Asqew Grill

(415)701-9301
1607 Haight St.
(@ Clayton)
San Francisco, CA
(Upper Haight district)

See their website for the addresses of their other locations in SF's downtown, Castro, Marina, and Laurel Village districts, as well as in Emeryville and San Jose.

Price: $-$$
Rating: 7.5 (Rating & price key)
Last visit: 12/12/06

Reliable food at reasonable prices. The menu is a mix-and-match affair, where you choose your skewers (1 or 2) of meat or vegetables and a starch to put them on. Your order and pay at the counter, then someone brings your food when it's ready. The ambience is a funky low-key affair, and there is a large window in the front, which affords great people watching on Haight St.

I eat at the Upper Haight location monthly or so, and am generally pleased with the results. Two skewers of meat will set you back $10-12, and that's a pretty good deal, given the quality and flavor. I nearly always get one skewer of the basil mint lamb, which is always moist and medium-rare, and another of whatever strikes my fancy, with the couscous on the side. The Cajun chicken, although not by any means spicy-hot, always nice and juicy. As a bonus, they have Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap, which is somehow exactly the right beer to have here.