Lingba Lounge

I too heard they’re closing – can’t believe it! This is one of the best Thai restaurants in town, plus the atmosphere and the (strong) drinks are great. There are so few restaurants in Potrero Hill, this will be a huge loss. Not to mention they were going to open a taqueria around the corner, and I hear that’s not happening now either.
For those who have a chance to dine here before it goes, try the cod, the Laos-​style chicken, and the curried vegetables. The cod is like butter! And a friend who went to Laos said the chicken is just like what he had there.
Lingba, any way we can convince you to stay???

Friday November 6^th
7:00 I wake up walk out to my kitchen and check my phone for emails and voice mails.
7:45 I force myself to put on running attire and head out for a short jaunt.
8:30 i rip off my sweaty clothes and hang them on my balcony (I’m sure I will be getting a nasty note from my homeowners association)
9:00 I check my email, twitter, voice mails, and check through travel photos from April for possible framing opportunities.
9:30 I take a hot shower and get dressed.
10:00 Log onto salesforce and convert leads into accounts
10:45 I hop in my car and head to Palo Alto for a Dermotology appointment
11:05 I pull into a parking stall in the underground parking lot and walk to to elevator get off on the 1^st floor. I walk out the front door make a right and then another right (between two buildings) and follow the path and cross the street into the Clark Building. I then hop onto the elevator and exit the 2^nd floor, I walk over to the reception. There are two receptionists checking in patients. The one of the left was a cute female and the one on the right was some dude. Never fails, I get to check in with the dude (he was nice though). He tells me that my Dr. is located at Pod B today and that I am all checked in and have seat over there and she will be out get me shortly.
11:14 My Blackberry buzzes with an email from a «friend» in DC to tell me that she is at the Air and Space Museum and asks me what I am doing. I respond that I am at the Dermatologist, she responds back «Don’t you mean the Plastic Surgeon?» I did not find that at all funny and did not respond back.
11:45 The tech comes out and gets me and walks me over to the check up room.
12:03 The Dr comes in and literally spends 4 minutes checking me over (my moles are «perfect and symmetrical») No melanoma.
12:16 I jump back in my car and head to the Stanford Golf course
12:35 I arrive and park next to a 1965 cherry red Ford Mustang. Not my style, but figure the guy is anal and won’t ding my door when getting in his vehicle.
1:15 I tee off on hole one, a par 5 507 yard dog leg left with an elevated tee. I am told that is reachable in 2 but spray my shot to the right and my ball lands in deep rough. I am 260 out and have to lay up. I use my utility club and advance my ball to about 30 yards short of the green (closer than I would have liked). I quarter swing my 56 degree wedge and my ball lands on the backside of the green above the hole and am now staring at a downhill putt of about 40 feet. I lightly tap my pat about 2 feet outside the hole and watch as it never breaks and ends up 3 feet short and still above the hole. I get the yips and my ball rings out and end up three jacking for a bogey.
5:25 I walk off the course and head into the clubhouse for a drink (trust me after a round like I had, I needed it)
5:30 I order a Sierra Nevada. My playing is a member and pays for my beer.
6:25 I say goodbye and head back up the Peninsula to Burlingame.
7:05 I walk into my house and realize that I am going to be late to my final destination of the day.
7:45 I walk into Nectar and apologize to my friend for being 15 minutes late.
10:30 I slide into bed wearing white boxers with brightly colored gold fish and fall fast asleep. I realize that Saturday will be a loooong work day.
Sunday November 8^th.
8:15 I wake up
6:00 I get a call begging me to head into the City and check out Lingba
9:00 My friend gets a call from her bf and bails on me leaving me with the check.
9:02 walk out still hungry and could not for the life of me remember what I just ate?
Friday’s Dermatology appointment = Memorable
Sunday nights dinner at Lingba = Not so memorable.
Nice modern updated dining room, full bar with bartenders who are hit and miss on mixing drinks, Lots of potential but needs menu items that set it apart from other Asian food spots in the City.

I came to Lingba Lounge for their Sunday night karaōke. It’s usually pretty quiet I’m told. However, over Labor Day weekend it was packed with people wanting to be part of the karaōke contest. I mean standing room only. The first thing I noticed was the décor. Very nice upscale LA swanky Oriental. The second thing I noticed was the odd mix of people. I’m not sure if this was due to the karaōke contest or if it’s usually like this. At the table next to us was what I’ll call the LA table: young girl in négligée style top, older woman in black miniskirt and top with huge armholes that let you see through it, gay guy dressed in gym kit (yeah, no kidding). At the bar was a mix of Marina types and hipsters. At the front table was a group of girls (bachelorette party?).
Although my group had gotten both the corner table and the lounge area next to it, the table next to us had this urgent need to get up every 10 minutes to walk to the bar and so I spent the entire night with LA people and waitresses scrambling on or over my feet and knees. Some were nice and some were rude about it. I understand it’s not their fault that it’s so crowded but if people can’t walk around the seats and tables, maybe they should consider rearranging the furniture. I will admit that this was not helped by someone at our table (who I didn’t know) who for some reason thought it would be a good idea to stop by here on the way to the airport with all their luggage.
Although the tropical rum drinks were fun service was super slow. We ordered the monkey bowl and a house made ginger beer, which came out completely flat. Then after that the service slowed to a crawl and people just went up to the bar. I also got the young coconut drink which was pretty good. Funny that it’s in a young coconut, which is edible and yummy, yet they don’t seem to want you to eat it. Or maybe most people wouldn’t. We had to ask for a spoon to scrape out the coconut. The drinks about $ 10 or more. They’re pretty complicated drinks but not very strong.
The big letdown of the night was the karaōke contest at the end. For the first few hours it was just normal karaōke. Save for the bachelorette party most people were pretty good. I had high expectations for when the contest started. Unfortunately that’s also when the hipsters, marina-​ites and assorted others decided to join in on the singing and take up the mic. That’s when it all started going downhill. I was kinda wondering why these cute guys were here on karaōke night and it turns they were saving themselves to sing badly in the contest. Luckily there were some really awesome singers there but they were outnumbered.
Overall, nice atmosphere, good but weak drinks, too crowded.
Bike Parking: you’ll have to park across the street at the pole. For some reason Potrero Hill really dislikes cyclists and tries to minimize the amount of bike parking available.

Just fine as a place to take a meeting on a Friday evening (altho it was a dead-​in-​San-​Francisco summer Friday eve). I wouldn’t go rushing back-​the drinks are pricey the fried calamari was kinda tough, and as others have noted the service is a little disjointed.
If you’re meeting someone on the south end of the city, it works.

Most people probably come to Lingba for dinner or drinks; few people, however, know about its Sunday karaōke nights. If I were to rate Lingba just for karaōke, I’d give it five stars. Unlike most karaōke bars, it’s neither dingy and dirty, nor is it hyper-​competitive like certain San Francisco karaōke joints. It’s fairly quiet on Sunday nights and the people there are generally friendly and good-​natured.
The karaōke dj is awesome. He’s fun and friendly and will sing with you if you ask him (which is great for those of us who are bad singers yet still insist on subjecting our friends and random strangers to renditions of «You Oughta Know»). He also has an amazing memory. I was here in May for the first time since last July and he called me up at the end of the evening and had me sing «99 Red Balloons,» because he remembered that I had done it the year before. I love this guy!
As for non-​karaōke nights, Lingba is pretty good. The food is fine, but not stellar. The drinks are very good – I love their strawberry margarita. I also like their selection of non-​alcoholic drinks, including Thai Iced Coffee and Tea. Because I got a low alcohol tolerance from the Asian side of my family, I really appreciate a bar with a decent non-​alcoholic selection. (On the upside, thanks to the European side, I can drink milk by the gallon – bring on the iced coffee!)
Lingba’s weakest point is probably the service which is somewhat inconsistent. I’ve been there on a few nights when the bartender was not totally sober. Although, as the evening went on, she poured progressively stronger drinks, so I’m sure the clientele weren’t complaining. ..

Met up with some old co-​workers here and ended up being quite disappointed.
As others have mentioned the atmosphere is upscale and nice. Definitely not what I was expecting for Potrero Hill. I didn’t try any of the food, but they said it was fine. They loved the monkey bowls, but the strawberry mojito came out weird and syrupy.
The real problem though, was with the service. It was happy hour and the staff consisted of a bartender and waitress. I understand that it’s a casual thing, but should it really take 20 minutes to come around and clear a plate or take a drink order when there’s less than a dozen total customers? The real kicker though, was after we paid our check for $ 200 and someone picked up a small goat hill pizza. Even though no one was waiting for a table, we were told matter of frankly «you can’t open that here». Wow. You have a nice nite too. Looks, you’re white a female bartender with tats and an attitude. I get it. I expect that in a hipster dive, but they at least have a sense of humor about it. Here, it just kind of creeped me out.
My bill came to $ 10 for 2 Anchor Steams. I was quite happy to get out on the cheap, because, frankly, I’d rather spend money somewhere else.

I cant comment on the food, only the nightlife:
I went here on a Thursday night because my friend was DJ’ing. It’s on the corner, very isolated, in a quiet neighborhood. I got there at midnight, and ooh! Front Parking! As we stepped in, no one checked our ID at the door, and there was no dress code or cover charge… But I must say I totally expected something else. They play music, so I thought it would be crackin but it’s a freaking BAR… a super EMPTY bar to be exact.
There were about 6 people there (including the DJ and bartender) before my group of 4 arrived at midnight. It’s dimly lit, nice décor, comfortable ambiance, tons of tables to sit and lounge on (one couple looked like they were on a first date but were all up on each other sucking face, it was sooo gross) and since there were no other people, it just FELT whack. I told the guys to hurry up and finish their drinks and we bounced out of that place quicker than Flash.
I almost laughed at how whack it was, especially when the bartender said «Thank you» when we walked out of the door 10 minutes later. If there were more people, I could imagine that place would be crackin. Or if you’re on a first date on the down low and want to get drunk without worryin about people watchin you, I would recommend this place too. But the drinks aren’t strong, and they’re a bit pricey too. I would like to TASTE my alcohol if I’m going to be paying that much for it. And if you’re a group of people trying to get their party on, I have to say, NEXT!!!

I feel so conflicted about my opinions of Lingba.
The Good: This place is fun. On one hand they’ve got the atmosphere DOWN; fun hanging wicker monkey light fixtures, awesome tropical mural, ok tropical drink menu, good lighting, decent service (but there was only one person seating, serving, etc in our area — she was good, but needed help), good dj… The menu is pretty good, the food, while not amazing, is good.
The Bad: The prices are steep! In fact, if you’re not careful, you’ll end up spending A TON of money here. The food is good, not great, drinks are ok, but not worth the $ 8-​$ 10+ prices.
I’ve been here twice and both times I’ve noticed this… I get the weirdest vibe from the dudes working in the back. I’m sure it’s just that his job is boring or he’s trying to get fresh air, but I can’t help but feel like I’m being watched by the chef-​dude who literally stands in the doorway to the kitchen and gazes out to the people eating. It’s a really odd experience. OR, maybe he was just looking out window or staring at the wall, I don’t know. Maybe if he was doing it with even the slightest smile, I’d feel a bit better about the experience.
I’m giving Lingba a 3 star rating. This is a restaurant I really want to give a higher rating to. If I go again and manage to spend under $ 100 on a meal (for two) and a few drinks, and don’t feel like I’m being watched by the kitchen service, I’ll revisit my review.

Now this is a classy lounge. I love the layout and jungle’d theme of the interior. The latin bartender dude hooks me up with the jugg all the time. He will make any drink you like as long as he has the ingredients on hand.
They even serve Louis XIII here, cost a little though.
Price wise, generally drinks are on average. For me a little better, but way cheaper than other joints in the city.
Music is calm and chill.
Lighting is calm and chill.
Great place to take on a one on one, or to impress your friends with a Shipwreck on in chill lounge with a classy taste.

Nice chill place with a great atmosphere. The place is much smaller than I had imagined. Parking was a snap, but than again it was a Wednesday night. DJ’s that were below average, the music was all over the place. I need to go there on Fridays when my DJ DFunkt is in the mix. There’s really no room to dance either.
Friendly bartender with a smile. The strawberry mojito was legit. $ 3 Singa beers and great service. I’ll try the food next time. Seems like the appetizers are the way to go. I like that its conveniently right off 280. Great local spot if you live in Pot Hill.

**3.5 stars | Lounge Review
Drinks: they have Hanger One and so that automatically puts them on my good side. Their «bowl of monkeys» for $ 23 is a killer drink. Huge and lots of alcohol mixed in but it has so much flavor that it didn’t enticed me to drink more. Just too many flavors.
The two ladies that was serving Saturday night rocked. Friendly and understanding with that fact that we were all tanked.
Will probably go back when or if I’m in the neighborhood again.
PS: their DJ sucked that night! Killed our buzz!

I came down here with a group of Unilocalers after RF80 to part some more. I didn’t realize they served food here since we came here late into the night.
It’s a cozy little space with a DJ spinning house and a few people dancing in front of his booth. The drinks were abundant here, lots of wine and bubbly being passed around :)
They had good seating and arrangement of their tables and chairs for such a small space. Props for that. Also they were pretty nice to me when I needed a band-​aid and several were given to me. Thanks!
It wasn’t too busy in here, but at the same time it wasn’t so empty that you felt like you weren’t doing anything. This place is exactly what it is… a place to lounge around with some friends so you can talk, drink, and dance.

One of many cool places in a small radius of Potero Hill. Parking was easy on a Thursday night … unless you are in pointy heels and have difficulty on slopes. I had to do several loops and even then ended up wobbling my way down a hill.
Random group for dinner … so it was every wo (man) for themselves … atypical of Thai food … but I don’t often eat with strangers, vegetarians, tauren and random women off the Internet. (My sister though, is a different story …)
I had the massaman chicken curry with black rice. It was pretty tasty and the rice was great. Van had pad thai and while I enjoyed it, she thought it was lacking in about 5 tablespoons of chili sauce. Frofroo drink menu … scorpion bowl that they call a barrel of monkeys … I was too far from the bowl itself and didn’t trust that others weren’t backwashing so I passed on the suckage. I did get the Shipwreck which had me at «served in a coconut» … only after I got it did I remember that I don’t like coconut.
Service was solid, the ambiance was cool — I’d go back, but with a smaller group and with closer friends.

While we were waiting for tables at a restaurant nearby, we jumped in here for some drinks. I didn’t eat any food here, so my rating is not based on the quality of the food (I actually thought it was just a lounge and didn’t even know they served food).
Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised with this ‘hidden gem’. The service was great, the ambiance quiet and pleasant, and the view from the hill was unbelievable on this clear night. They had a variety of different drinks that looked unique and tasty, but I just went with beer because I’m boring. If you’re looking for a quiet date or just a relaxed place to talk and drink with a few friends, I highly recommend Lingba Lounge.

Not bad. Not great, but not bad.
I decided to take a peek into Lingba Lounge after reading about it on Unilocal and wanting to find something different for brunch. I made a reservation for noon on OpenTable on a Saturday and headed over. A reservation was not necessary at all as we were the only ones there. The waiter told us that people start trickling in at about 1pm. Whatever. I got my OpenTable points, so I’m happy.
I had heard about this Bloody Mary with the bacon and quail egg ($ 10) and had to try it out. yes, it’s a Bloody Mary with bacon and a raw quail egg. They aren’t hiding a thing. After staring at this concoction for a moment, the bartender explained it to me. I could either mix the egg into the drink or just shoot it. After asking his own personal preferences, I decided that the bartender might know best and decided to shoot it. Not bad. Granted, I’m half Japanese and so I grew up on raw eggs. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea. My boyfriend refused to kiss me for a couple of hours, let’s just put it that way.
For brunch, I had the Pork Hash (about $ 12) and my boyfriend had the omelette (about $ 11). I think the omelette was better. It came with a spicy green sauce which really made the dish unique. The hash was a bit heavy to have in the morning. Granted, it was good, but it wasn’t great.
The ambiance of this place is interesting. There are monkeys in the light fixtures and the entire place has a bit of an Island feel. I think they are going for the Thai theme, but I felt more of the wannabe Tahitian vibe. I’m not saying that it’s not a comfy place — it is — it’s just not what they were going for. But, like I said, it’s comfy. Many tables are surrounded by sofa-​type seats which makes the entire place really laid back.
I really need to come back here at night and use try this place as a bar and dinner restaurant. The bar looked amazingly stocked and had some good stuff standing in it. I’ll have to come back to test the talents of the bartenders.

My friend heard about the bacon and quail egg Bloody Mary, and she made a reservation for eight of us. Big party, brunch is a popular meal, reservations, good idea!
A couple of us arrived a little early and found Lingba to be pretty empty (half of the restaurant wasn’t open, and there was only one other party at the restaurant). We waited for the rest of our group before talking to the hostess. When everyone arrived, we let them know we had a reservation for brunch, and we received the blankest stare. She seemed surprised to hear that we had made a reservation (perhaps that they even took brunch reservations), and they weren’t prepared for our large party. We hungrily waited ~10−15 minutes for our table to be set up.
We were starving so we ordered a number of appetizers including the pork ribs, spring rolls, fried corn cake and ahi tuna with taro chips. The sweet and savory sauce of the pork ribs was so tasty (my friend tried to slyly swipe her finger through the sauce while nobody was looking… nice try!) and the taro chips were a nice addition to the ahi tuna. I thought the spring rolls and corn cake were good but not as good as the other apps (the corn cake was a bit bland).
I was having a tough time deciding between breakfast (pork hash) and noodles, but I had a hankering for noodles. I got the pad see ew which was a standard, solid pad see ew, though my friend’s pad thai looked pretty amazing.
For folks looking for some solid brunch cocktails (and probably non-​brunch cocktails), they have a great cocktail menu. I had a strawberry mojito which I was a bit concerned would be too sweet but it was still a bit tart. There were lots of other fun brunch cocktails to choose from (including the bacon and quail egg Bloody Mary).
I was a bit put off by the service experience, but the food was pretty good and a nice chill vibe (with lots of windows) that made it a pleasant place to dine.

This is a nice neighborhood bar that turns out some strong, tropical drinks. They are a bit overpriced, but very tasty and inventive. Did I mention the drinks are STRONG?
Friday night there’s a DJ spinning tunes and a relaxed crowd. It’s not overly crowded, probably due to its out-​of-​the-​way location in Potrero Hill.

mmm… i’m not sure what it is but i’ve had repeated underwhelming food experiences the past few weeks, and Lingba was another. I expected a «nicer» Thai food experience but the food was typical Thai food. We were eating dinner so sat in the restaurant portion, thus cannot comment on Lingba as a lounge-​y spot.
Recommend:
The Corn cakes are delicious and my fave item of the night.
Miso cod — a poor man’s version of the original Nobu miso cod but still enjoyable.
Monkey drink — not bc it tastes great (typical tropical fruity cocktail) but bc its a hilarious experience. Endless jokes about the über long straws and the complimentary polaroid picture they take. Yes, i’m not kidding. ($ 3 extra for more than 1 polaroid pic)
The duck confit and pad thai were standard. Overall, not bad, not good. And I should have said at the start…: Do not be alarmed — you are NOT at Elephant Bar, though you might be confused by the décor. –_–

=== Best Jasmine Soda Ever! ===
Not jasmine rice soda you ding a ling, jasmine tea soda. My bad, I’m Filipino, my mom would hit me with a slipper if I didn’t know the differences between Calrose, Basmati, and Uncle Ben’s rice.
Defintely try the lamb penang curry. The free range roasted chicken is kinda eh, and dry and very difficult to eat without using your hands. I mean if you really get down when you eat like yours truly.
From the bar/​lounge area to the dinner area the waitressess were super cool and accomodating. + star.
The house/​ambient music goes well with their elephant bar on crack theme.
Based on the food, service, atmosphere, value, venue, Lingba gets 5 stars.

Bar review only, though I’m curious to try the food. Love what they’ve done with the place. Cosmopolitan dark wood & dark leather set-​up goes extremely well with the super-​delicious, life-​enhancing guava cosmos. Yes, they still have the tiki drinks, but they also know their tequilas and have a nice selection.
Jenniflynn R. called it, because of it’s hillside location, this place gets some of the last sunlight of the day of any place in the city. Use it to your happy hour advantage!