holy grill in soma....eating there without going there

I'm a fan of coupons for food, because I'm cheap. My email address litters the listings of pretty much every food app there is around these days, and there are TONS! They are all competing for pretty much the same market and really, really, really want you to try them. Like most folks, when I get a missive I'll casually glance over it then hit the delete button. They all send out emails (feels like) everyday so it is like a morning routine to weed them out of my inbox.

Every now and then they decide to throw a bone your way offer up some amount off your order "if you just come back!" to them. Since I'm not above shameless money saving, I'm totally down for trying their offer. While I can blame most of it on being lazy and not wanting to cook, um, well, no, I guess that is the reason for ordering delivery. Regardless of reasons, GrubHub sent me one of those offers and along with a list of new restaurants they had added to their partner list. I had used them not too long ago with another offer and it seemed odd to get another so soon, but I wasn't complaining.

Like before, I went with two different deliveries--one to work and one to home. Decided to save the "coupon" for the home delivery since I'd get more to share with the SO. This meant whatever I order for work needs to be a certain amount for delivery but reasonable enough I won't totally b**ch about the cost, probably. I think I scanned through 3 of their page listings before I hit on Holy Grill.

Honestly, this place isn't new to me. It is in SOMA surrounded by tech offices like Adobe, Zynga, etc. I remember when it first opened years ago. I vaguely remember going to try it and thinking it was ok and wished them luck as at the time, the hub bub in the area wasn't exactly what it is now. This seemed like the perfect time to get reaquainted and see what they are like now. I placed my order on GrubHub and roughly 40 minutes later it came.

A buttermilk battered fried chicken sandwich with onion rings, chipotle mayo, lettuce, tomato and pickle on a toasted sesame seed bun for $7.25. It was still hot when it arrived which gets a big thumbs up. The sandwich is also a big 'un. A very large chicken breast spreads out over the bun guaranteeing chicken in every bite. It is also nicely fried with a lovely golden brown color and just enough crisp to keep it interesting. Of course if that fried isn't enough there were a couple large fried onion rings on there for good measure as a slightly sweet counterpart to the chipotle mayo which for me, could have used just a bit more kick. Still, considering size, price and taste, it was a really good sandwich that I like a lot. (I did get some fries I'll talk about below)

For the home delivery, we decided to go burger, I mean it's called Holy Grill, right? I was ordering up for me and the SO this time and used up my promo code. Love a good promo code! It took a bit longer to get things this time, think it was pushing near an hour. When they did arrive, the food was hot like before, but it was still in the warm enough to eat without reheating arena.

Here is their description of their burgers:

"Our Burgers are made with 1/3 lb of hand formed meyer’s ranch 100% natural angus beef, grilled medium well, served on a sciambra bakery bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and holy sauce. Holy sauce - ketchup, mayonnaise, sweet relish and dab of dijon."

Thus the pagan is that plus bacon. Seems they use the same cheddar/American-ish cheese on all burgers, so didn't get a choice on that. It had 3 pieces of bacon, like the one you see above. Not crisp but not chewy either and enough to be able to taste the smoky flavor. While it says medium well is their cook time, ours we somewhere along the medium and slightly below line, which ended up being okay with us as that is the way we like them. They weren't overly juicy burgers which also worked so the bun was able to hold up well enough. A not so easy task considering everything else on here. The holy sauce is as described and pretty much has the "special sauce" kind of like thousand island flavor we all grew up with and know. Altogether, it is a nice large burger for $8.25 that will satisfy your burger craving.

This was pretty much the same burger but with sauteed portobello mushrooms and onions instead of bacon. Means you get kind of an earthy flavor vibe as opposed to smoky. I can pretty much repeat what I said above for this too, a mostly tasty large burger for $8.25 that nice and will satisfy your blah, blah, blah.....

Both times I ordered sweet potato fries for $3.29. First time around it was like they were just hot out of the fryer with some residual crispness left in them. This can be an issue since when you put hot things in a closed bag, that heat creates steam that will keep things warm but will also work to make crispy things soft. Which is what happened on the second delivery. But you get a pretty good portion, well salted and not over or under cooked. If they can do those basic, you are good to go on these.

Ultimately, what does it all mean. Are they top five SF burgers, not quite. But they are good burgers, made fresh and cooked well. The fried chicken sandwich is one of the better ones in town and the fries are plentiful and tasty. Add it up and Holy Grill serves some fine food worth tasting. Don't know if I'd come across the city for 'em but then again, since they are signed up with pretty much all the delivery services in town, you don't really have to. You, may not get it fresh off the grill hot, but you'd still be able to try them. For me, since I live in the hood, I'll have to try to stop in some more since the rest of their menu is pretty reasonably priced for a tech heavy area. And I am a fan of the fried chicken sandwich, and that's something to cluck about! HA! See what I did there? Chicken, cluck...ugh...must be nap time.