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<\/p>\nThere are countless lessons people learn when opening their first business, especially a restaurant in San Francisco. Unforeseen expenses, permitting delays and the slog of red tape are some of them. But the one the\u00a0Lozanos didn’t see coming was the vitriol they would get from locals over some images in their window.<\/p>\n
AJ and Lyndsey Lozano, the Marin couple behind Grind & Unwind, opened their restaurant on Haight Street in May. They took over the space formerly housing Citrus Club, a longtime Asian fusion eatery and bar that closed in April, according to Lyndsey. Their all-day concept – with a menu of coffee, pastries and sandwiches that gives way to pub fare and beer at night – played to Lyndsey’s experience running a microbakery and working in coffee shops, along with AJ’s desire to run a bar. So far, her banana bread and chocolate chip cookies have been selling out almost daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Less beloved, however, was their marketing strategy. When the\u00a0Lozanos put AI-generated images of menu items in their window, things got ugly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Yum, slop” is the title of a Reddit post from June 30 that has more than 670 upvotes and features a close-up picture of the Lozanos’ menu display. “I reckon utilizing AI imagery for the storefront menu board doesn’t correlate with a long tenured small business in this neighborhood,” the poster commented.<\/p>\n
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Graffiti on the front of the Grind & Unwind restaurant in San Francisco. (Courtesy of Lindsey Lozano)<\/p>\n
Another wrote “I’d rather see s-tty photos taken in a light box with a 1 megapixel camera than whatever this AI s-t is supposed to be.” Others called the focaccia in the image akin to a “loofah” or “lung,” said the “Frappuccino” drink looked like it was wearing “fishnet stockings” and wrote that the slaw topping a pulled-pork sandwich reminded them of “the mutated cordyceps from the Last of Us.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It was kind of a stir on\u00a0Haight Street, which is good and bad, I guess,” Lyndsey Lozano said. “But the response was not what we were expecting.”<\/p>\n
The poster was meant to be temporary, she said, as they’ve been busy caring for their three kids – all under the age of 5 – while opening the restaurant. They didn’t even have a sign yet.<\/p>\n
Then, on the morning of July 2,\u00a0Lozano arrived to find the awning outside her business covered in graffiti, with what she has determined is the word “seriously” scrawled in red.<\/p>\n
She was frustrated.\u00a0AJ was disheartened. “I want people to come to our restaurant, but, like, why is this such a big deal that it influences people on such intense level,”\u00a0Lyndsey Lozano said. “Like, is it really that horrific that you have to act on such a feeling?”<\/p>\n
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The Grind & Unwind menu that used images generated with artificial intelligence. The restaurant opened in the former Citrus Club space on San Francisco’s Haight Street back in May. (Screenshot via Reddit)<\/p>\n
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Grind & Unwind co-owner Lyndsey Lozano is pictured inside her restaurant on Haight Street in San Francisco on July 16, 2026. (Charles Russo\/SFGATE)<\/p>\n
Perhaps the sudden loss of a neighborhood staple – Citrus Club was open for decades and frequented for its cheap noodles and creative cocktails – made it hard to win favor with the tight-knit community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We kind of jumped on the opportunity when the space became available,” Lozano told\u00a0SFGATE. “It was a very, very fast turnaround, so people were like, ‘What happened to the Citrus Club?'”<\/p>\n
On July 6, the\u00a0Lozanos removed the artificial intelligence display. They painted over the graffiti, estimating it will cost them over $700 to finish the job. For now, they’ve strung LED lights in the window and stuck their pastry display in the middle for all to see Lyndsey’s homemade treats. Business is picking up, and the Lozanos have hired cooks to help debut new menu items, including a smashburger. They plan to start hosting events, like pasta-making classes and paint and sip nights, for the community.<\/p>\n
“Honestly, we just\u00a0kinda wanna move forward and forget about the sign and hope people come try our quality food and really make it a cool spot that locals can gather,” Lozano\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
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