First time and great experience. The family-owned atmosphere was one of comfortable neighborhood hang-out, like back in the day, old-school SF kind of hang-out. Sure, there were times when the other patrons’ spirited conversations drowned out ours, but it was all good. The brisket was melt-in-the-mouth delicious. Great big salad and a soft drink, along w the bbq, set me back just over twenty bucks, so an amazing value. My friend liked her blackened cat fish so much she placed a second order. Per her, the collards were also on point.
Was glad to learn that all of their veggies are gluten free, and they don’t use animal products in their preparation. Also glad that they don’t put sugar in the rubs or cook them into their meats. Will be back with more friends very soon.
I had a lovely evening having dinner here. Besides the staff being attentive and nice, the food was REALLY good. I had the scallops, pork belly fried rice, and the short ribs and fries. All the food was well cooked and the flavors were amazing! The scallops were my favorite. Also, bonus because they had hard kombucha on the drink list! I hope more places do this. It was great for me since I have a gluten allergy and don't drink wine either. Thanks! I'll be back.
I'm so glad they are still around. One of my all time favorite places. I no longer eat gluten but I still insist on taking my friends here for delicious pasta. The hand drawn menu is one of the little things that make Emmy's one - of-a-kind.
ATTN: FINAL BOSS PIZZA
After trying 85 San Francisco Pizza Establishments since May 2022, this Pizza Reviewer deems PizzaHacker/Bagel Macher SF as one of the G.O.A.T.S., Standard Bearers and God's of San Francisco Pizza. One could safely win an argument that this is actually possibly the Best Neapolitan and Best Square/ Detroit Style in all of San Francisco due to the how high quality they are but also because they use San Francisco Sourdough in everything.
That is why you can safely argue this is actually the Best San Francisco Pizza period. Jeff Krupman, I assume is the author of this Pizza and by following PizzaHacker/BagelMacher SF on Instagram, it is clear that he is a Devotee of Pizza. By the way, the Intermezzo Salad is also excellent. A nice variety of fresh vegetables and a nice Poppy Seed dressing.
Back to the Pizza, the sauce is out of control good here. It is insanely good and it is bright blood red to boot! The whole quality of this Pizza... you need to make trying this place Top Priority if you actually love Pizza and/ or Sourdough and/or San Francisco. I am a Native of San Francisco, not from somewhere else and i say this. I am a Top 10% Pizza Reviewer on Google and I say this. I am a Pizza Elitist. A Man of Pizza. A Devotee of Pizza. A Self Diagnosed Pizza Expert. Offered to be a Pizza Officer via Yelp (for Hawaii though). I have been to New York. And Italy. And Chicago for that matter. Okay?
So do yourself a favor and either go to PizzaHacker/Bagel Macher for Both Styles of Pizza wether it is Neapolitan San Francisco Sourdough Pizza or Square/ Detroit Style San Francisco Sourdough Pizza or get it delivered. Those are your only options. Until then, do not chime in with your opinions about Pizza. As if you know anything. You don't know what you're talking about until you go here. These are facts.
And by the way, they have been doing the Square/ Detroit Style since 2009. Okay, Jack? So this isn't their first rodeo. Their Square has been around for over a decade. So they didn't do it to cash in on a trend like a lot of the newly opened ones regardless of it they are good or not. I have tried every single Detroit Style Pizza in San Francisco and only one other place uses Sourdough - Sunset Squares. I would say the Square here stacks up well with the following: Capo's, Cellarmaker House of Pizza, Long Bridge Pizza Co., and Tony's Napelatana. That's the area of the truly good Detroit and honestly... PizzaHacker is probably the best of them all.
So stop reading this. Create a plan to try this. Now.
ATTN: PizzaHacker/BagelMacher SF
Now. I do have this one criticism. Why no original art on the boxes? Why no shirts for sale? This Pizza is so good that I want these things. I want to wear a PizzaHacker/BagelMacher shirt. That's what I want.
How dare you not have some kind of thing with imagery relating to your fine establishment for strange men like me to wear when they go other places to represent how much they love what you do for Pizza daily? How dare you!
Addendum I: Gluten Free SquAIRS
After trying the two main styles of Pizza here and receiving a nice message in response to my Review... I felt PizzaHacker deserves something few Pizza Establishments deserve... My trust in them to try their gluten free style. To be fair, it is a lot smaller than the Gluten Full Detroit Style and it is borderline no longer Detroit Style which is why they probably don't call it that. It actually is really good if you are someone who must eat gluten free only. I would say that if you want to eat something good that is almost Detroit Pizza and the exchange of that for your bowels being tied in knots all night isn't worth it to taste the excellence of their Gluten Full Pizzas, this would be good.
Obviously Gluten Free is probably never going to be able to be as good as otherwise but this is good. I am not mad I tried it because I love PizzaHacker and they deserve for me to try it and talk about it here.
Summary
My Ratings, using the One Bite Pizza Rating System:
Thin Pie - 8.9
Detroit Style - 9.1
Gluten Free - 7.5
This was my first trip down to this area because I saw the Rabbit Hole on SF Restraunt Week, and I am so glad we came down! The restraunt week deal was great, and the food was delicious. They ran out of dumplings, but they allowed us to sub for popcorn chicken!
I’m gluten free, and I was shocked that so many dishes were gf friendly. It was also super tasty, and the staff were very nice. The chicken was moist, and the sweet potato crust was crispy and light. The waffles were really good fresh, but when they cooled down they got dense fast (so eat them fairly fast). The ice cream was also delicious, the mango was both my roommate and I’s favorite. We’ll definitely be back even not during restraunt week!
Vega has always been a go-to for a nice dinner, but now they also do lunch and an amazing brunch. It's even sweeter when you learn that they've adopted the brunch menu AND STAFF from the now closed Bernal Star.
My partner is vegetarian and I'm gluten-free, which often makes it a challenge to find a restaurant that works for both of us. At Vega, we have options. Any of the pizzas can be made GF, and they also have GF pasta. The specials are amazing, the service is spot on (and so sweet!), and the atmosphere is lovely.
I've always highly recommended this place for dinner, but now I'm also highly recommending them for brunch and lunch!
Accommodating Gluten-Free