Lower Nob Hill Barber Shop With Cash-Only Straight Razor Shaves: Metropolitan Barber Shop

Metropolitan Barber Shop sits at 1018 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, between Jones and Leavenworth streets, and it takes cash only, with an ATM inside the shop for anyone who arrives without bills. A standard haircut costs $60 and comes with a straight razor neck shave and a hot towel. It is a compact barber shop on the Lower Nob Hill edge of the Tenderloin, open Tuesday through Saturday, and it now has a sister shop in San Jose.

The shop's website puts its start date in capitals across the homepage banner, EST. 2015, beside a claim to be the Bay Area's finest barbershop. Outside traces back that timeline. Reviews from 2015 already mention complimentary water, beer and whisky being offered at 1018 Bush, and a March 2017 Rockyt guide to the city's barbershops named the owner as Luis and warned readers that the room gets busy.

The website states the idea in one plain line: Metropolitan is a classic barbershop focused on providing a unique experience and improving your appearance along the way. The Setmore booking page shortens that to a house motto, A Place to be a simple you. The specialty is men's cuts in every familiar shape, and the site's advice for anyone who cannot describe a style is simply to bring in a picture.

Growth has been modest. The homepage now calls the Bush Street storefront the original shop, in the Nob Hill neighborhood, and lists a second Metropolitan on Branham Lane in San Jose with its own Setmore page and Instagram account. The San Francisco shop keeps the first handle, @metropolitan_barbershop1, and its team page names four barbers: Dany Fagundes, Elijah De Castro, Luis Gomez and Dave G.

Payment is the first thing to plan for. Both the website and the Setmore page say Metropolitan is cash only, and the site prints it as $CASH ONLY$ right above the booking button. An ATM is available inside the barbershop, and the site notes there are multiple others in the surrounding area, but a $110 haircut and shave plus a tip means carrying more than a single hundred-dollar bill.

Booking runs through Setmore at metropolitan.setmore.com, and the San Francisco page also invites customers to phone in for appointments. The site warns that online bookings occasionally fail to go through, so watch for the email Setmore sends afterward; it holds the link for rescheduling or cancelling. Setmore asks for any change by email at least 4 hours before the slot, or a call to the shop.

Lateness gets no slack. Under the house 10 minute policy, anyone more than 10 minutes behind their appointment cannot be accommodated and has to rebook. The site says a call is welcome if you are running behind, but the cutoff still applies. Powell Street station is roughly a 0.7-mile walk away, so leave time for the climb up from Market Street.

The haircut is the core of the menu at $60 for a 30-minute Setmore slot. The website lists tapers, fades, pompadours, side parts, classic cuts and crew cuts, and adds a dry warning that the barbers can give you Brad Pitt's haircut but cannot make you Brad Pitt. Every cut at Metropolitan includes a straight razor neck shave and a hot towel treatment.

The straight razor shave costs $50 for 30 minutes and is the service the site says every man should experience in his lifetime. It is done with a single-bladed straight razor, pre-shave oils, hot lather and hot towel treatments, and the team page describes Luis Gomez as an expert in traditional techniques and straight razor shaves. Pairing it with a cut is the $110 Haircut and Shave, booked as a full hour.

Beard work is priced low on this menu: a Beard Trim is $30 for 25 minutes, and the Haircut and Beard Trim combination is $90 for 45 minutes. The website describes shaping, trimming and lining, with an electric shaver on the neck and a razor line on the cheek depending on the barber, while Setmore adds that all beard trims are done with a straight razor.

The Buzz Cut is $25 for 20 minutes, one clipper length throughout with a round or square neckline. Skip it if you want any blending at the sides, because Setmore states there is no fade or taper at that price; book the $60 haircut instead. Kids 12 and under pay $40, seniors 65 and over pay $35, and scalp micropigmentation starts at $1,200 for a three-session package.

The homepage sells the mood before the menu, inviting customers to come in, enjoy an ice cold beer, talk and get cleaned up. Reviewers describe the same hospitality, from complimentary drinks poured by Luis to a selection of old school soul music on the speakers, and one Yelp reviewer singled out the americana antiques in the room. It is a shop built for talking as much as trimming.

Yelp shows a 4.7 rating across 156 reviews on a page updated in April 2026, and reviewers tend to name their barber. Luis is praised for attention to detail and for finishing line-ups with a straight razor. One regular returns to Elijah for fades, a visitor passing through thanked him for a great cut, and Dany is described as quick and precise, which fits his team bio of over 10 years behind the clippers.

Skip Metropolitan if you only carry a card and want to pay by tap, because the shop accepts nothing but cash. It is also the wrong pick for a Sunday or Monday cut, since both days are closed. Book a named barber, bring bills and leave time for a drink. First-timers who want a fade can follow the reviews to Elijah, while anyone after a razor finish has the strongest written case for Luis.

After the cut, walk west on Bush Street past Leavenworth, Hyde and Larkin to Polk Street, then two blocks north to Swan Oyster Depot at the corner of Polk and California. It is about 0.4 mile from the barbershop as the crow flies. The San Francisco Standard reports that the seafood counter opened in 1912 and has occupied the same building on Polk Street ever since.

Swan takes no reservations at its short counter, and Wikipedia notes the Sancimino family has run it since 1946, which makes it the rare Polk Street business with a longer local record than the barbershop up the hill. From the same corner the California Street cable car line runs east toward the Financial District, a scenic way back for anyone who walked up from the office.

Metropolitan Barber Shop is at 1018 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, on the block between Jones and Leavenworth streets in Lower Nob Hill. The nearest BART and Muni Metro stop is Powell Street station, about half a mile away in a straight line, with Civic Center station slightly farther. The California Street cable car line runs two blocks north.

The website lists hours as Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 7 pm and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, with the shop closed Sunday and Monday. Bring cash or use the ATM inside. If Saturday is fully booked, take a Tuesday 10 am slot, the first opening after the two-day break, or ask the San Jose shop on Branham Lane if you live in the South Bay.