El Tomate Restaurant

Outstanding sit-​down Mexican food. Carne Asada Sinaloa is my go-​to, such flavorful meat, fresh ingredients. But everything we’ve tried on their menu is delicious. I don’t understand why they’re isn’t a huge line for this place, it’s truly a gem in the 24^th St corridor.

The sizzling Chicken fajitas are ridiculous, rice, beans, guacamole, huge portions, perfection, yes that’s what it is, dangerously close to the house .can’t wait to try rest of menu.

Accessibility (Parking /​Wait Time)
¹⁄₁ Star: parking can take a while to find. No wait to get a table.
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Service (Waiter /​Cleanness /​Ambiance)
¹⁄₁ Star: great service. Clean. Simple Ambiance. There is a TV.
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Taste (0=Not Edible /​1=Edible /​2=Good (average) /​3=Must Try!)
²⁄₃ Stars: food here is good! The carne asada items come with strips of beef, not just small diced pieces. The Chili Verde is really good!
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Overall Experience
⁴⁄₅ Stars
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Last Words
There is a Spanish menu and an English menu.

Hidden gem! I suppose since El Tomate doesn’t sell margaritas with techno music blasting, it’s like a repellant for those who just wanna eat some Mexican food in between shots of tequila. That’s nice for us, because El Tomate is delicious!
We passed by El Tomate over a dozen times, and it was like it was invisible. We’d be looking for food on 24^th, and we always walked past it without a glance.
One day, like an el tomate in our face, we saw it. And we tried it.
This is by far one of my favorite sit-​down Mexican places in the city. First off, the chips are amazing. I don’t know what they do to it but you just can’t stop. Thick pieces of tortillas and not greasy. Clearly they make them there in-​house.
Must get: the carne asada with one cheese enchilada platter they have there. Their carne asada is cooked perfectly with a wonderful spicy sauce on top… not too much, just a little. The cheese enchilada helps to tone down the spiciness of the sauce.
Despite this, there are a couple of misses at El Tomate. I got the pozole and it was just okay — it could had been more flavorful. Also their Chile Relleno… the chile is a little under cooked… but everything else about the chile relleno is delicious — the batter and sauce, cheese…
Definitely authentic with Mexican families in attendance, smattered with other folk like us… people of all backgrounds who like good food.
The service is very friendly and I love the diner-​esque atmosphere.
Even though they don’t have margaritas, they have good beer, — usually you can get a Sierra Nevada or Anchor Steam which rounds out one of our favorites for a quick weeknight dinner.

I experienced the most upsetting situation this past Saturday at this restaurant! My husband and I asked for a plate of Pozole and a plate of Menudo. The Pozole usually comes with Hominy but I wanted some Hominy in my Menudo also. My Mom use to make that way.
I was told that it was not possible to add the Hominy to my Menudo… now these two dishes are Mexican soups which are usually cooked in big pots… I asked why can’t you take a little of the hominy from the Pozole pot and add it to my Menudo plate? This was the explanation given: the orders are Measured, I did not understand this so I said then charge me extra, again they say no the Tuppers are measured with these plates we take them out from the freezer!
What the hell we were getting old frozen food from the FREEZER!!!
These soups are usually made on the day and served the same day the most they will be reheated for the next day…
I was so fucking mad… paid for our drinks and walked out… never to return again… they might make fools of American White customers but not this Mexican!
Worst place I have ever encountered!

Very friendly staff. Even let us eat food from a neighboring restaurant while sampled some things off their menu

Waitstaff was friendly and food was good. They were able to adapt to my vegan palate, despite having zero dishes pre-​designated. A bit rundown and not the cleanest feeling, but we all enjoyed our meals and service. Great location.

This place is great! I’ve been to a few of the popular Mexican places in the mission and I was never that impressed, but this place is great! I ordered the Carne Asada and the nachos, both really good. I was definitely surprised by how good the Carne Asada, rice and beans and guacamole was.
i’m definitely going back!

We had a leisurely Saturday morning lunch here. There was no wait, the food was delicious, and the service was pleasant.
My husband enjoyed his chilaquiles with green sauce, and I liked my enchiladas de mole. The complimentary chips and salsa were tasty too.
The food took a while to come out, but aside from that, the service was polite, attentive, and friendly.
We loved the fact there was no crazy line or wait.
Good spot!

This isn’t a place full of hipsters, it’s a place where the LOCALS go. That should tell you something about its authenticity. They have by far the best carne asada I’ve found in the Mission. Carne asada dinner is about 13 bucks and you get two nice sized pieces of carne, a cheese enchilada, some salad, guac, rice, beans, two delicious sauteed green onions. chips, and salsa. It’s seriously amazing.

Best Chile Relleno & Mole I’ve ever had! Almost as good as my mom’s! Service was good. If possible, get to the area with enough time to sight see, lots of eclectic shops & great wall art.

We had the fish tacos and the steak fajita and they were delicious! The servings are generous and come with rice and beans too. We also got the chicken nachos appetizer and it was again really tasty and generously sized. The flour tortillas are fresh and yummy.

La comida esta rica lo unico que no meparesio fue la persona que nos atendio de mal manera al final le pregunte por el postre y lo queizo fue traerme la cuenta lo que provoco que no quedara satisfecho

Wow this place is so good! Nice people and never a wait. The fajitas are some of the best I have had and are cheap. The mole was great too. This is my new favorite lunch place in the mission for Mexican food. I hope people stop in and try it as it’s new and I have a feeling not a lot of people know about it. It’s a lot cleaner than most of the other places too.

Menudo for me. Its pretty awesome. Like my abuela used to make.

I’m a regular at El Tomate and this is why:
1. I live 1 block away
2. They have very good prices. I usually get the $ 8.99 breaded chicken plate that comes with rice, beans, and salad (iceberg, tomato and onion, nothing fancy). Chips and salsa (pretty good salsa) is included. This is why I choose them over a taqueria. I feel I’m getting a better deal here.
3. They usually have handmade tortillas, so ask for them!
4. The place is mostly empty and I actually like this. I get pretty good service and don’t have to deal with crowded places. I honestly think that their «non-​hipster» colors and decoration keep people away for some reason.
Food is pretty good for the price. Chicken milanesa, carne asada, and fajitas are my favorite.

We eat there last week;
Menudo beef stomach soup, Mole Enchiladas and Enchilada And Chile Relleno.
All were very yummy and service was excellent. Thank you!

Okay this has got to be the best menudo place in the mission… I’ve been to a few menudo places and it seems like it’s a hassle to make?
These guys are full blown menudo since they have it as the first item on their menu and it’s effin tasty? It’s not just tripe but there’s other stomach fats as well… This is a gem in this crappy neighborhood…
Worth trying out when ur stumbling drunk, or sober!

A wonderful new spot for fresh and tasty Mexican food in the mission. We’ve tried a number of things on the menu and most have been awesome. I’m a big fan of the Grilled Chicken Chimichanga and my boyfriend loves the grilled beef entrée. They also serve a mean whole fish. Of course they also have homemade chips and salsa with every meal.
The only thing we haven’t loved here was the huevos rancheros, but I don’t know that we’re huge fans of that dish generally, so I’m not going to fault them for that.

Tried out El Tomate Restaurant in the Mission because of the SF Weekly ad for Enchilada Mole for $ 5.99, regular $ 9.99.
Took 24^th Bart & walked the 7 – 8 blocks to the restaurant. There was only one other table filled, rest of the small restaurant was empty on Sunday ¹²⁄₃₀ around 1:30pm, not a good sign. Other restaurants like Wise Son Deli was packed, so was El Farilito.
FREE chips & salsa given, but I didn’t eat the chips.
Got my Enchilada Mole $ 5.99 — it was two chicken enchilada with some mole sauce on the top, sour cream on top too. Side of rice & refried beans. It was barely warm, didn’t taste that good, pretty bland, nothing special about it. Rice was kinda hard, beans average.
They take credit cards. One unisex bathroom available.

Ah! Chihuahua… El Tomate is a brand new place run by the family who owns La Espiga De Oro, the tamaleria and Mexican deli on the same block of 24^th. Jamie W. and I decided to come here after a particularly strenuous workout at the gym. OK, it wasn’t particularly strenuous, but there was a sweat stain on the back of my T-​shirt. See? Right there. No… there. Clearly such activity would make the mere sedentary ravenous and indeed it did for me. I threw culinary caution to the wind and decided to guide us there for some down-​home Mexican dishes big on fresh ingredients and full flavor. By the Mission’s standards, it’s an unusually sedate sit-​down place with a menu full of temptations targeted to gluttons like myself. Brush up on your high school Spanish because the menu isn’t in English.
Things started well with fresh, warm tortilla chips served in a little, Cost Plus-​style basket along with a fresh, kicky tomato-​based salsa and a more creamy, calorific dip that looked like chicken spread and chopped carrots mixed with sour cream (see photo). I didn’t care because it was good stuff and well, the serving bowl was small. Because we are admitted penny-​pinchers, we took full advantage of our Unilocal check-​in and ordered a free appetizer, the Nachos Supremos (normally $ 7.99), which was quite a plateful of tastiness with melted cheese, refried black beans, red peppers, tomatoes, jalapenos, a dollop of sour cream, and a big scoop of fresh guacamole covering a pile of warm, crunchy tortilla chips that were far thicker than your average Chevy’s creation (see photo).
For our shared entrees, we first went for the $ 11.99 Pollo Mexicano, a saucy confection with diced chicken breast sauteed in butter with onions in a special red sauce accompanied by rice, guacamole and tomatoes (see photo). Accompanied by a stack of their thick flour tortillas, nicely charred (see photo), it was quite delicious in a home-​style way and also a good alternative use for the chips leftover from the nachos plate. But our favorite was the robust $ 9.99 El Tomate Salad, a thing of beauty as it had refried beans, cheese, pork, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and cream all piled high on one of their homemade deep-​fried flour tortillas (see photo). It finally struck us after all our gluttony that fresh, handmade tortillas are their specialty because neither of us had quite had such substantive tortillas before. So much for our workout.
FOOD — 4 stars… obviously homemade goodness with their fresh tortillas the standout, hefty portions for the indiscriminate
AMBIANCE — 3.5 stars… low-​key and a nice change-​of-​pace from other eateries in the area
SERVICE — 3.5 stars… the waitress treated us pretty well
TOTAL — 4 stars… the fresh Mexican dishes will bring us back, especially those tortillas… ah, the carbs

Had the Birria de Chivo (estilo Jalisco), but it wasn’t really estilo Jalisco: Where’s the sauce!!!
Nice place, anyway.