As I was on a business trip to San Francisco I wanted to try a few of the numerous restaurants available in the city. Luckily enough for me having a friend living there made my life a lot easier. Instead of going through a few local food blogs I was able to get some advises of where to go from someone knowing my tastes.

Since I had pretty long days my friend suggested to go on Chestnut Street. They have quite a few good restaurants to choose from so he was sure I could find something I liked. I don’t like to leave it to chance when I travel so I made a reservation at Mamacita using OpenTable.

Mamacita is a quaint Mexican restaurant, I liked the ambiance right away because of the high ceilings. The place is not very big but even on weekday was pretty packed (the Warriors were in the Finals that might have had something to do with it).

Looking at the menu I had some choices in mind but I always like to ask the staff what they recommend. With my usual luck the recommendations and my choices had aligned perfectly. I was also happy that the menu offered different items than the traditional Mexican food you find in other more mainstream restaurants.

For starters I had a Sopa Azteca, a guallijo chile – tomato Mole soup with Oaxaca cheese, avocado, red onions and blue corn tostaditas. Portion was just perfect since I had a main course coming and it was very tasty. It was spicy enough to give it taste but not enough to kill it. I then had the Carnitas Especial, a plate served a little in the fajitas way sizzling but with 1/2 lbs of pork shoulder confit a seven lair fundido, gucamole and tortillas. I would definitely put this in the comfort food category, confit meat is already good but all that cheese in the fundido just made it for me.

Great place to try if you’re in the area or even if you have to take a taxi or Uber, the place is worth it and not too pricey for the quality of food you get. Staff was also very nice and helpful even if they were quite busy.

Mamacita

2317 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, CA

(415) 346-8494

Reserve on OpenTable