yukaEIC "A Restaurant Industry Crawler"

Pier 39 might be a tourist trap, but don’t let that scare you away from this restaurant!
Garlic fries is something very SF, and of course the Dungeness Killer Crab! To die for garlic sauce with generous portion!
Nice sides as well, and the wine list is very friendly too: categorized by the bottle prices. Interesting idea and it does the job!

With a beautiful decor and a courtyard nicely tucked away from tourist happy hour madness, Affronti is a much desired wine bar addition to the cool Healdsburg downtown hub.

Was very impressed with the price points and some of the cool varietal of Southern European wines they had on top of of course the Sonoma selection. Flavorful deviled eggs can be ordered from just one piece for just $1! It’s great to be able to try many things rather than getting full from one big heavy entree.

We had that devilishly delicious deviled egg, marinated shiitake and local greens salad, mushroom and bacon tartines, and Italian sausage and fish en papiote for entrees. All tasted fresh and very seasonal with a lot of bright Southern European flavor.

For dessert we had their chocolate terrine. The sweetness, savoriness and the bitterness were all well balanced. We got a pot of French pressed coffee and we were super impressed by the amazing aroma. They get their beans from Taylor Maid Farms who sells organic and fair traded coffee beans and teas. It’s always great to see a local business supporting another local business, and even better when they are sustainable.

You can’t go there with just 2 people I think, because the meat is huge! Well my boyfriend was able to finish all that crab and the prime rib! The garlic sauce always gives me craving of it only a week! Can’t get enough of that crab……
Prime rib looked great, tasted juicy and just everything you can ask for in a good piece of prime rib :)
View is great, wine list is courteous, such a fun place to go!

Their name sake item calzone here is huge! But it’s light enough that you eat so much of it unknowingly…. dangerous!
Great pasta selection, many of in house made. Fun interior with many small liquor bottles from all over the world. Friendly efficient service.
In the middle of North Beach. Nice to sit outside and people watch on weekends, it the wind is not too strong….
Fun!

Seafood selection here is amazing! But of course you have to have their to die for garlic sauce crab. It is consistently good!
Good to see restaurants really caring for ingredients’ integrity. Can’t complain.
Vanilla custard ice cream with olive oil ice cream is D E licious! Love their Italian influence.
SF people who shy away or talk about this place as a “tourist trap” they are missing out!

Italian style steak house with prime aged steaks. Great selection of side orders like fresh burrata with toy box tomatoes.
Super jucy crabs with to die for garlic sauce alone will keep bringing you back to the place.
Friendly courteous service provided by warm people.

Italian comfort food at best. Great for groups.
Pastas, fish, meat course all reasonably priced with hearty generous portion. Service is always professional and friendly.
It is not touristy! They are all for fresh local produce :)

Chill is a specialty dessert cafe experience featuring exotic, all natural premium treats: specialty shave ice dessert, all natural frozen yogurt and soft serve custard with gourmet toppings; crispy dessert crepes etc.

Clean, bright nice little cafe featuring very interesting and tasty desserts. Friendly staff, comfortable seatings, quick service and quality product.

Don’t think of other “fro-yo” place when you think about Chill. It is VERY different, and not just a “fro-yo” place but rather as their name states “a specialty dessert cafe.”

Major plus for having rooibos!

This review is for their Sunday brunch. I have to say this was the best brunch I had this year. $38 per person with 2 courses and dessert, the portion is generous and food is comforting. You get out full and satisfied guaranteed.

Yesterday, the menu was: smoked salmon with cucumber salad and yogurt raita sauce, suveed tri top, with delicious potatoes and roasted small onions. The dessert was lemon cream bar. I wish I can elaborate more on how it was prepared, because it was not as simple as I described. Food is very simple, but very meticulously prepared. You do identify the familiar flavors right away, then you are amazed how well that is executed.

The concept is very unique. As the restaurant is there to give you the “temporary relief from hunger”, the menu resembles files from the doctors office and the staff are in brown casual shirts and jeans. The decor is simple and themed around the comfort food with big old French style kitchen tables at the front and in the dining room with iron pigs on top of them. The food is served family style, which gives you the visual of generous portion. Immediate relief from hunger can come from seeing the big plate of hot food in front of you alone.

Service is very knowledgeable and settle. I would say that at times we felt it was a little slow, but welcoming.

I would love to go try their dinner one of these days.

Good to try once. It’s been the hottest spot in the City last 3 months. Their LA style launch has definitely paid off. Unfortunately, the details of this restaurant is still being worked out. I’m glad to have experienced it so that I won’t have to return.

Food: 4 stars
For the price point, they give you a good size portion. The flavor of the food is pretty good. Cebiche tasting for $24 was a good value. (they spell it with a “b” instead of “v” that we are used to) The potato dish with quail egg, crab, avocado puree was very good. Lamb shank was delicious, especially the mashed rice and the sauce on the plate. Seafood empanadas were awful, unfortunately.

Beverage Program: 3.5 stars
Great selection of wine at great prices. We opted for California vs Spain flights of albarino and tempranillo. It was a clever concept, but the California wine that’s “fighting” against the Spanish just doesn’t carry it. I would say choose all of the fabulous new world wines that they have (plenty!) instead of California bottles there. Usually, the “cost performance” of the new world wines are better than the old world’s.
Many spelling error on sake list. It was very weird. We didn’t get to try the cocktails.

Service: 3 stars
You will wait for a long time to be noticed here, as the line of communication between the servers, runners and the bussers are still fragile here. The servers are “too good” to take empty plates off the tables or give you ice water. So that attitude, we thought, was very LA in a bad way (as we’ve seen it first hand in the industry back home). Don’t let your server course the meals out, but ask him/her to bring whatever comes out first, if you go there hungry.

Decor/Up Keep: 3.5 stars
Funky fun color scheme. Beautiful semi-private bar area behind the host stand. “Historical” bathroom kind of dirty, but oh well enjoy the history. A huge minus for leaving a big tall ladder right by the back entrance. A restaurant of this class should really not have done that…. When you leave from the back doors to the parking lot after your meal, be aware of the terrible smell coming from the ocean. It almost made us puke.