El Majahual Restaurant

I was looking forward to going again. It’s been year since I last visited and loved the Colombian food they served. Where can I now find Colombian food???

*Update: So the restaurant is closing, I’m not surprised at all.
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The waiter was rude to us so we left.
Seems like the waiter was flustered by the existing customers in the restaurant. My wife is Colombian so I brought her there to celebrate her birthday. We waited for a table inside for about 15 mins and saw that a table opened up. As we signaled the flustered waiter about approaching the open table, he told me that there is an additional 30 min wait and rudely told me and my wife that we had to wait outside. Not sure why we had to wait outside since we’ve been inside for some time already and there was an open seat. Since it was freezing outside, we just decided to leave. I really considered waiting longer outside but the waiter’s horrible attitude was simply not worth it. (Didn’t get his name but he was the taller fellow with glasses)
Hope the owner knows that this jerk is driving customers away.

Vegetarian tamales were amazing. Steak, beans, and a couple other things were just too salty.

This is a very good Colombian food it’s family Owned and operated very good price value

Just absolutely amazing. Really homemade, stewed chicken falling off the bone, and the pupusas were very nicely textured and tasty. One side of the menu is Salvadorean; the other side is Columbian. It takes a little while to make, but it’s worth it!

Great Colombian food! It looks like a little hole in the wall but has great food. We got the papusas and a steak dish, but there’s a wide variety of foods to choose from. Super cheap too!

I got a pupusa with cheese and loroco which was great
They didnt have horchata that really sadden me lol
Also i got bandeja paisa
It was really good. I wish i had sour cream for the beans and the platains

Very tasty!.. get a good size order of pupsasas for my family to go and havn’t been disappointed…

¡Muy buen restaurante! Deliciosa y autóctona comida colombiana. Ajiaco, bandeja paisa, cola de res, todas esas cosas maravillosas, muy bien preparadas. ¡Y empanadas!
Consejo para el cliente: Ten en cuenta que te tomará tiempo. Es un lugar pequeño y se pueden demorar en atenderte. Tras pedir los platos también tendrás que esperar (10 – 15 minutos a veces).

I felt inclined to write up this review after traveling to San Francisco this past weekend and first going to a spot called «Sol Food.» Reading the reviews of Sol Food on here made me cringe at how people could appreciate such mediocre food.
You see, in NYC there’s «good» food EVERYWHERE. It’s very competitive. No matter how much marketing and smoke and mirrors you try to use to make your restaurant look better, it always comes down to the food.
This place hit is right on the nail. The Food was FANTASTIC at Majahual unlike the over hyped car crash of a place that Sol Food was.
My parents are Puerto Rican and amazing cooks and eating Majahaul’s food made me feel like my own grandmother was in the back cooking. Everything from the boiled bananas to the rice and beans to the yuca and tostones were DELICIOUS!
They had some older women cooking in the kitchen. I really should have taken video. The place doesn’t really look appealing at all. But boy did I forget all that once I tried their food. My friends had the sopa and the steak dishes (I had the vegetarian dish). Bliss.
Yes, the food does take some time to come out, but TRUST ME, it’s well worth the wait. This is real home cooking.
There are quite a few places like Majahual here in NYC and I love them just as equally. This place deserves to be on every top ten best tasting food list in San Francisco. I could eat there every day for the next 10 years.
Hat’s off to the chefs. Keep up the amazing work. I look forward to eating there again upon my next visit.

It’s July 27, 2015 and I just walked by El Majahual and noticed a sign from the health department shutting down this beloved and wonderful restaurant due to health issues. It is not about the food, but about the building or environment. The notice was sketchy at best.
I’m heartsick at this. Knowing the fate of mom and pop shops in the Mission, my guess is the building owner refused to do necessary work on the building, and hoping to sell to the highest bidder.
Please keep this restaurant and the family who runs it in your thoughts. Places like this are rare and need support.
With love from my dog bowl to yours.
Shata

The food is really good here. Great selection for vegetarians and pescatarians, and service is nice but the food comes too slow for anyone in a hurry. The pupusas are popular here, but I personally prefer the tamales.
—- SMALL BITES —-
Pupusa: 3.5 stars
The pupusas with cheese are good; the pupusas without cheese are really dry – like the Pupusa con Frijoles (only beans) and con Chicharron (only pork). I like the fact that they offer many vegetarian options and I’ll come back to try the rest (Pupusa con Espinaca, con Loroco).
Tamal Vegetariano: 5 stars
Wow. This is one of the 2 best tamales I’ve had in my life. Super soft and moist, not like those dried-​out ones you get 99% of the time. Almost reminded me of a corn hoon kueh (a Singaporean dessert), it was THAT GOOD. Served with a reddish sauce and corn + other veggies, this tamale was light, fluffy and was better than the pupusa.
—- ENTREES —-
Sancocho de Gallina: 4 stars
Soup with fish, fleshy tender fish and boiled yucca and plantains. Served with a side of crispy flattened plantain, and a scoop of rice. She was very nice and even offered me a slice of avocado when I asked for it. The downside is it took 25 mins to prepare even though I was one of only 2 customers in the whole restaurant.

We waited way more than half an hour to get our food (pupusas and chicken, nothing elaborated).
The Salvadoran dishes seemed a little better than the Colombian. Food wasn’t any special in general. The chicken didn’t seem all the way cooked, but didn’t want to wait another half hour to get it properly cooked so i left it.
Also the prices seemed a little more expensive than other places in the area.
The lulo fresh juice was really good.

Being Colombian in the bay area and used to my countries food it really makes it difficult especially since there are barely Colombians in the bay area. which means it difficult for me to find Colombian ingredients for me to make food.
I was exited to learn there was one and when I had the chance went with my American girlfriend to show her what Colombian food is like and for me to try this place out.
despite Colombia having nothing to do with Central american cultures I found myself in nostalgia eating there and the familiar foods of my country. The food was great but not the most delicious it being the best I have and closest to my food I’ll definitely be heading back there

Randomly walked in craving something filling but not heavy. Two Israeli and one Filipino middle aged guys were stuffed by the end of the meal. But not stuffed where you can’t move. Regina had such a warm inviting charm about her. The food was aaaaaaamazing. Empanadas, pupusas, the main entrees were all so flavorful! I even asked if I could take Regina home because she reminds me of my grandma and I just want to take her everywhere. Definitely coming back for the food and Regina!

A brightly painted space.
A surprisingly high ceiling.
A ginmorous flat screen tv.
A mellow divey vibe.
A possibly intoxicated server.
A good thing we weren’t in a hurry.
A loud series of smacks from the kitchen.
A duo of non-​greasy pupusas.
A pork one and a cheesy spinach one.
A bowl of spicy red salsa.
A pile of vinegary spicy «coleslaw.»
A passing resemblance to kimchi.
A plate of curryish chicken and potatoes.
A tomatoey broth with overcooked shrimp.
A plaintain atop white rice.
A pile of lettuce doing a salad impersonation.
A pay per view boxing fight.
A random remembrance about Mike Tyson and an ear.
A possible return visit
(But for pupusas only).

The chile relleno here is a true work of art! Don’t miss this place before gentrification in San Francisco kills them off…

There’s a reason this place is 5 stars.
It brings Colombia to San Francisco.
We had a great meal and will come back soon

First time having Colombian food. We ordered the Pupusas: the Vegetariana, Revuelta, and the De Chicharron. The Revuelta had a perfect blend of cheese and pork. I would order that one again. However I felt the other two were over bearing. The De Chicharron just had all dry pork inside it and the Vegetariana had way too much cheese (and I love cheese, so if it was too much for me…)
We also ordered the Bistec Encebollado. It had a piece of hanger steak, which was a little over cooked. The onions on top were cooked perfectly and were delicious. It came with plain white rice, salad, and refried beans. i was a little sad that I couldn’t substitute the refried beans for black beans, because they only carry refried bean.
Lastly, we got some plantains, and they were delicious! I would most definitely order them again!
The ambiance was painted really nice, almost like a beach/​ocean scene in the restaurant. They also have a huge TV inside, which had soccer on when we entered, but was later turned to the movie Jumanji. I enjoyed the movie experience in the restaurant. It made me feel at home while eating.

Cheese, cheese, cheese. So much cheese.
El Majahual’s pupusas are packed with cheese. You can tell they went all out with the things — not only do you get a whole Ziploc bag of cole slaw, you also get a minimum of two big pupusas guaranteed to send you into a food coma.
Ambiance be damned — give me my $ 5 cheese indulgence.

One star because the food was good once it *finally* got to us, and one star because of Unilocal obligation.
I had eaten at El Majahual many moons ago whence first arriving in the Mission and thought it was really good. My friends were having crepes next door and I was being difficult and thus opted for pupusas, which were very yummy. No difference in food quality this time around, but the experience was horrendous.
It was busy and all the tables were full when my girlfriends and I walked in, so we thought the only option was to order at the little window where the waitress was standing. She was getting some checks in order so we waited patiently before eventually asking if we should order with her, but she said to sit down, so we waited for a party to leave and swooped. Then we waited for about 20 minutes for her to come take drink orders, I asked for a water and my girls got sodas, we also put in our orders with her.
No exaggeration, it took 40 minutes to get our food. This is not rocket science, and the restaurant cleared out almost completely. My water didn’t arrive until just about the same time that my friends finished their drinks, and the kitchen got my friend’s order wrong and then aggressively demanded to know what she ordered in the first place. Yea, it was awkward. My pupusa was very good, but our waitress didn’t bring out the slaw or the red sauce until all the food was on the table for a while. Bring everything out at the same time, or at least the things that go together. An silverware? That didn’t come out till the cabbage was on the table. Then we waited for a long time for our bill as our waitress finished cupcaking with her boyfriend outside. Just really not cool.

Very good.
This is place is very special…