The shuttered Pizza Orgasmica at 823 Clement Street
Earlier this week, Pizza Orgasmica (823 Clement) quietly closed its doors after years of serving up beer and pizza to neighborhood customers.
The lights still burned on the awning when we went by on Wednesday, but the doors were locked, the windows were covered and a sign posted in the window explained the closure.
“At Pizza Orgasmica I would like to thank you very, very much for all the great years that you gave us as a customer. We are out of lease, and time to move on!”
The restaurant has two other locations in San Francisco at One Embarcadero Center and 3157 Fillmore, and a third in San Rafael. UPDATE 10/13/15: The Embarcadero location is re-branding as Gochees Pizza.
“And for sure we would love to have you at our Brewery in Marin…Nice little short trip crossing the most beautiful bridge in the world,” the sign also said.
We’re unsure how many years the Clement Street location was in business but we bet readers will have some comments on that. 🙂
We spoke to an employee by phone at the San Rafael location who confirmed the closure and said there are no plans to re-open. The Clement Street location has been removed from their website, and the phone number has been disconnected.
If you’re craving their grub, you better head east or north, Richmondites!
Farewell, Pizza Orgasmica.
Sarah B.
The goodbye note left on the door.
This place was empty most of the time. Old and dingy. Unfortunately it was next to that really smelly Chinese fish place so I was always holding my breath and trying to briskly walk away from that area. At least there are other locations in the city so it’s not like it’s completely gone.
That fish place is actually really good.
I noticed this this morning and was going to send in a tip!
It’s a great space, lots of potential. Wonder what will move in. The bar was always fun if you wanted a low-key place to watch games, and when we needed a place for a large group to meet and hang.
It used to be the Front Room.
That’s too bad. I remember when it used to be Front Room pizza!
I liked the pizza but service and cleanliness of Pizza Orgazmica had declined in recent years. They had a health score of only 80 and problems with accurate and on time order delivery.
damn, i have a bunch of those magnets for free pizza
It was filthy, and it didn’t help when one of the cooks would sit on the window smoking with dirty long nails and an apron that should have be burned due to contamination.
How I mourn for the San Francisco that honored dives as a sanctuary rather than something to sneer at. Add the snobbery to the extended list of what’s making San Francisco dull. Good bye to another place that invited everyone, not just uber- foodies.
@L
This wasn’t a dive. Beer/wine only (they sold their full liquor licence to get cash last year), and expensive pizza that would often be soggy with grease. I wouldn’t have wished them to close up, but the appeal of the place long ago disappeared.
I’ll foolishly hope this doesn’t become a Chinese restaurant or a $30 for dinner and $14 artisanal cocktail place…
Bummer! We always got pizza delivery from them- I hope the other locations will deliver to the Richmond. But I guess there are other options to explore in the neighborhood. I’m also sad about the recent closure of Enjoy Vegetarian (a Chinese vegetarian restaurant) on Geary@18th. It was a go-to for those nights we were too tired to cook!
i really hope this space is filled up with either a mexican restuarant or somehting like Q. the neighborhood has plenty of asian options, but mexican food is sorely under-represented.
OK so what are the other pizza options in the area?
The very best pizza option in the Richmond is Gaspare’s, at 20th Ave. and Graey. The other is Mescolanza, at 3rd Avenue and Geary – great pizzetas, plus lots of other Italian options. Both places are reasonably prices, not snobish, and excellent.
Happy hour was pretty good.
And it was a Front Room. I had many a pizza night there between Laurel Hill, soccer teams and baseball teams. Well, that or the best Round Table evar on 16th ave.
@Cheryl: Uh, Giorgio’s – hello! 🙂
@TD: Giorgio’s
Had great memories for this places, especially on Tuesdays when it was half-off and three dollar beers on game night, probably one of the first hip type of pizza in San Francisco where the pizza was different from normal standards. People that talk smack about it, probably new to the city and didn’t experience it in its golden years. SF is crumbing with these hipster wannabe cultural food.. :-/ , but they will never beat the original.
very fond memories as a kid when it was The Front Room. Maybe some local entrepreneur will reopen it as the Front Room again. Those ovens are well seasoned.
Nope I’ve lived in the neighborhood for over 15 years. And extremely sad that it’s changing. But not liking a place cause it was filthy shouldn’t classify you a foodie or certainly not a “hipster”.
PLEASE don’t let this turn into a Burma Superstar place. Can’t take another and the throngs of snots that wait outside.
“Unfortunately it was next to that really smelly Chinese fish place so I was always holding my breath and trying to briskly walk away from that area”
what a baby. man up you soft wiener.
I was never a fan of Orgasmic’s pizza. My usual go-to is Firehouse or Giorgio’s. If we are in a pinch, we get Gaspares. Their service is great, but most of the sauce tastes like jarred garlic instead of fresh.
Sign of the times. Friends from SOMA met up with me at Shabu House the other day and asked, “Why are there so many bros doing sake bombs in here?”
Giorgios is so salty you’ll be thirsty for days.
The pizza here was really good but very over-priced. The place smelled so bad and I’ve seen cleaner bathrooms in the Hanoi countryside! But it was a great space with excellent televisions. The beer was disgusting, almost always out or warm. Seems poor leadership ran a could be gem right into the dirt.
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass — instead, put your face down by the door strike and let it knock your teeth out
Not surprised… I used to eat their pizza all the time, back in the mid 2000’s and it was delicious. The past few years, the flavors have been sub-par at best, and the service/cleanliness was definitely lacking. If you’re a dive, you need to be cheap, and this place wasn’t cheap! Hopefully it will be a decent mid-range bar/restaurant. Anyone hear anything about Q’s replacement?
Lots of people are sad to see them go. I’ll miss both their pizza and beer. They still have three locations, so they must be doing something right.
Some miserable trolls on here just never have anything positive to say about anything.
The Fillmore location delivered to us in the Richmond on Tuesday.
Agree with Laura, although it had been a neighborhood staple.
Appreciate the heads up. Thanks, RSFB.
New Chinese restaurant coming soon
Pizza O was marginal from the get go when it took over Front Room…back in the 70s Front Room packed em in showing old silent movies during dinner
The pizza may have been too greasy, but I was in love with their peach pale ale. Many a fond night spent there with friends.
I well remember when the neighborhood was changing in the 60s and 70s; Lincoln Bowl was out and replaced by an Asian financial institution. Normans Kingdom of Toys was replaced by an Asian market. Larraburu Bros went bankrupt and my toast and sandwiches were never the same. Dandelion went as did many Jewish and white Russian owned businesses, then Woolworth. Lick Super is gone and their Petrini’s butchers dispersed (one is now at Andronico and was trained by my favorite butcher, Richard) have been replaced by Smart & Final. There used to be more clothing boutiques and savings banks where one could compare interest rates and styles. Now some of the Asian businesses are being replaced by newer trends.
I never patronized Front Room or Orgasmica and miss the only decent Round Table’s BBQ chicken with bacon pizza. Something else will move in.
There hasn’t been a decent ribs and baked beans place since The Feed Bag closed many decades ago.
Sorry to hear that Enjoy Vegetarian on 18th & Geary is gone! They were the only non-greasy Chinese restaurant around (and no MSG in their food). There are still locations in the Sunset & Chinatown. No more Chinese/Asian restaurants, please! Enough is enough.
great food.. smelly chinese place next door was also good..dont know what that idiot up there is talking about.. the two girla that worked there were hot..the latina one and the thick white girl, omg !
Best fish store in town next to Orgasmica. Sorry trendsetters, I refuse to use the term “fish monger.”
Hmm, I wonder why Enjoy closed, they were always busy. I personally didn’t eat there since I cannot do a lot of soy/bean curd.
@ Renee / Straver
To fight against the Chinese/Asian restaurants the first step would be to vote with your wallet and avoid these places, I’m sure you are already doing this
Step two would maybe pass a measure to have a moratorium on any new Chinese/Asian businesses in the Richmond District
Step three would be a little harder, but if you could find a way to restrict Chinese or Asian people moving into the Richmond District then there will surely be fewer Chinese/Asian businesses. Not sure what to do about the existing Chinese and Asians in the Richmond though … however in time I’m sure attrition will lower the population
No more 50% off tuesdays! 🙁 Im going to miss it!. I hope they don’t turn it in too preppy housing or some boochie upscale gentrified place.
CEA. seriously? The Inner richmond is mostly caucasian, but the % of restaurants is asian by a vast majority. We all love asian foods, but some of us jsut want more variety. There are also latinos in the richmond, but there are no decent mexican resturants in inner richmond . Tia Marguerita is on 19th in cnetral richmond
@ Motor – you are correct, (a) Mexican restaurant(s) would likely do very well, if you open one I will surely patronize your establishment
the pizza was awful and it smelled like sour stale beer cuz of the carpet
@CEA: bet you would re-enact your version of the 1882 exclusion act barring ALL “heathen Chinee” as you probably deem them to be a 21st Century “Yellow Peril.” Maybe make them shave the front of their heads and wear a queue. Uber modern racist scumbaggage is alive and well in the Richmond District, people.
Good riddance – bad pizza for $$$
I detect some well disguised satire in CEA’s comments. Or at least I hope so.
@CEA, If history repeats itself, my hard-working Chinese, Burmese, Japanese, and other -American neighbors are putting their kids through to college and the kids will end up working in some other field, because they could see their parents worked their butts off in the family restaurant. Meanwhile (while we are waiting for you to open a Mexican restaurant of your own) we could do our part to sponsor the next round of restauranteurs by crashing the economy of ____ wait, we already did that….sponsoring Salvadorians, Mexicans, Eritreans, Somalis, Palestinians, Syrians, Tunisians, Southerners, etc. displaced by wars, drug wars, and dictatorships [and blowback from various and sundry American proxy wars] who can’t get a job with their engineering degrees but can work their way up again in restaurants. (Or spend your restaurant dollars in the Tenderloin where some of those folks are working their way up, now, so they can afford to open up a place of their own out here). On the other side of the coin (there are more than two sides to every coin) you could be an angel and [change the system or] help pay off the crushing college loans debts or crushing rents of local young people (including culinary academy graduates) so they can do something they really like to do and prepare good CHEAP food. And support the continued future of City College (which has a great restaurant training program, as evidenced by the the tasty, affordable student-cooked lunch and dinners in the Phelan campus cafeteria). Think positive, man!
That being said (and returning to the main theme of the thread), I am grateful the Richmond has enough stability and continuity that we have some great long-term and multi-generational businesses; and room for a few more. Compare to Chestnut in the Marina where the rents and culture are such that most of the eateries are glossy venture-capital restaurant group places, and where we ate a mere two years ago (and all of its neighbors) has totally beenplowed under and reborn as some new concept…again.
@ Bill 😉
@ Old Rich Resident – take a look at my name C-E-A : was hoping you’d think one lever deeper like Bill did =)
Their pizza and Blueberry ale were fantastic, but the place had an awful stench and the bartenders were usually too busy looking at their Facebook posts to pay attention to the customers and provide any service. Good riddance.
Great pizza. Great beers on tap. Thank you the food and the service!
Now hoping to see Pizza My Heart or Marcellos Pizza open up there. Can anyone out there make that happen?
‘Never patronized the venue, uncertain if t’was good or bad, seemed dark & gloomy from the outside, and the name is nasty. Nothing wrong with Giorgio’s, oldskool but good ‘nuf.
@C.E.A.: I’m not hip like you hipsters haven’t a clue what your “secret” password is. If you want to get shouted down, always use race-related satire. Satire or not, Chinese Americans have been targeted as yellow peril since the 1880’s so those things about getting rid of a specific cultural population are ALWAYS going to hit raw nerves. If you meant it as funny, it really wasn’t. We are not from another planet as so many mainstream white people assume — it’s too bad that you make fun of the contributions to the Richmond district made by Americans of Chinese descent for the last fifty years. Sad. I have lived in the neighborhood since 1966 and am a fifth generation Chinese American.
@ Old Rich Resident
This is not the forum for us to further discuss, though I share your frustration, we clearly have different means of voicing this. We may discuss via email if you’d like – aside from English verbally we may converse in 1 of 3 Chinese Dialects (Toisan, Cantonese, or Mandarin), if you’d like to communicate through writing, I prefer traditional vs simplified characters, but both work. You’re not the only Chinese American around here =)
To summarize my post:
1. Too many Chinese/Asian businesses
this may then become
2. Too many Chinese
which leads to …
3. Get rid of the Chinese
Obviously I’m exaggerating the sentiment of the posters who are complaining about too many Chinese restaurants compared to other types in the neighborhood; but I was satirically pointing out and bringing awareness of the quick downward spiral of how innocent complaints may devolve into systematic discrimination … I hope it’s a little more clear now. btw where did I make fun of “our” people and “our” contributions? Oh yah, is it good or bad to be a hipster? I think being hip is a good thing, but the way you distance yourself from term, it’s probably bad??
Anyway, we’ve taken too much of this board, I’ll be checking this post, let me know if you’d like to further discuss, my Cantonese is better than my Toisan (grew up with both, but Cantonese is used more often), Mandarin I’ve taken up this past decade due to the changing demographics
“come see us up in Marin!”
yeah, no. Sorry,
This place had been going downhill for a while, beer tasted sometimes flat, awful bar service, a nightmare for pizza pick up and dirty bathrooms, its a shame as this place had great potential, just poorly managed from the top.
What a shame, lots of memories, especially of the one nighter with the hungarian girl that worked there and lived above it when it was the Front Room…great place, great food and will be missed…