***And so it goes in San Francisco, another neighborhood joint calls it quits, this time after 10 years in biz. Wonder what will takeover this handy corner spot?****

During the week I don't always have the opportunity to eat (too tired from work or whatever to want to go out) but me and the SO had some friends in town and they were staying in the Nob Hill area of the city. We decided to meet them in their hood and I perused some stuff online and came up with one of those neighborhood local places near them that I thought might be a good place to try called Nob Hill Grille.

It's a cute little place on the corner of Pine and Hyde Street and of course the scooters out front make it seem you are in some European city. This is a true neighborhood restaurant that gets folks who mostly live within a short walking distance of the place, regulars as they call them. I could tell when we walked in as several of the patrons were talking with the staff on a first name kind of basis. It's a tiny bi-level space that was full on this particular Thursday night but I had actually made reservations so we didn't have to wait for a table.

One treat they have is a prix fixe meal where for $29 you can get a choice of a salad, an entree and a dessert.  That's a really good deal and I decided to go for that. I started with a beet salad with arugula, purple beats, vinaigrette and small deep fried balls of goat cheese. Now sadly, I don't have a picture of this dish as before we met up with our friends I went to the gym for a long workout and by they time we got to the restaurant I was starving and dug right into the salad before realizing I didn't get a picture. Oh well, no biggie, I will say the salad was very good and beets and goat cheese is one of my favorite things together and the fact they lightly battered and fried the cheese made it all the more better. It was a tasty start to a meal, I could have had larger portion of this as dinner.  

For the entree I had wanted to try the pot pie (as it is featured on their website) but sadly my luck they were sold out for the evening. The waiter was nice enough (points!) to say I could have any entree from the menu so I chose the baby back ribs with mac & cheese and corn on the cob.  Overall I'm going to say everything was decent, plus add in the fact I was really hungry.  The mac & cheese was good though me personally, I haven't quite developed my taste buds to the point where I like pasta a bit on the al dente side, which this was, but still it was creamy with a slight tang of sharp cheddar and a nice side.  The corn was cooked to done but probably could have used some more seasoning, like salt, and I could have used some butter.  The ribs were tender, not fall off the bone tender, but still juicy and tasty. Though the barbecue sauce was a bit on the sweet side for me and they coated it on the grill and there was just a bit too much char on it for my taste.  I think my mantra for this entree is that it was decent, not the best ribs and stuff I've had but not too bad either. It's good basic food.  

To finish off my meal I went for the chocolate cake with the soft molten center, fresh strawberries and cream and a raspberry and fruit coulis. This was quite tasty and a good topper to the meal.  The cake was moist and the chocolate filling was like a nice creamy warm pudding. And fresh strawberries and cream are a perfect compliment to all the chocolate, which was not too sweet and not too bitter.  I really enjoyed it.  

For my take this was a good basic meal and Nob Hill Grille is a charming little neighborhood spot. If you are in the hood it's probably worth stopping in and sitting at the bar to grab a bite, their burgers did look good too. Living on the other side of the city I probably wouldn't make another special trip to go there but if we were nearby and wanted a bite it would definitely be on my radar.