Mel’s Drive-In

Classic American diner. Good burger, very normal and classic all around. Felt like a fun old school experience.

There’s always going to be a last meal in a place and for me, that last meal was here at Mel’s which I thought was going to be a greasy spoon but absolutely was not.
Very 50’s style with white shirt and bowtie dressed staff, jukeboxes and big cups for coffee. Looking over the menu, it was hard to miss the more modern touches with gluten-​free this and free-​range that. So I settled on the corned beef hash and eggs, which said «organic eggs» and «Marin County grass-​fed beef.» I chose the local sourdough baked as my toast side.
What arrived about ten minutes later (a reasonable delay if it was busy but it absolutely was not) was a big pile of corned beef topped with my poached eggs. The eggs were perfect, the toast was excellent, the potatoes were very good but the corned beef was odd. First, there were no chunks of corned beef in there. It’s like the whole thing had been fed through a very fine grinder. And with it, an overwhelming flavor of chopped up parsley. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. As for the coffee, it was definitely leaning towards the rich end. So much so that I had to add both sugar and cream to soften the edge of it.
Still, the place exceeded my expectations in the other areas and so it’s a bright A-​OK.

Gosh, it just didn’t happen for me here. I’ve been to other Mel’s and the food was better than here. Did anyone give a hoot about the food they were making? Me thinks not…
Everything was not hot, and the turkey dinner was dry, the veggies cooked beyond taste.
Yeah, not so much…

Great family experience @ Mel’s Drive –In. All of the food was fresh, well seasoned and prepared. The décor is always a fan favorite as it draws on 50/​60s nostalgia. Ordered the yuppie’s scramble and it was great!

I dined here twice on a recent trip since my nearby hotel charges unlawful prices for breakfast. The décor is 50s diner style, very shiny and oldies music. I ordered the «Sunrise Breakfast» both times. It is «two local organic eggs served sunny side up over Marin Sun Farm grass fed beef patties & grilled potato rounds with fresh fruit.» I got my eggs scrambled. It tasted fine but kind of bland and came with an A1 sauce. It was filling without being greasy. The fruit SUCKED. Hard tree stump bites of browning melon, a few soggy pieces of pineapple. The service was fast but not very friendly. I don’t get the hype.

Average experience at best, stopped in one morning for a quick breakfast best on the location and proximity to the hotel. The atmosphere inside is like a classic American diner that’s supposed to make you feel nostalgic for the days of the 50 – 60’s. Service was a bit short at time, as were the attitudes of the employees. I never really got a friendly vibe from our waitress, however I wouldn’t go as far as calling her rude.
The menu itself was large and very diverse, however it mostly focused on breakfast and standard diner fare. I went with the Lumberjack breakfast, which was served with ½lb Ham Steak, eggs and pancake with grilled potatoes. Overall the pancakes were good, however the rest was average at best. The portion size was large enough to where I couldn’t finish my meal.
For those Food Network Fans, Mel’s was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-​Ins and Dives. Overall this is a decent option if you are in a bind or want to feel nostalgic about days gone by, otherwise I think there are better options in the city for a great breakfast.

If you’re headed to Moscone Center for a conference, stop here for a hearty breakfast that will keep you on your feet through a long day of talks and posters. The food here was much better than anything my hotel breakfast offered, and was more affordable too. In fact, I liked my experience here so much that I came back for breakfast the following day!
I love their fried potatoes, vegetarian omelet, and fresh orange juice! The retro décor is pretty awesome too!

After picking up our friend from hockey practice at 8pm, we decided that we really needed a burger in our stomach on this wet day in SF. Having not been to Mel’s in about 10 years, we hoped for a good cheap burger and fries type of deal.
I’ve always enjoyed the ambiance of Mel’s Drive-​In. It’s classic diner style and decorations makes me feel like I’m in Back to the Future or Grease. Ambiance aside, I immediately was put off by the prices. True, this Mel’s was in the middle of SoMa and rent must’n come cheap, but there are a few Super Dupers just across the street and they offer quality burgers at around the same price. I choose The Melburger ($ 9) and fries (add an extra $ 2). This is the cheapest option if you want a burger and fries. If you want curly fries or onion rings, that’s an extra $ 2.50. $ 11 isn’t too bad for a dinner in SoMa, so I was hoping for the best.
When I was served, I couldn’t help being a bit disappointed: a typical flat hamburger cozying up next to a bed of fries. The fries were a bit cold and not all all crispy. The taste was mediocre. The burger itself consisted of the following: thinly sliced red onion, pickle, lettuce, tomato, and ¹⁄₃ lb of medium cooked beef patty. All in all, the burger was nothing special – my aunt could’ve made this in her backyard. Sorry auntie.
This place deserves two stars for its food, but the service by the staff was awesome, so I give it three stars. The servers kept on asking if everything was okay and made us feel real welcome. The manager was cold and didn’t even say thank you or cared that you existed when we paid at the register, but hey, his staff made up for his attitude.
Bottom Line: If you want a good burger, go to Super Duper. Sure, it’s not cozy with those metal seats, but you won’t be disappointed with the burger. If you want to feel like you’re in a cozy diner, then come here.

Great place At san Francisco
It’s awesome as it’s Open late so when you have to dinner late around unión square has great hamburgers and salads
Highly recomend

I’ve been up in SF visiting family for the last week and have now dined at Mel’s for dinner, dessert, and breakfast.
Service is as any busy diner. Food selection is vast and tasty. Shakes and pies are delightful!
Great music and it’s cool since you can choose it if you’re at the counter or in a booth with an old style jukebox you skim through.
Mel’s Diner satisfies the hunger and has an old nostalgic diner vibe one can appreciate visiting from near and far.

Estive ontem à noite no Mel’s para um jantar rápido durante a semana com o meu marido. Eram quase 21h e o lugar estava bem tranquilo, com vários lugares vagos. Fomos prontamente atendidos na filinha que fica na entrada do lugar e direcionados para uma mesa. Só depois percebi que haviam lugares com jukeboxes na mesa, o que teria facilitado muito a minha brincadeira na noite.
O cardápio é bem variado, mas, preferimos ficar no tradicional hamburguer. Pedimos o «most famous Mel’s burger» com adicional de queijo. Depois me arrependi de não ter aceitado o adicional de batata frita oferecido pelo garçom, sai bem em conta (apenas $ 2 contra $ 4 da porção). O hamburguer era suculento, delicioso, com gostinho daqueles feitos em casa, adorei!
Não pedimos nada para beber pois logo que chegamos já nos foi servido água e foi o suficiente para a refeição. Porém, de «sobremesa», resolvemos pedir um milkshake de chocolate, que também estava maravilhoso. Cometi a besteira de aceitar o pedido do garçom de separar o milkshake em dois, o que tirou um pouco a graça de dividir com o maridão… Por cima dele, chantily e uma cereja (no caso, duas, pois veio dividido), muito gostoso.
Enquanto esperávamos a comida, fui brincar nas jukeboxes espalhadas no restaurante. Por apenas $ 25c você pode escolher uma música para tocar no restaurante inteiro. O volume poderia ser um pouquinho mais alto, então dependendo de onde você senta, não dá pra ouvir muito bem. A seleção varia de clássicos dos anos 50, 60, 70, 80 até a uma página inteira de músicas da Madonna ou temas de filmes como Footlose ou Grease. A jukebox é bem intuitiva, mas tome cuidado, uma delas engoliu minha moeda e nada aconteceu.
O garçom que nos atendeu não era dos mais simpáticos, mas era rápido e eficiente. Ganhamos um desconto de 10% para voltar no dia seguinte.
Dentro do restaurante há uma caixa ATM, o que ajuda bastante.

Esprit drive in de la belle époque pour cette adresse. La décoration est sympa mais l’endroit est bruyant et les plats insipides, ni bon ni mauvais mais juste quelconques.

Vraiment pas terrible et très cher pour deux burger et deux boisson. La carte affiche quelques photos pas vraiment appétissantes.

Un vrai dinner a l’americaine, avec jukebox et juicy burgers, on se croirait dans les 60’s!

J’ai été conduit à ce diner (qui n’est pas un drive-​in) au nom mythique par la recommandation du Guide Vert Michelin. Peut-​être suis-​je venu au mauvais moment (un soir en semaine), mais je n’ai pas été convaincu par l’ambiance triste, un peu glauque, ni par le service impersonnel, ni par ma salade franchement quelconque (qui est d’ailleurs arrivée en quelques minutes, quelquefois la rapidité est mauvais signe…).

Mel’s c’est relativement ok. En fait j’écris ce message pour avoir une ristourne, si je le montre à la serveuse je paierai moins cher. Souhaitez moi bonne chance !

Cuando vimos la nota de Mel’s en Unilocal,no pudimos evitar extrañarnos. Pues sí, es un sitio como muy terrible, muy para turistas, pero tampoco está mal. Las típicas jukebox que te permiten poner la canción que quieras, la típica decoración de los sesenta y la típica comida de diner americano (café terrorífico desatasca-​burras incluido).
Pero la comida no es para nada mala, y la atención tampoco. Nuestro camarero fue la cosa más simpática del mundo, incluso muy a pesar de que éramos un grupo de europeos preguntón, tardón e insoportable.
Los batidos son como para tocar el cielo y no, la hamburguesa no es la mejor que te puedes tomar en San Francisco, pero sí es mejor que la que muchos restaurantes claros herederos de este sirven en España.
Importante guardar espacio para la tarta de queso, que es una auténtica PASADA.

Habéis visto el videoclip de Weezer
o American Graffiti? Donde las pandillas iban a tomarse sus batidos y comerse unas hamburguersas mientras en la gramola sonaban los exitos de los 50’s? Pues 60 años después en pleno Mission Street nos encontramos en uno de ellos, con las típicas butacas en la barra donde poder disfrutar de un megadesayuno si vas solo y decenas de mesas ideal para venir en grupo.
Ambientado como antaño, los camareros también van a conjunto, con el traje blanco de trabajo y su gorrito.
La comida? Bueno, abundante… con un plato ya tienes suficiente, eso si, si buscais calidad, quizás no sea el sitio más adecuado.
Si haces una review (sea buena o mala) te hacen el 25% de descuento!!! (están comprando tu comentario?).

Bin mir nicht mehr sicher, ob wir den oder den andern Mel’s besucht haben. Auf alle Fälle war der Laden klasse. Essen lecker und reichlich, alles in den 50ern stehen geblieben. Unser Kellner dürfte die 50er auch voll miterlebt haben. Wurden freundlich begrüßt mit kaltem Wasser für durstige Kehlen

Un drive-​in plutôt sympa.
Bön après je n’ai testé que les brunch, mais tout était très bon, rien à redire.
Plutôt classique voir cheap pour les américains fréquentant le quartier des affaires, mais pour moi c’était agréable et dépaysant !

Manchmal muss man einfach das Touristische machen. An unserem letzten Abend in San Francisco wollten wir es unseren verwöhnten europäischen Maegen nochmal richtig dreckig geben mit Burgern, Pommes und Milchshakes, umgeben von Jukeboxes in einer Booth sitzen. Ich hab zwar den Milchshakes weggelassen, aber auch nur, weil ich Käsekuchen auf der Karte entdeckt hatte, für den ich noch etwas Platz freihalten musste.
Unser Kellner war gesprächig und nett und beantwortete alle unsere Fragen, auch wenn manche Fragen doppelt und dreifach gestellt wurden. Meine Bestellungen waren schnell da, manche andere Bestellungen und die Rechnung liessen etwas länger auf sich warten. Mein Burger war enorm und sowas von lecker, der Cheeseburger allein hat mich schon satt gemacht. Der Käsekuchen hat noch die letzten Lücken gefüllt. Ich durfte auch mal den Bananen– und Butterskotch-​Shake probieren, die richtig dickflüssig waren, sodass man sie fast nicht durch den Strohhalm bekam. Kalorien zählen darf man in den USA generell nicht, aber bei Mel’s am wenigsten.
Lasst euch von den schlechten Bewertungen nicht abschrecken, die meisten touristischen Lokale schneiden bei den Locals nicht so gut ab, aber manchmal will man doch einfach den Touri-​Kitsch mitmachen!

Estaba alojado en el hotel W, y andaba con un poco de prisa a primera hora de la mañana, así que sin pararme a buscar demasiado, entré en este local para desayunar.
Me dejó impactado su decoración, muy muy típica. Su máquina de discos, sus asientos, sus cuadros, su barra corrida, etc.
Desayunos son para estómagos bien dilatados, dos o tres huevos, salchichas, beicon, patatas sazonadas, etc.
De precio es razonable, desayuno medio 15 dólares, y el servicio es bastante atento.

If you’ve been here and are planning to come back, right a review first. You’ll get 20% off! On the other hand, though, I’m not sure if I’m dying to come back here anytime soon…
FOOD: ²⁄₅
I was not a fan of my food! To be fair, I picked the wrong stuff. I don’t know why I had the urge to order brunch food at a diner, but I did, and I massively regretted it. The eggs florentine I had was lukewarm at best, eggs extremely overcooked, bread very soggy. My mimosa (why did I get it? really not sure) was miserable — it was a watered down orange juice with crappy champagne and likely mixed with vodka. My girlfriend got a standard burger, and that was a lot yummier!
SERVICE: ⁴⁄₅
Overall good service. Despite the restaurant being crowded on a weekend, we were seated rather quickly. Our waitress checked on us frequently and was very friendly. The cashier asked for my age… implying that I look too young for my age to have ordered a drink. In my defense, I’ll look like I’m still 25 when I’m 50 :)
AMBIANCE: ⁴⁄₅
You can tell they put a lot of effort into making this a true American diner experience. The place is decked out with cool artifacts from the past decades, including jukeboxes and a 60’s drive-​in feeling. It does get very crowded over the weekend, so be prepared to know your neighbors.