Hard Knox Cafe

The FOOD; San Francisco expensive.
I had a craving for, a taste for some fried chicken. It was awful, sent it back to the kitchen. They had made some sort of breading or some kind of taste. I am disappointed, maybe you will like it.
Now,
the sides were very good. Side dish portions sizes from back in the 70's. Red beans and rice, collard greens. Perfect muffins.
She asked if I was willing to try something different.
I selected the oxtails. I had, had them here about 20 years ago. I knew they would be delicious.

Service is good

Ambiance is very kool; on Third Street, never been to one other.

Wheelchair accessible

This place is weird. Tried to order a cheese burger for delivery they won't do it. But they have non cheese hamburgers and lots of sandwiches with cheese that they will deliver.

I'll never go back and will gladly give my dollar to every other restaurant because they are able and willing to package a cheese burger for delivery.

If you're on the hunt for a a meal as comforting as a warm hug, look no further than the corn bread & chicken and waffles at Hard Knox Cafe. Corn bread was golden and slightly crumbly on the outside, yet delightfully moist on the inside.

What truly sets this place apart from the rest, is the staff. They make you feel like an old friend visiting for dinner. When in the mood for brunch done right, i'd swing by for a delicious meal here!

Sometimes you just want some oxtail and in a city where there is no Caribbean oxtail, you'll settle for any oxtail and the oxtail at Hard Knox is pretty good!

Everything had a nice flavor and the proportions were big (three oxtail with two sides). Red beans and rice were kept moist with gravy and corn is...corn lol

We also go the spicy fried chick and it was solid, mac and cheese/mashed potatoes were standard as well. Would def recommend this place for delivery or dine-in.

10/12/23

Pretty isolated restaurant but serves up really good southern food! Has the old timey diner vibe with SF sports memorabilia as decor and counter seating. Not too many tables at this location but I don't think it gets too busy during peak times. The menu is pretty classic southern food. The entrees are the best deal bc you get 2 sides and 2 corn muffins included.

I got the fried chicken entree which with candied yams and mac and cheese for $21. Portions are huge and fed me for like 3 meals. The mac and cheese was pretty good and the candied yams were very candied lol but I liked everything.

Overall, really good pricing for the portion and the flavor!

Delicious southern food! The corn muffins and candied yams were standouts. And sweet tea that's actually sweet? A rare find in the Bay Area! The portion sizes are large so it was a good deal for the price. We reserved a table in advance but it really wasn't necessary, they had plenty of open tables during weeknight dinner. It's very casual, think '50s diner status.

Jambalaya was lacking in flavor, fried chicken was good but not the best. Sides were just ok. They lost our reservation and were still able to quickly seat us which was nice. Crowded, lively ambiance.

LOOKING FOR AUTHENTIC SOUL FOOD?! COME HERE!! THATS IT, THATS THE REVIEW. Whether you wanna dine in, that's on you. Personally, I wouldn't, just put in a call for pick up. They take a while, due to how popular they are, but it's worth it!! Staff are always nice and actually put in the condiments that you ask for.
*CHEFS KISS*
My usual is oxtails, Mac & cheese, collards greens & corn bread.

It's a little difficult to find good soul food in San Francisco. Hard Knox is always mentioned as a go-to place. It's a small restaurant with about 6 tables. I was excited to see a menu full of things I ate growing up. It took some time to decide what to eat because every option sounded good.

I settled on smothered pork chops, yams, and mashed potatoes. The pork chops were very good, tender and easy to tear apart. The mashed potatoes were okay but definitely tasted like they just came from a box. The yams were way too sweet and I couldn't even eat half of them. The corn muffins were my favorite part!

Our direct service was okay but they have an extremely rude server who impacted our experience. Given that the place is pretty small, I could overhear the server being rude to a customer after messing up the order. The second server also started mistreating the customer. It made me so angry I decided to leave. It was busy so I understand they were a little stressed, but taking it out on customers is not the answer.

Customer service was great. Although the food itself is just not great i ordered a catfish poboy with a side of yams, the yams werent fully softened. So they replaced it with a side of mac n cheese. The mac n cheese was even WORSE. You can taste the pasta water from the elbow macaroni and its not even cheesy doesnt taste like mac n cheese to me.