Daniel B.
Yelp
I'd never heard of Sam's of San Francisco until I saw, earlier in the summer, this restaurant was one of three "Hot and New Businesses" on Yelp's front page for Atlanta. In San Francisco, Sam's is simply known as "Sam's" or "Sam's Pizza and Hamburgers" as their old storefront sign states.
The original Sam's was featured on Anthony Bourdain's show The Layover. Each episode featured one city. Season 1, episode 8, which originally aired January 9, 2012 on Travel Channel, featured San Francisco. Over halfway through the episode, Anthony Bourdain visits Sam's and talks to current owner Fadi Shawa and his late father, founder Sam. The San Francisco storefront has a couple quotes from Bourdain: "That's a good burger." and "Top three in the world."
The original location, located at the eastern tip of Russian Hill, opened in 1966: https://bit.ly/3jKZiVs. This location, the first in Atlanta, opened in March 2020. I happened to meet Fadi at this location in Atlanta. He was very friendly and attentive. He was proactive about validating our parking, helped bring trays to our table, was quick to assist clearing our table, and checked on us multiple times even though he didn't have to. Needless to say, service was exceptional. And this is a casual fast food or fast-casual place, not a sit-down restaurant.
Fadi told me a couple other Sam's locations in/around the BeltLine, Krog Street Market, and Ponce City Market were under construction. Talk about setting up shop in all of the city's hotspots. Presently, outside of ATL and SF, I don't think you'll find a Sam's anywhere else.
This "Sam's of San Francisco" in Midtown looks completely different than the original San Francisco location. Obviously, it's newer and it's a lot cleaner and more modern and trendy looking. So, customers of the original Sam's might not think it's the same. It's not the same experience.
You can find this Sam's on the ground level of the Sixty11th apartment high-rise building facing Crescent Ave NE. Its storefront is next door to Bulla Gastrobar and across the street from RA Sushi. You can park for free in Sixty11th's garage. The entrance to the garage is around the corner from Sam's, on 11th St NE. Be sure to take your parking ticket with you to the restaurant. Validation (two hours) comes in the form of a sticker which you can put on your ticket.
During our visit, the restaurant doors were propped open and the music was jammin'. The place had an open, airy feel to it. Very casual, like a Five Guys. Outside, there were four picnic tables and three benches on either side of the wide sidewalk. My wife and I decided to eat outdoors because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The menu was straightforward, offering burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, wings, and sides (French fries, onion rings, and tator [sic] tots; that's it). There were multiple varieties of burgers, sandwiches, and wing flavors to choose from. When we visited, prices for a burger ranged from $7.99 (1/4 lb burger) to $15.99 (1 lb burger), sandwiches ranged from $8.99 to $15.99 each, wings $6.99 for 6 pieces and $10.99 for 10 pieces, and sides $2.99-4.49. Drinks ($2 each) consisted of bottled water (they offer tap too) and fountain sodas.
There were five items on the menu listed under "Anthony Bourdain's Favorites" (three burgers, a hot dog, and a Polish sausage). We ordered two of the three burgers and a couple sides:
* 1/4 lb Mushroom Cheeseburger ($9.99)
* 1/4 lb Mushroom, Avocado, Bacon Cheeseburger ($11.99)
* Onion Rings ($4.49)
* Tater Tots ($3.99)
Overall, the food was very good and satisfying. If you're in the area, I think Sam's is certainly worth checking out. If you're not in the area, I wouldn't go out of my way for it. Sam's makes a delicious burger and it tastes unique in its own way. However, is it any more satisfying than say, Farm Burger, Grindhouse, H&F Burger, or Shake Shack (thinking of some of my favorites in Atlanta)? No, but I still found Sam's burgers to be very tasty and they certainly hit the spot. They're simply another solid option for burgers in a city with a lot of good burger options.
I will say Sam's burgers definitely have that home-cooked, greasy diner look, feel, and taste to them. They do not have the neat and manufactured presentation of some of the bigger chains. Sam's burgers are cooked to order. If you like a good burger, this is comfort food at its finest. The meat has that hot-off-the-grill, smoky, gratifying flavor to it. Honestly, the closest comparison I have, flavor-wise, is a flame-grilled Burger King Whopper. Sam's burgers are messy to eat so be sure you have napkins. They piled on our toppings which included lettuce, onion, ketchup, mustard, and mayo in addition to the ingredients listed above. The sesame seed buns were grilled and good. The quality of all of the ingredients was good. As for the sides, they were par for the course. You know exactly what you're gonna get. Scrumptious, salty onion rings and extra crispy and yummy tots.