Service is great it's the people that go there who waste time. Please wrap it up, people are here…read morefor business. Don't blame the workers because it is the patrons. Please respect everyone's time. Highly recommend with my utmost respectful regards.

Great experience at the Social Security office. The staff was very kind, professional, and helpful…read more The wait time was surprisingly short, and everything went smoothly. Definitely appreciated how organized and welcoming everyone was!

This is from my dog, Gus. (We live very close to one of the sirens. BTW love the hours posted…read morehere!) "Every Tuesday at noon I have to do the same thing. The siren comes on, and I wait until the voices in English and Chinese. As they're talking, I howl and howl and howl. I am translating it into dog language, since the City is not considerate enough to realize how many dogs there are and how we'd like some communications ourselves. I mean, what if there were a tsumani and we decided it was time to head for the beach for a swim? How would we know that was a bad move? Fortunately I dabble in English so I know what they're saying (even though my people barely can understand it) and I communicate it to my fellow dogs. Do I get any thanks from the City? No! Or from my people? No! They just laugh at me and take videos. But I know the dogs of my block appreciate me. I get lots of pee-mail on our tree telling me so."

Better than Swiss Cuckoos!…read more SITREP Was staying nearby downtown in the Financial District / Union Square hoods in the Wyndham hotel for the week when wanding up Grant Avenue in Chinatown I hear the "Tuesday Noon Siren" go off. SETUP The Tuesday Noon Siren has become one of those community events that is based on a serious effort to be "at the ready" to broadcast important community information should a local / national disaster take place and there is an important need to disseminate information. Admittedly, it almost seems pointless in this day & age of cell phones and "news in your palm" via smartphones. But what people forget is that sometimes these "hard-wired" networks to pass information that are supported with back-up generators and independent energy-sustainability may be the only way in an emergency to get information out on a broad-scale "town square" or "herald" effort when the cell towns are town and the power grid has died. KITSCHY COMMUNITY HIJACK In the meantime, the Tuesday Noon Siren has become it's own sort of entity and "local character" that people look forward to hearing and event tracking time to. It's also example of when a utilitarian / emergency system starts to take on a life of it's own. I'm kinda reminded of the Interstate Highway system that President Eisenhower established in the 50s as a means to transport military hardware such as tanks and military vehicles quickly throughout the country. And yet, for example, we all use I-80 and I-5 to take us to our vacation destinations now. SIREN GOES OFF Humorously, there's a video on YouTube already that shares "the excitement" of the klaxon horn going off. It's pretty sedate, but cool nonetheless as you hear th klaxon horn, the emergency announcement in English, then followed by the emergency announcement in Chinese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o3sEVVVTVo&feature=youtu.be THE LOWDOWN One of those totally random quirky, yet interesting local events, that captures a moment of fun in general, but serves a vital community purpose specifically.

This place is completely unprofessional and disorganized. We had a confirmed appointment at 2:10…read morePM, but when we arrived, the office was closed without any notice. According to the security guard, they were supposed to call us to come in at 10:00 AM instead. What kind of professional business operates like this? We never received a single call, text, or email. To make matters worse, the staff we did encounter were extremely rude and used inappropriate, offensive language. It was clear they had no idea what they were doing. I would not recommend this place to anyone under any circumstances.

Best great easy fast online for fill you forms I recommend it helps lots I received my application…read moreanswer fast and clear

Called to find out some information on joining, woman told me to hold, then said she couldn't help…read moreme till after chinese new years. Took down my info, and I still haven't heard back yet. I guess everything is still winding down, and I am chinese....but Business is business. Those stores are only closed the day of chinese new years, and some are even open half a day. Thats the one day chinatown closes down...how the hell is this place lazy like that? Also their contact information is kinda off?

We are 900 feet away from the station, but it still took them 15 minutes to arrive on scene. Don't…read moretrust these fools with anything!

#30/2016 The crew of…read moreSFFD Station #2 could not have been nicer. Having heard this great tip that you can buy t-shirts with the station's logo - in this case, the Chinese dragon in honor of Chinatown- we made a quick stop. Around the corner and down a short alley, we found the brass doorbell for visitors. We were greeted warmly and enthusiastically and given a quick tour from firefighter Suzanne including the firemen's personal quarters where one of the crew was making dinner. A call came in, we were asked to stay and we quickly shoved ourselves into a corner of the stairwell. The nice fireman who was on dinner duty grabbed the t-shirt my little boy wanted (they have two designs) and then we got a nice photo opp with him and one very happy 8 year-old who's got bragging rights and a cool t-shirt ($20, supports our fine men and women of the SFFD). As we go about our everyday lives, I think we forget to appreciate and thank the men and women of both the SFFD and SFPD who keep us safe. And the t-shirts are really excellent with neighborhood stations sporting varying logos (Italian flag for North Beach and I can't wait to discover the rest!) Pick one up for your niece, nephew, your own little kid- or yourself!

Amazing service. Very understanding, respectful and polite officers. The office is very clean and…read morethe employees maintain the order. Great, great experience.

This center is fast, efficient and the staff is very courteous…read more We came in at 9am and left at 9.48am. There were about 10 people ahead of us for biometrics. The process was simple and easy, Rajahn was fantastic. He was cheerful and we had a fun conversation with him, he made a stressful experience pleasant and easy. I agree with the other Yelp review, Best government office ever!

Let me preface by saying that, no, I have not committed any crimes or misdemeanors to my knowledge…read morein talking about my visit here. With shelter in place still in effect, my family fell victim to a hit and run accident several weeks before my visit to this station to file a police report. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the damage was only to my dad's old car that was parked in front of the house. I tried to file a report online, but, with shelter in place, the policy is that I file a report at any police station. Since most of my work is in the downtown and Chinatown area, I stopped in on a June weekday afternoon here. No one else was in the waiting area so I walked up to the windowed counter and explained my situation. Officer Pacchetti helped me start the form, writing down details as I dictated the information to her. For the personal information portion, she brought the form out on a clipboard and handed it to me to complete and sign. Once done, I walked to the window and returned it to her. She gave me her email address so that I could share photos from the accident as well as a video from our security monitor. Before getting a receipt from her, I noticed a display case and a few shirts that were for sale. Knowing several friends who also grew up in the neighborhood, I bought a couple of shirts as gifts (https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sfpd-central-district-police-station-san-francisco?select=OucyhFC7BOgD4D02KePxgg). Thanks for making this a painless process.

Useless. Completely useless. It's 3:30 AM on November 1st in north Beach, corner of Grant & Green…read morewhere someone has been blasting high decibel noise through a sound system. It's Halloween in a high-use area, where people from all over the city an the greater Bay Area come to get drunk, get high, and act like idiots and there are no police around. Dispatchers only response is they've been getting noise complaints about this location all night...two blocks from Central Station. This is an assault on the people who live here who have to put up with this b______t every weekend, some of whom have kids, have to go to work, are elderly, or sick. SFPD is just useless. They all live in Novato anyway.

In at 10am, out at 10:50am. Processed efficiently and politely. Just don't crowd security officer…read moreat the door. One at a time.

This place was very efficient and really organized. From the security when you first come in to the…read moreteller. Customer service was on point. Iwas trying to get my passport same day but it wasn't possible but they made me an appointment for the very next day whi h I really appreciated. I will defined recommend to anyone who needs a passport asap.

[from their website]…read more Project Ahimsa is a global effort to empower youth through music. An internationally-recognized non-profit dedicated to the empowerment of youth through music, Project Ahimsa provides music education to youth in poor, under-served areas around the world. Since 2001, Project Ahimsa has funded sixty six youth music grants around the world, presently operating in six countries including India, Thailand, USA, Tanzania, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Argentina. Project Ahimsa is a cultural initiative of the Drs. Kiran and Pallavi Patel Foundation for Global Understanding (http://www.global-understanding.org/), a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For the first time ever, renowned musicians such as Michael Franti and Spearhead (San Francisco), Karsh Kale (UK), J-Boogie (San Francisco), Funkadesi (Chicago), Tablapusher (San Francisco), DK (NYC), Sunny Jain (San Francisco), and Janaka Selecta (LA) are joining forces with our sponsored programs such as Youth Movement Records in Oakland, California (USA), Manav Sadhna in Gujarat (India), and Ritmo en los Barrios in Managua (Nicaragua), and beyond to record and remix original tracks for a full length LP. *************************** Significant funding for this organization comes from fundraising musical events produced with the amazing musicians and djs involved with the program across the united states and europe. I respect and like the artists involved with this project and its goals. The music they have produced is, in word amazing. The message good. Go to any event benefiting this organization, buy their music, or just give them lots of money to go do good things. They are good people.

I had a very pleasant experience with their service. They were all quick and responsive throughtout…read morethe entire process.

Spencer Chase is a scammer. I wish I had read the recent reviews before paying him…read more I hired Spencer for assistance for a Chinese Visa application. Similar to other reviewers here, he initially seemed very responsive and knowledgeable, but then the delays and excuses started. Since he has had legitimate experience in this field, his excuses seemed reasonable, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. In the end, they were all lies. Here is an incomplete list of the excuses he used: "Waiting for the pickup notification" "Should be today or tomorrow" "It will definitely be next week" "They are a little backlogged at the Consulate" "Should be any day" "Will contact you soon, at the consulate now" "Should be getting the pickup ticket tomorrow" "They are prioritizing business first, ticket applicants second, and non-ticket applicants like yours third" "This delay is not typical" "Your application was batched with a tourism order last week" "I've been using all methods to try to get this done as soon as possible and it will be completed this week" "I got the pick up date and it's for next Thursday" "I just received one for another case that was submitted shortly before yours so it looks like we're almost there" All of these excuses sounded believable and made the process sound like it was always tantalizingly close to completion, but every one of these updates was a lie. Every. Single. One. I was a fool to have believed him. I hired Spencer in July when he promised it would be done in 2-3 weeks. I had to threaten him with legal action in order to recover my passport in November (4 months later, still with no visa in hand). After getting my passport back, I went to the consulate myself. The whole process took just 40 minutes (mostly waiting in line). It makes my blood boil just thinking about how Spencer strung me along for 4 agonizing months because he couldn't have bothered to go to the consulate for a mere 40 minutes. He exploited my inexperience and took advantage of my patience. My advice for anyone applying for a Chinese visa: do it yourself. The consulate updated their online application process in October 2025 so it's much smoother. If there is anything missing in your application, they'll tell you online exactly what you need. When it's time to submit your passport to the consulate in person, you just need to drop off the passport. The processing is super fast now because they've already reviewed everything online. And you don't have to pay a penny until your actually pick up your passport with the visa. Even worse than wasting your money and time, Spencer will ruin your travel plans and your mental health. He never planned on completing the work. Please don't make the same mistake I did.