Pancho's Salsa Bar & Grill in San Francisco, CA: A Review

Here's the basic breakdown on Pancho's - they use fresher ingredients than a lot of taquerias, and the difference is quite noticeable especially in the veggies, but they also charge you for the privilege. Expect to pay at least $1-2 more here than you would expect to pay at a taqueria anywhere else in town ... and unfortunately the portions are also sometimes smaller to boot.

Certain menu items are much better than others. I was pleasantly surprised by the basic rice and bean burrito, for example. I was expecting simply rice, beans and pico de gallo as you get anywhere else, but they include cheese and sour cream to boot, and even the "small" size stacks up favorably to the regular burrito size at a lot of other city eateries. In general, I think their burritos are quite decent - maybe not excellent, nor quite worth the premium they are asking for them, but satisfying enough.

The quesadillas are another story. I couldn't have been more disappointed. They use a very thick and bland corn tortilla for them, which is completely inappropriate as it overwhelms the taste of everything in the quesedilla with dry blandness unless you totally drown it in salsa or guacamole. They're also ridiculously tiny for the price. For the $5 you pay here for a chicken or steak quesedilla, you get about half of what you would get anywhere else. That also brings up another general problem - limited selection. As far as meats go you're pretty much limited to grilled chicken or grilled steak - no carnitas, no marinated boiled pollo, no nothing really "genuine." Certainly no goat's head stew on the weekends.

The tacos, for some reason, offer up a better range of options than the quesedillas. Here you can get carnitas and shrimp, as well as fried and grilled fish. They are pretty tasty, probably the best option on the menu in that regard. But like the quesedilla, they are definitely on the small side and I felt like I was overpaying for them despite the good quality.

Avoid the breakfast burrito. It's too heavy on the starches - mostly potatoes, beans, and rice with a little egg and cheese thrown in sparingly. Not worth what they are asking for it.

I appreciate the fresh salsa and guacamole, and that they have decent not-too-salty chips to boot. Unfortunately the price is just too much for the portion sizes and limited appeal of the food. It's OK in a pinch, as there's really no other real Mexican options within like ten blocks or so in any direction (Nick's Yuppie Tacos doesn't count.) I'd like to see some better competition in the area though, maybe it would spur some more competitive pricing and kick up the general quality a notch.