Please help! I am desperately seeking a good tapas (relatively inexpensive) bar for this Saturday. Will have car, so anywhere in San Francisco would be fine. One friend can afford anything, the other friend is on a tight budget, so a relatively inexpensive place will have to do.

Thanks for any help you can give us!

Thirstbear, Cha Cha Cha, Alegrias or Esperpento.

SAB: Thanks a million!

Any one you would recommend over the others?

Easytraveler: I don't know all of SAB's suggestions, but I can comment on two of them.

Cha Cha Cha is wonderful food, fun decor, and reasonably priced. The only catch is the generally long wait: often 1-2 hours on weekends. They don't take reservations. However, there lots of things to entertain you in the Haight and you can sometimes get into the bar a little bit quicker if you're willing to eat there. Also, if you go early (6-6:30) the wait might not be so bad.

I've also been to Thirsty Bear. It's decent, but I think overpriced for what you get. It's a SOMA brewery, so I'm also not wild about the ambience.

The folks from Thirsty Bear, however, do run a tapas place in the Mission called Ramblas that I highly recommend. Last I checked (it's been a while) they're not too trendy, so wait times are not a problem. They may also take reservations. They make really good food and the decor is warm modern.

Another option in the Mission is Charanga. I don't remember much about it other than it is small and good.

If it were up to me, I'd go with Cha Cha Cha and let a pitcher of Sangria take the sting out of the wait. You can find out lots of info on these places by searching the San Francisco citysearch website. They list 25 tapas restaurants in the city with reviews and feedback.
http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/s...1_95&started=1

Note that citysearch often stinks. For example they don't include Cha Cha Cha in their list of tapas restaurants, but if you search on the name it will come up.

I'm not big on tapas myself, my recommendations were based on places I have gone with friends. I think you can get just as good a recommendation by visiting the website Mel refers to. I do know that Cha Cha Cha was one of first popular tapas places and has remained so; Thirsty Bear is a SOMA brew pub so it does attract an afterwork/post college crowd; Esperpento is in the Mission like Ramblas; and from what I can remember Alegrias seemed more upscale. The tapas place that I like is Ceasar in Berkeley but that is because is a really good wine bar and I didn't mention it because that seems like a long way to go just to get tapas.

Mel & SAB: Thanks very much for your detailed responses!

I'm tending towards Cha Cha Cha from both of your comments! The sangria sounds like a wonderful idea!

I've been to Ramblas and wanted to try a new place.

Thanks again!