Chestnut Diner

Quaint little breakfast place. Excellent food. We have tried the French toast, pancakes, waffles on two different visits. And I didn't know the plain vanilla scrambled eggs could really have a taste! And we love the hostess (owner?) - all business and efficient, and manages to be friendly and courteous at the same time :)

This place is textbook "no frills." I stopped here with my girlfriend for some breakfast before a conference. It was not crowded, and it was fairly quiet. We waited ~30 minutes for our food, which was frustrating for diner fare. But when it arrived, it was well worth the wait. The french toast was flavorful but not saccharine. The coffee was plentiful and strong. The eggs and sausage were perfect. If I were to go back, I'd adjust my schedule accordingly so I didn't have to rush. All in all, a happy experience.

Decent little hole in the wall restaurant. Chicken BLT was good, fries tasted like they used last months burnt oil. Service was decent. Food came quick!

This little greasy spoon is exactly what it says on the tin. Great food, both our breakfast dishes were awesome. Small but wasn't crowded or uncomfortable. Quick service, had our food in less than 15 minutes. Super reasonable prices. Overall very happy with grabbing Sunday breakfast here!

While they can be slow, great place to eat! Your fix for a home cooked breakfast! They only had 2-3 people working on Sunday so don't come if you need to be out fast but they are working hard to give you a cozy breakfast!

We are on a quick trip to San Francisco and wanted to drop by a local joint for lunch. We picked this place at random and are soooo glad we did. It has such a casual vibe and the food is amazing. It's very friendly and down to earth and feels like you're stopping by a friend's place to eat. We couldn't make up our mind, so we ordered burgers and pancakes. 10/10, would definitely come back.

Local breakfast/lunch dinner. A step back in time. Waitress was fast. Food served quickly. Economical priced matching the proportions. My omelet turn into a scramble. Pancakes thin, and were not light and fluffy. Coffee, only one free refill. Not an IHOP chain restaurant, so its an adventure trying the owner owned/operated business.

While a little slow (only a couple working then someone else came in to help clean) was great food and super sweet. Will def come back! Great "mom and pop" type diner. Come support local business!

Delicious food and kind people. The service was quick and tasty. You would have quality and lots of options to choose from

Small but quaint diner. I enjoyed the menu selection and specially liked their omelet options. I ordered the Annette & Frankie omelet and thought it was good. Overall I would say it was small, unassuming, well portioned, and tasty.

Local breakfast/lunch dinner. A step back in time. Waitress was fast. Food served quickly. Economical priced matching the proportions. My omelet turn into a scramble. Pancakes thin, and were not light and fluffy. Coffee, only one free refill. Not an IHOP chain restaurant, so its an adventure trying the owner owned/operated business.

The food was just ok but my hash browns were burnt. And when I asked for new hash browns, the waitress made a mad face, went and told the chef who came out and told me I should have asked for "lightly cooked" hash browns. He proceeded to tell me they were NOT burnt although they were! And had a burnt taste! So they sent me out new hash browns soaked in grease and asked for the burnt ones back. I'll never come back

The food at Chestnut Diner was excellent! I'll start off with that. The prices are also very very reasonable, especially for SF. Personally, I got the omelet with bay shrimp, crab mushrooms and green peppers (without the mushrooms tho) along with a hash brown (which I got because a lot of the reviews I read said the hash brown was really good, which it was!) whole wheat toast and a blueberry pancake on the side. Again, all the food was delish! My gripe with the place and why I'm not giving it 5-stars is because the waitress was grumpy, unenthusiastic and miserable being there. It couldn't have been more obvious. She lazily handed us our menus and lazily took them back as well, not even taking one of our person's menus. We asked her for 3 waters which we barely could hear her response to it. Also, I asked for more coffee, and again, I could barely hear her response. Also, when we were ready to pay, we had to wait like 10 minutes just for her to realize we were all set to pay. It wasn't busy in there either... so when we got her attention to pay, she mumbled under her breath, again, could barely hear her, say "ok". -- like fine, "we won't pay, LOL! Sorry we have to pay for our food ma'am " Overall, as a heads up, the food was really good, and the vibes and ambiance was like really good, but be warned... the waitress is probably not going to be friendly to you

This place is dirty!!!! Flies all over. Sticky greasy mustard container, bill holder was tacky and the things that were visible under the counter- disgustingly dirty! Rude service! Barely spoke or greeted us. Warm water- no refills. Just dropped food- that was greasy also and walked away. A lot of vagrants in and out.

Cute little diner. Cozy. Coffee was so amazing. Service was amazing. Food was amazing. Honestly the perfect amount for me. I left nothing on my plate. I recommend this place if you are in the area.

Good simple American diner breakfast. Quick service with no line on a Saturday morning.

A classic breakfast, no notes. Service was friendly and quick. Food was delicious and looked good, definitely recommend

Chestnut Diner is a small space with a big menu of traditional breakfast fare. We were the first ones in early on a Monday morning. I would imagine a much different experience to be had on a weekend. I ordered an Americano and the Breakfast Special of Two Eggs Any Style (SCRAMBLED) with Two French Toast or Pancakes (PANCAKES) and Bacon or Sausage (SAUSAGE) and split an order of hash browns with a member of my party. The pancakes were large, light, and fluffy, hash browns had a nice crisp. Eggs were cooked fine for me, sausage verged on not being my favorite with a texture that was a bit too slippy. I do emphasize "almost" because I ate everything without complaints. As others have mentioned, service is not...overwhelming, but I don't always need to be overhanded in every situation so if the server wants to hand our table the menu from over the counter, I'll just take it and be on my way.

Good deal for the amount of food you get. The hash browns were burnt to a crisp though, order the house potatoes instead.

Small but FULL of character. No-nonsense service with quick and curt efficiency. Menu states lunch all day but couldn't get a salad cuz they don't have chicken that early? Still, I loved the feel of this place. They say "no frills" and they mean it! Only sweeteners are sugar and sweet n low. But the coffees were nice and black!

This place is such a gem! We were able to sit right down on a Saturday morning, service was friendly and fast and the food was great. This will be my new neighborhood spot.

Food was fair. For some reason I thought the extra egg in an omelette was 1$. 2.25. Ugh. Anyway. Just an average place. Coffee was watered down. Big cup. Nice service. Very polite. Asked for home fries burnt, they came out soft. Very little onion and peppers. It's an old diner. So can't really complain too much. Wooden tables that show their age. Nice round center station with the classic feel stools. All the condiments were on the table so no need to ask for anything else. I'm guessing they have some good greasy burgers. Didn't get a current menu pic but I think the ones on file are legit. Cheers.

Like Art's in the Sunset, Eddie's on Diviz, and Jim's in the Mission, this is a true diner in the way diners should be. "Adam & Eve on a raft, wreck 'em!" "Burn one, take it through the garden, and pin a rose on it." You don't expect an old-school diner like this near the Marina, but I'm of the mind that every neighborhood needs its own greasy spoon. Jamie W. and I were taking the Van Ness BRT, and it struck me that this would be a good place to grab a fast breakfast. It was bustling, but there was an empty booth in which we slid with assurance. We were enjoying the side show of two upwardly mobile couples waiting in their spandex cycling gear for their takeout order of breakfast sandwiches because God forbid, they should actually eat here. We had no such problem because we were lured by the extensive omelet selection here. Jamie ordered his usual Denver Omelette, this one $11.95 with ham, peppers, sautéed onions, and cheese (photo: https://bit.ly/3y8Weu8). It came with a big side of country potatoes browned on the grill and sourdough toast. So did my order, the $11.95 Dieter's Delight with mushrooms, tomato, zucchini, spinach, green onions, and jack cheese (photo: https://bit.ly/3OHQ77q). Honestly both our omelettes were interchangeable as they had the unmistakable square-cut fold-over look that only true diners offer. But it didn't matter because the food hit the spot, and the industrious women who work tirelessly here impressed us. Certainly not the entitled cyclists. FOOD - 4 stars...the omelettes were what we wanted AMBIANCE - 4 stars...comfy vibe in a mid-century setting SERVICE - 5 stars...adroit, tireless and always aiming to please TOTAL - 4 stars...let's hear it for the local greasy spoons RELATED - Exploring the Marina? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2HyFdzC

An authentic local diner, not some trendy "take" on what a diner is imagined to be. Hearty omelette decent coffee and swift service. Tiny so you might have to wait on a busy day, but do yourself a favour and experience a real diner before they are all gone.

Overpriced - $20 for basic toast and eggs. Coffee not great. Good service. Hard to find parking. In SF, that's a good deal.

We started our first day in SF at this neighborhood gem. Good food, hearty portions, friendly service, and reasonable prices.

BART and Muni delays made me late. F it! I've seen this spot many times and been wanting try it. Here I am! An OG diner with counter and booths. It is a Tuesday at 10:00am and I'm the only customer. A lovely couple run the store. Mama in the front of the house and papa on the flat top. Deliciously simple sausage and eggs. Yes, buttered toast. $12 +tip.

Classic diner. You can't go wrong with this. Portion sizes are good. I didn't leave feeling hungry or feeling overly full. I did a classic breakfast - 3 eggs bacon and hash browns. I recommend the hash browns over home fries. Chocolate chip pancakes were perfect. No wait and I was there at 11 on a Sunday. It is small so I could see there being a line at times. Service is fast. Overall, good go to classic diner!

Small diner, simple menu and definitely hit the spot for breakfast. It was a nice surprise close to our stay at "LA CASA INN."

Doesn't look like much when you walk by but wow what an amazing hole in the wall find! It's your classic diner food but done really well. We had the French toast which was so yummy and full of cinnamon. The bacon was crispy and the potatoes were tasty! Definitely a great spot to go to after a night out.

A no frills, reliable american style diner in the city. Something tough to find in this part of SF. Dont expect gourmet fare but do expect friendly and quick service, crispy hashbrowns, well cooked eggs and decent pricing. A great hangover or easy breakfast spot. Have not tried lunch but easily would. I recommend.

Super cool little diner. A real 50's feel with small booths surrounding a low-top bar with vintage stools. We ordered a late breakfast - with my girl getting a veggie omelette and me getting 2 eggs and bacon. We both also ordered the hashbrowns. She'd eaten the same type of omelette at the world-famous Sears Cafe the day before - but this one from Chestnut truly outclassed the other. And the hashbrowns were just stupid yummy. Whoever is on the griddle knows what they are doing. Also, very nice server who knew how to keep it pleasant and minimal - while making sure we were covered. Definitely worth finding this place.

Most of the posts on here are favorable and I have no idea why. This place is a place to avoid. As a few of the posts said, the server is extremely rude. My cousin and I sat down to have breakfast the other day and it took 10 min for the server to even acknowledge us. When she finally did, she was short in her answers and very rude. My cousin asked for tea with lemon and she said rudely "no lemon". We both ordered coffee and I asked if I could have some honey, her answer was once again rudely "no honey". Typically when you go to a breakfast diner the table has sugar, jam, ketchup, tabasco etc etc. Our table had splenda, salt and pepper, nothing else. After she brought us our coffee it took at least 10 to 15 minutes for her to return to our table to take our order. My cousin ordered scrambled eggs with ham and toast. I ordered 2 eggs over easy, home style potatoes, ham and toast. Once again we waited and waited for our food to arrive. The place is very small and it was almost full with only one person waiting tables. I could tell that the server was overwhelmed and that she had no clue what she was doing. She was rude and ignored customers including us. When our food arrived, to no surprise to me she got my order wrong. I said, "excuse me, I ordered home style potatoes and I got overcooked hash browns" She then went into her pocket and showed me our bill and said "see you ordered potatoes," showing how ignorant she was. Just because you have something written on your bill doesn't mean it's correct, and in this case she made a mistake that she wouldn't acknowledge and simply walked away. She never came back to ask us how the food was or even ask if we wanted more coffee or anything else for that matter. She was never to be seen again by us until she brought us the bill. When it comes to the food, it was also horrible, the only thing that was decent were the eggs but let's face it, how do you mess up scrambled eggs and eggs over easy. The rest of the food was as I said horrible. With all the wonderful restaurants in San Francisco I would avoid this one like the plague. I go to restaurants almost every day of the week and I typically am a 20 to 25 percent tipper, sometimes even more if the service is exceptional, I stiffed this waitress and to be honest I couldn't wait to teach her a lesson because of her complete rudeness. I'm sure she didn't care but hopefully more people do this, so that she understands that a tip is not automatic, it's because you have received good service. Finally, you can believe the good posts on here but you would be making a big mistake. I took the time to write this post because it's the truth and I don't want another person or family to go through what my cousin and I went through. EAT AT THIS PLACE AT YOUR OWN RISK, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

The food was delightful!! Waitress was quick and efficient but we never felt rushed. This place is a gem!!

Went here in hopes of getting a solid breakfast from an old school diner. We were disappointed by the food which was mediocre and not very warm. The service was spotty as our meals came out one at a time with a few minutes in between. There is booth seating along with counter seating, but if you have a party of more than 4, good luck.

It was great! I loved the eggs and pancakes! But I gotta say the person who cooked up my meal had very long hair! When I dug in a 10 big strands of hair.

San Fransico Special - was skeptical with shrimp inside but it was AMAZING! It totally works and everything was top 10. Hash-browns were amazing, they buttered the toast. An amazing place

Great breakfast. Took a while but was enjoyable inside-seating. I'd definitely come back. It's very delicious and the value for the price is hard to beat. My omelette had American(?) cheese melted which made it very strange, so I'd definitely try a different omelette but everything else was incredibly delicious.

Great service and excellent breakfast. As a plant-based diner, I would have liked a few more options, plus gluten-free.

Wow it's the real deal!!! A counter, booths, nice people and CHEAP! I came with a group of folks with developmental disabilities and it worked for their budget and their preferences.

Little diner with great prices and food. An old fashioned neighborhood gem with lots of regulars coming and going. It looks like the decor hasn't been updated in decades, and I hope they never do. Those original Formica countertops and barstools just scream "good diner coffee" to me.

Love this spot! My husband and I would come here all the time when we first started dating! We Love the med- gyro in an omelet! It's a cute spot!

Love this Diner I went to earlier! If you can't guess by now I love diners! The hash-browns were perfection. Also didn't cost an arm and a leg which is unusual for SF! $20 for all of it!?

This is a retro style diner with friendly staff. With the tourists gone during the pandemic, the diner has really taken a hit. I find this is a nice place to get quick and easy breakfast fix. It's simple but clean. I have had their scrambled eggs, oatmeal, hashbrowns etc. They do a good job with it. The hashbrowns were a little greasy for my taste but tasted crispy and good. I recently got a take out. They had carefully packed everything from salt, paper, ketchup, paper towels to yummy grape jelly and utensils before even asking for them. Toasts were wrapped separately from the eggs to prevent the toasts from getting wet from the steam ! As for the indoors, I like the cute barstool seats. They look very vintage and give the place its own character. Next time I need a no non sense breakfast, I will not skip this diner.

Love Chestnut Diner! It's got delicious classic diner food and amazing service. Okay thank you!!

Easily my favorite neighborhood joint. Situated right on Chestnut in Van Ness, this place is super unassuming to be a great food spot. They offer all the diner favorites, omelettes, pancakes, burgers, shakes, etc. I have had multiple omelettes and I have had the bacon cheeseburger, both are stellar. Summary: it's cheap, it's classic, it's nothing extra and all that makes it the perfect food spot.

An unassuming but stellar breakfast and lunch spot. They offer all your typical diner food items, but the taste is pretty unique and well done. All at a reasonable price. Highly recommend the hashbrowns, pancakes (so light and fluffy), and French toast!

I have written a review about this but here it is again. My sister and I went to San Francisco for a few days and eat at several restaurants that were very expensive and the food was terrible. Right around the corner there was this little diner. We took our chances and went in it was the best movie ever made the food was awesome the service was fast and pleasant and if I have a go back to San Francisco this is the place I will be eating my breakfast and my lunch unfortunately close at 3 o'clock.

such a great neighborhood find! the food was fresh and delicious, hash browns and bacon perfectly crisp. service was also great, very attentive...will definitely be a repeat customer!

This is a mom and pop diner. It is old-fashioned and that's a good thing. Sometimes I want a diner that sets me back to the 70s. This one is on Chestnut near Van Ness. It's run by an Asian family. They have run it for 15 years or so I think. I looked at the menu and decided on the egg scramble with bay shrimp and some other stuff. It had a bit of cheese that seemed like a slice. I decided on hash browns on the side. I asked for sourdough bread and had like 2 slices. It was buttered for me. I had some water and no coffee. I think it's a cute spot to have an old-fashioned diner experience. No frills. Interesting crowd of locals and temps. Really random spot I guess, but it's not bad.

I love this little diner , it's been consistently good and great service! Nothing fancy but great prices! We'll be back :)

Came for lunch one day & breakfast the next day during our visit to SF. This place was delicious, had quick service, and everything on the menu is a great price.

Definite hidden gem. Its a small greasy spoon diner was good breakfast food and amazing prices. The whole menu is 5-10 bucks for filling meals and they have an especially large selection of omelettes. It was run by 2 hard working ladies one cooking and one serving but they managed to handle a packed restaurant. I went with the shrimp and crab omelette the most expensive thing on the menu at around 10 bucks. I chose it with hashbrowns and sourdough bread. Everything was tasty and i was pleasantly surprised to find it loaded with tiny shrimp and crab for the price. You cant go wrong here. For the price and quality I would eat here all the time if I lived in the area.

This place is awesome! The owners were so sweet and the food was great! Love a classic diner and this was just what we were looking for! Will for sure be coming back.

Waitor is very rude. She's Impatient and makes customers feel un happy. HORRIBLE the food is also over cooked.

Not going to sugar coat it. I'm pissed. Royally pissed...This place has the worst service in the city. If u want breakfast on Saturday, have fun having your day get ruined. Ordered food only for it to take over an hour and then for the waiter to tell me half my food isn't available. Decent food, but small portions that aren't worth the prices... not giving this place another cent

My fave spot here. Me and my family came three days in a row and they never disappointed. Since we are from Texas, they had some big shoes to fill. Their French toast is so tasty, it had the perfect amount of powder, and it was a large bread. I was very impressed. My mom got hash browns with pancakes and was not disappointed. The pancakes were so fluffy and melted on your mouth. The hash browns were the best I've had!!!!! We will be back. So impressed. Thank you.!