When all else fails, Pinecrest.

Chels: Living in the Tenderloin can leave you longing for a good sit down diner (other things the Tenderloin can leave you longing for: crack, a shower, God, whatever back-woods-town-you're-really-from-that-you-left-to-"find yourself"-in-San Francisco-but-really-ended-up-on-the-streets-hiding-crack-in-your-butt, and a shit ton of hand sanitizer wipes). The best (and cheapest) diner in The Loin is hands down Pinecrest.  Don't be deceived by the tourist milling into Max's On The Square across the street. Those schmucks will be paying almost twice as much as you will, and I promise you the food IS NOT worth it.  Sure, Max's is HUGE.  But just because something is big, doesn't make it great. Examples: BIG Momma's House KFC Double Down Anything Paula Dean makes - especially multiple layers of meat BETWEEN two donuts (FOR SHAME PAULA!) Octo-Mom's Uterus - come on, that thing has got to be HUGE! (cue the Trump voice) Once you get inside Pinecrest, and past the nice homeless man outside either trying to sell you a newspaper or talk to you with the assistance of a shark puppet, I would highly recommend heading towards the back for a booth.  The booths in the front and get pretty chilly when the door is opened, so beware. My favorite menu item by far would have to be the Spicy Chicken Sandwich - Fried Chicken Strips with Crumbled Blue Cheese, Tomato, Onion, Arugula on a toasted roll (ask for the sauce to come on the side, it's not that particulary spicy but they drench the chicken in and it becomes excessive sauce-ness). Buck for buck this is the best deal on the menu for the price and the amount of food you get.  When it ACTUALLY comes with arugula the sandwich is particularly amaze-balls.  But when they get all cheap and put spinach on it instead, I get bitter. The service is always great, very nice staff.  There's a cool dude with tattoos who I once saw make a homeless man a sandwich FOR FREE, a Russian girl with blue nail polish, and some other dude.  Bless their little minimum wage working hearts.  I've used the now year expired Yelp coupon for a free appetizer more times than I can count.  Do I feel bad you ask?  FUCK NO!  I am not above free stuff.  All that's free you say?  I'LL TAKE THREE THEN. Basically it's a place to go when you have nowhere to go. But once you're half way through your meal, there's nowhere else you'd rather be.And then you walk out and you're right back where you started.  The Tenderloin.

Justin: Pinecrest. This is our go to place on a random night when there’s nowhere better to go. Since we’ve been in the Tenderloin, we’ve probably hit this joint more than any other. It’s fitting that this is our first review. There’s no shortage of late night restaurants around here. There’s like 11 Lori’s within walking distance, Mel’s, and Pearl’s among others. None of them have what Pinecrest does: proper affordable food and something for everyone. It’s not a kitschy place with roller skating waitresses or anything. Comfy booths with big window’s so you can watch confused tourists or clubbers cruise around. Really excellent hang over food: they have a Juicy Lucy on the menu. For those who don’t know, that’s a burger that’s somehow been filled with cheese. Fish and chips are good too. I love that they have ballpark style nachos, straight out of a giant can of queso with some jalapeños thrown in for good measure. Service is on top of their game and they don’t mind kicking down some extra ranch on the side. All in all if you stop by this place around dinner time on a random weeknight, there’s a surprisingly good chance that we will be chilling there getting free refills of diet coke and talking smack. Seriously though, internet, please don’t stalk us.