My former landlord and his wife who are Pakistani recommend it to me as one of the two or three "good" Indian/Pakistani restaurants in San Francisco (Rashida makes better samosas, hands-down).

The restaurant's slightly crowded ambience may not be what you are looking for but don't despair -- Blondie's Bar & No Grill is just two doors down. They serve some aweseome martini drinks and feature the world's best (free!) jukebox. They welcome your brown bag or carryout dinners, so get some carryout from Scenic India and head over to Blondie's to eat it and have a few drinks.

Parking is always a problem -- you'll see folks double parked and parked in the turning lane with their hazard lights on in this area. Don't do it. There's a garage on Hoffman, just off of 16th between Valencia and Mission. You can usually find a spot there but be prepared to be set upon by drug dealers, panhandlers and flower vendors (ok, so the flower ladies aren't so bad, really!)

Jennifer R. Accettola
Originally published on http://www.planetx.org/~jenn/