Martin Mack's

(415)864-7468
1568 Haight St.
(between Clayton & Ashbury)
San Francisco, CA
(Upper Haight district)

Price: $-$$
Rating: 6 (Rating & price key)
Last visit: 03/02/06

I'd been walking past this dark-fronted pub for a couple of years before we decided to actually go in and try their food. From the exterior, you'd think it was just another Irish bar judging from the sometimes surly, often tipsy, and always smoking crowd haning out in front, but there's a decent-sized restaurant section in the back.

Needless to say, if there's any Euro football or rugby, it will be playing on one of the several screen above the bar here. The dining room has just two teles above the kitchen area. The menu is very typical of an Irish pub: fish & chips, curry fries, Irish nachos, burgers and the like, with a small selection of beers on tap and in bottle. It'd be nice if they had more Irish/UK beers on tap, but I never have trouble finding something I like, and Sarah always enjoys their Magnus' hard cider.

In my visits so far, I've mostly had the fish & chips, namely because they're the only place in the upper Haight that serves them regularly (Magnolia does on, I think, Tuesdays, but Mack's are better). All times I've been, the fish has been nicely done, with crunchy breaded fish atop decent, but not great, fries.

Our non-F&C orders have been hit-or-miss (mostly miss). Sarah's wedge salad's (green salad with blue cheese and bacon) blue cheese dressing was watery and devoid of chunks of cheese, but the bacon atop it was plentiful and warm, making for a simple, but comforting salad. She liked the carnitas tacos, but I failed to get a bite of them. Our order of cheesy fries was very gooey, what with the gobs of mayo under the melted cheese. Neither of us were sure we liked it, and would probably not order it again. Sarah's chicken pot pie was dry and bland, and my irish lamb stew was a bit watery and didn't have a lot of flavor other than black pepper.

Service is casual and friendly. The waitress (who has been there every time I've been) is very quiet, but good, and drink refills are offered whenever necessary. I like that the crowd in the restaurant, such as it is, is mellow (probably not the case during the World Cup or Rugby finals, though!), making this one of few inexpensive places I can think of in the upper Haight to have a quiet, relaxing meal.