Laid back and lively vibe. The food was great - slightly elevated comfort food. If I lived in the neighborhood I would give it five stars b/c it's such a great addition to the 'hood. But by general SF restaurant standards, it's four stars - really good meal and worth the trip to what feels like a remote spot. Oh and the prices were reasonable. read more

A note: i don't write reviews often. I think it's 6-7 over the last 5 years. If I feel that I had some uniquely special experience I will go out of my way to say so. A uniquely bad experience or good. I am spending 15 minutes to write this because this time was super special. The review is real. It's long. And, every word of what I am about to say is true. I don't know anyone at Vara...but.... I will get to know them after last night's meal.... This was one of my most enjoyable experiences at a restaurant in a long time. When we walked in from a foggy and cool day on Noriega, it was eye-opening. Beautiful two level open space with gadzooks of hanging plants, nice seating arrangements for privacy and super high ceilings which not only make the space bigger and more airy but there is never a lot of noise - conversation or music that makes it difficult to talk. We were there on Friday night about 6:30. Medium amount of diners and about 30 seconds of waiting. We were immediately greeted by "host" Steve and Kai...her first day on the job. She had learned quickly, seated us and was so pleasant that all three of us remarked on it instantly. Then over the next 2 hours we were attended to as if we were Obama dropping in for a quick meal. I'm a customer service nut and we all know how slow or haughty service can cast an immediate shadow on a meal. Attentive, sincerely friendly, super knowledgable about the drinks, appetizers or meals - they were there to help. Someone mentioned the "over-attentiveness" of the waitstaff. To me, it was a bit startling how Alexis and two Jonathans were always there when we needed someone, but it was only because service at 99% of restaurants is not nearly like this. It was special and we all loved it. Alexis was great. Knew everything we threw at her, offered frank opinions of choices we made and was spirited and fun. We wanted her to join us. The other two Jonathans took over later and were a great addition. Oh yeah, food. We shared about 6 plates. Corn fritters 10/10, roasted squash 10/10, Trout tartare, same, Goat cheese. Flat bread,..excellent. My sis loved her Manhattan and Old Fashioned! They were all delicious. Can i highlight one appetizer??.. Well, the pot de creme dessert. A knockout. But they arrived at our plate quickly and they made sure the drinks arrived first. If I don't have someone take my drink order within 5 minutes, I GET GRUMPY. I was not grumpy here. And, for us sport fans who need to know the latest Giants score or how our Valkyries are doing, there are a number of TV's scattered thought out. (muted). BUT - this is not a sports bar hangout...but sometimes it's helpful to know if we kicked ass or not........ This is the beginning of a long term relationship. I Iive in Marin but fortunately my sis is only 5 blocks away. We will all continue the courtship and I hope you people do too. You walk out smiling and are still talking about it 30 minutes later as you try to figure what a Vara is (Portuguese- Spanish-Latino unit of measurement) and wouldn't it be great if other restaurants offered just half the service and great food. Thanks Alexis, Kai and Jonathan x 2. Memorable and we'll be back! Fred y mi comrades, Emily and Mary Ann (told you it would be long!) read more

I keep coming back here cause the space is beautiful and the service is outstanding. Very friendly and skilled. The menu has variety with special favs of the spinach salad, flatbreads, burger and pork chops. And I find parking so meet ups for happy hour are easy too. Nice work Vara! read more

Sat at the bar area. Very nice and airy. Food was good. Service was good given they were just open. read more

Fifty Vara - High ceiling - Cocktail Bars Near Me - San Francisco, California

So glad this spot opened up on Noriega. The drinks were really good and the food was solid. The restaurant has a lot of potential. Can't wait to come back and see how the menu evolves. read more

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This place is a gem with great food & amazing staff! I came on Wednesday for lunch & my bf and I split corn fritters, a flat bread, a pasta & each got a drink as well and everything was amazing. We sat at the bar & Nick was very attentive and also just fun to chat with. They have a full bar & brew their own beers in house which would make this a great spot to catch a game- they have TVs visible from pretty much any table including upstairs. The whole vibe of the place is great, my bf and I agreed that the interior reminds us a lot of NOPA so it's def a cute date night spot. I enjoyed it so much I came back last night to celebrate a friends birthday & the general manager Katarina was very sweet and brought over some cute little drinks with a candle for her when she was making her rounds checking on all the diners. It seems like they rotate their menu often and incorporate a lot of seasonal ingredients which I love & gives more incentive to stop by often to see what's new! read more

Absolutely wonderful experience! We popped in for drinks and appetizers before graduation. The staff were friendly, welcoming & attentive and the food and drinks were delicious! It's is also gorgeous inside!!! read more

Food was average. Limited menu. Very few choices. On the pricey side. Portions were very small. Have to order a lot to get your fill.

I reserved a table for my family and I at 2pm for what we thought would be lunch. We also researched the menus in advance online. Unfortunately neither the website (including Google) or the menus on the website DO NOT SPECIFY the timeframes for breakfast , brunch , lunch or dinner. Upon arrival , we already had in mind what we were going to order from the lunch menu. My family are very particular about what they can eat and a few of them wanted the flatbread or the pasta. We were informed it was still brunch and the pasta was unavailable . Bummer but not the end of the world since we could still order the flatbread. However, the waiter ( not very friendly ) stated they were "all out of all flatbreads for the rest of the day "...wow. Flatbreads are included for lunch AND dinner and you're out for the rest of the day by brunch? Needless to say this greatly limited our food options which ruined lunch. We didn't want to be rude and leave since we had ordered some appetizers that hadn't arrived. I highly recommend the menus are at least updated with the timeframes for brunch, lunch etc. cherry on top of a disappointing experience was that the glasses of water were dirty. I had high hopes for this place since it's local and appears to have good reviews but this was a very unpleasant experience for my whole family and I do not plan on returning. read more

Had a great lunch at Fifty Vara today. Calamari and hamburger we delicious! And the servers were kind and attentive.

Hamburger made me sick. It was takeout and it tasted funny but I was hungry and ate it. Diarrhea all night.

Had a lovely dinner in here! Jonathan was so nice and attentive and took great care of us ! The pork chop was amazing! The decor is amazing and the music was not too loud ! read more

We had a great experience at Fifty Vara last night. The vibes are really cozy and the staff was welcoming and attentive. The food and drink quality also impressed us. read more

The family went on 2/27 for dinner with no rsvp. We got seated right away and were told our server was Alexis. For the next 20mins we waited patiently for our waitress. No one came by to give us water or anything. The waitress( dress in all black) suddenly shows up and asks are you ready to order. We ordered 2 sodas, 2 app, and 4 entrees. The waitress comes returns and asks what drinks did you order again. We tell her. In within mins she asks us two more times what drinks did we order. I was like what the hell. Our first app-meatball arrives. We waited a long time for the second app-flatbread and the waitress asks if we got the meatball. This is getting weird the meatball is right in front of you. While waiting for the entree. The waitress comes back and asks are you ready for dessert. My kids are laughing at this point. We tell her no we are still waiting for the entree. She comes back and asks what did you order again. Im like she has dementia. We again waited a long time for the entrees. At the time, I felt bad for this young lady for having this memory loss but it's probably from drug use. It was a perfect time to teach my children this is what happens when you use drugs. Food was ok but I thought it was on the expensive side. I was so close to leaving and go eat Japanese around the corner. read more

I really wanted to love this place because it's in my neighborhood and I liked coming here in its last iteration. But our experience was just not good. Our server was great--really friendly and good with the kids. But he was dismissed after taking our order. It seems like the manager started letting staff go randomly. (As a former restaurant manager, I get that they want to cut costs and reduce staff if it's not that busy, but let your servers complete their current tables!) My kid's children's meal was brought out in a reasonable amount of time, but then the rest of us waited and waited and waited. For at least 25 minutes. By the time the rest of us got our food, the one kid who got his food early was long finished and I had to try to deal with him while eating. On top of that, two of our orders were wrong. I was also disappointed with my burger--it was pretty small for the cost. My other kid was also really disappointed the restaurant doesn't have pickles for the burger. What kind of restaurant that serves burgers doesn't have pickles? However, my husband ordered the pork chop and enjoyed it. Overall, we might give it another chance just to see if this was an off night, but our experience wasn't great. read more

This place is new, so I'm going to come back and re-review this in a month or so. Hopefully they'll get the kinks out. Pros: - Wonderful atmosphere (if a tad noisy). Great high ceilings, art, plants, natural light. The vibe is energetic, inviting - the kind of place you want to meet your friends and hang out. - The beer is good (not great), and there's good variety and we need to support places making fresh beer onsite! And they pour half-pints so you can taste different ones. (They should offer tasting flights, just saying.) - The neighborhood really benefits from a place like this. It's not a dive bar, not precious and tiny, not a chain, and not esoteric or specifically ethnic. Those places are well represented already. - Price point is acceptable for a weekend night out, and matches the vibe of what they're offering. Cons: - Service. Saying the service was bad was an understatement. We were all but forgotten, which is crazy since were literally the first table next to the host stand so we were constantly in someone's view. Our server was covering way too many tables (most of whom were served first even though we were seated first), and the host and manager didn't even clue in to how long we had to wait for food. Nobody seemed to notice or apologize for the delay either. We ordered a burger, a flatbread, and a salad, and we had a 20 minute interval between the salad being cleared and the other food showing up. Not cool. It took another 10 minutes to get our check (after asking for it) and another 10 minutes to get someone to run our credit card. Seriously! 70 minutes to get in and out for a beer and three simple foods. - Value. You can't charge $20 for a burger that small. I don't care how fancy your grass-fed whatever beef is. That thing was tiny. And the bun was a few days old - please don't try to pass off that crap as fresh. Beyond that the food was "fine". The menu was reasonably short and had lots of crowd-pleasers. Nothing was excellent, nothing was awful. Fries were good :) Fix that service, fix that burger and this is a place we'll come back for. If not, I fear they'll suffer the fate of the last place that operated here. read more

This was our second visit to Fifty Vara but we took a star away from our first review. Thought we had made a reservation on their website but it hadn't gone thru, but the host seated us upstairs where it was a bit quieter. The decor is very attractive and the noise level allowed us to hear each other. John, our server, honored our request to turn off the TV which was distracting. The 2 appetizers, corn fritter and stuffed peppers were delicious and a great start. We planned to share the pork chop with roasted beets and carrots, but it came medium well instead of medium rare. We should have been asked how we wanted it cooked; instead my wife decided to order another one. I ate the first which was OK but not nearly as tasty as the one she got (we paid for both). The spinach side was way too lemony and salty and we sent it back. We shared a dessert of tres leche cake with toasted almonds and a few strawberries; good but not worth a hefty $15. The glass of Zinfandel was very good but too warm; it should be slightly chilled. John's service was excellent throughout and the bill was adjusted accordingly. read more

Delicious food and wonderful service. We ordered the trout, flat iron steak and tomato/burrata salad and all were delicious. Really good cocktails as well. Loved the cozy booths. Great addition to the neighborhood - we will be back for sure. read more

We had a great experience here tonight. Everyone, ages 5-80+, loved their meal. My mom and I are gluten free, so we appreciated all of the options (they warned us about cross contamination as it's a shared fryer). We will definitely return. read more

We celebrated our end of season baseball party at Fifty Vara last night and it did not disappoint! The space was perfect for our group of parents and players, food was delish, and the staff was amazing! Lissa worked with us on planning the menu, while Brian and Matt took care of us upon arrival. By far the best venue and food for a gathering in the Sunset!! read more

While the space is beautiful, the food is a big letdown. We had the porkchops which were bland, the burger was just okay, and the fries cold. The cucumber appetizer, with a sweet hot sauce, sesame seeds was not tasty at all. read more

One of the best burgers I've ever had. Service was spotty but owner came by several times to check on us and our server was lovely and funny just not around too much. We sat at one of the high tops in the bar area. Will definitely be back. Might make it a weekly trip because we live in the neighborhood. Highly recommend. read more

Food was good. Service was good. I like what they have done to the place. It is cozier and warmer than its previous iteration.

So glad to have a nice change from the previous restaurant. It's got a nice vibe inside and clean. Food was very good and really attentive service. We were glad to see that the menu was priced right and looks like they regularly change the selections. read more

Great decor and food in brewery restaurant atmosphere. Thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and will come back.

Just had a delicious lunch with our daughter (8 yrs old). In the middle of the meal, she said: "this restaurant is awesome". Wonderful addition to the neighborhood read more

I want to start by saying I've never taken the time to write a Yelp review in my life, despite some bad experiences at restaurants. But based on how disappointed I was after eating here tonight, here I am. The only reason I am giving this two stars is based on the ambiance alone. It really is a shame to have such a beautiful place and such mid food. We ordered the halibut crudo to start, and it was the thickest, chewiest 4 bites of fish we've ever had. And there was no sauce on it at all. I'm not sure what that even was. Then we ordered the little gem Caesar, which is our go to. The dressing was more of a vinaigrette, which left us confused....and it really just wasn't hitting like a Caesar should. We ordered our 6 year old the kids buttered pasta for $9, which was about 5 bites of pasta in a tiny bowl. He said he was "starving" after so we had to go to Jack in the Box and he ate an entire cheeseburger. We didn't order anything else after that. So, for those 3 items and one beverage for $73 of our hard earned money, this definitely ruined our evening. We left starving. To charge those prices, this isn't the place. read more

On April 28th, 2025, I made a reservation day of my experience here. I needed to do a review article for my school's newspaper. When we arrived, we were greeted with nothing but smiles and gratitude that we were eating there. The restaurant spot used to be. be Sunset Reservoir Brew Co., which was a staple in the Sunset. I had many dinners there with family and friends. Fifty years have lived up to the expectation. For an appetizer, my family and I ordered the calamari, which was perfect. Then, for our meals, my father ordered the burger and said that he needed to eat all of it because it was amazing! My mother ordered the steak, and she also fully enjoyed the meal! I had the pasta with the sausage, and it was good, but just a little oily. The ambiance is very green and minimalist. It's such a welcoming environment! read more

Service was good, cocktails were good nothing too unique. food was okay, had the crab fritters, chip n dip, chicken breast, and flat bread. flat bread was really good chicken was pretty plain and dry. read more