How Long Will You Wait for Biscuits?

Today, I realized just how much of an influence Yelp has on the restaurant industry. I went with Tiffany and Betty to Brenda's, a French Soul Food establishment smack in the middle of the Tenderloin, not a very pretty place to be. We were simultaneously saying "Damn the Yelpers!" when we saw the huge crowd of people waiting outside, yet also acknowledging that we're part of the guilty party too. We are the internet generation.

Ah. Internet social networking at its best/worst!

We waited for over an hour and a half! Over 1.5 hours!! I was getting increasingly more furious as the minutes ticked by, but I justified the wait by telling myself that if I will put up with waiting for over 2 hours to spend 30 seconds on a rollercoaster, then I can certainly wait 1.5 hours to get a good meal. So, this begs the question. Was it worth it?

Let's run down the foods first.

We started off with the beignet appetizers. These are fried doughnuts of sorts, but Creole-style. We decided that we didn't want the sampler, which consisted of a plain sweet beignet, a chocolate one, a granny smith one, and a crawfish one. Somehow the idea of eating 3 sweet donuts right before a large meal didn't sit too well with us, so we opted for the crawfish beignets. The inside was cheesy and gooey, but I couldn't really taste too much of the crawfish. I thought the top was over-spiced and overly salty. The insides were great, but they could still make this a good dish if they laid off the salt on the outside.






























I will admit that I love the colors. Awesome colors.

Tiffany got the peach pancake cobbler special. It came with some creme fraiche, which tasted like yogurt to me. I'm not a dessert foods person, so I didn't try any, but it looked pretty good.
















Betty got the Hangtown Fry special, an oyster bacon scramble. Most entrees come with a creamy biscuit and some cheesy grits. This is what I should've ordered too.















But instead of ordering what Betty got, I decided to go with an omelette. I am a lover of good omelettes, but this one was not to my liking. I ordered the Cheddar and Andouille Sausage omelette, and the thing fell apart as I was eating it. I hate when omelettes don't have enough cheese and fall into a separated mess as you're cutting into it. And the tomato relish on top did nothing for me. Nothing! Absolutely unnecessary!















But! I will say that these grits were fantastic!! I loved them! Actually, my favorite part of this meal were the sides. The grits were so creamy and cheesy; they felt so hearty, and I can just imagine waking up on the weekend and eating a bowl of this. So good!















And OMFG. The biscuit. The biscuit was heavenly. I have never had a biscuit that good in my life! It was flaky and buttery, and when you add more butter onto it, it tastes even better! Not so good for my heart, but so worth it!

So, in conclusion:

Beignet: 6/10
Omelette: 4/10
Grits: 9/10
Biscuit: 10/10!!!

If you're thinking about coming here, please come in a party of 2. The wait is long, and it's much easier to get a table if you're a party of 2. The poor party of 4 that came before us had to wait over TWO hours because the waiters didn't think to put two tables together to seat them first. And come on a weekday, if you can. If you can't, you should come at like 2:30pm and you'll get seated right away instead of waiting over two hours.

If I came again, I think I would order a side of grits and a side of biscuits, and I'd be happy. The wait is worth it. But only for the sides. LOL.

Another note: Yelpers love to overrate things. This is definitely overrated. Even if the biscuits are to die for.

Brenda's French Soul Food
652 Polk Street
San Francisco, CA 94012

Peace, love, and biscuits!