I only got a quick late dinner bite at the bar, but I was really impressed with the dishes. We started with pasta with uni (sea urchin). I wasn't sure how that was going to end up since I love my uni unadulterated, but I was happily surprised. The pasta was perfectly al dente and there was just enough flavor to compliment the uni and not mask the delicacy. I normally don't like ordering burgers at fancy restaurants, but it was highly recommended to me by a friend. I do have to say that it was one of the best burgers that I have eaten. The meat was great quality, perfectly cooked to my requested medium-rare, and the bun was deliciously buttery and toasted. As many of the other reviewers pointed out, this place is pricey but for a reason.
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It's always a pleasure to find a review that you haven't written where the content couldn't matter in the slightest. This has been reviewed to no end, so I am less concerned about my addition. I will say it's always hustling, and bustling, and it's the obvious go to when you have a couple extra minutes prior to an event at one of the event venues nearby. We seem to end up here a lot, specifically because the warm bread salad seems intoxicating and convincing to my wife, such that she dreams of it for weeks at a time. We aren't much of the upstairs fine dining crowd for this restaurant, and are thrilled with the loungey banquette seating and bar menu. Along with the bread salad, the duck liver mousse, the charcuterie, and the cheese plate are all constant go tos, for us. Their bar is a classic array with consummate pros, so it's never awkward ordering precisely what you really want. The floor is busy, so don't be pompous enough to come in short of time, then tell them to rush... it won't work, and it just makes everyone feel awkward. I will say that our experiences there have been so consistently good, we did (shhh it's a secret) miss La Boheme because we were having *THAT* good of a time at the restaurant. You can't really give a better compliment than that!
Notes:
Charcuterie (from a couple diff times, it's usually 5 selections):
Chef's Selection of Cheeses: Bent River - Cow's Milk. Mankato, Minnesota Hyku - Goat's Milk. Napa Valley Bra Duro di Alpeggio - Raw Cow's Milk. Cuneo, Italy Cabricharme - Raw Washed Rind Goat's Milk. Ardennes, Belgium Roquefort - Raw Ewe's Milk. Roquefort, France
We were immediately seated for Tuesday dinner and ordered the belly bass, soup, seared sea bass, crudite, cavatelli, and cheesecake. All were delicious. Service was good, ambiance was nice. Would come back !
everything is elegant here: food, service and decor. although the menu is somewhat limited, every dish is fabulous. restaurant does a great job serving the pre performance crowd and it is the best place in the area for dining prior to a civic center performance. does a great job on special occasions, such as new year's eve.
What can I say, besides amazing? Truly a wonderful place. The cheese selection, my heart be still. The Impossible Burger is great, probably the best preparation I've had of it.
Portions are small for the price but beautifully prepared and delicious. The staff was incredibly friendly and even sent us up a free dessert platter at the end of the night.
My husband and I came here to try the impossible burger (which by the way is incredible, it really tastes and feels like real meet). We knew this was somewhat an upscale and expensive restaurant and we were fine with it. The food, service and atmosphere are actually really good. The problem was the bill. We had two martinis before the meal. I had a 209 gin and my husband had a Monkey 47. Now, we know Monkey 47 is more expensive than regular find, but they charged us $43 for a martini. That's what I pay for the entire bottle of Monkey 47 at our local boutique spirit store for a whole bottle. $43 for a martini is obscene and honestly unacceptable. So, overall this place serves good food, the place is great, but we will never get back and would definitely not recommend.
I went here with a friend from out of town and had the tasting menu with wine pairing. The food and pairings were excellent! The service was good, and the restaurant generally has a generally trendy vibe to it. Great for dates.
The food is fantastic. Even something as simple as a salad was worth cherishing every well calculated bite. The Duck was phenomenal and hit all of my taste buds.
What a beautiful restaurant. The ambiance was amazing and it was so lovely to have wait staff with such fantastic personality. Especially enjoyed the impossible meatballs. The temperature in the restaurant was a little too cool for our liking so perhaps avoid sitting under a vent. Would happily dine here again.
This is a really trendy and hip place. They have a bar next door to a restaurant what a great convenience! They also did I say have an amazing menu I ordered the box burger with garlic fries it was amazing the bun was toasted and had carmelized bacon cubes and onions. The French fries were crispy and fresh. The service was great never at a bar did I have fine dining waiter service they were quick to take dirty dishes away and refill water glasses the ambiance was really cool and did I say the food was great we also had the cheesecake which I wish the crust wasn't so hard
I came here with my friend who is also vegetarian, we had the vegetarian burger. To be honest, it was so similar to real meat that it grossed me out. I couldn't finish it.
Took my sister here for the last night of our trip to SF earlier this year - fantastic! Such a beautiful building, excellent staff and service, inventive desserts, and quite possibly the best duck I have ever had. Everything was delicious and not just the same-old-same-old from any high-end French restaurant. Wish we lived closer and could come again! If you are in the city and want something for a special night, this is the place.
Duck was a little chewy, but the crispy skin was tasty! Panna cotta dessert was kind of average. Our waitress was super patient as she guided finicky me through the wine list, but she was very young and not as knowledgeable as many other restaurants' - all in all, not the standard I was expecting, for being the go to restaurant for opera types!
Very good, I had the Steak, and some as aps as well as some cocktails... but stay away from the duck fat potatoes.. they are just so so french fries. .. service was great!
If you're the designated driver (or even if you're not), the drinking vinegars are really good. Those are worth an extra star on their own. The vegan "Impossible" burger is pretty good if you're a carnivore; it's fun to try to tell the difference between that and actual beef. The Wagyu A5 steak is four ounces of marbled beef butter, very tender, but $110? You can find another fantastic steak for less in San Francisco.
Great service starts with a great bartender who gets you water without asking and comps one of your drinks for lack of communication by the previous bartender who failed to inform you that they were only serving cheese and dessert at 930pm. No stars lacking for doing the best to make it right under the circumstances.
I have eaten here to celebrate many special occasions and many that weren't particularly special until deciding to eat here - because this place is so great at making your time with them very special. The service is like no other place I know - they have gone out of their way every time to make me and my party feel incredibly comfortable, happy and satisfied. I've never eaten anything that wasn't delicious and when I was a 22yr old MidWestern transplant a little nervous to be celebrating an anniversary with my 22 year old gay boyfriend in a new city at a very nice restaurant, they immediately sensed and diffused my nervousness, honored the occasion and worked especially hard to allow me to relax and enjoy myself and remember that I was no longer in the MidWest - and public celebrations of my gay relationship milestones would henceforth be respected and celebrated in a way I could have only imagined before arriving in this beautiful city. I'm a huge ballet fan and it's always the best place to grab a drink and desert alongside some of the dancers after a performance as well.
I sat at the bar and ordered the Impossible Burger. I had to get a ticket for it because they have a set quota amount. I returned at the hour they started serving it and waited for it. It took a good amount of time. When it came, the burger felt surprisingly like, and for the most part, tasted like a real beef burger. When you really test the taste however, it really isn't the same and I almost gagged at its artificiality. But if you just do a cursory taste of it, you won't notice much of a difference from the real thing! The fries that came with it weren't bad. Besides the food, the ambiance of this place and the bar servers were quite good.
Sometimes imaginative, but at the same time dated. Never have had a really amazing meal, but they're always decent. Wine selections can be hit and miss.
Sublime. Not overly frou frou. You know what you eating (not food science). And you know the cocktails are goody goody. Woman owned, SF treasure. Expect to pay $100 pp.
I felt that I should have liked this place a bit more than I did. I couldn't quite put my finger on why that was until I saw the old photos of the interior, which show it with an earlier bright and light colour scheme. That seems to fit the More
We hit up Jardiniere before a show at Bill Graham Civic. Spring menu was fantastic but not "way out there".
Scallops (dinner size) Risotto Chicken and Asparagus Duck Fat Potato Several of their signature cocktails.
Everything was cooked perfectly as one would expect in a place like this. Scallops were seared perfectly. Risotto was perfect...not soupy, not dry. Asparagus was in season and delicious. Potato was amazing.
Service was impeccable. We were there on a Thursday, so it wasn't crazy busy.
Decor had a lot of subtle touches such as champagne flute candle holders and original brick walls. Very cool.
Jardiniere makes you feel pampered from start to finish. The food is always fantastic - mmmm the tiny pot of mousseline potatoes - the service is impeccable, the sommeliers have always found us amazing pairings and new taste "voyages" - just a great experience every time. Cocktails - did I mention cocktails? They make a MEAN Vieux Carre...
A very nice restaurant. The prix fixe menu was interesting, with a nice southern influence. As a french, I don't really think it's a french-style restaurant, but I recommend it anyway. The food was really tasty, the american cheeses plate was interesting.
I am a wedding coordinator who had a wedding here. All of our guests had a wonderful experience here. With the amazing food, romantic ambiance as well as the excellent services and french style design, our couple had such a memorable biggest day here. Highly recommend!!!
Food is excellent as you'd expect. Extensive drink menu. Beautiful interior. Service was pretty good, perhaps just a few too many offers to bring more bread.
Surprised this place wasn't more crowded. Super fresh and picturesque French food. The halibut Crudo was especially scrumptious. Service was attentive but not overbearing. We will be back.
My wife and I enjoyed a trip to the restaurant during our honeymoon. The food was AMAZING (we chose the tasting menu), and our server was excellent as she helped ensure that we made it to our evening concert on time. Additionally, I must commend the fact that the restaurant includes a wonderful selection of nonalcoholic beverages, something my wife and I were able to really enjoy (she had a spritzer with juice and mint, and I had a wonderful vineyard grape juice). We would DEFINITELY recommend this place.
One of the better restaurants I have been to in the city, this place has excellent food, a good wine list and an enjoyable ambiance. The first thing you notice may be the chandelier and second story balcony, but the food is why you should eat here. Both the risotto and the duck are excellent as are the scallops. You will certainly need a reservation to get in here and it is very pricey. Great special occasion spot!
We were excited as we arrived as the interior is much nicer than the photos indicate. Hostess was preoccupied and didn't offer coat check though did offer to the couple in front of us. It was cold enough to need our jackets inside so we ended up glad to have them.
When asked about a favorite dish our waiter said the pre-fixe menu?
We needed to ask a busboy to send the waiter since we had finished our drinks during the long wait for our second course. Waiter was even more inhospitable when he returned.
Food was fine, the spaghetti and the sunchoke dishes were overly oily.
Value isn't great, every single dish we ordered was small. Martinis were also served in small glasses.
Pacing was very uneven. They forgot an appetizer then served it after entrees, once we brought it to their attention.
Overall the food was slightly above average but the service was far below it. Would not recommend.
OMG, one of the best dining experiences I've had to date. Stunning interior, well executed menu, amazing staff. And it though it is on the expensive side, it is still affordable enough that you can save up and go.
Great restaurant. We had the 6 course pairing this evening and everything was excellent. I would highly recommend this place but you may need to ready yo handle the bill $$$.
jardiniere.com
