Geckos

I've dined here several times and the food is decent but I've had HORRIBLE service experiences. The first time the restaurant crowded, it took a long time to place an order, and they were out of several items on the menu. The food which we did order was not good, specifically the ""Chesapeake Chili"" --it tasted like crab meat and BBQ sauce in a cup. Other times the place has seemed significantly understaffed, and service extremely slow. We had a waiter who was serving the entire 2 levels of dining area by himself. We felt terrible, as the service problem seemed to be a staffing issue. On 2 of the 4 visits, I have used Restaurant dot com certificates, presented at the beginning of the meal using a IPhone. This was never a problem in the past, and usually the person taking the certificate has called in to verify the certificate number. In the last dining visit we notified the waitress that we had a certificate from Restaurant dot com, and she said ""ok,"" never asking to see it, or needing verification. At the end of our meal (which we ordered according to our required $100 spending minimum), when the bill was presented we showed the waitress our certificate on IPhone. The waitress said she couldn't accept the electronic version, and that she needed a hard copy. She was extremely rude about the situation, especially given it was her error by not stating that she needed to see the certificate prior to verbally accepting it. She was not willing to compromise, when we asked if she could call the number on the certificate to validate it. We also asked for use of a printer in the restaurant, which she promptly said was ""locked away."" When we asked to speak to management she said that there was no one there but her, another bartender and the chef. We ended up having to call around to all of our friends to find someone who could print the certificate for us. This was a terrible experience, making everyone in our party never want to return to Gekos. Overall we have had good food, but the service needs a lot of work. more

we walked in for Sunday brunch and stood around for 10 minutes before someone asked if we wanted a seat. then after being seated, i had to prompt the waiter to tell us what was on the bruch menu. he informed us it was a buffet style brunch and to serve ourselves. the food was good. they had breakfast and lunch foods. i would go back and hope for better service. more

when standing outside looking at the building, you wonder why your friend has sent you here, it's just a... more

I moved from Baltimore to San Francisco in 2002, and I miss Gecko's so much. Even in the SF Bay Area, where there are 100's of amazing restaurants to choose from, I find myself craving Gecko's. Their margarita with Tobasco (sound gross? Its AMAZING) and their unbelieveable blackened shrimp Caesar salad with pinenuts and feta cheese are my absolute favorites. Great friendly staff, too. I'm so happy to see one of the places from my old 'hood doing well. xoxo Pros: GREAT food, GREAT Margarita list, Friendly staff Cons: Smoky bar area, sometimes gets noisy, street-only parking more

Friendly servers, fast service, and great food. What a nice change from the standard cookie cutter Tex-Mex places in the area. It can be crowded on Sunday for brunch but that's because the buffet is delicious, especially if you like stuffed french toast and fresh homemade muffins. more