Very Good - But Not Excellent This Visit - Saison San Francisco - Buy Reservations
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🙂 4/5 - Very Good - But Not Excellent This Visit
By 👻 @The_Loup_Garou, 05/22/2020 3:00 am
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Very Good - But Not Excellent This Visit
With our business trips to San Francisco winding down, we are re-visiting some of our favorite restaurants, and possibly for the last time. In July, we returned to Saison, a which we had not dined, since July, 2016. That visit elevated Saison into the top three, or four restaurants in San Francisco, at least for us. However, this visit offered some surprises, and not all positive ones
First, we had the Concierge at our hotel (one of San Francisco’s best) book our reservation, as we were traveling heavily for the two months leading up to our stay. I thought that I was quite clear on the dining experience, that we were seeking – a repeat of that July dinner, 36 months before. Still, as there was a third party involved, I cannot say where things went wrong. I take full responsibility for our dinner.
We arrived at the restaurant, located in a converted power house, at 178 Townsend, in the thriving China Basin Area of SoMa (South of Market), quite close to the ballpark, and also to my wife’s old corporate office.
On our previous visit, we had been seated at the bar for a few minutes, while our table was being prepared, and sipped Champagne with the Sommelier, while we discussed our preferences for wines, since we were doing the tasting menu, and the wine pairings. On this visit, we were seated at a tiny 2-top, in front of the bar, and assumed that we would be moved to a table in the rear of the restaurant, looking out to the open kitchen, just as we had requested. Again, we started with Champagne, but got no consultation with the Sommelier. This was to be our table for the evening. It was barely large enough for a couple of glasses of Champagne, let alone the wine pairings to come, plus food.
We were also in banquette seating, so all service had to be done by sliding between the rather tightly-packed tables at the bar, which was inconvenient for the servers.
I inquired about the seating near the kitchen, most of which, at this early hour, was empty, and was told that one had to make special reservations for those tables. Our meal lasted about 2.5 hours, and there were still two empty tables, where we had been seated on our previous visit. Perhaps many diners were coming in at 10:00pm?
The meal was very good, but with the crowding on our little table, the flow was just not there. The service, because of how the service folk had to get to us, was intrusive, as well - totally unlike the seamless, almost a dance, that we had experienced previously. As much of the final prep and plating was done table side, I am in awe of the dexterity of our servers, who had to work in the cramped spaces at our table - they were amazing, and never missed anything, that I could tell. Yes, there were a few theatrics, but well-performed, and all part of the show.
Saison = Seasons, so the menus change with those Seasons, and often more often, predicated on what is available, so what we had, however good, will likely be very different, when you dine there.
Now, the food was very good, the plating creative, and visually interesting (especially the flatware, which changed completely, with the course), the wines very nice (and in great stemware too - Zalto), and other than the awkward nature of serving, at our table, the entire experience very good - but very good is not what dining at Saison should be about. It should be about an extraordinary full dining experience, but that fell short this time. Unfortunately, Saison fell out of our “top three restaurants” in San Francisco, but on this trip, one other, which was just barely in our top ten, Coi, rose to take its place.
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