Valencia Street is getting a taste of Yemen. Mandi House, a Yemeni restaurant with a well-regarded location in LA's Westwood neighborhood, is building out the sprawling two-story space at 680 Valencia St. in the Mission, with a "Coming Soon" banner stretched across the facade and the doors still wrapped in plastic. No opening date has been announced.
The signage is hard to miss: a large decorative arch in the style of a stained-glass Yemeni window crowns the facade above the words "Yemeni Restaurant," while a banner below announces "Mandi House Coming Soon" in both English and Arabic (بيت المندي). The Instagram handle @mandihouseusa is posted on the door alongside a QR code, and the account already has 17,000 followers from the LA operation.
The Concept: Big Plates, Big Tables, Very Yemeni
Mandi House is built around mandi, the ancient Yemeni slow-cooking method in which meat — lamb or chicken, most commonly — is cooked in a tandoor-style pit and served over fragrant spiced rice. According to the Daily Bruin, the Westwood location was opened in March 2024 by owner Faris Alqabass, who said he was motivated in part by how difficult it was to find Yemeni food in Southern California despite the city's abundance of other Middle Eastern options. In that same profile, Alqabass confirmed he was expanding to San Francisco. The SF menu, already live on Toast, includes mandi lamb and chicken, fahsah (a Sana'ani beef stew with fenugreek), haneeth, Yemeni kebab, and a range of regional dishes spanning cities from Aden to Hadhramaut.
The LA location has made an impression on diners and critics alike. The Infatuation called it one of the best spots on the Westside for a large group dinner, describing the cavernous space with long tables, banquettes, and a row of majlis — traditional low, U-shaped sofas — as feeling like "UCLA dining hall big." With nearly 300 reviews and 4.4 stars on Yelp, the restaurant has built a genuine following, with diners particularly fond of the lamb mandi and the fahsah.
A Space With a Storied (and Somewhat Cursed) Past
The 680 Valencia address carries some weight in San Francisco dining history. It was home to Hawker Fare, the beloved Lao and Northern Thai restaurant from Michelin-starred chef James Syhabout, which opened in 2014 and closed abruptly in January 2023 after pandemic pressures reduced business to roughly half of pre-Covid levels, as reported by SFist. The two-story space, which also housed the tiki bar Holy Mountain upstairs, had been one of the Mission's most energetic dining rooms.
Since Hawker Fare's closure, the space has had a difficult time finding its footing. A sports bar and beer garden concept called The Kickback moved in, followed by Petra Mediterranean, which has also since closed, per Yelp. Mandi House will be the fourth tenant to try its luck at a corner that once seemed like a sure thing.
Filling a Real Gap in SF's Middle Eastern Scene
Dedicated Yemeni cuisine is genuinely hard to find in San Francisco. The city's main option is Yemen Kitchen, a small, low-key spot now operating out of 39 Taylor St. in the Tenderloin, which has a devoted following but limited seating. Landing a full-scale Yemeni restaurant in the Mission — with the kind of communal, large-format dining that mandi is built for — would be a meaningful addition to a neighborhood that already skews toward bold, convivial food culture.
If the 680 Valencia space's history of short tenancies is any indication, Mandi House has its work cut out. But it's arriving with a proven concept, a legitimate following, and an owner who has already done this once in a competitive market. As of this writing, Mandi House has not announced an opening date and did not respond to a request for comment.
John Rohen is a photojournalist for Hoodline Bay Area
