Multiple San Francisco restaurants vandalized during stay-at-home order

A Senor Sisig burrito at the 2019 Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif. on August 9, 2019. A Senor Sisig burrito at the 2019 Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Calif. on August 9, 2019. Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate.com Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate.com Image 1 of / 49 Caption Close Multiple San Francisco restaurants vandalized during stay-at-home order 1 / 49 Back to Gallery

As San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area continues to shelter-in-place, a handful of notable SF restaurants have reported vandalism incidents.

On Wednesday, Mitchell's Ice Cream shared that someone attempted to enter the store by taking a blowtorch to the front door. The ice cream company remains closed due to the city's shelter-in-place order, but has provided a list of stores where its ice cream is available.

"Not sure what they thought they were going to get?" Mitchell's wrote in a Facebook post. "Maybe some cookies? All of our ice cream is put away in our walk-in freezers, we have ADT security, and did they really think we left a bunch of money in the store while we’re closed? Not the brightest thief. All he did was crack the glass on one of our doors."

Senor Sisig, which remains open for takeout, also shared surveillance video of a more inexplicable vandalism incident that occurred Tuesday night.

The video shows a man with gloves and a mask throwing an unidentified object at the restaurant's windows. He fails to crack the windows on the first attempt, then appears to be afraid to pick up the object as it rattles on the ground. Once it stops, he picks it up and throws it at the window again, this time successfully breaking the glass. He then promptly walks away from the scene.

"Welp (shrugging emoji) They say when times get tough, the tough get going!!" the restaurant and food truck line wrote on Instagram. "We knew that this was always a possibility given other small businesses in the area have experienced similar cases, but to hit us while we are down was a surprise."

The San Francisco Police Department told SFGATE that while there has been a general decrease in crime since the shelter-in-place order went into effect, closed businesses face a heightened risk of vandalism and attempted burglary.

"With fewer people out in public, there is the potential for closed businesses to be victimized by smash and grab type crimes," Officer Adam Lobsinger wrote in an email. "SFPD has expanded our presence on foot and in vehicles around our city, so merchants who are sheltering in place can know their businesses are being protected.​ Our visibility also gives us an opportunity to focus on educating those who are out about social distancing.​"

Table Hopper columnist Marcia Gagliardi tweeted that in addition to the incidents at Mitchell's Ice Cream and Senor Sisig, Hamano Sushi was also vandalized.

"It's pretty damn low," she tweeted of restaurant vandals. "Very special place in hell is being warmed up for them right now."

Eric Ting is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting