
All the food I’ve gotten at bell tower has been good
SERVICE
Waitress and bartenders have all been so chill and nice. Attentive too. Love that it serves full menu food, drinks, opens all day and late night, and there’s random free wifi floating around
ATMOSPHERE
it’s casual pub like I like three tall high seat tables outside and I like the corner spot with big windows has a nice open feel. Right on polk so in the middle of lots of other things to walk to.
5 stars Bc I’ve gone here so many times and it’s become a reliable and versatile go-​to spot for exactly what I need/​want/​usually looking for

Bell Tower appears to be a corner bar — a neighborhood bar where people meet to have their favorite beverage, study their phones, watch sports on TV or talk. I don’t like bars, I don’t like crowds of people but I had to burn 30 minutes and my heart pined for a double IPA. I walk in and there is only one empty stool at the bar. «God!», I thought, «I have to sit next to someone I don’t know, and what if they start talking to me?» — but I walked in and sat down as if that’s what everyone does. «God!», I thought, «Now I got to get the bar keeps attention and she’s so busy! What if she doesn’t notice me?»
«What will it be?», she said with a warm smile that was welcoming. «God!», I thought, «She noticed me!!!» and said, «Double IPA». She never heard of «double IPA». She looked at the customers for help. I thought, «God! You call this a bar?» One of the customers said, «Get him a Union Jack.» He looked at me helpfully and said, «You will enjoy the Union Jack.» His cutie girlfriend added helpfully, «It’s from Paso Robles.» I looked at her appreciatively and said, «Pasa Robles» annoyed that she said the name as I was unaccustomed to hearing. «Paso Robles», she said.
The barkeep brought me two samples of different beers. One awful sweet beer and the Union Jack which was quite good. «I’ll have this one», I said holding up the beer she placed at my left. She smiled and said, «Which one is that?» «The one you put to my left.» I was curious to see if she could remember. She didn’t, so I was forced to say, «Union Jack». «This is America!», I thought, «Why are people in Pasa Robles giving beer British names?» She brought me a nice pint and placed it on a Lagunitas coaster. I looked over and saw ‘A Little Sumpin’ Extra” at the pump and wondered why she didn’t give me that one. «There’s a proper name for a beer.», I thought.
A group of men finished their drinks and left. The barkeep gave them a shout, «Hey! Thanks! See you guys later; but don’t tell my husband!» They laughed and I thought, «So she’s got a husband?» Then I thought, «Oh, it’s a joke, but maybe she has a husband anyway.»
After checking in with Unilocal,verifying I have no new emails in the last 4 minutes, I started to watch this college football game and enjoy my beer. My face was glued to the screen until the bar keep goes up and says, «Anyone watching this? I’m gonna change it if nobody is watching it…». I smiled as she broke my total absorption in the game and said, «Not me!»
When my 30 minutes were up I posted a twenty and waited for change — but needed call attention to my need to leave. Then a strange thing happened. She said, «I’m sorry to see you leave! I wish you would stay longer.» — in such a way that I felt so cared for! I told her I was going to go eat dinner. She asked where and I said, «The steak house.» She then named off half a dozen and said, «Which one?» «Harris», I said — and she said, «You won’t be disappointed.» Because she was so nice, I told her how much I enjoyed the beer and watching her and her niece (she explained earlier they were related) work. The bar was full of people and she was the only one taking care of the customers but she gave me her full attention to listen to what I had to say and take the time to appreciate my patronage. At last, she said, «My name is Debra, what’s yours?» «Steve» I said.
«Steve, I’m glad you came in, and I hope you come back.» Up until then, it was just a bar, but it was in that 30 seconds of attention that was so profound. «God! This is the best bar in the whole wide world!», I thought.

We showed up here after we 1. Didn’t realize the House of Prime Rib was open and 2. The bar we were trying to go to said it was open on Unilocal but when we got there they changed their mind to 5:30
Service was slow, had to go ask for menu’s but once the drinks came with were good but messy, would have been nice to have a napkin since it was spilling everywhere when it arrived.
We didn’t try any food so can’t comment on that, don’t know if I’d return…

I wish I could give 3.5 instead of just 3 stars. Anyways, the food was mediocre but the service was phenomenal! I forgot our server’s name but he was awesome and took care of our table. I came here for brunch, unfortunately they don’t offer bottomless mimosas but you can order bottles of champagne and they’ll give you a side of OJ. The food isn’t the best but it’s not horrible. But I would recommend the eggs Benedict.

Great neighborhood bar! What to do when you want to watch a football game that’s on at 10am? Too early for the typical bar food/​game snacks for me. Luckily here you can watch football AND have brunch. Today’s special was a Chicken & Andouille Sausage Hash, which was pretty darn good! Also, nice selection of beer, both the usual domestics and craft, whichever mood you’re in.

We ran across this place while walking to a theatre and we had some time to kill and were in search of a Bloody Mary. (A hard thing to find in the city before 11:00am) My husband and I sat at the bar and ordered a Bloody Mary and took a gander at the menu. The drinks were very good and spicy (which we both like)… Erik was our bartender and he was very friendly and offered great service. We ordered the Atlas omelette and the fried egg sandwich. Both were DELICIOUS! The omelette came with a side of potatoes, probably the best I’ve ever had. The side of bacon we ordered was equally good and cooked to perfection.
Vey happy to stumble across this establishment and we will certainly return. Good food, good drinks, and good service. What more can you ask for?

Great place. Good draft selection and the cheese steak spring rolls were just THE. BEST. SPRINGROLLS. EVER.
Order them and a few beers, and be happy.
Oh and the bartender is really friendly.
Oh, and also the free wifi is super fast!!! Like awesomely fast. Like fastest I have ever seen in a café/​bar/​eatery. So you can Snapchat and sext away while you stuff your pie-​hole with SPRINGROLLS. Bliss.

Good location with really friendly staff and the food is so good. I was going to have their burger and saw the the food on the table next to ours and had to get it. Real nice atmosphere… I’m so going back to this place again.

Nice brunch corner spot on Polk street that serves the regular brunch fair like eggs Benedict and egg scrambles. I actually opted for a light and crunchy Caesar salad and notice a few folks around me ordering the same. The space is artsy and lots of locals with their dogs come by. It’s a great people watching spot. Best part are the reasonable prices for food and drinks.

Dinner out with the besties and couldn’t decide where to go. Got lucky and found this place at the corner. Full bar scene with tables for set down dinner as well. Got seated in the back where it was a lot quieter and we can actually hear our conversation. The bar scene looks fun too but it wasn’t that kind of a night yet. Especially on a Wednesday night. Lol Looked at the menu posted outside and was set on what we were going to order until we sat down and looked at the menu some more… Decision decisions … It was super hard to decide after reading the whole menu. So many things that we want to try. Food was really tasty. Well seasoned and big portions. Staff was super friendly and have knowledge of their menu.

The Bell Tower is a bar slash pub on Polk St — I came here for the brunch on a game day (49’ers were on!). We found the only table that was left inside (outside were a bunch of tables, too), surrounded by big plasma screens and enthusiastic football fans. Not the usual crowd to have brunch with but whateva.
Food came quickly — we had the Blue’s Omelette (stuffed with bacon and blue cheese, with potatoes and muffin on the side, $ 11) and Mexican Scrambled (with jalapeño and tortilla on the side, $ 12). Decent portion size, I didn’t even finish mine as the omelette was really big.
Service was casual and fast. Definitely go here if you like a pub/​sports bar atmosphere, and if you’re looking for a good brunch alternative around Polk St.

The highlight of The Bell Tower is the three outdoor table setup on a sunny day. Everything else is passable but pretty much forgettable.
Those three outdoor tables are prized possessions if it’s sunny out. I’ve hardly seen them empty. But once you get inside, it’s pretty much just another restaurant/​bar. The food is average — typical bar grub and American comfort classics. I’ve had a couple of things here — the fish and chips, quesadillas, mac & cheese, baby back ribs, and the mushroom pizza. The last two items were just absolute disasters. The baby back ribs were WAY too tough and dry. Definitely a world away from falling off the bone. You’re lucky to just get it off the bone. I didn’t mind the taste of the mushrooms in the pizza but there was just something really off in the texture of the pizza crust. Definitely don’t get the pizzas here since the foundation if way off. The mac & cheese was decently satisfying though.
For the price, there’s better food and drink to be had up and down the street. Service is adequate but I wouldn’t refer to it as personable. Still, it’s been on Polk for years and it does have its fair share of regulars so plonk yourself down on one of those outside tables if you ever get the chance.

Met a friend here for lunch
of gossip to catch up on,
there was a bunch!
The tacos I ate were tuna
if it weren’t so loud,
I’d go back sooner!
Ugh. I think I should keep my day job.

Nice place to eat or drink and they serve until midnight
Good quesadillas.