Fork Cafe

RIP Fork!
I feel sad every time a biz goes out of biz! So, my predictions, as always, came true.
Businesses really need to read the Unilocal and other online reviews, it’s what’s going to make or break them and yet I’ve noticed that many businesses are oblivious to Unilocal user reviews.

Update: sad to say, Fork is gone now. I haven’t tried the new place that has opened in that space — judging the look of the place it’s practically a change in name only. One star because FORK is gone– when I eat there I’ll update again. I hold out hopes I’ll be able to give more stars.
Goodbye Fork — you were my go-​to brunch spot. New place (can’t think of the name offhand): we’ll see,

CLOSED! Handwritten sign on the window says «Fork is closed». Dark inside. No telling if they’ll reopen or when.

I will make this short n sweet, If it were food based it would be ¾ stars. However the service is horrible.

If I were basing my review on the food alone I would definitely give a higher rating; however this review is based primarily on the service (or lack thereof) that my friends and I have experienced after several visits to this establishment.
The unapologetic «its not my fault» attitude that the service staff practice is rather annoying. After being told to pick a seat, warning shots were fired as another patron told the server «the food is good but you need to work on your service.» We thought she was just being snarky. A salad with no chicken or dressing, a table with no silverware or condiments; when asking for these simple mistakes to be corrected we were treated as though we were inconveniencing the staff. When it came time to pay the bill we sat… and sat… and sat… no bill. I thought to myself «if we were to dine and dash would they even notice?» Being the ethically moral people that we are we decided to walk up to the waiter and ask for the bill. He gave us a look as though we asked him to perform a lewd act or something. He printed out the bill, ignored the fact that my hand was reaching for it and slapped it on the counter. My friend and I handed him our cards and told him to split it to which I was charged $ 16, my friend charged $ 14… (I’m no mathematician but…). After several bad experiences I think I’ll refrain from continuing to inconvenience the staff at this location.

First: no sugar on the table? Wasted steps… but I digress back to my old service-​hag days.
Speaking of Aunt Hagatha… Okay, I don’t want to be a hag to anyone else (*cough* here in the Castro, *cough*), but it’s nice to get a serious portion of breakfast when I’m paying $ 14 for it. This was an ample plate if food.
I had the oddly named «Buenas Dias» (wrong gender on the adjective) and it was pretty good. This omelette with avocado, chorizo, cheddar, salsa and sour cream didn’t have quite as much zing as I’d expect from something with chorizo in it, but it was okay. Sorry, I live in the Mission, chorizo is a staple and it’s so *versatile*…pick up the pace, people. The avocado and sour cream will flatten flavor, so meet it with a slightly more robust pico de gallo or herbs. And the breakfast potatoes… classic error. Cooking the potatoes and adding the onions and peppers at the very last doesn’t inject any of that wonderful flavor into them. Somehow, those ‘taters have got to get some grill time with your savory veggies.
Oh. And picky moment: what’s with one piece of toast now? Have I been out of the country too long? (again?) *sigh* I suppose everyone not eating the toast at all is a big waste (I remember throwing away loaves of toast in my diner days wondering why we even served it)
All in all, for self-​service, acceptable. 3 healthy stars. But even though it’s counter service, does no one check on coffee any more?

This place was good until recently. New cashier gets my order wrong then asks if I want to buy the correct order.
Food is also going down hill, but the service is the worst.
Hopefully the dish will run away with the spoon and leave the Fork out to dry. One thing I know is I won’t be coming back.

It’s a shame because this restaurant started out so terrific and I was looking forward to placing a good review as I like to go to a place for a few months. There used to be good food and great service but it has all gone downhill.
I don’t know if its under new management, but the friendly hosts and staff that used to remember your name and care about your experience are all gone. Now you have rude people behind the counter that don’t speak english and then refuse to correct your order when they don’t understand what you ordered in the first place and they place the wrong order for the kitchen.
They don’t care to check in with you at all and seriously act like they are doing you a favor when they drop your incorrect order on the table.
I will never be going back to this place and wait for the next restaurant to take its place.
Put a FORK in this dump — it’s done!!!

Short Version: Pleasing to the eyes, but the food lacks in taste and service.
Long Version: During my last visit to this restaurant, I ordered steak and eggs. I asked for my steak to be medium rare and my eggs to be over easy. What I got was Above and Beyond well done steak and the yolk is already hard egg.
It’s such a bummer to have a nice plate in front of you in terms of presentation, but when you actually eat it, not only is it over cooked, it lack taste as well.
To top it off, the service here deserves 0 stars. I say that because their servers don’t even serve you. Actually, there are no servers, only the cook and the cashier.
I’d recommend either La Boulange or Squat and Gobble instead.

This place was ok. I went because of a free glass of wine check in offer on a Wednesday. The girl at the counter did not honor that, and she wasn’t particularly helpful with anything else. But the food was ok, and it’s a decent spot for a quick bite. I don’t know if I’d go there again over other spots nearby.
It looked like it had a nice pseudo patio though.

Food is usually hot and tasty.
Been coming off and on since they opened. They struggled a lot at first with service, which seems mediocre at best.
These days the place rarely seems to have a crowd except on weekends.
My biggest annoyance is they charge huge markup on side items. Two sodas are 8 dollars. If you can enjoy a meal with water, you’ll enjoy it.
The rip off discourages me from coming more.

I stopped in for a quick bite before shooting photos at a flash mob at Harvey Milk Plaza, and I got their Italian Stallion burger. Their burger, fries and a Coke cost twice as much as a fast food value meal… but it tastes five times as good. Glad I stopped in for lunch today!
I’m not from SF, but I’ll be coming back through to try dinner here.

Came here on a Sunday night so the place was pretty slow. Ordered the Taste of Italy with grilled chicken. The Taste of Italy was basically angel hair pasta with a basil, tomato sauce. Not bad, but nothing particularly special. The main issue I had was that the grilled chicken was clearly the same grilled chicken they used on their salads, wasn’t particularly impressed by that. The portions were a decent size for the price, neither generous nor stingy. Overall though, the food here is decent and one of the more mid-​ranged priced restaurants in Castro.

08 Nov 2013, 07:30p
We started as a party of four and added two more as we were waiting for our food. This is an order-​at-​the-​counter restaurant, take your number to your table and they bring you your food. The restaurant was fairly empty, so we had no problems finding seating. What we ordered (in the order we ordered):
Order 1
SF Original Hamburger
Cajun Jambalaya Pasta
Order 2
Fried Mac ‘n Cheese
SF Steak
Order 3
Fried Mac ‘n Cheese
Taste of Rome
Order 4
Wild Salmon
Order 5
SF Original Hamburger
The first things to come out were the two Fried Mac ‘n Cheese. On each plate, there are three sizable bricks of fried mac and cheese. I’m not a big fan of mac and cheese, but these bricks were pretty tasty. Not as cheesy and others would have liked, but I was fine with that. The crust was very crispy, but the accompanying sauce (honey mustard?) was a little too sweet.
Note, when the appetizers were brought out, the numbers for those orders were taken away.
Next was the first SF Original Hamburger. I didn’t hear many comments about the burger itself, but the fries were outstanding. Crispy shoe-​string fries flavored with garlic. I ate probably a third of these even though they weren’t part of my order. Again, the number was taken away after the burger was brought out even though the Jambalaya had not made it to the table.
The SF Steak and Taste of Rome showed up next. Again, I didn’t hear any comments about either of these dishes and I was getting more hungry. The next order to come out was the Wild Salmon. Now keep in mind that there was probably a 10 minute gap between Order 3 and Order 4. Still no Jambalaya. We ask about it and the server and the order taker are looking at the tickets that were given to the cook trying to find out what happened. Also keep in mind that we’ve already paid for the SF Burger and the Jambalaya.
The second SF Burger comes to the table and still no Jambalaya. Please note that there was an additional 10 minute gap between Order 4 and Order 5. Finally my Jambalaya Pasta makes it to the table. I must say that the dish was very good (or maybe I was just REALLY hungry). The noodles were cooked very nicely and there was plenty of flavor in the sauce and the chorizo meatballs. It was a good-​sized portion as well.
Overall, the food was good here. I can forgive them for completely missing my order (even though we had already paid for it!), but I do have a suggestion regarding the numbers. Don’t take them away until the full order has been delivered! I’m not sure if that was part of the problem or not, but it does make for confusion if half an order has been delivered and they’re trying to figure out where to deliver the rest of it.
I may be back, but I will try other places first. Prices are reasonable and the staff is friendly enough.

9÷21÷13 Late Lunch
The BF was in the neighborhood for haircut and he wanted to try this place. What a mistake (and thus justified why I had long been steering clear of it). You have to order up at the register and they give you a number. Fine. But unlike Squat & Gobble, where they have drink/​cocktail waiter to refill your water and iced tea, you have to get back in line to get your refill. I don’t understand why the owner thinks this is a welcoming gesture?!
*SF Original ($ 11.95): decent and nice tender beef patty, but not worth $ 11.95. Sauteed onions and mushroom tasty. Generous portion of crispy thin-​cut fries.
*Down ‘n Dirty ($ 10.95): the whole point of getting this one is the avocado. Amazingly, the burger came without avocado. Upon inquiry, I (and the folks sitting next to us as well) was informed that avocado was not ripe enough so the they decided to skip it. Well I would have appreciated the information when I ordered. Not cool at all.
Later they did salvage the situation by bringing out a small plate of avocado. With two ice-​teas and the health fee and tax surcharge the very mediocre meal came to $ 40.
Front patio is cozy and great place for people watching, but that’s pretty much all about it.

I really, really wanted to like Fork! The décor is cute and the menu/​ingredients are promising, but the service/​logistics were atrocious and the food unremarkable.
I am not sure if it is always this way, but we ordered at the register and were then seated to wait for our order. My friend ordered some kind of vegetarian sandwich, and I ordered a burger, both seemingly simple orders. Perhaps it was the fact that it was the Friday evening of Pride weekend — in the excitement of being reunited with a college friend after a year, we failed to notice that 45 minutes had passed since we placed our order. We noticed that a couple seated next to us, that had arrived probably 8 minutes after us, had already made a dent in their meals. I went to assess the situation, and we were then served after another 10 minutes. Maybe they forgot our order?
The burger was decent, the right temperature, seasoned well, etc. The sweet potato fries were completely bland, I am not even sure they were salted. The garlic fries that my friend ordered were slightly more flavorful, though still not worth the hour+ wait. Had our neighbors and other patrons not been served, I might have given them the benefit of the doubt and chalked it up to traffic…

This place is so cute! The music selection ALONE was so awesome! I was definitely singing at the top of my lungs to the best 80s and 90s music that every person would want to eat to. The portions of their dishes are HUGE. Salads are huge. The burgers are huge. Huevos rancheros (which has been my thing lately) was also tasty. Will definitely be back. Love that there’s «outdoor» seating — perfect for Castro people-​watching! (Especially on Easter Sunday!)
They also advertise that they give a portion of their net sales to local charities. I was so excited about it that I went on their website to find out more. There was no info. HURRY AND DONATE YOUR MONEY TO AN ORGANIZATION IN NEED!

This place could be better than it is. Wrong auxiliary verb. This place should be better than it is. After all, it’s in a prime spot on Castro Street in the shadow of the flashing neon of the Castro Theater. And it has a big fork as part of its awning. C’mon, a fork should be the precursor for a great meal, don’t you think? I walked in early on a weeknight to find the place nearly empty. I suppose that should have been a sign of things to come. The interior looks fitting for the Castro. Clubby retro light fixtures. Mini-​ceramic tiles of irregular texture. Mid-​century-​looking chairs and tables squeezed together against the wall banquette. Euro-​techno music pulsating from the speakers.
It’s one of those places where you have to decide quickly what to order since the menu is on the wall as you approach the counter. There was no undue pressure that night since no one was on my back, but it could happen, I suppose. I was in the mood for comfort food, so I went for Marisha’s Turkey Chili Meatloaf which sounded like it could be a healthier alternative to the ground beef kind my mom used to make centuries ago. It struck me as overpriced at $ 14.95 since it is just meat loaf after all, but I figured it came with extras I could not foresee at that moment of indecision. Not really. I just took my number and sat at my little table and waited…
…and waited. Oh, here it is. Maybe they lost their spatula. It was a thick wedge served in a bowl since it was sopping in a pool of gravy. The ground turkey was covered in kidney beans, onions, carrots, shallots and herbs. The creamy-​to-​milky mashed potatoes were just part of the bowl swimming in the same gravy (see photo). The net effect was mushy and blisteringly hot. It took quite a while for the food to be manageably digestible. But frankly, the misbegotten temperature and texture just compromised my dining experience to the point where I couldn’t enjoy the hearty goodness I assume was intended by the cook. A return visit is unlikely in the near term.
FOOD — 2 stars… how could meatloaf be disappointing… when you amp up the temperature and drown it in gravy
AMBIANCE — 3 stars… fashion-​forward and backward touches are nice
SERVICE — 3.5 stars… friendly if infrequent
TOTAL — 2 stars… discomforting comfort food

I ordered SF original burger on halloween day. And It was fantastic!
Ok, I’m Japanese and maybe don’t know about much burgers, but it was way better than Bulls headrestaurant, that has 4stars.
I think this place deserve 4stars! :)
Plus, staff who works here was so nice, too!

The boy and I stopped in on a random weekend for some morning grub. With no horrendous wait (like 98% of eateries on the weekend), we ordered at the counter and sat out on the patio.
We filled our own cups of coffee and the food was delivered to our table. It was one of those gorgeous San Francisco days, so it probably made the coffee fresher and the food tastier, even though neither of which were terrible. I got the Godfather scramble (with Italian sausage, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and cheddar cheese) and it was just OK, nothing rave-​worthy.
This is a perfect place to have a cup of coffee, relax, and people-​watch – and you KNOW people-​watching is the best in the Castro.