The New Spot On Polk

Reviews

• Lambert P.

  star star star star star 2 June 2026

  The New Spot on Polk is at the north west corner of Polk and Union.
  
  My wife and I spent six nights in San Francisco on our recent trip.  This was the longest we've ever stayed in the city and as such we had to choose a place to have breakfast each morning.  That being said The New Spot on Polk was our second breakfast on our trip but I'm writing this review almost a month after our visit to San Francisco so I'm writing this after all meals consumed.
  
  To start off the New Spot on Polk uses the recently introduced feature on Yelp called Waitlist.  This feature is absolute gold.  Simply explained it gives a Yelper the opportunity to look at the business on Yelp and see how long the wait would be for a table.  It also gives a Yelp user the opportunity to put themselves in queue even without being physically at the restaurant.  This allows for timing your arrival and allowing you to save time upon your arrival.
  
  We arrived for breakfast and the place had a good amount of tables free and we ended up taking a booth along the wall.  The menu really does a variety of eggs whether omelettes, skillets, bennies, and also non egg options like oatmeal, biscuits, French toast, waffles, pancakes etc.
  
  The day before I had eggs benedict so this breakfast I went with a good old favorite of mine being chicken fried steak.  Honestly nothing says an American breakfast like chicken fried steak covered in sausage gravy as it's basically my favorite breakfast.  For my wife she went with the south of the border omelette (chorizo, black beans, avocado, pico de gallo, cheddar cheese and sour cream).  Knowing my wife I think the fact that the omelette had avocado I think was the major selling point.  
  
  Now while I've had country fried/chicken fried steak from so many places I have to say this was probably the best I've had in a sense that it met the expectation and sort of went a little beyond that.  What I mean is that the sausage gravy they had was different but not just greasy white sauce.  It actually had a kick and it was nicer consistency (not just globby).  I had to look at the menu again afterwards and noticed that they said they use Italian sausage.  Well there it is, something you don't see every day.  That and the fact that their chicken fried steak was also a nice light breading as well.  I loved their home fries too.  It reminds me of my favorite breakfast place back home where they just make them perfectly.
  
  As usual my wife can't finish her meal and I'm always around to clean up and believe me when I say I usually don't mind.  So she ended up leaving me no avocado (no surprise) but a bit of the rest of everything else.  That omelette was amazing.  The key point that stuck with me was the eggs were perfectly even, kind of how I would make them myself when I bother to make omelettes at home but beyond the chorizo was just amazing.  They fried up the chorizo to the point it became partially crunchy.  I have to say I love that method.  It's not hard but just a bit of bite to it in a sense like the way I like my bacon, not flimsy, not hard and crunchy but in between.  The veggies with the omelette were crispy fresh.  
  
  Basically not only does the New Spot on Polk use good ingredients but they're fresh and everything is essentially cooked, fried, toasted or made just right.  They get the Goldilocks award I suppose.
  
  Having had nice sit down breakfasts/brunch in San Fran this trip I have to say that the New Spot on Polk was my favorite of all of them.  The next trip to San Francisco will include a visit to back to the New Spot on Polk.

• Paige D.

  star star star star_border star_border 29 May 2026

  This place was doing a great business on a Friday around 12pm! We were shocked how busy it was but it seems like a place where locals come frequently and know the staff. This is a place for some big and calorie-loaded meals.
  We got two of the Crispy Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches, which is also their special item of the month. It was very good! The chicken was the star and the sandwich is also loaded with avocado and comes with fries. We also got the Crispy Chicken Bites and Jalapeño Poppers. Chicken bites were way over cooked/ too fried and the poppers I thought were just bad.
  Service was just OK. I think this was probably a worse experience than most people have usually but again the chicken sandwich was great!

• Maya K.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 27 May 2026

  Just bad. Don't come here
  All of the good reviews must be old or fake
  I got an egg white skillet. The eggs were tasteless. Toast came with no butter or jam. All of that was on top of potatoes. Those were entirely burnt and uneatable. The glass of water smelled like a dirty towel. And a small glass of wine was 9 dollars.
  While I was trying to pick out something to eat, from my deplorable lunch, I had to listen to a guy yell about his order that was undercooked and had missing ingredients. He wanted a refund. They gave him his money back.
  I now wish I asked for mine back also. Total waste.

• Kendall S.

  star star star star star_border 25 May 2026

  "Breakfast all day in Russian Hill." Really good breakfast, too! And they serve lunch and dinner as well. This is a rad menu. Beautiful omelettes, skillets, benedicts, chicken fried steak, huevos rancheros, pancakes, french toast, waffles -- all the classics and then some. Granola and yogurt, biscuits and gravy, a breakfast burrito, charbroiled pork chops... yum yum and yum.
  
  The atmosphere is cozy and it smells like a breakfast diner in all the best ways. It's a pretty small space but they offer waitlist on Yelp. There's a few booths and several small tables for two. You'll sit pretty close to the people next to you.
  
  I ordered the avocado toast (gluten free), which comes with a poached egg and crispy bacon. It was delicious. Jon ordered eggs benedict with smoked salmon, which came with breakfast potatoes. Everything tasted wonderful, including my mimosa and Jon's beer. :)

• Shafqat D.

  star star star star star 22 May 2026

  After a day of exploring SF, me and my friends were looking to hit up a solid diner near Ghirardelli Square so I did some research and I found this place. I have to say, I was amused by the name "The NEW Spot on Polk"--is it still going to be called that 10 years later?--but I was intrigued by "The Ultimate" burger!
  
  Location: This is a relatively small diner taking up the corner of a building that's at the intersection of Polk and Union street! When we got there in the early evening, though, it wasn't too crowded so we were able to get some great window-side seats that were a bit isolated from the rest of the diner (which was exactly what we wanted).
  
  Service: The service was great! The waiter was attentive, friendly and took note of all the customizations for our orders.
  
  Food: I got "The Ultimate" which is their largest burger. Featuring 3 quarter-pound patties, 3 cheeses, a fried egg and mushrooms (which was my substitute for bacon), this was a VERY delectable burger! I'd say that it's top tier among all the burgers (or even food in general) that I've had in San Francisco and it is a very filling meal! I got it with curly fries. Make sure to ask for ranch, because they don't give it by default though it's free on request! The only downside to the burger was that it didn't seem to have enough salt. No worries, though--that was easily corrected with table salt!
  
  For $18, you can have a solid meal for the entire day. Come hungry and enjoy what they've got here!