After visiting a couple of art galleries in San Francisco on Saturday, January 11, 2025, I…read moreconvinced DJ that we should dine out in the city since we were already out. Remembering that he had been wanting to check out 21st Amendment for some years now, I suggested that we go here. DJ was immediately sold.
After calling two to three times to no avail, we temporarily parked nearby, so that DJ could walk in to check if they were still open and serving dinner. Thankfully, they were open, but they didn't hear the phone ring. We reparked, then arrived shortly before 7:30 PM and were seated immediately. I had been at 21st Amendment before for a very enjoyable lunch with some colleagues back in November, 2019 and the place looked exactly how I remembered it.
Venue: 4 stars.
With concrete floors and walls with wooden tables and chairs & benches, the restaurant has a rustic and industrial air. Upon entry, patrons are greeted by the bar with seating and its attendants. They have an open kitchen from where the cooks can nod greetings to you. The entire space, including the women's restroom is kept clean & tidy. DJ's only complaint was that he did not enjoy some of the techno music that would play in between the salsa and reggaeton songs both of which I was totally digging.
Food: 3 stars.
In addition to the TALL HAT that DJ ordered and fully enjoyed, below-listed are the food items that we had.
Soup of the Day, Gumbo ($7 cup) - I was given a couple of complimentary slices of toasted bread to accompany my New Orleans stew which were nice to dip in the broth and eat. I'm not quite sure what kind of meat was used, but there was no sausage. 21st Amendment's version of gumbo is more like a soup rather than a stew as the broth was not as thick as usual. The flavour was still good, but I did wish that there was okra. When I was at the bottom of the cup and asked how I liked the gumbo, I commented that I enjoyed it, but was surprised that it was completely absent of rice. Our server, Luis, went back to the kitchen to inquire, returned, informing me that the kitchen admitted to forgetting it, so with a new cup including rice in hand, he served the second serving to me and comped the cup from our bill. Wow, I was very impressed by how the matter was handled.
Veggie Burger ($16) with Garlic Fries ($2) - DJ said that the sriracha flavour of the aioli was light/faint. He would have preferred a little more punch of spice from the condiment. The garlic fries were not bad.
Baja Fish Tacos with mixed greens ($19) - The two tacos were very generous in portions and the fish were perfectly fried golden. I found the cod to be fishy in taste, so I gave my second taco to DJ. He did not notice any fishy flavour which is very interesting because he is a vegetarian and I expected him to notice it much more than I did. Weird.
Meat Lover's PIZZA ($20) - We ordered two of these twelve inch pies for to-go for the boys. Both said that they were good.
Service: 5 stars.
As I mentioned before, Luis was our waiter and he delivered stellar service. As a former server, myself, I noticed immediately the excellent care we were given by him. The entire night, I kept commenting to DJ on every moment that Luis demonstrated his top-notch customer service.
We will definitely need to come back...when Luis is working!