The San Franciscan

Jane (our waitress) needs to go. She is hurting business.
I first have to express that this one star rating is based mainly on service because that is what stuck out the most.
The food was good depending on the item, but our waitress really killed it for me and my wife.
Our waitress Jane was extremely rude, sometimes even combative. It seems like she is friendly to regulars and rude to new comers. She was rude from the first order of drinks. I was so distracted by her rudeness and wanting her to leave that i forgot about the appetizer i wanted to order.
The table next to us also had extreme difficulty placing orders with Jane. I had to flag down a different waiter for the neighboring booth. We tipped a waiter that wasn’t our waiter because he was more helpful. We did not tip Jane because she does not understand hospitality.
I was here previously with the Torrance Chamber of Commerce and thought it was so good I wanted to take my wife. What a mistake.

I feel bad only giving this place 2 stars! The food was good. We ordered a ribeye and a New York. Both cooked perfectly and the wine and beer were great. The bartender was friendly and quick as was the hostess! I loved the atmosphere and the restaurant in whole.
I give this place three stars because of the server we were assigned to. We were assigned to a server named Melanie. Having worked in the industry for 10 plus years, I have give servers the benefit of the doubt most of the time.
We sat down and we heard the hostess say that Melanie would be taking care of us. After 10 minutes, we asked a server if we could order. She said our server would be over soon. When Melanie finally did come over, she was completely rude and curt! Before I could finish my sentences she cut me off and replied with what she wanted to say. I know servers can get slammed but she didn’t have very many tables. She brought our salads out with the bread and our steaks came out before we even tried our salads. The food runner apologized to us when he saw how late our server had brought out our salads.
She was completely rude throughout the meal and did not come but once to check on us, never refilled our wine from our bottle and not once asked us if we needed anything. Man… It’s pretty hard to be that horrible.

I heard a lot about this bar from local torrance residents. What was supposed to be an enjoyable night with a friend turned out to be an egregious nightmare. As the wall ordained itself with accolades of daily breeze achievements about their steak, there seemed to be a glaring lack of recognizing the atrocious service given out to singers. If not for the redeeming qualities of bartender Phill, karaōke DJ Jim would have ruined it for us. We will not return, but any patron that would choose to come here can faithfully rely on Phill and no one else. What we seemed to have noticed is that Jim looked to attack people who did not accost him. He brought out veiled racist statements that were uncalled for.

Old school since 1963. We went on Friday night for a late 10pm dinner, we weren’t the only ones eating this late as the bar area was very full. I ordered the house steak medium rare and it was delicious especially since I was hungry. The service was great the waitress was always with a smile. The steak dinner was perfect and filling, which came with a baked potato and clam chowder included in my order. The only drawback was that the bar crowd was loud and with the music in the background it didn’t help, we sat in the back room also. This is not a place for a romantic dinner but just for a fun night out dinner.

The prime here is such a great deal and amazing. Their swordfish was a bit dry, however. I don’t recommend it. I’d go here solely for the prime rib!
The prime rib is such a great deal; super moist and tender and comparable to House of Prime Rib in the bay area. The wait is really long though (even with a reservation, expect to wait if they’re backed up with tables).
They have live music here in the evening and a bar area as well.

I grew up in Torrance and this has always been one of my favorite childhood restaurants! On my most recent visit, I found out that they’ve been in business for 52 years! A steakhouse doesn’t stay around that long unless they’re really good! And they are!
Keep in mind that this isn’t your fancy steakhouse. It’s an old-​school place that held on to their old furniture as long as they could! They recently updated the furniture in the last few years, but still kept the same look and feel, which is warm and cozy. When you first walk in, there is a hostess there to greet you. I highly recommend reservations to guarantee a table! There’s a bar and TV’s in the front, while the sit-​down customers are seated in the back. This is a rather casual place — you can wear shorts, jeans, whatever you want. Parking can be somewhat tight, so be prepared for that.
Now, can we talk about the food? The prime rib is what they’re best known for and it is TO DIE FOR! The juices from the prime rib is what makes it supreme. It’s also very reasonable in terms of price. The prime rib comes with soup or salad and your choice of side. I can’t really speak about any of the other dishes, as I can’t imagine getting anything other than their prime rib! Seriously. I’ve seen other steaks come out though, and they look fantastic!
The service is always attentive and they work fast! I highly recommend this place.

Not recommended at allllll…
We had a reservation and we had to wait for 45 min Thursday night…

Okay. I absolutely loved this place. I came here on a Saturday night, and I’ve passed the place several times in the past but never been here. Surprisingly, the place was packed! We got seated with a large group and our server, Chris, was absolutely exceptional. Friendly, attentive, and one of the most patient servers I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.
I didn’t get the prime rib, but did opt for the rib eye – perfectly done and tender. The calamari and shrimp cocktail appetizers were good too – the cocktail sauce could use a little more kick (I like mine to clear my sinuses), but was still decent.
They had live music near the bar, which could get a little loud if you’re trying to have table conversation, but all in all was a good visit. Definitely worth coming back to.

As always a great time and great service to accompany a great cut of med rare prime rib. Had a party of 6 and we were all satisfied. Started off with the mushroom appetizer and then order the meat. If you order from the bar take a sip first they pour strong drinks. Could use a little more light in the dinning area. Love this place! Been since I got here from Missouri in ’83

The food is good, and yes they know how to make a good steak but…
The atmosphere is old and a bit too dark, very cramp, and service is slow. A group of 6 of us walked in and waited over 30 min just to get a seat. Then once we were seated we waited forever to get a menu. Our server was clearly tired and didn’t bother to even talk to us. She gave us a menu, quickly took our order and we never saw her again. Of course when the check came she finally got a forced smile on her face and thanked us for coming. This place isn’t cheap and although the steak is ok, the service doesn’t make up for it.
Just meh.

We were in the Torrance area and of course we Unilocaled to find what to eat. The SF came up and we were ready for some good prime rib. We knew that (from our great Unilocaler friends’ reviews) the décor is quite a bit outdated, but that doesn’t bother us. At the end of the day, it is about managing expectations, so we understand that some people may be turned off from the outdated décor.
We called around 6pm to see if they can accommodate us without a reservation, and sure enough they could! We were just 10 minutes away. As we arrived, we were seated immediately. We were served with water and our drinks immediately followed by our orders. We wanted prime ribs, so we had the house special and the Franciscan cuts, both medium. Our sides were the steamed veggies and the baked potato.
The prime ribs took about 15 – 20 min, but we didn’t really feel that much of a wait due to the free, tasty warm sourdough bread and butter that was served to tame our hangry tummies in addition to our soup & salad that came with the meal! We normally would order the medium at the Lawry’s BH which would be the medium rare here at the SF. But, that didn’t stop us from chowing down the wonderfully cooked medium Prime ribs (PR)!! The beef was so delish that we really didn’t need to use the horseradish that came with the PR.
I think this is a great «NO BS» restaurant! Sure it didn’t have the fancy spinning bowl salad or the yorkshire pudding like the Lawry’s, but it sure is a great little place with some live music on a Sunday evening for the locals. Also the prices are just right! It is a bit far for us to just come here for PR, perhaps if we are ever in the Torrance area, this is definitely a place to come back to. We will remember to order «medium rare» next time for our taste buds.
If you love Prime ribs and are in the area, please do stop by the SF. I highly recommend this place if you are not picky or particular about the old décor!

I wanted to really like this place, its right by my house and I love prime rib… Save your money go to nearest outback.
If the food is subpar then what can you do… but the food is actually ok just the service here sucks donkey balls, i waited about 10minutes for my check and another 10minutes for calculate what she overcharged me on… this place is just old and stale, no history here. For the same price of Lawrys, you will be given horrible atmosphere, and service. Stop being lazy and drive!

One of the last old school steakhouses standing around these here parts!
The San Franciscan is a South Bay icon. That actually may be an understatement! It has been here forever and a half, and hopefully it can stick around for the rest of forever times infinity!
Oddly, I have not had the opportunity to come here until pretty recently. How this happened during my lifetime I have no idea? In any case, be ready to be transported straight back to the good ol’ 70’s era of how steak used to be done!
Plenty of parking in the back, but because this place is off the hook, you may need to jockey for a spot. Once inside, the staff is super friendly and accommodating, but beware… it is LOUD in here!!! The booths are the classic rat pack gangster lounge look… perfect!!! When you see this, you know you are in the right place for steak!
Aside from the stupendous steak, the prime rib is also quite scrumptious. Freshly grated horseradish matches perfectly, and the baked potatoes, salad, dinner bread, etc. are all top notch. Service is usually prompt, but can be sketchy depending on the server.
Good cocktail selection, great bar, and great desserts as well! Highly recommended to visit at least once!

I came here a long time ago, and I stopped by recently when I didn’t take pics. However, I was celebrating closing a big deal with my colleagues, and now I finally had a chance to take pics. The San Franciscan is bout as old skool as you can get (opened in 1963), and is located on Sepulveda near Crenshaw in Torrance. They offer surf & turf, and were in business before all the high-​end steakhouses like Capital Grille, Flemings, Mastros, Mortons, and Ruth’s Chris. In addition, they stay open until 2 am.
To start off with, we shared the popcorn shrimp ($ 7.50). For my entrée, I ordered the specialty of the house: House Special Prime Rib ($ 18.95 — ½ lb prime rib, inc soup or salad, and your choice of side [fries, sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, potato salad, rice or veggies). I rarely seek meat on a menu, unless I am at a high-​end steakhouse. However, I eat prime rib even less frequently compared to steak, so I said I better go with the specialty. BTW, they also offer 12 oz and 19 oz servings. One of my colleagues ordered the same thing as me, and another ordered the salmon steak (sorry, no pic). For dessert, we shared a carrot cake and NY cheesecake ($ 5.45/each).
First course: This app was pretty weak, because it was clear the shrimp were frozen. Nonetheless, there were a fair amount for the price, and they were not greasy: 3 Stars.
Second course: The salad was very pedestrian. It was only lettuce. However, it was crisp: 3 Stars. Main course & side: The mashed potatoes were very good. They were homemade, and came with a nice pool of gravy in the middle: 4 Stars. Likewise, the prime rib was also really good. It wasn’t the best quality meat, but I love old skool places like this that have been doing it for 50 years or more. They must be doing something right!!!: 4 Stars. My colleague really liked her salmon and veggies. The other colleague raved about his prime rib.
The desserts were very good, and a steal at $ 5.45/each. The cheesecake was thick, and the crust was firm but moist. The only downside was they don’t offer strawberry or blueberry topping: 4 Stars. My colleague really likes carrot cake, and she ate most of it. Good for her, because she did all the heavy lifting on closing the deal (I am just the front man — LOL!); 4 Stars.
Regarding the ambiance, it was OSF (Old Skool as Fuk)! The booths were red vinyl, the tabletops formica, and the clientele might as well been in black and white. However, that is the charm of this place: 4 Stars. Our waiter and support staff were really cool and attentive. It was a throwback to the gentile day of dining out, when most places really appreciated your business: 5 Stars.
I would have no qualms about coming back here and doing a 3 martini lunch. The food is really good and reasonably priced, the service is excellent, and you are made to feel very comfortable here. BTW, the parking lot entrance is on the west side before you pass the building. You enter in through the rear like a similar old skool place, Stevens Steakhouse in Commerce. The San Franciscan, the former, and The Dal Rae are all throwbacks. However, I would put them up against any of the new steakhouses any day of the week!

It was our first time here last Sunday and will be coming here instead of Black Angus from now on… or maybe interchangeably perhaps? Haha.
Prime rib is highly recommended! We ordered our usual medium rare and it was delicious! The ambience feels vegas-​like as there was a lotto machine at the bar? Very down to earth joint tho with older crowd. You know what they say, older crowd knows wassup.

I pass this often on my way to and from work when the freeway gets too crazy. It always reminded me more of an old bordello than a steak house but friends said it was good (and after confirming with Unilocalers) we went for an early dinner. We entered from the street side-​which I found is the bar entrance but the girl quickly came up to rescue us.
After going to two booths-​one that didn’t fit our group of 6, then one that was reserved; we ended up at a large table in the back that had zero ambience. We got settled and someone took our drink order.
Our waiter started attentive and took our order. 5 had the prime rib with baked potato. 2 of ours were the cold. We got the waiters attention and he took them back-​blaming us for eating the potato first (give me a break!) and microwaved them which isn’t great. Then it was warm but mine was so tough it was hard to cut. The waiter seemed hesitant and his attitude was definitely cooler too-​but finally took it back and brought a new cut. The other 4 were like butter and so was the new cut he brought back.
One person had the Drunken Sam (filet in burgundy-​bourbon sauce with fried eggplant and cheese on top) which she thought was good.
We had the New York cheesecake which was ok but not real New York cheesecake. One other had the Mud Pie-​which was pretty good.
All in all, the food is good-​not great and the ambiance in the main dining room with red leather booths is old steakhouse and nice but the back room is plain and ugly-​I mean paint or do something! I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.

Did not imagine how busy this place would be from the looks of it on the outside, but when a restaurant has been around for over half a century and still thriving they must be doing something right! And that something is Prime Rib.
My husband and I were pleasantly surprised by how tasty everything was in this divvy neighborhood «all American» steak house. Our meal came with fresh bread, soup (or salad if you wanted), and a side with our generous portion of prime rib for under $ 20 pp. That’s a pretty good deal for South Bay, almost feels like Vegas (off strip) prices!

Average tonight! Or less than average. Service was terrible tonight, beyond rude.
There are many other similar options out there (that do not serve USDA corn feed meats) and better with professional, and kind servers, not rude, or walking away as we are about to order something else. Perhaps we were not considered the usual or repeat customers — wow!

Okay so imagine if Tarantino re-​wrote the Reservoir Dogs diner scene, where the Misters discuss Madonna, and changed the setting to a dive bar instead… This would be it!
This place is DIVEY for sure. It was a bit hard to find and it doesn’t look like a steakhouse from the outside at all. The entrance was a bit confusing… we entered through the back which I guess is the front since the hostess’ counter was right there. We gave her our names and she gave us the option to sit in the back (back area with booths) or in the front (by the bar or at the bar) we chose the back. She told us to wait for a few minutes.
They didn’t have a waiting area inside so unless you choose to hangout at the bar, you can wait outside where they have a couple of plastic chairs set up. We waited outside next to a couple people who seemed like locals arguing about some deep issues.
When we were finally seated (party of 4) we were greeted by a lady who uhmmm fit the physical description of other Unilocalers’ Unilocal however, contrary to the negative reviews on Unilocal,SHE was nice…
Husband and I split the prime rib and a baked potato on the side. It was delicious and worth coming back for! The prime rib’s natural juice/​sauce had this taste to it that I really enjoyed.
We ordered a bottle of wine and it was good.
The overall ambiance was exactly what I said above. Dimly lit but not enough to say it was going for the romantic vibe. They had live music at the bar and oldies playing on the speakers during their breaks.
I didn’t use their bathroom so I can’t comment on its cleanliness…
I will definitely come back for more!

I grew up in Torrance and have driven past The San Franciscan literally hundreds, if not thousands of times. For some reason «Der Wienerschnitzel» always came to mind when I’d see their bright yellow sign /​black lettering and lights surround it, but I never gave it a second thought otherwise. A few months ago a group of guys were here from Japan for a special project with my company. One evening they planned to go here for dinner and invited me to join them. I guess I had some sort of mental block for this place, because when they said «The San Franciscan» I mentally curled my lip, winced and literally said «really??»
PARKING: You want the non-​descript driveway BEFORE the building as you’re driving East on Sepulveda. Think you can use the driveway after the building if you miss the first one? Nope, that is the tune & lube place next door, so around the block you go (been there, done that). Once you find the correct entry point, there’s a large parking lot out back.
From the parking lot there’s a sign above a door at the back of the building that states «San Franciscan Entry». The door looks like you’d be walking into the kitchen or a storage room, not the restaurant. I go through the door and feel like I stepped through a time portal directly into late 60’s/early 70’s. It’s kinda dark and the ceiling is a dingy yellow from years of cigarette smoke.
SERVICE: We walk through the bar and main dining room to the large «overflow» room with a table set for the 16 of us. The table was set in a festive holiday fashion with chocolates for us, «nice touch» I thought.
Our server «La Prell» was very friendly and pretty attentive, but a little impatient with a lot of the guys who didn’t understand /​speak English perfectly. Otherwise, she checked on us a couple times throughout the meal and beverages were refilled, but not as rapidly or often as they could have been.
After a round of drinks we were ready to order.
FOOD: Everyone skipped the appetizers and ordered the meat laden entrees. Just after placing our orders, they brought out these delicious sourdough loafs & butter for the table, YUM:
Being the Japanese (from Japan) crave beef, the majority ordered a slab of prime rib with rice pilaf ($ 24.95). The rice tasted like it was out of a package, pretty bland and «meh». Otherwise everyone REALLY enjoyed their meals, but for some their eyes were bigger than their stomachs! LOL.
Others ordered the Rib Eye steak ($ 24.95), which looked very good!
A cup of the soup of the day ordered with one steak.
I’m not a big beef eater (the thought of eating a slab of prime rib makes me shudder!), but I LOVE pork, so I ordered the grilled double cut pork chop with house salad ($ 18.95). The salad was thrown on the plate haphazardly and I saw a few pieces which were showing the «brown streaks of age». Hmmm.
The double cut pork chop was cooked to perfection and absolutely delicious, I couldn’t ask for a better one! The veggies on the other hand, were so undercooked they were crunchy.
OVERALL: The San Franciscan is a time warp back to the late 60’s/early 70’s with good service, very good/​excellent meat, but so-​so sides. 3.5 stars.