Charanga Restaurant
(415) 282-1813
2351 Mission St
San Francisco,
CA
94110
37.7593
-122.419
Neighborhoods: Central East, Mission
What People Are Saying About Charanga Restaurant
The Editor
Contributor
Citysearch
The Scene
Charanga's 15 tables fill up almost every night with Mission denizes of all ages, sharing inventive tapas-style plates. The high ceiling, narrow room and exposed-brick walls can make things noisy.
The Food
An affordable menu takes cues from Caribbean and Cuban cuisine. Delicate seared ahi tuna contrasts beautifully with its accompanying crunchy plantain chips, marinated jicama and chipotle aioli. More traditional dishes like fried yucca or new potatoes with lively hot sauce also satisfy. Larger plates include beef or chicken cooked with green olives and raisins in rice, and sauteed shrimp and calamari with hot chiles, ginger and coconut rice. Among the desserts, the Mexican chocolate almond torte is heavenly.
User Reviews
kris23
February 15, 2008
This place is not too bad. The wait staff were friendly but service is slow. The food is okay could be be more flavorful. Be prepared to wait however as seating is limited and reservations are not accepted. May consider returning if I am in the area.
read full review
vivianda
November 24, 2007
Literally, that is what you will do at this place. First of all, I saw the review on Check Please! and it had really touted a great review for them. I was really pumped up to visit the place since it seemed to be a hole in the wall restaurant in the mission that gave good cuban cuisine. We went on a Friday, when things are expected to be busy and although they were, they were not over the top busy and yet we were managed to be completely ignored. There was no dedicated server to our table so the accountability was not there. I ordered my drink and waited for about 20 minutes only to find out that the waitress had forgotten to place my drink order. After that things went down hill. The food was average nothing too extraordinary. The presentation of the food was very nice, but the flavors of the food were pretty bland. Then I had the courage to ask for dessert. I asked the same waitress which had forgotten my drink and she ordered it. Well, it must've taken about 20 additional minutes just to get the dessert. I had to ask a passing waiter, that wasn't even serving our table to please bring me my dessert...only after seeing and hearing my frustration did they act quickly and got me my dessert in less than 5 minutes...imagine that!! so all in all, the entire visit there was about 2 hours. Our servers didn't even bother to ask if we needed anything...only maybe a once half-hearted attempt by a neighboring waitress. Anyways, that is my take on this place. If you have a full 2 to 3 hours to spare on a mediocre meal and don't mind being ignored the whole time, then this is your place...after leaving this place we hopped on over to Cha Cha Cha, which is only 2 businesses down the way and we had a great time. Much better service and they really had a full house! We only wished it was Cha Cha Cha that we had visited earlier.
read full review
pidgemeade
May 10, 2007
I love tapas, and Charanga's gets very high marks from me. The yuca frita are the best I've had in the city, and the sauteed shrimp and calamari with chiles and coconut rice is one of the single most satisfying and flavorful entrees I've ever had. You might walk right by this place if you're browsing on Mission St., but it's well worth a stop inside. The service is very friendly, the music is festive, the ambience is hip yet low key, and the food is really fresh and delicately layered with flavor and so incredibly delicious and satisfying.
read full reviewThe Details on Charanga Restaurant
Know Before You Go:
Arrive early or expect a wait. No reservations are accepted.
