BEST cheeseburger and fries! Love this diner and they provide speedy service! The atmosphere is cute too!

I ordered the Hash Burger (corned beef and 'runny' egg). It was just ok! I wasn't expecting anything amazing at 3am, but maybe something worth the price. Also the egg wasn't runny... I received a real beer hall/sports bar vibe inside. There's more seating that it looks from the outside. It's very accessible by Muni but awful for parking. I won't be returning here for late night food. read more

Diamond in the rough. Don't pass by this gem. Classic, simple, and perfected. It's the small things like a perfect milkshake or the extra seeded sesame seed bun. Will spread the word and be back again and again. read more

New owners, it's very different from when the Portuguese couple owned it. Food is still very good but thought it was overpriced and the server requested payment upon ordering, very odd for table service. Never encountered that before . Menu is fairly limited but food is very fresh . Used to sit at the counter, which was always full and lots of interaction between patrons. Not the same vibe now. But if you're looking for a tasty meal with fresh ingredients before heading back home late night then this is the place. read more

You can feel old Sam Francisco in this little spot. Food was great and staff was so friendly. Stopped in on a pretty late night and got a burger which we loved. If you happen to walk by stop in. read more

Taking a walk down memory lane, when my wife and I lived in the Bay Area and how many times we ended up here at the end of a long night. Pretty special weird and wild hazy fun. The city is lucky to have such a wacky gem. What San Francisco used to have an abundance of: perfect sideways swagger. Oh. And try the Caldo Verde. read more

All I know is tell ya momma and ya daddy's that this sh*! right here ?! Hide your kids and wife and pets because they won't come home with you after you bring them here and also shout to the waiter Gary read more

Grubstake Diner - Garlic shrimp and potatoe skins - Burgers Near Me - San Francisco, California

open and serves until 3am. drr. home cooked comfort food: hot and tasty burgers with a interesting menu. **** read more

I tried this place twice. Food was marginable. I ordered the food take out. As I was staying at the Holiday Inn around the corner. The garlic bread tasted like the cook wiped the grill clean with the bread. I was the worst tasting galic bread ever. I would not recommend this place to anyone. read more

This was a great place to go for a late night bite. I believe they're open until 4 AM on certain nights. I came here with a friend to try it out and we had some good food late at night. I ordered the patty melt, and it was really delicious. The service was fast and the ambience is kind of diner style, but a little artsy. I would come back here again if I wanted a late night bite. read more

Had a late night bacon cheeseburger and it was pretty good, came with all the trimmings lettuce, tomato and onion, love the sesame bun.

Wow! French toast, no milkshake! Would be great if I ordered any of this. I did not get the milkshake, eggs or bacon I ordered. I got a random mish-mash of items I never ordered! Not the first botched order from this place. Not sure what to suggest here besides a full refund and to actually read your orders. That could help. French toast is not pancakes, FYI. Might help you in this business to learn the basic difference. Your snarky responses also don't earn you any customers. I am appalled at how you respond given my experience in the industry. Will be super sad when you go out of business soon as a result. Blaming everyone but yourself is a great way to have no business (amazed by your other responses to customers as well, and not in a good way.) let me know if you need consulting; you obviously do. There's a reason for your other bad reviews--hope you take the time for that introspection rather than posting excuses that insult paying customers. Not a great look! read more

Grubstake Diner - Burgers Near Me - San Francisco, California

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It's a bit pricey 60$ including the mandatory tip for two cheeseburgers, fries, and yummy but small portion of chicken strips But. Being able to get hot food that tastes pretty good late night I think their cheeseburgers are delicious I got a double. Fries were good but maybe would ask to cook them lightly next time. The chicken tenders/strips were yummy just wish there was more of them. Customer service excellent! I'm not a SFian so the prices may be shocking to me read more

Place low key fell off. I used to like to come here late night for the steak and eggs. But last night they told me they where too busy to make my eggs fried And that they would have to make them scrambled. The chef just won't do it he said. So I had to eat my steak with scrambled eggs like I'm a little kid. How much harder is it to make two fried eggs? Just crack and flip one time. Anyways as I'm finishing up the table next to us is ordering and the girl asks what kind of style eggs come with the steak and eggs? The server replied sunny side up to which she said perfect I want it like that. I literally held myself back from flipping the table and storming out. read more

I'd been here before a long time ago. I recalled it as being the kind of place you go to at 2am and that by those standards it wasn't bad. Plus it's an institution. All those things remain true! Would i have lunch here? Probably not. But would i come here after doing karaoke for the first time in a year and a half after a regrettable amount of seltzers again? Yes absolutely. This time i got the chicken club. It was passable as were the fries. Its a bit of a dry affair so you need to use the mayo which they do not add for you. That's probably good for some folks who are more mayo averse than I. But mayo is the glue that binds a sandwich and it deserves its due. read more

Love the old guy in the late night. He was rude at first but understandably because he had a bunch of annoying drunk ppl and he was trying to get everyone's order before the cook left. He later explained situation and we were all good. Even got an awesome chocolate milkshake with our cheesesteaks. Yummm late night grubbin. read more

While in Nob Hill for one night, we needed dinner delivered to our hotel at almost midnight. We took a chance on Grubstake. The shakes, potato skins and French dip sandwiches were probably the BEST we've ever had! It was tremendously overpriced ($120 for 2 people to eat), and, unfortunately, they did not include the au jus for either French dips...nor the 2 lemonades we ordered...but, what we DID receive was AMAZING!! Just make sure that EVERYTHING you ordered was included. You won't be disappointed! I'm including them in my Collections so that I'll be sure to visit again when I am in town! read more

While I was eating here, a regular customer said : it's not like it's good, it opens late ! Totally agree with her read more

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Looking for a great late night dinner or snack , this is the place. Jordan was our server and took great care. Grubesteak burger and patty melt were great. Pancakes large too read more

Honestly very boring and mediocre. It's good for late night since it's one of the few places open late. However, not worth it. Don't think I will ever come back here. If you're going here, just go to Denny's. Denny's has way more options. The quality is the same. I must say, the potato skins were pretty good. They hooked it up with the portion. Tasted good too. However, I can only give this spot a 2. read more

The wings are very tasty and the A1 sauce burger is a must try I will be going back again especially cause they stay open late

After drinking, eating, drinking, eating, and then drinking our way through our Friday night, what else did we want to do? Eat some more food of course! We did a quick search to see what was open late night and my group of three stopped by Grubstake on Saturday, February 25th around 2:15am. It wasn't that busy, so we easily grabbed three seat at their counter. *Joe's Special: 3 large eggs with ground beef, onions, garlic, mushrooms, parmesan, Served with made-to-order home fries & your choice of toast: Whole Wheat, Rye or San Francisco Sourdough ($13) *Spinach Salad (V): tossed in lemon thyme vinaigrette & bacon, onions & tomatoes ($11) *Cream Cheese Poppers (V): stuffed jalapenos + ranch ($9.50) *Potato Skins (V): cheese, sour cream & bacon ($13) *Super Johnny Burger: 10 oz. patty + cheese, bacon, avocado, onion rings & mushrooms ($17), add French Fries (+$3.50) *French Dip: slow roasted beef, thinly sliced on a french roll + au jus ($11) I ordered the spinach salad and the burger. The burger was huge! I loved all the ingredients in it, but was it worth $17? I'm not really sure. It wasn't a super noteworthy burger, but somehow, I managed to finish half of it. I did, however, love the spinach salad! I adore my greens, so the salad fulfilled that craving. I did have a bite of everyone else's plates. I do love a Joe's Special, so that was pretty good. The potato skins were not exactly what I expected. More like sliced potatoes topped with cheese and bacon. I didn't actually know they were called potato skins until I looked over everything to write this review. I seriously thought we ordered some weird version of potatoes au gratin. The jalapeno poppers were pretty average and I didn't really try the french dip. Pretty decent place for late night eats. I've had better food, but with alcohol goggles on, Grubstake will definitely do. read more

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I just had the best bacon cheeseburger here tonight! Delicious! And in a very fun & friendly atmosphere! :D Also, the hearty slice of apple pie for dessert was mouth watering warm & perfectly sweet... just like the deliciously handsome owner who brought it! read more

Grubstake Diner - a plate of food and a laptop - Burgers Near Me - San Francisco, California

Cheeseburger was good basic but good. Maybe because it was late at night but the coffee was terrible. Service was very good !!!

Good food delivery after midnight. Always a plus can't go wrong with that but they did forget my potato skins

Had order late night food because was hungry, but won't come back due to low quality. Food small portion and dry. Club sandwich , bread was hard and felt stale. Meat was dry. Cheese wasn't melted completely. Omelette no taste. Didn't come with fries like most places. Potatoes are super salty! Imbalance of taste. UberEats it said "free item over 15$", but never came . read more

Grubstake Diner - Small portion, potatoes too salty! - Burgers Near Me - San Francisco, California

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The place itself is cute however the employees were quite rude. The food is WAY overpriced. $6.50 for like 15 fries? We paid $49 for 2 sandwiches, a side of fries & ranch. The food is pretty good, however it's hard to mess up a sandwich. read more

Grubstake Diner - Grilled Cheese, Fries, Philly cheesesteaks - Burgers Near Me - San Francisco, California

I first came here in the late 70s (yes I am that old), and haven't been here in 25 years. Although there are new owners, it still serves an amazingly good burger. Came here with DH and 94 year old mom. We ordered three burgers--grubstake, mushroom burger, and guacamole burger. We also had a side order of sweet potato fries and a chocolate shake. Everything was flavorful and satisfying. We devoured everything. Service was very good even though there was only one server early on a Saturday night. The chef cooked regular fries instead of sweet potato fries. The server brought them to our table and said they were on the house and the sweet potato fries were delivered later by the chef. Surprisingly good meal, although it's not cheap. $70 after tax and tip for three burgers, fries and one shake. read more

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The food never disappoints as a dine-in experience. A neighborhood gem. Personal faves include the wings, linguica and eggs, and caldo verde. As a regular here that loves the place and can say that the servers are super there are some reviews that remind me of the South Park episode on "Yelpers". read more

To the manager or assistant manager who questioned why I didn't send the sandwich back: The server, if you could even call him that, was simply more interested in looking at his iPad, or whatever the device was that he was using, to take orders. And he spent a lot of time on that device. He was running all over the place, like a chicken with its head cut off, and there really weren't even that many people in the restaurant. Further, he never, ever, nor did anyone, ask me whether or not I was satisfied. Like they do in most restaurants. I'm sorry it's taken me a while to respond to your question but: 1) I rarely write reviews on Yelp and 2) I really had to think again about my experience there. Again, my experience here was flat out awful and I don't ever intend to revisit the place because there are so many more places around, even open late that have both better food and better service. read more

I walked in with my family and my friend and kids. The waitress was a friendly but not a very good listener. We told her my friend's sodas coke and sprite were flat and the syrup was off, the triple decker's turkey was dry and hard. I ordered the shrimp from the Brazilian menu which had no flavor just imagined steamed shrimp with a bit of salt. Just save your money and cook it yourself it'll taste better. If you must eat here order the chicken tenders or the pancakes at least those are fresh. read more

Grubstake Diner - Not worth it, save your money! - Burgers Near Me - San Francisco, California

This place is great. Love the people who work here. The food is kinda greasy spoon diner in a good way. Get a burger or 222 special.

My boyfriend has been trying to convince me to go to Grubstake for a long time, and I've been resisting for just as long. We finally went last night because I was craving a milkshake after a concert, and there aren't many options for that at 11PM. We headed over after the show, were promptly seated, and ordered two shakes and a side of fries. Some thoughts: + They were busy, but our order was taken quickly, and the server was attentive. - Fries were...very mediocre. Would not order again. + I got a plain chocolate shake. A little...chunkier than I would have liked, but still very good, and very rich. - Shakes were $10!! That's absurd. For that price, they should have been enormous and the best shake I ever had. All in all, a solid diner (and one of the only options in the area if you want to sit down for some food past 11PM), but way overpriced. I wouldn't return unless it was late at night again and there was little else open. read more

Grubstake Diner - Chocolate milkshake - Burgers Near Me - San Francisco, California

They gave me food poisoning. I ordered my sandwhich at midnight. By 6am I was projectile vomiting. I've been throwing up nothing all day. The food poisoning also came with diarrhea. Don't do it. read more

I ordered a hamburger with cheddar cheese. That's not bad but not special for me. But this place opens late and you can use Free Wifi here. So if you wanted to study or work outside, you should come there. And beer is good. read more

Grubstake Diner - Burgers Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Do you judge a book by it's cover or do you judge the reader? Neither...you judge it based on the content. Reading the other reviews for this place, it seems like they were reviewing this place based on the former. Besides, why only order burgers and fries when they specialize in Portuguese cuisine? For starters, we had the Garlic Bread and Linguica and let's just say it was a Homerun. The linguica was oozing with flavor and fatty goodness. Texture was perfect for a linguica and it matched well with the garlic bread. The wifey said she could have eaten that for her main course and she would have been happy and satisfied. For the entree, I ordered the NY Steak and the wifey ordered the Pork Chops - both had eggs on top and that made it over the top. This was a first for me so when I cut into the steak and grabbed a bite with a little bit of the egg, it was quite the revelation. "Why haven't I thought of this before?" I asked myself. My wife's pork chops were moist and tender and it came in two. Yeah...two effin pork chops. Now, I cook pork chops at home by tenderizing it and coating it with Panko bread crumbs but this pork chop is just so different. Even the waitress mentioned that she can't cook the same one at home. I gotta hijack that cook then and teach me how to make that pork chop. Speaking of the waitress, she was very friendly, attentive, patient and helpful. She made good recommendations and we will be back for the Kale Soup. I gotta give props to my cousin for recommending this place. No, not of because of Guy Fieri's 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives' but rather his good instinct in finding good grub. Bonus info: This place is open till 4AM for all you late night diners; but get here early to avoid the long wait and crowd. read more

It seriously pains me to report that Jamie W. and I were ignored abominably on Friday evening around 10:30PM. We didn't see owner Fernando Santos or his friendly wife Linda on the premises, which made us think that service standards must decline precipitously when they are away. I consider Grubstake a reliable late-night stand-by, so much so that I can't really leave a one-star review for my most recent experience when I know they can do much, much better. We were seated quickly into a booth where we kept waiting for a server. When he did finally arrive more as an after-thought, we waited and waited for our simple dessert orders - a slice of apple pie a la mode and a root beer float. What we did witness were other customers who came in after us receiving their hot-food orders well before us. When I brought the matter to the attention of the server, he chose to give us a shrug of indifference rather than acknowledge the obvious gaffe. I would have forgiven the oversight had he proceeded with corrective action. He did not. We waited another five minutes before realizing he wasn't going to do anything more to fulfill our order. I must say that when Fernando and Linda were there, I knew I could always count on a solid four-star experience. Now I'm quite wary to return after hours when they aren't keeping an eagle-eye on the staff. I'm afraid I won't be returning in the near term thanks to this abysmal, one-star experience. Bottom line, Grubstake - without the watchful owners - treated me like a grubworm. FOOD - not applicable...sadly AMBIANCE - 3 stars...not crowded at this hour...two people at the counter, eight people in the main dining room SERVICE - 0 stars...for reasons I've described above TOTAL - 2 stars...only because the owners make the place great when they're around read more

I've been here once before and maybe it was just me but I thought it wasn't all that great the 2nd time around. Maybe I just hyped it too much from my previous visit that anything that fell short of spectacular was unacceptable. My boyfriend and I took a couple of our friends here for dinner over the weekend to show our non-Bay Area friends that there were more to SF than Union Square and Fisherman's Wharf. I ordered the Short Stack Pancakes and I would usually give an extra star if a restaurant serves breakfast all day but this case was different. Although the pancakes were huge, it tasted a little bland and under-cooked. It was neither fluffy nor golden brown. I had to constantly dip it in syrup and spread butter on it. I didn't even finish. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. My boyfriend and our friends ordered burgers which looked appetizing. They all finished their burgers so I'm hoping their experience was a lot better than mine. Maybe next time, I'll order a burger. FYI - They don't accept any (credit/debit) cards; cash only. read more

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There are a multitude of reasons I'll find myself coming to Grubstake: * I need greasy food. And lots of it. * I feel like waiting. * I'm drunk. * There is no where else to go. * I have too much money to spend (#1) * Friends want to go. Popular vote wins. * I want Portuguese food. (#2) As you can read, the reasons are never good. The food at Grubstake is hardly worth waiting for, but people do so because there aren't a lot of places to go post bar crawling in these parts. The staff is also a bit inept at times, but just imagine having to serve a drunk crowd late into the night. You would be bitter and snarky too. The bacon egg cheeseburger is almost always disappointing. $13 with fries, it's small, greasy, and somewhat unappetizing in plate form. If you're trying to score a decent meal under $10, make it breakfast with their $9 two eggs and protein option. At least one gets (bland) home fries and some toast. Make sure to bring cash. Credit cards will only ensue strange looks and quite possibly laughter. _____________ (#1) Apparently, I'm still drunk. (#2) Seriously. They have a separate Portuguese section on the menu. What the .. ? read more

After visiting the good people across the street at Vespa San Francisco, my wife and I ended up at Grubstake for dinner. I've heard about Grubstake from a lot of friends and also I saw them on the Travel Channel on an episode where they were visiting late night eateries in San Francisco. We arrived a little bit after 5pm which means they just opened. The hours here are 5pm to 4am. So we were actually the only ones there when we ordered even though by the time we left the restaurant was full of customers. Here's what we ordered: Nugget Burger: this is a 1/3 pound burger that comes with a fried egg and bacon. Fries are $2 extra (didn't taste that great) and onion rings are $4 extra (tasted good). Overall it was a decent burger. Along with the onion rings it's added up to about $15. Was it $15 good? Umm, I guess it was ok value but anymore $ and I would say no way. Portuguese buffalo wings: the wings are slow cooked in spices. They were ok but they should take the name buffalo off the wings. This were Portuguese wings that are baked. When I think of buffalo I expect fried and with buffalo sauce. Service was average, but the waitress was very nice. The restaurant decor is kind of cool in a bar/diner type way. Would I come again? I don't feel a dire need to, but it's still a decent spot and definitely on the short list for late night eats. read more

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