Restaurant Review: La Parrilla Grill (North Beach) in San Francisco, CA

Oddly enough, at this particular Parrilla location in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, the Mexican food aspect seems to be downplayed in favor of generic American junk food. Sure, the menu has burritos, tacos and quesedillas, but there are very few options, and they are all relegated to the side of a menu mostly filled by burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads and desserts.

If you are looking for a standard taqueria, this should definitely not be on your list. The only two burrito options are "bean and cheese" or a "super burrito" loaded down with cheese and sour cream; unlike most Mexican restaurants in San Francisco there is no "regular" burrito option, where you simply get meat with beans, rice, and maybe some pico de gallo. There's also only two types of taco, one type of quesedilla, and only the generic choice of "chicken" or "steak" as a meat for any of the above.

That said, the burgers and chicken sandwiches are pretty decent. Surprisingly, they also make a very decent breakfast burrito with chorizo (you might want to ask them to hold the sour cream, however). I would skip the "garlic lime salt fries" ... they basically taste like generic frozen fries from the supermarket with a little squeeze of lime across them. As far as the meat options go, though there are few, they handle what is there pretty well. They roast their chickens on a grill by the window, and the meat comes out a bit more flavorful and tender that what you usually experience at a low-budget taqueria. The carne asada is also lean, fairly flavorful and spiced well with just a bit of pepper.

Prices are moderate on most menu items. Burgers are 7 to 8 bucks with fries, as are the chicken sandwiches. Burritos and tacos are about 5 to 7 bucks with no sides. They really gouge on drinks - sodas, yerba mate and coffee are 2 bucks a pop (one size only), and they have beer at 4 bucks a bottle. The one thing I would watch out for is the desserts - on one recent visit, I observed only two sad-looking churros hanging out by themselves in the dessert case, and when I returned two days later for a quick burger, it was the same two churros sitting in the same position in the case.