Alnico

A bit delayed in writing this review, so sad to hear that this place is temporarily closed! Looking forward to visiting again when it reopens.If you like ube, you HAVE to come have the Ube Hot Cakes here at Alnico. Highly recommend reservations because they're always popular. Every time I come and get the hotcakes, I forget how great they are. Even the mini portion is super filling, and the beautiful purple color is so satisfying. A great spot on Valencia that I always recommend to people visiting!The kitchen sometimes seems disorganized or at least lacking in communication -- my friend and I finished out hotcakes and the cleaned and reset our table while we waited for the check, but then a waiter came out with a duplicate order and almost gave us another round of our orders. While I would have loved a second helping, we politely explained we had gotten our food already and he left confused. Not sure what happened there.

Wow. What a great brunch we had today. The eight of us arrived at 10:30am. We were lucky. There was a metered parking space in front. For a Saturday morning, metered parking is $8.50 per hour. The food was fantastic. The staff were pretty accommodating. For 8 people, we shared 2 poached chickens, 2 chicken wing and waffles, 2 real loco Moco, a large Ube pancake and shrimp gumbo. All the food was so so good. I especially like the pancakes - it had a lot of sauce on bottom. It wasn't too sweet. And poached chicken over rice porridge was to die for. The seasoning was perfect and the poached chicken was so so tender. The shrimp gumbo hit the spot. Very savory. I loved the Korean fried chicken wings - perfectly glazed. The sesame butter was a hit but even though we ordered the waffles crispy they still weren't crispy enough. The beef patty in the loco moco was too tough. The chicken adobo silog was on point. The chicken was very savory and tender. We also ordered a pitcher of guava mimosa. The waiter said it was about 4 champagne glasses. They were extra generous. We filled 5 glasses! Thank you!

Had a less than desirable experience at Alnico. Thought we'd give it a try but we were let down. There are many better brunch spots to go to for the same price. 1) Cleanliness and atmosphere of space (2/10)The interior appears hobbled together - low effort on design and atmosphere. Windows are in rough shape, tables are wobbly etc. A small investment in better furnishings would go a long way... 2) Quality of the food (3/10)We had the branzino and longanisa silog, both were sadly underwhelming. Both the garlic rice and eggs were barely warm and the overall flavor of the dishes was pretty bland and lacked depth of flavor. 3) Service (2/10)Service was pretty slow, didn't seem like anyone who worked there liked their jobs. They were wearing shirts that said "STAFF" on the back which was pretty tacky. Perhaps if you're going to make the customers scan a QR code for everything just invest in a system that lets them place the order from the table?

First time I came here with my friends it was such an amazing experience. We got the Ube Hotcakes, Stuffed Ube French Toast, Turon French Toast, and the special item on the menu for that day was Shrimp Pancit! For drinks we had beautiful Ube Horchatas. The horchatas I believe had a hint of ube from the sweet cream at the top but overall was just a horchata. All the dishes were very flavorful, had beautiful presentations, and the ube hotcakes were perfectly cooked, came back a second time the next day with my boyfriend :3 Service was really patient and considerate with us taking loads of pictures and bringing food in timely manner so it wouldn't be too cold waiting for the complete shot of everything LOL

We were party of five for weekday Filipino Asian fusion brunch. I made a reservation for Friday 10am. Dillon was our server. He was very patient with us as we were catching up and not paying attention to the menu. One friend insists on paying her own bill rather than splitting it equally. As such she placed her order first. Then hubby & I did the same. And the other couple. When we got ready to pay the bill Dillon calculated three different bills. Thanks Dillon.Ordered -* hubby got chicken wings with waffle * I got the grilled marinated pork with white rice and refried beans with two eggs and plantains as did my friend. * a friend ordered the vegan tofu sisig. * friend's hubby got the stuffed ube French toast* good portion sizes. Pros:*Great food presentation. *my mango mansi was very refreshing. Like a lemonade with a twist of mango flavoring. *great french press coffee. Came in a vey tall pot. Let it pot a few minutes before pouring. *eggs on my grilled pork was fried perfectly. Cons:* hubby felt explanation of waffle needed. Do you want it crispy or not? His waffle was on the lighter side. Not to his liking. Overall 3.5Metered street parking.

I came here with a friend on a Saturday afternoon at about 1pm. I did not have to wait. I have seen the infamous ube pancakes on IG and decided to give this place a try. The staff was friendly and the menu is small (which personally I appreciate as it often means they really have perfected those dishes). We decided to give several dishes a try as outlined below. Chicken and waffle: 4/5; personally wished the waffle had more color and texture to it. It was quite soft. The sesame butter did however compliment the waffles well. The chicken reminded me of the chicken you typically get at a Korean or Chinese restaurant. Looked like it was soy glazed of some sort. It was tasty, however nothing to really boast about. Ube pancakes: 4.5/5; these were quite aesthetically pleasing. The ube flavor of the suace was quite strong and you definitely get that ube flavor with each and every bite. The ube sauce mixed with syrup was a great combination. Waffle fries: 5/5; These were so crispy. Definitely recommend.Loganisa: 5/5; Wasn't sure if these were hand-made, but these were well-seasoned, great savory flavor. We got a side of these. Came with 3 pieces.Ube horchata and viet iced coffee with ube foam: 5/5 would give both of these a try.

Came to Alnico for the ube hotcakes and left feeling very satisfied. I usually have not cared much for asian fusion spots but this place exceeded expectations. No wait on a Saturday morning for a party of 4. Service was fast and there were several other parties dining in for brunch making for a pleasant atmosphere.Ube Hotcakes - delicious not overly sweet ube sauce, coconut, nicely made pancakesBranzino - perfectly fried fish, eggs, rice, excellent flavors overallPoached Chicken - poached chicken in grits was comforting, healthy, heartyTater Tots - classic can't go wrong with tater totsOverall a lovely dining experience! We enjoyed all the food and they were priced reasonably for a brunch spot in SF. Gotta come back next time and try their ube drinks too.

Wow, what a shock! I have been here many times, but the dishes today were terrible! I came in around 9:30 AM and was the only one there. I was wondering why no one else was there, but I thought maybe it's a Friday after Halloween? Anyway, I continued to wait for my friend to arrive. I was really excited for my friend to try this place because I loved it so much! I always get the poached chicken, so of course, I ordered it today as well. BUT when they put the dish down, I was horrified. I waited until the server left and told my friend, 'Dude, this isn't what it was supposed to look like!' The poached chicken they just served me was all watery, and it was just really disgusting--like the cook didn't know how to prepare the dish. (see attached pic labeled 11/1/24). I was totally shocked. I decided I needed to tell the server. I told him I couldn't eat this and explained that I always ordered this dish when I came here, but this didn't look like it was made correctly. I even showed him a picture. So I asked him if I could just get another dish--grilled branzino instead. I have also had the grilled branzino and loved it. However, when they brought out the dish, it was another disappointment. It wasn't cooked correctly, and I barely ate it. Garlic rice was lacking in garlic. Branzino skin was mushy, and the fish was bland. Even the sauce that comes on the side didn't taste like anything. We ended up sharing an ube mini shortstack. At least that still tasted the same, and my friend liked it as well. My friend got the grilled marinated pork. She said the pork was bland and dry, and she didn't finish it either. Coming here today was a total disappointment. I loved Alnico. I'm not sure what happened to them. I'm afraid to come back here now. Maybe it's better to visit on weekends when they have a better cook?

I chose this spot for a girls' brunch out I organized because it could accommodate a large group up to 10 people and the online reservation system through Toast was flexible, allowing me to make modifications leading up to and even during the week of our reservation date. I'm very satisfied with this place as a brunch option. I prefer Asian fusion brunch to other brunch cuisines, so this place was ideal. Also, various members in my party, including myself, have dietary restrictions, but this place is allergy friendly and accommodates special diets as well, so there ended up being something for everyone, and everyone in my group liked the food. One of my friends who'd been here before ordered the poached chicken porridge/congee. Out of everything on the menu, it sounded the best and seemed reasonably healthy, so I got that as well. It was delicious and reminded me of the congee I was served on a Singapore Airlines flight a couple years ago. While a bit pricey, the portion was large, so it was a decent value. So far, this has been one of my better brunch experiences in SF and probably one of the only places I would return to.

Alnico's ube hotcakes were definitely what attracted my interest! I came here about 2 years ago on a weekend with a reservation and there was still a wait, that's how popular this place was. The ube hotcakes were delicious and came in big portions. I do wish the hotcakes had more ube flavor - it was a bit too subtle. Still, the pancakes were fluffy and very filling. My friend also got the ube Vietnamese iced coffee, which tasted more coffee than ube - the ube flavor was barely there.