Hands down the best Mexican food I have ever had. I had the taco plate...mixed and matched with mushroom, greens, and squash tacos...side of rice and beans and nacho cheese...everything was beautifully seasoned and the presenation was tempting. Sadly,I was only visiting the area but this will be a must stop place if I make it back to San Fran.
Pros: Awesome Food! All vegan!, Friendly Serve, Great AtmosphereI was in a hurry and chose Gracias Madre as my lunch option for the day. I didn't have time to peruse the menu so I asked the waiter what his favorite dishes were. I ended up with the enchiladas covered in mole.
If my food had cost less than it did (I think I paid $18 total) I may rate it slightly higher given the taste and quality (maybe 3.5 compared to 2.5). But because of this, I cannot. I wasn't super impressed with the dish. The mole was good, but everything else was just meh. I did not care for the steamed kale that came with the dish and the mashed black beans were OK. I really felt something was missing on the enchiladas and feel they have a lot of potential, but they just didn't do it for me this time.
I had to wait 1 1/2 hour for a table. So nice to see a vegan restaurant so packed that there was such a long wait. They took my name and cell phone number and I went to a bar down the street and waited for them to call me. So nice!
The atmosphere is so nice and cozy, great murals on the walls, professional and courteous staff and the food is to die for. Amazing inventive Mexican cuisine. Don't miss the chance to eat there the next time you are in SF!
Pros: friendly staff, healthy cuisine, excellent foodI had the enchiladas, which were tasty, but nothing special. The waiter spilled a good amount of our sangria pitcher as he was pouring and I was disappointed that there was no offer to replace the spilt drink..l I wasn't blown away, but I would give it another shot. The neighborhood is not one I would walk around in myself, so be safe if you check it out...
Pros: atmospherecan I please live here? Organic Vegan Mexican. so good, it was packed with omnivores. going back for gorditas and black beans. I'm a realllly good vegan cook, so going out to eat is usually a disappointment. they kick my butt. amazing yumminess! noisy and family style seating. who cares? eat!
Pros: vegan, incredibly delicious, home grown heirloom cornI went by myself on a busy Sunday night, but they found me a spot on a communal table right away. My food was absolutely perfect, so very delicious & just exactly what I needed to eat. I had the vegetable plate, so I got two choices of vegetable (I chose broccoli & snap peas, both perfectly sauteed with chili & garlic) beans, rice and a basket of delicious steamed corn tortillas. There were two salsas free on the table but I also ordered a side of Pico De Gallo as well as a much needed Mojito (it had been a rough day). Everything was top notch and put a huge smile on my face, and set my tummy back on a happy path after a day where I hadn't treated it very well.
Pros: Delicious, Healthy, FriendlyThe food is average at best. Boring to say the least. The owners are all about the money and clearly don't respect their staff. Why give people like this any money? There are plenty of places in the mission that will make veg food much better at better prices and are locally owned.
http://sfist.com/2011/11/29/cafe_gratitude_announces_closures.php
These people have no ethics.
Tried this place 3 times because several people, who weren't vegan, said that they loved it. We were very bummed. Maybe if they poured way more sauce over the food it would disguise the bland over priced dishes. I wanted to support a new vegan place, but 3 times was way too many. Cooking this type of food at home is always way better.
Updated from previous review on Tuesday March 27, 2012
This is one of the places I was most excited about eating at while in San Francisco on vacation, but sadly it was one of the places I was most dissapointed by.
The wait wasn't too terrible. We did have to share a table, but it wasn't really a big deal. Unfortunately neither was the food. I will say that the best thing I had was the gordita off of the appetizer menu. I wish I had just ordered three of those. Instead I ordered tacos, which consisted of one type of blandly sauteed vegetable inside of a corn tortilla. Really dissapointing. Apparently the menu changes so perhaps it's just a matter of finding the right dish. Don't think I'll be going back to try again though.
Pros: all vegan, gorditasI want to this restaurant a few weeks ago on a Sat. night. We had to wait 1&1/2 hrs. for a table. Then we shared a table with people we didn't know. The food was so so. The restaurant was so loud you couldn't carry on a conversation. I probably would not go back.
Pros: Vegan, Good size portionsI've never eaten at a Vegan Mexican Restaurant before, so I was excited to find this place listed on here for my trip to SF. I brought along 2 skeptical meat eaters and they were both pleasantly impressed, as was I. We loved the empanadas! The handmade tortillas with guacamole were also delicious, as was the celery soup and sauteed greens (kale). The tamales, unfortunately, were very bland,and were mainly just plain cornmeal with very little filling, needed lots of sauce to give them any flavor. Mexican wedding cookies were OK, vegan dulce de leche "ice cream" (caramel flavor) was delish. The area is a little run down so I didn't know what to expect re: decor, and was pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful interior. Definitely check this place out. Overall great dining experience.
Pros: Delicious, Healthy, DecorI had read about this place on happycow and decided to eat here on a recent trip to San Francisco. Here's my Gracias Madre review.
I've just added Gracias Madre to my Top 10 Favorites on happycow. My meal was so satisfying and awesome. It's a really beautiful restaurant with great, handmade Mexican food.
My husband and I shared the quesadilla appetizer: handmade corn tortilla filled with butternut squash, topped with spicy cashew cheese and avocado cream, pumpkin seeds. Very hearty and filling.
We also shared the tacos main entree (choice of filling) served with side of creamed black beans. The best beans I've ever had! And the tacos were very yummy, too. Corn tortilla tacos filled with roasted turnip, and with roasted beets, and one with kale. So yummy.
On each table is complimentary salsa: a chipotle one, and a spicy green one. I just kept eating the salsa straight up.
Highly recommended when in San Francisco - a must!
Pros: great food, made in-house, reasonable pricesGracias Madre was loud, crowded and underserviced when we had dinner here. The food was very disappointing, only the Caesar salad was really good, the rest was pretty bland and not my idea of Mexican food... Still, it seems pretty popular and maybe we were just unlucky with the items we ordered.
Updated from previous review on Saturday November 12, 2011
I'm Mexican and from Southern Cali so I have very high expectations and this place missed the mark entirely. On top of that, it was more than I'm used to paying. I tried the mole enchiladas and the mole just seemed sweet without any of the complex hints of spices that are supposed to be in the background.
If you take the Bart and get off at 16th and Mission and you're from out of town you're going to be shocked at how bad the area looks so just make sure you have your directions ready before hand as someone had already said this is a rough area.
I haven't lived in San Francisco for a few years now *sniff* but still rate its restaurants among my favorite in the world. I am a fan of Pokez in San Diego (where I've lived more recently), but somehow the flan alone at Gracias Madre put it a notch above Pokez. I read a previous comment about odd texture of the flan. To clarify, the GM flan is *not* gelatinous like jello nor rubbery like some milk-based flans I've tried. Rather, the GM flan is creamy and smooth and still manages a caramel-y goodness. The restaurant space is beautiful. The portions are only small if you're expecting a middle-American glutton's plate of food. The t-shirts make a great gift.
San Francisco has some amazing vegan restaurants but Gracias Madre would probably be my favorite. The food was delicious. The restaurant is very loud; both times we had to share a table. Even though the restaurant space is large all seats were taken (we didn't have reservations which I don't know whether are required or not). The food is the best Mexican I've ever eaten (it had an authenticity to it). The greens were quite spicy and the black beans were great. The key lime pie we had for dessert was really good too. If you are looking for amazing food and a good time this is the place to check out. Not ideal if you are looking for a quiet evening since we were there both times on weekdays after 9pm and the place was packed. The restaurant was very clean and had an nice atmosphere. Prices were reasonable and service was good.
Pros: food and drinks were superb, reasonable prices, fun atmosphereThat is not meant as an insult. I love the vegan hipster Mexican food at Gracies Madre! Nice to be able to eat everything on the menu at a Mexican restaurant. Only complaint is that it is super loud, so don't go there for a quiet evening out or if you want to catch up with friends.
Pros: Excellent fooThere are a lot of vegetarian and vegan places to eat in the city... but not that many vegan Mexican sit-down restaurants. That's ok because gracias madre is all you need. Everything is delicious.. well all that I can eat. I'm allergic to tree nuts and they put cashews in almost everything ... so be warned.
Pros: serves decent wine and beer, full vegan menuThis restaurant is 100% vegan Mexican food, and serves delicious food. This place gets crowded for dinner. Prices are reasonable. Unfortunately it gets extremely LOUD when it is crowded--and when the street musicians come in to play, it gets even LOUDER...
Pros: great food, desserts, serves alcoholWe went to San Fran for a week and ended up giving this place a second visit because we were so impressed. Amazing food!! And the atmosphere is lovely and so were the staff. Particular food things we had and were very impressed with included; tacos, gorditas, sweet potato quesadilla, empanada, Papas al Horno, mexican wedding biscuits with ice cream.
Pros: All vegan!, Great atmosphere, Friendly staffMy boyfriend and I went to GM with a friend of ours. We're from Southern California, where vegan Mexican food is abundant, so we had pretty high expectations. GM fell short though. Aside from the mediocre service, the food was beyond disappointing. To start with, the portions were small for the prices. I would have looked past that if the taste was extraordinary, though. But it wasn't. GM seems to use a "one size fits all" seasoning blend, so all of the food tasted the same (and we got enchiladas con mole and tacos, which are vastly different... or should be). The only thing that varied was how spicy it was. Some things were really spicy, others not so much. I love spicy food when it's balanced by good flavors. This wasn't. Our desserts didn't redeem the meal, either. The dolce de leche ice cream had an icy texture and a burnt sugar flavor, nothing like the rich creaminess of dolce de leche. The flan had a disgusting texture, also. Overall, Gracias Madre is great in theory, but really falls short in practice.
Pros: Organic, Decor is prettyThe idea of a quality organic vegan Mexican restaurant -particularly in the Mission- is brilliant. Though, I wasn't too impressed with execution here. Vegan Mexican food to me is PokeZ (San Diego): filling, delicious, and authentic. Biggest downside... no organic emphasis. Which is why I was so enthusiastic about Graces Made. I would categorize GM as a raw foodists' attempt at Mexican food... which appearance to be accurate from what I've read about Cafe Gratitude's involvement. It was expensive, with less than generous portions. Decor was incredible, but I'd rather be paying for a great meal. Things were spicy instead of flavorful. And considering its location -in the Mission- I was expecting it to be accessible to the neighboring community, at least a couple dishes... not at those prices. I prefer going to Cafe Gratitude for pricey yet high quality delicious food, and elsewhere for vegan Mexican food. And not Papolotes, hahah.
Pros: All organic, vegan, wholesome food.I LOVE this place! The food is fantastic,the outdoor seating is great, our server (Rebecca) was nice and very helpful, AND it is easily accessible by bus. I saw that somebody thought that it's in the "worst" part of town. I don't believe it. There are some pretty upscale shops not that far away.
If you want really tasty Mexican food, you should try Gracias Madre!!
Pros: VEGAN!!, Great tasting food, Good serviceThis was our favorite vegan/vegetarian restaurant in San Fran. This is also my favorite Mexican restaurant I have ever eaten at - even before I was vegetarian. I got the tamale and was in heaven. My fiancée got the enchilada and it was also wonderful. We also got a cauliflower soup that was out of this world. The juices are good as well. I highly recommend this place!
Pros: Vegan, nice atmosphere, proper portionsWhat a gem in the mission district. My wife and I were in from New Jersey and are always seeking quality vegan spots. This is one of our absolute favorites top to bottom.
Pros: excellent quality food, locally sourced, good valueThis is my favorite vegan restaurant in SF. The local veggies they use are always super flavorful. Their nut cheese is also very delicious, they have a creamy delicate one and a spicy nacho one which is awesome. Their serving sizes are pretty big and the prices are extremely affordable. I like that their menu is seasonal. The flavors aren't extremely tradition mexican in my opinion, it's probably because its healthy, but if you go into it without the preconceived notions of a taqueria you'll be pleasantly surprised! TRY the caesar salad, the quesadillas, the cheesy potatoes, the tacos, and all their deserts have been awesome! Although I still say I'm not a fan of their cocktails. They have an awesome wine and beer selection though!
The place has been decorated pretty well, and the food was very good. I went there with two omnivores, who both loved it. The only thing I would complain about was that the plantain that came in one of my tacos was not a plantain but a regular, sweet banana.
Somebody below mentioned that the portions are too small... none of us were able to finish our meals. If anything, the portions are too big (like everywhere else in the USA). Maybe that reviewer ordered an appetizer or something.
About the area, I'm not a local and so I dont really know, but it would surprise me greatly if it were the "worst part of town". We walked to and from the restaurant with no hassle and no hint of hassle.
Nice place, casual, big with outdoor seating option. Limited menu. Food was good, nothing spectacular. Too loud to have a conversation and the waiter had an attitude. Don't need to go back.
Pros: big, vegan, serves alcoholFirst of all, I had to try Cafe Gratitude's rendition of Mexican cuisine. Well, the flavors were a little too bland, the prices a little too high, the quantities a little too small and the location a little too dangerous.
I am giving it a #3 because the decor was very nice, the kitchen was impeccably clean and open for public view and the service was decent. They definitely have a winner on their hands, they just have to tweak the prices, portions and flavors a little and this place deserves #5 stars. I don't know what they can do about the location. I know they must have put a ton of money into the improvements. I was there in the day and was a little nervous so I can imagine at night, it must be a nightmare, especially for the safety of your car.
I am a religious vegan and I had to eat here, it's kind of like going to church for me. I am a little embarrassed to admit how much I paid for lunch but it was on par with the Millennium for dinner and is definitely not even on the same planet as the Millennium . I will not go back again because it is just so way overpriced and such a hassle
to get to, not to mention (or did i mention it) in the worst part of town.
Creative menu, friendly service, comfortable atmosphere and something for even the non-vegans who met us there and were equally in awe of the quality of the food. This place will raise the bar for Vegan restaurants.
Pros: creative menu, friendly staff, comfortable atmosphereIn a rough neighborhood this was an unexpectedly delightful find. The menu selections were fresh tasting and complex in flavor. Organic and totally vegan for the entire menu (including tasty desserts) we enjoyed a delightful lunch. This establishment is not for the shy at heart when it come to the wallet, but I felt comfortable spending hard earned cash on delicious food.
San Francisco needed a Vegan Mexican restaurant to add to all the amazing veg*n choices the city has to offer, so I was very excited when I first heard about this place. Unfortunately, I thought it was just okay. I grew up in Texas and am perhaps a little biased towards the vegan options in Austin. Gracias Madre could really use a hot salsa. I asked for a hotter salsa than was on the table, and the waiter gave a me attitude like I wouldn't be able to handle their special hot sauce. Sure, it was spicy, but still not very hot. I will go back again and try another meal. I really want to like this place.
I was awaiting the opening of this restaurant for months on end as were some of my friends. It was an exciting day when it finally opened! I liked that upon entering it felt nothing like being in Cafe Gratitude. However, you will still see the Cafe Gratitude roots when you look at the menu and note the abcense of seitan or tofu in the dishes. My boyfriends theory is that they only have beans for protein to be traditionally Mexican, but I think these items would be a great addition to the menu. Our food was amazing and tasty albeit pricey but we were hungry again not all that much later. I lovvved the Mexican wedding cookies that we got for desert and thought it was interesting that they were smushed flat as I have only had Mexican wedding cookies that were small and round before. The location is really convenient. Just a few blocks from the 16th and Mission BART station, but it's a bit too pricey to be a regular to go to restaurant.
Pros: Location, Great desserts!My mother, husband and I were traveling to SF this past weekend and, having checked out the reviews and this restaurant's website, decided to drop in for dinner. We loved the communal seating, and the food was delicious. the staff was gracious, and the atmosphere was warm and homey. The only suggestions I would make are that they kick up the spice factor on some of the dishes (the quesdilla had a nice kick, but the chile relleno wasn't spicy enough), and possibly use meat substitutes like seitan in some of the dishes. One of the staff members invited us to the official grand opening yesterday, but we couldn't attend - I hope this restaurant is around for a long time!!!
Pros: delicious food, warm staff and atmosphereI love Gracias Madre's tamales. Some of the best tamales I have ever had. The Papas al Horno were amazing! I also loved the horchatas and sangria. My only suggestion is that pick up the spice a little bit. The ambiance is perfect. I love the communal tables, the patio in front and the art. A very welcome addition to the Mission District. It is wonderful to have an ORGANIC VEGAN mexican restaurant.
Pros: Organic, Vegan, DeliciousWe went today for lunch. I got the tamales and my friend got the enchiladas and horchata. Everything tasted excellent. Very excited to have an inexpensive organic option in the Mission.
Pros: organic, vegan, decor
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Many people like myself have no tolerance for hot spicy food. If they "kick up" their spiciness level, we will not be able to eat those dishes. It's best that restaurants keep the heat mild and provide hot sauce for patrons who want to increase the heat. Or, like Indian restaurants, they could ask you what level of heat you'd like in your dish.
For people who do like spicy food, the flavour is generally much better when the spice is cooked into the food, not added later out of a tobasco bottle. I love spice, but I hate that tobasco sh*te that they give you everywhere in the US.
Non-spice eaters can eat like 95% of the food out there, we get like 5%. Would it really bother you if we got a couple more dishes?
In any case, for the food to be authentic, it should be spicy.