esperpento in San Francisco

I have never been actually. Just walked by. But they been there forever. So can't be all bad right

They serve some great paella! The place can be crowded and noisy but the food more than made up for it.

Really good food. I love the salsa bar.

The food was delicious, big portions and affordable. Service could improve but they were very busy. All in all I would definitely come back here

Amazingly good. So good. Eat here.

We kept to our reservation and they seated us immediately. The hostess suggested we have the Paella and some tapas along with the sangria pitchers we ordered. The sangria was delicious and two pitchers kept our party happy. The paellas, while they took time, were served piping hot and were delicious. The tapas plates were served with delicious bread and a garlicky salsa. I would go here again!

Delicious seafood paella and they had one of my favourite Spanish red wines so I was happy. No frills kind of place, but festive enough to make your meal enjoyable.

Wow, great food. The service is good, the food is amazing and the prices are excellent.

Nice service, relaxing atmosphere, excellent foods and drinks!! Especially, Salsa Brava is awesome!

Grilled heart of artichoke is delicious. The potato omelette is hit and miss as sometimes it would be served warm.

Fabulous tapas and paella. Sangria was delicious. Service was warm, friendly and prompt. Truly a "feel good" place. Bring a few dollars for the roving balladiers.

Sangria takeout is Devine.

The food is always tasty and the service is good Can be crazy busy Fri Sat nights I always try to eat lunch here

My favorite Tapas restaurant. Everything is high quality and delicious! Sangria is fantastic.

This brought me back to my childhood in Spain. Perfect! Traditional, typical Spanish food without the fancy stuff people nowadays often sell as tapas.

This place is totally underrated! These were some of the best tapas I've ever had! And wonderful sangria too. And everything was so cheap! I'll definitely be back- I can't believe this place isn't more popular!

This is a good restaurant, and we enjoyed our paella. The service was decent too, only minor annoyance: they added a beer on the bill that we did not order.

I Love This Place, been coming here for almost 20 years....

Great place for a social meeting.We had a mini family reunion. Great choice. Tasty food.Recommended!

Great value for money, gets crowded late. Nice live guitarist and $10 pitcher of Sangria before 7pm.

So happy you are back. Great tapas place. Great prices, great quality!!

I went early enough before it started to get very busy. Service was good enough... Staff not friendly but were good about serving our needs. We had the blood sausage which was excellent, then for the main dish.... paella.The paella was ok / decent. Shrimp and chicken we're rubbery, the rice was cooked well, flavor was good.Would I come back again? Maybe. I'd give it 1 more try and if the Paella came out the same way again, I wouldn't come back.

Felt like I was back in Spain. The art on the walls and the sleection of tapas and friendly wait staff made me feel welcome the moment I walked in. We tried a lot of popular tapas and especially loved the grilled artichokes. And totally loved the Patatas Bravas and the Gambas al Ajillos.

Very good food and customer service.

All dishes were delicious with good portions. The place was neat and clean. Will dine here again!

Delicious food but the customer service is too slow and practically absent to your needs. Parties of 4 or LESS is okay to eat there. Not big party friendly because the service quality diminishes.

Hey good and ambiance. Nice outside dining. We greatly safe and enjoyed the food and sangria's

They have many types of tapas; seafood, meat, poultry, vegetarian. All delicious. The service is always good.

I am not a professional review, and this just my opinion. For many years, a few of my soccer buddies and I had our Friday lunch at Esperpento. The menu has not changed much, but some chefs were better than others. During our last visit after a long hiatus, we were pleased to find that the current kitchen offerings are quite good. We usually enjoy a variety of tapas - liberally accompanied by a chilled Rosé or a good Rioja red - then order a salad prior to diving into a "Mariscada" of seafood. While the food is good to excellent, the same cannot be said of the service. It's a good thing that we know the lady maître d', who will corral an inattentive server to take orders, etc. The owner is from Spain, so it's a good sign that the tapas are pretty authentic. The wine list is limited but sufficient, the sangria is fine. Noisy place, sometimes difficult parking, but the place does offer good food at prices which won't break the bank. Nice place for a change of pace.

Great service. Awesome food.

Truly awesome food with live acoustic music at dinner. The sangria had bright flavour profile citrus set off by notes of spicy red wine.But the chef has composed a medley of seafood flavours from shrimp mussels etc, seasoned yellow rice and vegetables to create a symphony of flavour in the mouth.Next time I'm in SF I'll definitely dine there again.

A friendly staff and an unpretentious atmosphere contribute to a solid, no-frills, value based experience, ideal for a pleasant dinner with friends. The quality of the food leaves room for improvement but is commensurate to the price. Lighter and more flavourful recipes would earn this venue a couple more stars.

First off the food is fantastic! And while they are tapas(small plates), they are generous. It's fun to create your own experience plate by plate. The staff is wonderful, friendly and patient. It is a fun atmosphere and it can get loud in here as it is almost always full when we've gone. If you end up on the waitlist sneak across the street to the Latin American Club for a drink.

If there’s one restaurant I recommend the most in San Francisco, it’s Esperpento. Everything is delicious! The sangria is flavorful, the tapas are perfectly done, and don’t even get me started on the paella. Just make sure you order the paella soon as they take about 30 minutes to cook. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Stop by after 7pm for live musicians; a great date spot.

Sangria is well priced during COVID-19 and available for takeout.

My wife and I really enjoy this restaurant and usually make a stop here any time we're in SF ... We always get the paella with all sorts of meats and the garlic shrimp ... Enjoy

The food was excellent the waitress was ok. However the place and tables are too small and you need to wait for your table outside.

Tasty food and quick service. Prices are reasonable. Great atmosphere. The tapas we ordered we're a tad on the bland side. Good salt on most but I was left wishing for a bit more. Not sure about the larger dishes as we didn't try any. We enjoyed it but I wasn't really wowed.

Really good place at affordable prices for a tapas restaurant! I liked the fried calamari and lobster tail, and the ox stew was hearty and tasty

Great food & drinks with ourdoors seating during covid

Very nice authentic place, good food

The patatas bravas and the chorizo salteado are my favorite tapas from this restaurant. The paella is also really good but if you have it with shellfish, it can get sandy. The sangria is also good. The staff is friendly, fast and attentive.

In my opinion this is probably the most original tapas restaurant I have been in San Francisco. It's not a high end place but serves good spanish food for a really good price.Besides the food there you will feel a real Spanish atmosphere.

Loud but fun great service and food get combo and add plates to share

Relatively small place but is very lively. Its better to take reservations before coming. Great place for tapas

Excellent quality ingredients, delicious food.

It's temporarily closed. Esperpento's food was good; not the best, but good enough to enjoy a meal. I have tried pretty much the entire menu. Prices were fair too. Service needed improvement as it sucked 99% of the times.

Sister restaurant to one located in the Mission...same great fiid!

Service was slow. Food was average.

The food was OK. It was moderately priced and the portions were pretty big. This meal cost $65 including tip and something similar in New York City would cost about double that. Service was a bit slow and lackluster which is probably what cost this place a full 5 star review. It also looked much cooler on the outside than it did on the inside. I'd give it 4 stars which isn't a bad review by any means but it is not a perfect 5 if that's what you're looking for. Pictured is the lobster paella, blood sausage (morcilla) and Jamon Serrano.