Grumpy Glutton: MoMo Mia!

Grumpy Glutton

Grumping about San Francsico restaurants since 2008. It only seems like longer.

Grumpy Glutton: MoMo Mia!

MoMo Mia!

It's easy to hate Momo's. Mainly a drinking spot for the pre- and post-game crowds from PacBell, er, SBC, er, AT&T Park, the food is undergood and overpriced (Zagat food 17, $37; Bauer food 1 ½, $$$).

But Momo's is not without its redeeming qualities, as Mackie and I discovered during a recent lunchtime visit.

My Cobb salad was representative. It wasn't very good. Then again, how bad can something with blue cheese and bacon be? At $17.00, it's way overpriced. A better rendition for way less money can be found around the corner at Paragon.

Mackie's Philly cheese steak ($14.00) was less satisfying. If you served a weak-ass cheese steak like Momo's near Pat's or Geno's, you'd get your butt kicked.

OTOH, the Philly also provided one of the redeeming qualities. The onion strings. Flat out the best onion strings I've tasted in years. Maybe ever.

My ordering advice is to find out what dishes come with onion strings on the side, pick the one that sounds the best (or that's the cheapest) and go from there.

For dessert, Mackie tried the homemade warm chocolate chip cookies ($6.00). For something that should be a sure-fire crowd pleaser, the cookies fell flat. I don't know how you f-up chocolate chip cookies but they did. Still, I have to add the same discalimed as with the Cobb — how bad can chocolate chip cookies be?

My dessert, the fresh berries with whipped cream ($8.00), was another redeeming quality. Big, firm, sweet, fresh berries topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream. Wonderful. I suspect that they added a bit of simple syrup to amp up the sweetness as there was some liquid left at the bottom of my cup. I drank it down to add the perfect exclamation point to the dessert.

Iced tea good but pricy ($3.50). Service friendly but not overbearing.

Parking easy if there's no game, a nightmare on game days. Expensive valet available. Emphasis on expensive.

The final redeeming quality of Momo's is the outdoor seating. Real outdoor seating, not this crap with a tent over it that some places claim is outdoor seating. And lots of it.

In fact, the outdoor seating at Momo's is so great that it's inspired me to add another -Friendly category: Suntan-Friendly. Suntan-Friendly places are ones that have generous amount of real, untented outdoor seating.

If you're looking for great food, Momo's ain't your place.

But, if you want a nice atmosphere where you can sit outside and enjoy the day with some good company, sip on a couple of cocktails and not be too fussy about the food, Momo's is one of the best options in the City.

Momo's
760 Second Street
at King Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 227-8660
Map
Web site
Food inspection score: 98
Symbol of Excellence: Yes
-Friendly: Fun Date, Suntan