This was my 4th visit to besharam. We liked it very much the first time but the experience after that has been underwhelming. Service was very friendly the first time. Menu was all new and innovative. Subsequent visits the service lived up to the name (besharam means shameless). Food is a hit or a miss. Malai kofta was very good. Other dishes missed the mark. Patra kadhi was watery. Baingan bharta - they had a different name for it was ordinary. Dahi vada and Dabeli parantha were ok. Srikhand cheesecake was good. Chai is made with mix so it's too sweet and they can't do anything about it. The experience was more fast food than an upscale restaurant. Shouldn't one expect more for a $75-$100 meal in 2024? I really do wish the restaurant thrives but I am not looking to go back anytime soon.
Zena L.
Came here for the first time. We ordered some appetizers and entrees. Pav bhaji puff- cheddar cauliflower, curry pasta dip Eat it right away when it is warm and crispy- good Ringan no oro- fire, charred eggplant, urfa chili, garlic It was good Kachori dumpling - would get and should eat right away. Mango salad- good and definitely will get again Dal dokli- bok choy, spinach, dry crispy noodles, kamboocha pumpkin ( wished they added more of this), pickles onions. It was ok The cheesecake blueberry saffron- interesting taste probably won't get again
Shane S.
I recently went to Besharam with my uncle. Besharam is 100 percent pure veg aka lacto-vegetarian fine dining Indian restaurant in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco. We went here recently and was packed. Service was friendly. I spent more than three years in India over eight winters. My uncle recently returned last winter from his first sojourn to India. The atmosphere and ambiance here was just fine. A nice restaurant. He is vegetarian and I am vegan. The menu features cuisine from Gujarat and Mumbai aka Bombay. The menu is a bit challenging to navigate with too many options yet our waiter gave us some suggestions. My uncle went with a paneer dish and naan. I went with Chloe aka garbanzo beans and roti made vegan sans ghee. We split the Ringan No Pro aka fire charred eggplant. My uncle is a tough critic. He gave it two stars. He quipped I had better paneer at the airport in Bangalore than this paneer. He got the halva for dessert to go and later said it wasn't that good. I felt the food was costly aka expensive. I liked that it was pure veg aka vegetarian with clearly labeled vegan options. I was happy to see the restaurant was packed as makes me very happy to see a vegetarian or vegan restaurant packed with so many folks enjoying vegetarian or vegan cuisine. Our server was friendly. I felt my food was tasty. It was a light fare. They did have a $75 dollar tasting menu featuring a little bit of everything on the menu yet my uncle felt like if he loved what he ordered he would be keen to come back to try it. Our waiter said that they can customize the tasting menu to be vegan. I concur with my uncle. The bill for what we ordered was nearly as much as if we both got the tasting menu. This is our feelings on our recent experience here.
Fancypants X.
3.5 stars. On the way to lunch, we noticed Besharam's limited lunch menu was nothing like the more exciting dinner menu we had first heard about but decided to go ahead with our plans to eat there. Besharam serves upscale versions of vegetarian Indian dishes. We ordered: -- Mango Salad ($14): gorgeously plated, had a delicious white sesame miso dressing. -- Thali ($22): trio of starches to be eaten with four dips, of sorts. I believe we got a taste of Malai Kofta which was a teaser of the dinner menu's creativity. -- Naan Vada ($22): spiced potato fritters on naan was the dish my group liked least. -- Uttapum ($19): savory lentil pancake with a unique (to me) texture. The mild flavor was a break from the two more in-your-face mains. Service was a mixed bag. Friendly servers, irritable host (perhaps someone more cheerful should be the welcoming committee.) I talk about time & money invested in going out to eat & whether it's worth it because there are infinite options where one could be spending both. I do feel a bit jipped that I spent my experience on lunch rather than dinner, I take responsibility for that oversight, however it does mean the chances of my coming back to try Besharam's larger menu are slim to none. Adulting means I know I've already used my arbitrarily allotted time & money on them.
Will A.
They added 20% gratuity to my bill for a party of 2. Is this normal? I'm a generous tipper, but I resent being billed for the tip; enough so that I'd likely not return. The food was good, pricey, but not exceptional, and like others have mentioned, I felt pushed to order more food than I really wanted.
Sheel Mohnot
Awesome place with delicious food. Unique menu with stuff you can’t get anywhere else - try it!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
David B.
I went there one night because it had a bar and I was by myself. All I wanted was a cocktail and Naan Bread. The bartender suggested the Vindaloo Meatballs. Holy Smokes! They were fantastic and funny they were vegetarian. I had the Sakoon Burbon drink! Must try. I can't say enough about this place. Went back with the MRS. and she loved it. Maybe I'll go tonight. GO!
Karina ..
I was super excited to try this spot out for a friend's surprise birthday. The food was delicious and the plating and presentation lived up to the hype. Recommend the Cheesy Garlic Naan and Malai Koftas. The drinks are definitely overpriced. I got a non-alcoholic drink that was $14 and it was not worth it. Never paying that much for juice again. The service is where it lost a star. We asked the staff to keep the birthday a surprise til the end so we could bring out a dessert. The staff put birthday hats we brought on table right away so it ruined surprise a bit but not a big deal. The issue was that we almost never saw our waiter. We had to hunt him down anytime we needed anything like water. At the end, we were the last people at the restaurant and no one came to take our card. We had to go up to the closing staff to pay and leave. The restaurant has an auto 20% gratuity and 5% SF tax for everyone (even small groups).
Valeriy K
Great place for creative (but not too much) Indian food. We loved pretty much every dish we ordered. It was quite busy on a Friday night but we were okay to sit at the bar, so we didn't wait at all. Would come back for sure.
We went for Saturday brunch and thoroughly enjoyed it! The service was lovely-- attentive, friendly and with great recommendations. The food was tasty -- each item felt like it was very fresh and made with attention to detail. We would go back and recommend it to others.
Really good food. Nice ambience and people are sweet! Food has a good indian twist with coupled fine dining.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pav Bhaji Puff, Shreekhand Cheese Cake with a Parle-G Biscuit Crust, Khandvi
Luis Alanis
Food was excellent, however the service was not. Our reservation was at 9pm, by 10pm we were rushed to put our food in boxes, when we said we were still working on it someone else came 5 minutes later trying to rush us again. We were not offered dessert or another drink and I could feel the staff was really annoyed. On top of that they added 20% gratuity to the check, which was definitely not deserved. Not sure if I will come again, it's a shame.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 1
Meeta B.
The food was BOMB - so so good! Little pricey but worth it. Everything that was ordered was finished within minutes.
Kajol Parikh
If they would just control their spice levels, the food would taste better :)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Mariana Prutton
Lively ambiance, great service, and delicious food! Fun place for a friend/family gathering or date night.
This was my 4th visit to besharam. We liked it very much the first time but the experience after that has been underwhelming. Service was very friendly the first time. Menu was all new and innovative. Subsequent visits the service lived up to the name (besharam means shameless). Food is a hit or a miss. Malai kofta was very good. Other dishes missed the mark. Patra kadhi was watery. Baingan bharta - they had a different name for it was ordinary. Dahi vada and Dabeli parantha were ok. Srikhand cheesecake was good. Chai is made with mix so it's too sweet and they can't do anything about it. The experience was more fast food than an upscale restaurant. Shouldn't one expect more for a $75-$100 meal in 2024? I really do wish the restaurant thrives but I am not looking to go back anytime soon.
Came here for the first time. We ordered some appetizers and entrees. Pav bhaji puff- cheddar cauliflower, curry pasta dip Eat it right away when it is warm and crispy- good Ringan no oro- fire, charred eggplant, urfa chili, garlic It was good Kachori dumpling - would get and should eat right away. Mango salad- good and definitely will get again Dal dokli- bok choy, spinach, dry crispy noodles, kamboocha pumpkin ( wished they added more of this), pickles onions. It was ok The cheesecake blueberry saffron- interesting taste probably won't get again
I recently went to Besharam with my uncle. Besharam is 100 percent pure veg aka lacto-vegetarian fine dining Indian restaurant in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco. We went here recently and was packed. Service was friendly. I spent more than three years in India over eight winters. My uncle recently returned last winter from his first sojourn to India. The atmosphere and ambiance here was just fine. A nice restaurant. He is vegetarian and I am vegan. The menu features cuisine from Gujarat and Mumbai aka Bombay. The menu is a bit challenging to navigate with too many options yet our waiter gave us some suggestions. My uncle went with a paneer dish and naan. I went with Chloe aka garbanzo beans and roti made vegan sans ghee. We split the Ringan No Pro aka fire charred eggplant. My uncle is a tough critic. He gave it two stars. He quipped I had better paneer at the airport in Bangalore than this paneer. He got the halva for dessert to go and later said it wasn't that good. I felt the food was costly aka expensive. I liked that it was pure veg aka vegetarian with clearly labeled vegan options. I was happy to see the restaurant was packed as makes me very happy to see a vegetarian or vegan restaurant packed with so many folks enjoying vegetarian or vegan cuisine. Our server was friendly. I felt my food was tasty. It was a light fare. They did have a $75 dollar tasting menu featuring a little bit of everything on the menu yet my uncle felt like if he loved what he ordered he would be keen to come back to try it. Our waiter said that they can customize the tasting menu to be vegan. I concur with my uncle. The bill for what we ordered was nearly as much as if we both got the tasting menu. This is our feelings on our recent experience here.
3.5 stars. On the way to lunch, we noticed Besharam's limited lunch menu was nothing like the more exciting dinner menu we had first heard about but decided to go ahead with our plans to eat there. Besharam serves upscale versions of vegetarian Indian dishes. We ordered: -- Mango Salad ($14): gorgeously plated, had a delicious white sesame miso dressing. -- Thali ($22): trio of starches to be eaten with four dips, of sorts. I believe we got a taste of Malai Kofta which was a teaser of the dinner menu's creativity. -- Naan Vada ($22): spiced potato fritters on naan was the dish my group liked least. -- Uttapum ($19): savory lentil pancake with a unique (to me) texture. The mild flavor was a break from the two more in-your-face mains. Service was a mixed bag. Friendly servers, irritable host (perhaps someone more cheerful should be the welcoming committee.) I talk about time & money invested in going out to eat & whether it's worth it because there are infinite options where one could be spending both. I do feel a bit jipped that I spent my experience on lunch rather than dinner, I take responsibility for that oversight, however it does mean the chances of my coming back to try Besharam's larger menu are slim to none. Adulting means I know I've already used my arbitrarily allotted time & money on them.
They added 20% gratuity to my bill for a party of 2. Is this normal? I'm a generous tipper, but I resent being billed for the tip; enough so that I'd likely not return. The food was good, pricey, but not exceptional, and like others have mentioned, I felt pushed to order more food than I really wanted.
Awesome place with delicious food. Unique menu with stuff you can’t get anywhere else - try it!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I went there one night because it had a bar and I was by myself. All I wanted was a cocktail and Naan Bread. The bartender suggested the Vindaloo Meatballs. Holy Smokes! They were fantastic and funny they were vegetarian. I had the Sakoon Burbon drink! Must try. I can't say enough about this place. Went back with the MRS. and she loved it. Maybe I'll go tonight. GO!
I was super excited to try this spot out for a friend's surprise birthday. The food was delicious and the plating and presentation lived up to the hype. Recommend the Cheesy Garlic Naan and Malai Koftas. The drinks are definitely overpriced. I got a non-alcoholic drink that was $14 and it was not worth it. Never paying that much for juice again. The service is where it lost a star. We asked the staff to keep the birthday a surprise til the end so we could bring out a dessert. The staff put birthday hats we brought on table right away so it ruined surprise a bit but not a big deal. The issue was that we almost never saw our waiter. We had to hunt him down anytime we needed anything like water. At the end, we were the last people at the restaurant and no one came to take our card. We had to go up to the closing staff to pay and leave. The restaurant has an auto 20% gratuity and 5% SF tax for everyone (even small groups).
Great place for creative (but not too much) Indian food. We loved pretty much every dish we ordered. It was quite busy on a Friday night but we were okay to sit at the bar, so we didn't wait at all. Would come back for sure.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Cheesy Garlic Naan, Paratha, Dabeli Paratha
We went for Saturday brunch and thoroughly enjoyed it! The service was lovely-- attentive, friendly and with great recommendations. The food was tasty -- each item felt like it was very fresh and made with attention to detail. We would go back and recommend it to others.
Restaurantji Recommends
Really good food. Nice ambience and people are sweet! Food has a good indian twist with coupled fine dining.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pav Bhaji Puff, Shreekhand Cheese Cake with a Parle-G Biscuit Crust, Khandvi
Food was excellent, however the service was not. Our reservation was at 9pm, by 10pm we were rushed to put our food in boxes, when we said we were still working on it someone else came 5 minutes later trying to rush us again. We were not offered dessert or another drink and I could feel the staff was really annoyed. On top of that they added 20% gratuity to the check, which was definitely not deserved. Not sure if I will come again, it's a shame.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 1
The food was BOMB - so so good! Little pricey but worth it. Everything that was ordered was finished within minutes.
If they would just control their spice levels, the food would taste better :)
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Lively ambiance, great service, and delicious food! Fun place for a friend/family gathering or date night.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5