Peña Pachamama

Vegan

Organic

Raw

Beer/Wine

Delivery

Take-out

Catering

Gluten-free

Latin

Bolivian, Peruvian

Located in a historic speakeasy in San Francisco's old Latin Quarter, 'Peña' means a circle of people coming together and 'Pachamama' means Mother Earth. In early 2023, the restaurant was certified as a Legacy Business in the City of San Francisco in recognition of its long history of service to the community and for being a valuable cultural asset and a part of the 'Soul of the City'. Peña Pachamama is the only vegan restaurant that is a Legacy Business in San Francisco. The restaurant serves organic vegan South American cuisine with live performances after dinner on weekends. The menu is half raw and half cooked, and mostly gluten-free. Uses all organic produce and only extra virgin olive oil or organic coconut oil in dishes. The kitchen makes vegan ice cream and raw kale chips in-house. Serves a selection of cocktails, wines, and sangria. Visit web calendar for schedule of live entertainment events. Open Mon-Thu 4:30pm-9:00pm, Fri-Sat 4:30pm-10:30pm. Closed Sun.

145 Reviews

First Review by ·X·

Results

IronicDejavu

Points +27

Vegetarian

08 Aug 2015

Fabulous!! - Edit

I am totally INLOVE with their menu, and I rarely say that about any place. Their Raw pizza is soooo good and guilt free

Pros: Delicious, Tasty, Moderately priced

rach

Points +144

25 May 2015

You've got to try this place!!! - Edit

Wow absolutely delicious. Everything we ordered was fantastic. I was a little unsure when I read the menu online - it's Bolivian / South American and they really care about the taste and quality of the food. The lentil dip was amazing, my tacos were great, the buckwheat guacamole was delicious. Make an effort to get there - you won't be disappointed.

Pros: quality/care of food, taste, different/ unusual dishes

Cons: none

jankp

Points +76

04 Feb 2015

Top class restaurent - Edit

Should I pick one restaurent in the world as the best, this would be it....
It is top quality food and the atmosphere are amazing. We visited twice when we were there. All the food is vegan, fresh and organic!!! The courses were unique and very tasty. We had kale chips with a slight taste of cheese. I am not a kale man, but theese were goood. Even my three years old son loved them. They did have a burger on the menu with fresh potatoes(very good), some dish with beans and vegetables, tapas, freshly homemade tacos(really good) and much more. All without flaws. They also had fresh lemonade made with agave instead of suger, so fresh and the desserts...don't get me started. Every night there will be performans and the night we were their the owners were on stages. They manage to create the most amazing atmosphere including the guest in the show. One of the guest went on stage to sing and several of us went to dance. Great evening.

Pros: Great unique food, Organic and vegan, Reasonable prices

Cons: None at all

JuliaLucille

Points +16

27 Dec 2014

Delicious healthy food and lovely people - Edit

You have to try the kale chips and the richest chocolate mouse we've ever had. The portopancho and crackers with guacamole were also excellent. Good wine. The environment is really cozy and the restaurant is in a fun part of town. And the entertainment is highly entertaining.

Pros: Service, Decor, Super-friendly, warm and inviting owners

PlanetLight

24 Nov 2014

Absolutely Amazing - Edit

This is such an amazing place. The atmosphere, the music, location, people and of course, the food.
Everything is done in house. The house made ice cream is to die for

Pros: Food, Staff, Location

Cornellian

Points +19

Really Delicious Vegan Restaurant - Edit

I live in San Francisco and have been to this restaurant twice now. The restaurant used to serve meat until the owners went vegan and decided to transform their entire restuarant to organic vegan (50% raw as well) and lost a lot of clients who were only interested in traditional Bolviian heavy meat-based dishes. Regardless of this consequence, they continued to pursue their beliefs and removed all animal products from their restaurant. Hearing their story was touching and the food was SO good.

I've taken non-vegans, raw vegans, and other vegans here and everyone loves it. There isn't a single dish on the menu I've tried and haven't liked.

Cmclean

05 Jul 2014

Great food, great music, great service - Edit

This place is a one of a kind restaurant. I entered the doors of Pachamama and was hooked immediately. The atmosphere is lovely and the smells were uniquely hypnotizing. I have to say that they have the best vegan food in San Francisco and I can guarantee they have options here that you won't find anywhere else. They have a vegan burger that is to die for and signature plates that could convince any meat eater to go vegan. They also have these kale chips that they make in house that are by far the best kale chips I have had in my life. They sell them in bags that you can also take home. My wife and I bought two and we finished them both the next day. The desserts were also incredible, I recommend trying the chocolate cake with a bit of their chocolate mousse. INCREDIBLE!

Just as spectacular as the food was the music. I went on a Saturday night which I must say was very lively and energetic. There wasn't an empty seat in the house. They were featuring an Arabic violinist whose talent was off the charts but mainly they play Andean music. One of the owners is from Bolivia and is a two time Grammy nominated musician! He plays this instrument called a charango which is like a guitar but smaller. Very cool. I had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife, who is the other owner, and both were extremely nice and welcoming. I really felt like they were having us in their home, a truly great experience.

The service was also excellent. Our waitress, Kat, was very kind and attended us with care and appreciation. Even though she was very busy, she was able to provide us excellent service, I was impressed.

I would give his place 10 stars if I could. Do yourself a favor and check out Pachamama. It is one of San Francisco's best kept secrets.

Pros: Food, Service, MUSIC

Justin Williams

Points +44

20 Jan 2014

Great Food & Music - Went Veg*n January 2014 - Edit

This restaurant is such a gem. Every vegan/vegetarian in the Bay Area needs to be eating here regularly. The service is top notch, the food is superb, the entertainment is fabulous and the owner, Quentin Narvia is marvelous and sweet.

I'm visiting from New Hampshire for 10 days, (moving to the area in a couple of months) and feel so at home here. I've already eaten here twice since Friday and plan on eating here every night for the rest of the week. It's that good.

During my first visit, Quentin came and introduced herself to me, made recommendations, told me her story, and talked to me for several minutes about being a vegan and a musician and why they finally went all vegan (though they still have one Salmon dish on the menu, which I hope disappears soon). I loved how she explained the reason they went vegan, despite the warnings of others it would doom her. She said she would rather go out of business than to serve animals. They are people of principle and any true vegan need to support that.

She went upstairs and got a copy of the "musical vegan cookbook" she wrote and signed it for me. She and her husband, a Latin Grammy Nominated musician, then performed with their band for a little over an hour, with one of the customers coming on stage to perform. To top it off, our very polite and wonderful waiter Cole, ended the show with a very positive rap. You won't get this kind of experience anywhere.

After the show Quentin came and sat at my table to talk some more, even grabbing a raw brownie from the kitchen to share with us. It's rare to be made to feel so at home.

She also invited us to return on Sunday to hear Dr. Will Tuttle, author of The World Peace Diet, speak. Of course I came, and was greeted with a warm hug and thanks for coming again. What an amazing evening it was. We got there at 5:30 to hear Dr. Tuttle, and had dinner over the span of 5 1/2 hours as they had Middle Eastern Musicians and Belly Dancers later in the evening.

Why are you still reading this...book your reservation now.
Updated from previous review on Wednesday January 15, 2014

Updated from previous review on Wednesday January 15, 2014

Updated from previous review on Thursday January 16, 2014

Pros: Good Food, Live Music, Friendly Staff and Owners

Eddy Navia - co-owner (with wife Quentin) and Latin Grammy Nominated Musician. at Peña Pachamama in San Francisco

Dr. Will Tuttle, author of The World Peace Diet. at Peña Pachamama in San Francisco

Coconut Cream Pie at Peña Pachamama in San Francisco

Belly Dancing at Peña Pachamama in San Francisco

Happy Eats

Points +41

27 Oct 2011

Unique and full of flavors, but service a bit slow - Edit

This is a nice little intimate space, though the live music is loud. The dishes are full of flavors and uniquely Peruvian. I had the vegetable stew with quinoa and kale chips. I hadn't had anything quite like it, so my taste buds definitely enjoyed the combination of flavors. I only wished there were more vegetables in the stew, which wasn't quite a stew either. It was much thicker than soupy.

For dessert, we shared a coconut cream pie, which was delish! It wasn't too sweet like many of the vegan dessert can be. The "cream" was made from Irish moss, a type of plant and congeals with water. Again, I've never had anything quite like it. This definitely a unique place to go. The service can be a little slow.

Pros: unique flavors in food, friendly staff

Cons: slow service

·X·

Points +25197

22 Sep 2010

Pena Pachamama - Nice owner! - Edit

So my friend and I figured that a Sunday night here would be slow, well we were wrong because there was a large birthday party, which led to problems as stated later in this review. There was a live Spanish band playing (which was neat) and the overall ambience of the place was nice (but very loud). The menu had several vegan and raw items - I was actually shocked by the amount of items they had. I decided to go tapas style and started with the avocado salad and intended to order more, furthermore, the waitress said she'd come back to the table to take our drink orders. Well the waitress never really came back and I never got to order a drink or additional food. To top it off, it took an hour for my friend and I to get our food. I realize that there was a large birthday party and one other table besides ours, but I think an hour is excessive. I also felt that there was too much avocado in the salad and the dressing wasn't impressive.

Originally I was going to give this place 1-2 cows because of the service, but I did talk to the owner a few days later about the situation - and she even went WAY out of her way for me regarding another situation there. I'm adding two cows for her service on top of the two cows for the live band and for having a good selection of vegan and raw items. I will give this place another shot when I return to SF.