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Cafe Kati - CLOSED
Category: Restaurants Asian Fusion Asian Fusion [Edit]
1963 Sutter St(between Cottage Row & Fillmore St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
Neighborhoods: Japantown, Lower Pac Heights, Pacific Heights
(415) 775-7313
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
205 reviews for Cafe Kati
Review Highlights
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"miso glazed black bass in a dashi broth, udon noodles." In 8 reviews -
"kati's signature dragon roll: crispy prawns, avocado." In 10 reviews
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"flourless chocolate orbit cake, chocolate sauce, vanilla..." In 4 reviews
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205 reviews in English
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Review from M L.
Daly City, CA
2/14/2012
Been here many times now. Service is friendly. The waitresses are knowledgable about the menu. They will tell you what's the highlight of the menu for that day (catch of the day, nEiman ranch beef, fresh farmer market vegetables). There is a Monday to Thursday early bird's menu for $25 which serves up a three course special. Really good value! Portions are very reasonable!!! Basically environment is laid back and not at all pretentious. Noise level is controlled so you can hear your partner or friends talking to you without yelling. Must finish with butterscotch pudding, the nAme not so enticing but flavor and texture very surprising (delicioso)! Parking a little challenging on the street but kabuki garage is one block away! Reservations on weekends highly recommended but not so on weekdays. So try it out!
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Review from Luis C.
5/8/2011
It's CLOSED, chef-owner Kirk Webber left the business due to illness. A rotisserie will take over this cute restaurant.
I'd describe the cuisine as Asian fusion in steroids. I mean there was nothing small or demure about the entree portions. No chance of leaving hungry here. Every main course I've tried was overloaded with many different things. Even the signature sushi roll was oversize.
And I remember dining here when chef Jennifer Carroll (top chef contestant) was in the kitchen, it was her quirky smile that stuck in my head.Listed in: CLOSED, out of business,…
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Review from Kristen S.
San Francisco, CA
4/2/2011 1 Check-in Here
The cajun fried hen was just so so - how can you possibly mess up FRIED food anyway? But it took at least 30 minutes to come out. I wish they'd have warned us!
The caesar salad dressing, however, was fantastic. One of the best. -
Review from Theresa T.
San Francisco, CA
4/10/2011
Great little spot tucked away on Sutter street serving up excellent Asian-Fusion.
We had a late dinner reservation and despite being the final reservation of the night we were greeted warmly and received great service throughout our entire meal.
The dragon roll appetizer (full and half orders available) looked great and came filled with salmon. They have plenty of vegetarian/vegan options as well as seafood and meat entrees. I ordered the seasonal vegetable plate which was large and loaded with a roasted acorn squash center piece. Curry soup, asparagus, roasted brussel sprouts, zucchini, and salad rounded our my enormously delicious dinner. Wish I had saved room for dessert.
We had the Malbec which was not good, and I would probably go for a cab or pinot noir the next time around.
Great food and service. -
Review from Stephanie C.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 2/15/2011 1 Check-in Here
Once again another amazing meal at Cafe Kati :) this time for Valentines Day!
They aren't usually open on Mondays, so it was nice of them to open up shop for Valentines Day.
The boyfriend and I ordered the chipotle braised pork sliders as an appetizer. They were perfect and I love that they added avocado. For dinner, we ordered three entrees - raviolis with ricotta & herbs, the miso glazed black bass, and the hangar steak with potatoes & veggies. The miso glazed black bass and the hangar steak were definitely my favorite dishes out of the three and were just as delicious as I remembered. The raviolis were good but I was expecting a little more. Plus, since we ordered three entrees instead of two, the raviolis were a bit of an overkill.
Unfortunately, we had to skip out on dessert because we were so full but we had an amazing dinner! The service, the date-night ambiance and the food, of course, definitely keep you coming back.Listed in: Date-night!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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7/26/2010
My boyfriend and I came here for dinner one cold, windy, Saturday night. Cafe Kati is a small and… Read more »
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Review from Andrew M.
San Francisco, CA
4/28/2011
I really enjoyed our dinner at Cafe Kati.
The food was very well executed (my hangar steak was perfectly rare with a great sear on the outside) and equally well presented. The diversity of flavors went well beyond your typical Asian-Fusion. The wine list had some great California wines, including some smaller producers that you wouldn't typically see on a two page list. The staff was very friendly and attentive.
The food was slightly slow, though not so much that it bothered me. Also, the restaurant was a bit chilly when we were there. -
Review from Ed U.
9/5/2009 7 photos
Golly, they still have that Towering Caesar Salad (now for $8.95, see photo). I haven't been back to Cafe Kati since they first opened back in 1990. 1990? I think I was off fusion for quite a while, but I thought it would be an appropriate old-school place to dine after the J-Pop fluorescence of the newly opened New People. Yelp had one of their mondo-generous parties there, and I received one of their dazzling orange-trimmed Yelp 2525 lunch boxes. I was carrying it into the restaurant and laying it on the table, so the waitress could think..."Oh...a special-needs customer".
But back to that Towering Caesar Salad...that was what I remembered about this place. They actually prop up all these romaine lettuce spears, wrap them up with a thin slice of zucchini and poke a long skewer through it. I think they should light it with a torch and call it the Towering Inferno Caesar Salad. Then they should carve a little Richard Simmons out of a radish and show him being carried out by a pile of green olives shaped to look like Steve McQueen. Yeah, I do. Anyway, it's quite a sight to see it all unravel, though I still think the miso-based dressing is slathered on a little too much for my taste.
The rest of the meal that me and my friend Maggie had was better. First of all, we got the complimentary Buttermilk Biscuits, really tasty in a constantly-falling-apart kind of way (see photo). A great start. Besides the Towering Non-Inferno, we also went for the $10.95 half-order of Kati's Signature Dragon Roll, about four big pieces filled with prawns, avocado, cucumber, smoked salmon and a wasabi vinaigrette (see photo). It's really just a bigger version of a dragon roll you can get at any sushi bar only a lot heartier with a mild kick from the wasabi.
For the entree, Maggie smartly ordered another appetizer, the $13.95 Peanut-Crusted Prawns with a Green Papaya, Mint and Thai Basil Salad and a Sweet Chile Sauce (see photo). Crunchy but in a good way. I went the piggier route, the $16.95 Cajun-Spiced Fried Cornish Hen on a mound of Smashed Potatoes and a side of Sauteed Spinach (see photo). Delicious, Asia-fied version of down-home comfort food with a nice panko crust to remind you that you're still on the edge of J-Town.
So we kept seeing big ramekins of chocolate souffle passing by us, but it was part of the Early-Bird Special we missed, dammit. We hardly suffered since we got the $8.95 Flourless Chocolate Orbit Cake, which was ladled with Chocolate Sauce and accompanied by a scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (see photo). It was really a dark chocolate lava cake, nothing that original but still really good. The waitress appears to be a veteran of the place, very helpful and savvy about the menu. She managed to thwart our disappointment over not getting the souffle with the lava cake option in a millisecond. Good job. But now Richard Simmons is looking to get rescued by the Paul Newman carrot stick.
FOOD - 4 stars...wavers a bit, but the hits do make it into the stands
AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...compact with amply fed bellies grazing the back of your chair as they go to and fro from the hidden restrooms
SERVICE - 4 stars...veteran waitress has seen it all but doesn't let it get to her
TOTAL - 4 stars...served fusion before fusion got trendy and looks to be serving fusion now that it's so five-years-agoListed in: Memoirs of a Geezer
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Review from Suzanne B.
San Francisco, CA
10/11/2007
I tend to harp about service in my reviews. Let me tell you why (warning - soapbox).
The final experience with any business is always going to be a mixture of cost, product and service. If the cost is acceptable, the product good and the service decent - you walk away feeling the experience was worth it. If one of those elements is off in some way, the experience drops or raises a few points.
The thing is - service is the only part of that equation of three elements that can salvage an experience that has completely broken down. Fantastic food will not bring me back to a place that has lousy service - and low cost cannot coax me into a store where I don't feel welcomed. But great service, or a great service recovery, can bring me back even if the other parts of the equation aren't quite right. Service means someone cares what I think.
Case in point - I visited Cafe Kati for the first time on a weeknight and it was apparent when we walked in the door that something was wrong. A fourteen year old boy in a hoodie was showing people to their tables, most of the room still had menus in front of them and the only serving staff we could see (1) was running madly around the room. We almost left. But we were acknowledged and eventually seated in the back room.
Still concerned, we looked over the menu and decided to order an appetizer right away, just in case the wait for food was awful. Our drinks took a long time to arrive. Our water was served by the young boy, who admitted when we asked that someone had called in sick that night. In a place the size of Cafe Kati being one body short is a disaster. We discussed leaving again.
But we stayed. And the appetizer came out quickly. And the staff recovered enough that our food came in a reasonable time. And we had a wonderful time.
But it was the service - the service that was friendly without being frazzled, that acknowledged there was an issue without making that issue an excuse - that kept us in our seats for a wonderful meal and that kept Cafe Kati on my list of go-to places.
Service, of all the elements in the experience equation, is tough. It cannot be done by a trained monkey. If you've ever worked in any capacity where you have contact with the public in a service oriented way, you know the public can be a bitch. But truly great service is an art form, just as much as the architecturally gorgeous and tasty dishes at Cafe Kati. And I will reward great service every chance I get, because smiling with genuine warmth in the face of the public is never as easy as it should look.
(End soapbox) -
Review from Anthony D.
San Francisco, CA
8/16/2010
So friend and I went here for a late dinner the other night.
The place gets an A+ for romantic setting, especially the window seats.
They also get an A+ for serving up Sean Minor 2008 Carneros Pinot. Memorably delicious grapes that I had never tried before but look forward to trying again.
Another A+ for the friendly and VERY efficient service and one more for the superbly and decadently delicious flourless chocolate orbit cake with chocolate sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. My only recommendation on this dessert is to lose all the fruit decorations on the plate. Fruit can't compete with chocolate and ice cream, so why waste it as a plate decoration?
Now on to the food:
We split all of the following:
1- Five spice scented fried calamari with salt & pepper served with ginger aioli. Now I'm not a fan of ginger but this aioli struck a perfect balance for me. It was prepared nicely and the flavors merged well with the wine.
2- Towering Caesar salad with Reggiano and Manchego. This one was a bit disappointing because a Caesar should ALWAYS have crispy croutons. Additionally, it leaned a bit too heavily towards anchovy for me (should only be a hint) and why have two world famous cheeses competing against each other on the same plate?
Lose the Manchego and just shave more Reggiano instead. The long ass cucumber can stay because without it, you have no tower and it fits in nicely with the crispy romaine and dressing.
3- Kati's Signature Dragon Roll. As far as we were concerned, this one TOTALLY disappointed. I suggest losing it from the menu and leave that dish to a sushi expert instead.
4- Peanut Crusted Prawns. This was excellent BUT, what's up with the 3 lonely shrimp? I mean really?!? This is supposed to be a main course (I think) and not an appetizer, so there should have been 6 peanut crusted critters on my plate. Maybe offer a half/whole order option like they do with the Dragon Roll. The accompaniment was good but could have used a little less dressing. The flavors on this dish brought back great culinary memories of Thailand. Kap Kun Krap Baby!!
Overall, our experience was a good one and we had a blast. Perhaps next time we will just stick to liquid grapes, calamari and definitely dessert.
I almost forgot to mention (not sure how I could almost forget but oh well). They brought us a little basket with some home made biscuits, accompanied by butter and honey. These were awesome and started off the evening with lots of fun pics. -
Review from Inga W.
5/16/2009
On a Friday night the BF and I were going to see Star Trek at Sundance and needed a place to have dinner before, his friend was also joining us and he likes simple food...great. But being tired of Dosa and not wanting sushi I chose this place.
I made a reservation and we showed up, they were half full, we were seated and began to look over the menu. One thing that really bugged me was they had entrees from $14-30 which is quite annoying because you tend to think is this steak really going to be worth it or can I be OK with the fish? I mean if all the entrees are close in price it's easy but this is not a good way to build a menu. We ended up ordering wine and the shrimp appetizer and then got the ravioli, chicken and sole for the entrees.
It took 40 minutes for the food to come out, we began to get antsy, hungry and a little concerned that we would have to scarf down the food and go to the movie. The waitress did come out once and say sorry and it would be out soon, but she didn't really seem sincere about it and it still took 10 more minutes and by this time it was just us and another table. I can only imagine this place in peak times with dates.
The food was good, but not great and not worth the wait or the price. I think in some cases it looked better than it tasted and the presentations was nice. The chicken was deep fried, I had two large ravioli, and while they were good, if I didn't eat the bread and appetizer I would have been hungry and I like small portions, I think most places give you way too much food.
Needless to say, we're not coming back and we left a 10% tip which is also very rare for us. This place was cute and quaint but missed the mark with service and food. -
Review from Spencer G.
San Francisco, CA
1/20/2007
I ate here last night and found the food and the service to be impeccable. I have walked by this place many times and said to myelf "i should really try this place out. It looks really cozy and warm and the menu looks great." Well, i should pat myself on the back because I was right.
This place is cozy, intimate and emits a very warm feeling. Hint: It's a great place for a date.
The staff immediately seated us and made sure that we were attended for and comfortable. I was amazed at the variety on the menu, from jalapeno pork ribs to peking duck, tilapia to mussels and a diverse selction of appetizers. We started with the signature dragon roll. Before that came out, they brought out some very tasty cornbread with butter and honey for dipping. I grew up in the rural south and can vouch for this cornbread. The dragon roll was a spicy shrimp roll covered with salmon and was very nice, crisp and spicy, and very different than I have had anywhere before.
I ordered tilapia and my friend had the peking duck. The tilapia was nice and light and fresh and the skin was baked battered and crusty, just like I love. I was very happy with my order until I tried my date's order. She had the peking duck, which was the best peking duck i have ever had. honestly, it was really to die for. It was cooked with an accoutrement of pomegranite, cranberries and squash. The duck was rich and tender falling off the bone, and I couldn't stop eating from her plate. If you are on a first date, I would advise not doing this, but i couldn't help myself. The staff continued to attend to our every need and were very friendly and helpful.
My dining experience here was delightful and I left thinking about the next time I eat here.Listed in: 5 MuthaFunkin Stars, Guess where I live
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Review from anjou k.
Oakland, CA
11/21/2007
We stood outside and looked at the menu. Peanut crusted prawns sounded yummmm, so we went inside.
Everyone working there was super friendly. This place has this sort of amateur feel to it, so the servers can't really answer questions about wine and stuff, but that's okay. If you're going to be a snob, then figure out how to select your own wine.
Adding to the lack of pretentiousness was the chef's boldness with the herbs. They were just piled on high, instead of stingily sprinkled, which I appreciated. I love cilantro. And basil. And dill.
The peanut crusted prawns and the black rice crusted tilapia were amazing; the malaysian curry was just alright. The fruit crisp was okay, not the best.
I'll probably try this place again. I would have given it another star if there was more consistency.
Oh- I also accidentally turned off all the lights in the place when I went to the restroom. Don't hit the switch when you walk inside the red door. It's just a hallway. The restroom is on your left. -
Review from Tim G.
San Francisco, CA
7/29/2006
Cafe Kati is lucky to get 1 star.
My evening started off with the waiter going down a long list of substitutions on the menu and things that they were "out of". Then, after we ordered our food, we waited 1 and 1/2 hours while our stomachs grumbled. Then, we were brought a fried shrimp & peanut appetizer to stay our hunger -- the problem was that we didn't order said dish, and my gf is allergic to peanuts! Then, about a 1/2 hour later, I made eye contact with another patron, and said, "What is going on here?"
This set off a chain reaction of people in the restaurant. People were telling me how they waited over 2 hours for their food and it was completely uneven. Then, a guy told me that the sea bass (a sub for the cod on their menu) was inedible. I think the waiter was standing behind me while this was being spoken, because I instantly said, "We're out of here!" and the waiter was right at our table to tell us that we didn't need to pay for our wine or the appetizers.
I have never experienced such incompetence at a restaurant before. -
Review from Carolyn T.
San Francisco, CA
4/25/2007
Despite it being mere steps from where I live, I had not dined at Cafe Kate before. It was not because I hadn't *tried* though! A year or two ago, I sat down on two different occasions and ultimately walked out due to poor service (on one occasion, I sat alone for a full 20 minutes waiting to give my order while waiters buzzed around me).
On this night (last Friday evening), I had two friends who had locked themselves out of their apartment and were looking to kill some time and get some food. Being very hungry, we agreed we would sit down and eat at the first restaurant that could seat us. At 7:30, Cafe Kati surprisingly had backroom tables available and the three of us entered.
To their credit, the service was considerably better than my previous two visits. However, the food we got was far from memorable and was garnished with so much shredded beets and carrots to become a joke. We started with ginger potstickers. Had this been the only example of the bounty of shred, the rest of the evening might have been
The dinners ordered were the pork belly, the cod with miso broth, and the chicken skewers. The pork belly actually tasted good, once you scraped aside whatever bizarre doughy coating surrounded it. We honestly weren't sure what it was. The grilled cod itself was flavorful, but the broth, noodles, and massive amount of shredded greens did little to complement the cod. The broth was insipid and the noodles rather gummy. I didn't taste the chicken skewers, but the gentleman who ordered them only ate one and didn't want to bring the others home with him. And the huge tangle of red beets was prevalent as an unnecessary garnish on EVERY PLATE. Variety, people!
We didn't bother staying for dessert. For entrees north of $25, this place is a joke and I won't bother returning. -
Review from Jeannie C.
San Francisco, CA
10/29/2006
NO STARS! AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! This dive is as far from what you'd call a restaurant as you can get! We ordered a mixed green salad that was overly salted w/ toe-curling sour marinated onions, followed by tuna tartar stuffed in four grotesque stale, greasy mini flour cones. Entree was some kind of fish that was either undercooked or so old that even my knife & fork couldn't tear through the rubbery gristle-like flesh. Sent that back but it was too late... a couple of hours later, I started feeling the onset of naseousness and hoped it would pass but that was not to be as I barely made it to the kitchen sink in time to expel what cafe kati dare deems "food." BLECH!
1/25/07 Update:
It's no wonder I hurled from their garbage. Check out their rating from the Dept of Public Health! Disgusting:
http://www.sfdph.org/e...
Return Visit = NEVER! -
Review from Cornelius S.
San Francisco, CA
9/23/2006
The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. The food is conceived and prepared skillfully. And the prices are reasonable.
Dinner there tonight:
The Vietnamese style fresh spring rolls with mango and cilantro were a very refreshing start and large enough for two of us to share.
The soup of the day was an intensely flavorful curried carrot ginger soup. Memorable.
Wild salmon was presented with crispy skin and Udon noodles in a shallow broth with choice veggies.
Desert was amazing. We shared a warm flourless chocolate cake (almost a souffle) with vanila ice cream, a homemade cookie and slices of peach and fig.
Great restaurant.
[According to Polk's 1953 San Francisco Directory, Town Club Liquors was located here.] -
Review from Sascha O.
8/16/2008
I must put a disclaimer on my review:
I gave this place a 4 because our experience there was so crazy, it was actually hilarious. If you are the kind of person that might find random happenings entertaining or amusing, read on. Ignore my post otherwise as this venue is clearly not for the up-tight minds.
I tried this place one late evening with my husband and his out of town friend. The little place was packed, except for a couple of tables, and we were told that the wait will be about 15-20 minutes. I figured, "the waitress looks busy, they probably don't want to seat too many and bring down their efficiency or service". To my pleasant surprise we were let in quite promptly on the contrary to what we were told.
However, the circus started there. When we walked over to the table, there was this guy stumbling over everywhere, rearranging our table and chairs, etc. He was clearly acting abnormally, rattling things, sort of limping over the table set, moving everything around . He had messy stained white shirt and dirty black pants on.
He then pulled out a seat for me to sit down, but positioned himself in a way that I, wearing a short short dress, had to sort of scoot around him to sit down. Note that he is sort of hunched over this entire time, so basically my bottom was really close to his face/eye-level, which really was quite uncomfortable and disturbing.
But, since we didn't want to spoil our night, and also, since this guy was dressed and behaving so abnormally, we all looked at eachother and decided that he must have some sort of mental handicap and the restaurant must have hired him for social training. We really felt sorry for him, the way he was acting.
So, anyway, finally seated, we start off with some wine, and order our foods. Wine was served promptly and was quite tasteful. We also were impressed by their Asian inspired dishes, they all sounded exotic and interesting. So with anticipation, we order our foods and chat away... 30 minutes pass... nothing is served... we wait longer... still nothing. The waitress finally comes to our table and says, "I'm so sorry, our chef is drunk". We go, "oh~~~... wait, what?!" Then it hit us... the guy that we've thought was a mentally handicapped busser that was acting really wierd, was actually their drunk chef!!!
We laughed so hard our stomachs hurt. We said, oh well, he must have just had a child, or his girlfriend said yes to his proposal, or it must be some kind of those unusual occasions. There is just no way someone can be that drunk during his work otherwise.
So, by the time we got our food, which was, actually, remarkably good, even if the chef were sober and ESPECIALLY considering he was that drunk, more and more guests paid up and left. From around this time we no longer see our waitress. It's so late into the night it appears that her shift ended and she's gone home. So, to our horror and to our amusement, that drunk guy is cooking AND serving us now. He actually escorted some guests out to the door, and he slammed the door shut after them and LOCKED it. There are only us and another group of women left, and we are exchanging looks across the tables like, omg, we got locked in with this drunk dude! We are still finding the situation hilarious... that chef is SUPER lucky that he ended up with such light-hearted guests that night.
But wait, it gets even better. The chef comes out, opens a bottle of Champagne that the other party had ordered, the champagne overflows, totally soaking the drunk chef and dripping all over the floor. Then he stumbles over to US with that bottle of champagne with a crazy grin saying "champa-G-ne! champa-G-ne!" and poors US all glasses. (remember that this is the bottle that the other table ordered) Then he stumbles over to the other table and finally serves them their champagne too. The rest of the night he kept opening random bottles of wine, filling our glasses up.
In the meantime, we noticed that the other table didn't even have their food served yet. But they are finding the situation equally amusing, and with all the free wine, they are quite jolly, making the most of the situation and having fun. Ultimately one of the girls get up, asking the chef where the meat is, the chef runs back and stumbles back out with a bit slab of beef. The girl actually declares that she's going to cook it, and walks into the kitchen with the chef! Her friends are giggling but eventually they all follow them into the kitchen... to cook the dish they ordered!
We still cannot stop laughing, but it was getting so late, we decided to get the check. Then we learn that the chef does not know how to work the register, and see him call up the waitress that left. She was obviously frustrated, and finally the chef comes over and says, he can't figure it out so he needs to ring our bill up tomorrow. Definitely a night to remember. So bad, it was so good! -
Review from Jen P.
San Francisco, CA
2/17/2008
The food is actually not bad at all, but every appetizer and dish is about $10 too expensive for the lackluster ambiance and spotty service.
Our group shared the dragon and spring rolls for appetizers and I had the sea bass entree:
Dragon roll, $17 - delicious but what's up with the price!
Spring roll, $9 - refreshing and tasty. This was the only thing that I thought was worth its price
Sea bass, $28 - ugh, this wasn't bad. The fish was great, but it was pretty average fare overall. It's def not something I would put a near-$30 price tag on.
Note to Cafe Kati owner: Consider lowering your prices because your food and service is not worthy of the price points you think you deserve.
Also, consider NOT printing full credit card numbers and expiration dates on all the receipts. I believe it's actually illegal to do this. Crossing it out with a pen doesn't work when you can still clearly see the numbers! It's called the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and you can get sued for this sort of thing (look it up, Olive Garden just settled a class action suit over this).
All members of the staff needs to button themselves up. Hostess is wacked out, servers are scarily abrupt and not super friendly. Make sure your staff communicate to each other. After our dishes were cleared, a server asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu, which we politely declined. Then the hostess comes by 10 mins later and passes out the dessert menu! Completely unaware of the exchange we'd already had with the server. After declining dessert again, we waited another 10-15 mins for the check! Sheesh, seriously, it wasn't that busy by this time in the evening. One other table in the front room.
The restaurant itself was freezing with ineffective, small space heaters scattered about. They ran out of menus, consider printing out some more from your ink jet printer.
Will not be returning nor recommending this place to anyone. -
Review from Sophia M.
San Bruno, CA
1/13/2009
Cafe Kati, on the borderland between Fillmore and Japantown, is where Kirk Webber opened up this snug & warm establishment.
I met Kirk while standing in line at Cosco with my friend. Back then we were complaining about the shortage of jobs and how we would find new ones. Kirk, standing right behind us, interrupted saying that he was actually "hiring" at his restaurant and invited us for an interview the very next day. Me and my friend eye'd each other, "really??" I asked. "Yes, how serendipitous!" he quipped.
The next day at 4pm sharp we arrived, with resumes. Kirk was not in yet, but his gracious hostess opened up a bottle of wine and served it to us. "Wine? At an interview??" my friend and I both blinked at each other. "Oh its really alright" the hostess insisted, "Kirk says you should try it."
By the time Kirk arrived, showered and clean, it seemed, my friend and I were a little toasty. Smug even. However, we were there to interview so we perked up in our seats and waited for him to sit down and ask us about our experience. Instead he began speaking about his restaurant, when he opened it, his style of brining Asian touches to classic French cooking, what type of long time customers he had, and so on.
I was a little suspicious that he spoke a little too fast, kept sniffing, and rubbing his nose. High in energy, I guess.
We were waiting for his first interview question. Instead, he started ordering dishes for my friend and I to "try". First it was the signature Dragon Roll which includes; avocado, cucumber, and wonderful crisp fried shrimp with flaps of smoked salmon laid like tarpaulins over the top of each rice round. Instead of serving the wasabi and soy sauce separently, Kirk mixes them into this glossy sauce that is mmmmm mmm mmmmm...
In another dish, Vietnamese-style spring rolls, the sweetness of mango is modulated with plenty of cilantro, basil and lots of mint. It was a very decrotavie plate, heaps of cut carrots and beet shavings.
Then he had us try his "fried chicken" - Oooo mama! In this case a cornish game hen, with a cajun-scented batter, then lightly fried and served with the yummiest mashed potatoes I have ever tasted. If there is a heaven , the home cooking there will include something like this for sure.
At the end of our meal.. er, "interview" we were not only stuffed but very impressed with everything. Kirk really was a charming host and chef however, I don't think he wanted to hire us afterall, I think he just wanted a couple of pretty girls to come by and check his place out.
Because trust us, we called back, again and again, "Oh hi, its Sophia, I am just following up.." to no avail. "Oh, i'll have to check your references later, I'm sooo busy these days, but you should come by today for lunch."
Oh Kirk..
Thanks for lunch anyway, it was absolutely fantastic. -
Review from Deena B.
San Francisco, CA
1/28/2011
Cafe Kati is closing in a couple months and I wanted to go back again for old times sake. Hadn't been here in a couple of years but nothing has changed, was still wowed by their dishes.
First off, I have to give massive kudos to "Shanny" (so sorry if I spelled your name wrong) our waitress and I think the waitress for the entire restaurant. This woman was amazing. When we showed up, there were only a few people but it quickly filled up and she handled everyone beautifully! Service was a bit slow but considering how many tables she was working and her wonderful attitude, you didn't mind and could only be impressed. Thank you "Shanny," if you read this!
Things to skip...the tower of Caeser and their Dragon Roll. Yes, I'm aware it's their signature dish and it's good but it doesn't really fair well with the rest of the menu layout. The Tower is your basic Caeser in art form. I personally think it sucks to eat because you have to mess it all up, the novelty of it wears off quickly.
The entree dishes are creative and every time I go I always want to know how they did something in particular. The chef does a great mix of texture, flavors and techniques that I haven't seen. No easy task because he layers his ingredients and that can easily go overboard if you add one too many. Case in point, I had the "Forbidden Rice crusted Tilapia" dish, the uniqueness of this dish is that the rice was crusted on the Tilapia, never seen this and not sure how he did it but it was fantastic and the Tilapia was perfectly cooked. This was layered on top of a mix of green beans, bok choy and cabbage salad. A nice complement to the nuttiness of the rice but didn't overpower the fish.
My date had the braised pork with a corn cake and pico de galla...equally fantastic and the pork wasn't overcooked or mushy in it's sauce which often happens.
Long review and I've probably already lost you but I love chefs that are adventurous and Kirk Webber is no exception. -
Review from Diane S.
San Francisco, CA
6/19/2008
Went here with Carolyn B. a while back so you can cross reference her review...but in general- it was just way too slow! I don't know what's going on at that place, but seriously, they need to get it together. I think the flavors of the food were fine- our bread was the best part of the dinner...
My dish was totally undercooked- thankfully there was a ton of fish on the plate so I ate enough and they ended up taking it off our bill.
I don't think I'd go back here unless I found out it was under new management. -
Review from Cliff K.
San Francisco, CA
2/21/2011 Seated via OpenTable
Fantastic place for dinner when you're looking for an intimate-but-don't-be-afraid-to-be-lively place with unique menu items. The crab rangoons were perfect without having an overflow of cream cheese squirting out of it at first nibble. While the other more fusion dishes were great in their fusion-ness, especially the scallops dish, I found it interesting that my goat cheese-stuffed meatballs with fettuccine and a tomato-based sauce were ethereally splendid; some of the best meatballs I've ever had. But I do have a weakness for melted goat cheese...
Service was excellent, attentive but not overly so, with great recommendations. Overall just good people skills, especially when she saw I was internally conflicted, and deciphered that I just needed someone to decide for me. Bravo. -
Review from Luke L.
San Francisco, CA
2/18/2008
Worst restaurant experience ever at Cafe Kati. The people were friendly enough, but clueless. I couldn't believe what was happening and kept asking my wife if it really was taking place. Several things went wrong (in sequential order):
(1) they brought me the wrong dish
(2) brought us the wrong wine (which they also did to the table next to us)
(3) forgot to bring me another dish for 30 min
(4) my wife had to remind them AGAIN that I hadn't received my food
(5) the owner comes out to say they are understaffed
(6) my wife goes back to the kitchen again to find a bunch of people standing around doing nothing
(7) they bring me the a dish that was obviously just something they threw together and wasn't even close to what i ordered except it had chicken in it
(8) the owner reminds me again as I'm leaving that they are understaffed while there are about 10 cooks standing next to him.
Wild!
At least we didn't have to pay for all the wine I drank waiting for my meal. But, I still wouldn't give it more than a 1/2 star. Luckily, we went to Dimples around the corner where I was able to get some peanuts!! Mmmm!! At least my wife and I had a good long laugh about it the next morning while looking at the rolled up carpet on our unfinished patio at the "newly renovated" Hotel Kabuki! Ha ha! What a night! -
Review from maisnon ..
San Francisco, CA
11/26/2008
Where to start? I guess chronologically:
* not greeted. For over 10 minutes. Bad sign.
* the sign outside indicates that there is free parking at the Japantown Center. Doesn't tell you that it's actually the 9th Circle of Hell. Friends circled endlessly in the lot, before finally being able to escape. (I didn't include this in my star rating, but ... it did suck.)
* THE WAIT. People in the group hadn't seen each other for months, so there was a good bit of chit chat .... and we got through the catching up portion before anyone even came by to take our order. We had to flag someone down to place drink and appetizer orders.
* THE WAIT. Seriously. Our meals took well over an hour, and closer to 2. Thanggod for the wine, or we would have had a scene on our hands! AND, AND ... when our meals started coming out .... the vegetarian at the table didn't get his. They brought him a repeat of the veggie appetizer and promised it would be out soon. By "soon" they meant .... when everyone else had finished eating.
* Not to put too fine a point on it, but the food sucked. With a long wait and expensive prices, we had all built up some anticipation ..... and the food was a huge disappointment. I had two bites of my "forbidden rice encrusted tilapia" before I decided I'd just rather not. The flavors were muddy, the food was dry. The vegetarian's meal didn't match the description at all. Just ... NO! And certainly not at those prices!
In conclusion, I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-Y long wait for less than mediocre food at fine dining prices. Go somewhere else. -
Review from Stephen F.
Chicago, IL
12/14/2010
Cafe Kati is hovering between 3 and 4 stars -- I'm rounding down because of the prices, although it's been a long time since I lived out here so my expectations may be off.
Most of our dishes were very good, with only the Towering Caesar Salad as a disappointment. Oddly enough, it's the one adventurous dish because of its presentation. Others were fairly typical fare for an Asian fusion restaurant.
I especially liked the table biscuits and the hardworking staff.
Cafe Kati was slow to fill up on a recent Saturday night. Given its off-Divisadero location, I would think this place will struggle. So do Cafe Kati a favor and give it a try. You should come away satisfied, even if you don't necessarily go back. -
Review from Sloppy J.
Minneapolis, MN
1/20/2008
Not a good experience at all. We had a reservation and still had to wait 15 minutes for our table. So they comped us 2 glasses of wine while we waited in the lobby....oh wait, there was no lobby so we waited in the middle of the restaurant with our butts sticking on the diners nearby. The food did not meet expectations.
Not only was the food not good, but it took way too long. When we saw the cook leave the restaurant on multiple occasions, we realized there was no sense of urgency. All the tables around us were complaining about the service and lack of food in a timely matter. Clearly the chef didn't seem to mind.
I felt bad for our waitress, but she comped me another drink for the slow service. You would think that would have given the kitchen enough time to make our meals and make them well. Sadly, the entrees were not good. The chef gets carried away with sliced vegetables and forgets to make a dish that actually tastes better than it looks.
Needless to say, we will never be going back to Cafe Kati again. I will be surprised if they are able to stay in business with the poor service and even worse food. They get two stars for comping us drinks. Otherwise, it would be a ZERO!
Over and out. -
Review from Brittney B.
San Francisco, CA
2/26/2009
After wondering around Japantown feeling uninspired by the standard sushi spots, the BF and I spotted Cafe Kati. We were a little iffy at first, but we had 1 hour before the show started and Kabuki Theater.
The inside was quaint. There was a table full of girls who were all eating delicious looking salad. We sit down and look over the menu - since we had originally been in the sushi mood, we ordered a half of the Dragon Roll. Man, was that good. Fresh fish, ginger and wasabi... lots of wasabi, just like I like it. They even put wasabi in the soy sauce... Thank you Cafe Kati for saving me that extra step. We each got a Japanese beer to go with it.
Next they brought out the most delicious bread. It tasted like short bread cookies. The waitress, who was too cute and nice, told us that the bread varies between this and jalapeno corn bread. YUM.
On to the main course - BF: Cajun Friend Cornish Hen with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts (obviously delicious). ME: Meatballs wfilled with goat cheese over fettuccine, delicious and super filling. The soup also sounded awesome, though we did not get it - Sweet potato with coconut milk, fresh herbs and other stuff.
Now and important part... CORKAGE!! On Tuesday nights, corkage is FREE!!! For the Corkage Fee, go to http://www.SFCorkageFe...!Listed in: Brining My Own Wine Makes Me…
-
Review from Wakako U.
San Francisco, CA
3/23/2006
The udon in the seabass dish sucks. The broth is so easy to make. So sea bass, bok choy and sucky udon is $30?
I also dont understand how the dragon roll is any better than any other rolls anywhere else. Plus what's the hype about rolls anyways.
There. Said. Done. -
Review from Zac A.
San Francisco, CA
10/15/2006
Sad. Truly sad. I was here a few years back and had a great meal for my friends' birthday. I had great warm memories.
And then last night happened.
The good memories replaced by one of the worst eating experiences I have had in this city.
Arrive on time for the reservation, the chef is there to great us at the door, saying they have been waiting for us. Great. This is what I remembered it like.
Apparently, the chef didn't tell anyone, because we then waited at the bar for 1/2 hour, sit down at the table, wait for another 1/2 hour to get some attention from the server.
Then, the best part of the meal, the appetizers. Tried almost all of them. The server told us we had to try the figs -- they are IN SEASON. Worst figs ever. I like figs. I could have gotten better figs at Safeway...seriously. The figs were supposed to be stuffed with blue cheese. Nothing inside to save to terrible figs. The prawns with the peanut crust were good, but small. The tomato carpaccio -- again tomatoes tasted like they picked them up at the corner store -- no flavor. And, you should not be allowed to call such things a "carpaccio" unless it is damn good and thinly sliced. It was neither.
The entrees were just plain bad. Pork with peppers made no sense. Whole fish okay, but undercooked and mainly reliant on the sauce. Salmon with udon noodles was tasteless as was the dashi broth.
Finally, the deserts, the flourless chocolate cake was so undercooked that it was like jello instant pudding. The sundae was good, but how can you screw that up?
And, all this, took forever, because as the server told us, there was a very big group in the back. Whatever. If you are going to make people wait, the food at least should be good. -
Review from Brenda T.
Hayward, CA
8/28/2009
I was not too impressed by this place. It really didn't leave a lasting impression on me at all. Went here on a Thursday night with a group total of 6 people.
We ordered: Mango Spring Rolls, Seasonal Vegetable Cous Cous, Signature Dragon Roll, and Curry-Coconut Soup.
The Mango Spring Rolls were very impressive. The flavors and ingredients complemented one another very well to create a sweet yet salty and fresh taste.
The Seasonal Vegetable Cous Cous did not make a big impression on me. It was too much action in one plate. The mixture of the vegetables look so sloppy and I wasn't impressed by the taste of the dish.
The Signature Dragon Roll --I don't remember this dish very much but I don't think it was bad.
The Curry-Coconut Soup was a favorite amongst the entire group. I thought it was very unique but it is not something that I would order again.
The restaurant itself was very cute and the decor was very simple and "San Francisco"-ish. There was music playing (Jack Johnson) in the background that set off a cool, calm, and relaxing vibe.
Parking is on the street and could be a bit difficult depending on the night and if there is a concert at the Fillmore because the restaurant is a few blocks away from the venue. -
Review from Eamonn T.
San Francisco, CA
5/9/2007
I thought this would be a great first yelp review as the last time I ate here was one of the most ridiculous dining experiences of my life.
Note: It was about a year ago at the suggestion of a friend who lives in the hood and goes here regularly.
So I went with the girl quite anticipating some good eats. The food generally didn't disappoint. I had the steak and she had the sea bass. Both were good, although as others have noted, the service took a long time.
They gave us a few free glasses of wine so we weren't too stressed about it.
The entertaining piece:
The owner/head chef Kirk was in the restaurant on his night off and was not in the least bit sober.
First indication was his pulling up a chair to try and talk to the table next to ours. Not nearly enough room so he just grabs our table and pulls it a few feet in another direction. No warning, wine sloshing, food almost falling to ground.
It was awkward but I'm all for characters and a few cocktails so we didn't mind much. Around the end of our meal Kirk comes back out and decides he wants to make a paper airplane from the large paper table coverings. He randomly challenges me to do the same and brings me a table covering. Now, I won the paper airplane contest in my 7th grade and was more than willing to join in this, but by the time my airplane (2 feet long) was made he had forgotten.....but not for long.
Shortly there after he brings out normal sized paper and starts making planes at the hostess stand. Now this is a very small room and on this particular night it was very crowded. After making a few planes he starts tossing them into the dining room. They are literally careening off walls and nestling down on tables amid $30 entrees and $20 glasses of wine. To say everyone was amazed is an understatement. No one had a clue how to react, but generally the mood was light and everyone was laughing.
Until the grand finale. A paper airplane leaves Kirk's hand and makes a beeline towards a two top with an 18ish year old girl and her very nicely put together grandmother. Grandmother is mid bite when airplane careens into the back of her head. Kirk realizing things have escalated too far rushes over the the table, arms wildly gesticulating, in order to apologize. He instantly knocks a whole glass of wine on the grandmothers lap.
This whole thing was 2 feet from us and was seriously priceless. A perfect comedy of errors. Grandma and girl rush out of restaurant furious, waitstaff apologizing profusely, and with diners half laughing, half horrified we called for our bill.
To Kirks credit he went right back to making paper airplanes and we did ultimately have a contest on the street outside with the giant table top planes (neither of which flew very well).
Would I return, probably but I haven't. The food was pretty good and it was a classic SF sort of experience. I def won't bring my grandmother if I do go back...... -
Review from Tangerine L.
San Francisco, CA
4/13/2010
Showed up at 6pm on a Saturday night. I wouldn't go any later as the place gets busy, and service declines with the rising number of people. I don't mean that you will get bad service, but the attention is thinned out. You will just be waiting.
It gets a little loud, and it's an intimate, cozy setting.
The dragon rolls were phenomenal. I had the black cod and meatballs. The meatballs were stuffed with goat cheese. I didn't know you could do that! The tomato sauce that accompanied the meatballs was run of the mill. Too bad. The meatballs were excellent.
The lemon tart I had was mediocre.
The pommegranate sangria was dangerous good. Why do I say dangerous? Because I have the Asian flush, and too much wine gives me a nasty headache. I had to stop myself from guzzling lots of this stuff down.
The meal started off on a great note, but as the evening wore on, it didn't end that way. So, instead of a great boom to make the final sound, it was more like a whimper, a simple thud.
I will definitely be back, though. Who knows, maybe with time, I will bump it up to 5 stars. -
Review from Amy K.
San Francisco, CA
11/2/2006
Had a lovely date night with a girlfriend here last night. I really love the atmosphere - very low key place that only seats probably 25-30 in the front room - really charming.
We started with the figs stuffed with blue cheese and pickled beets - it was definitely good, but nothing to shout from the roofs about. My "date" had the tilapia - she liked it. I had the oxtail, which I haven't probably ever ordered, but was having a craving for little bull tail. This is probably my subconscious' not so subtle way of telling me that I need to get laid. Anywho, the oxtail was solid - nothing to rave about - but definitely tasty - and VERY rich.
I liked the wine list - thought it was reasonably priced and had a good selection of glasses by the bottle. The service was certainly friendly - though there were only two servers for the entire restaurant, so if you are in a rush, this might not be the best place, but luckily we were not in a rush, and I hate being rushed at restaurants anyways!
I would definitely return here for a real date, though hopefully I will actually know the person I am with because there were not one, but two first dates going on around us, so it was entertaining to listen in on some bad first date conversation. Side note: How is it possible for two boring people with no sense of humor whatsover to have a good first date?
One more thing to note - it's pretty pricey considering that it seems more bistro than upscale restaurant, but I have a money tree in my backyard and now that it has been raining again, it's no problem for me. -
Review from Julie C.
San Francisco, CA
2/13/2007
I went to Cafe Kati for the first time on my two year anniversary and will definitely be going back. With only 11 tables and a very cool Moroccan vibe, it had me on ambiance from the moment I walked in the door. Even though I was on a romantic evening out, I hate overly-romantic stuff and Cafe Kati did a nice job of toeing the line between chill and syrupy. The only thing that broke the vibe a bit was the weird music about half way through dinner that made me feel eerily like I was in a cartoon.
We had great, personable service and the prices were reasonable. The peanut crusted prawns were the bomb (I will undoubtedly try to make them again myself with disastrous consequences). My cohort had the lamb shank which was tasty and tender enough to be cut with a spoon but a little overly fatty from my vantage point across the table. My steak was pretty good but the garlic mash on the side really made the plate.
As a wino I can say that the wine selection was pretty nice and the reasonable corkage fee of $15 worked for me. We ended the meal with the flourless chocolate orbit cake which almost made me scream out "down with flour, who needs it" and fly off into my own orbit because of its ooey-gooey yuminess. Our server even made my dinner wish come true by asking the kitchen to drizzle it with caramel sauce... yyyyyuuummmmm.
Oh, and one more thing, if anyone knows where I can get myself one of the sweet heart shaped mirrors with wings that Cafe Kati has in their bathroom, give me a holler! -
Review from Andrea S.
San Francisco, CA
5/2/2007
Three stars isn't really fair....it's more like four, but I feel like I have been engaging in star inflation lately and I need to tone it down.
So we went there a few Fridays ago, when I had dragged the bf out thinking we could just saunter into Kiss. Obviously we were wrong and we had always wanted to try Cafe Kati. It was a really enjoyable meal.
The place is cozy and small, with very, very friendly waitstaff. Everyone in there looks like they listen to NPR, and 102.1 classical station. The food is sort of asian/california fusion I suppose, and it's presented in a very original way. Not in a Gary Danko "your meal is an event" kind of way, but in a "hmm, this is different" kind of way. The food is savory without being heavy, which is nice since most of my meals tend toward a heavy side. The food is also very fragrant. I feel like a jerkoff for not remembering what I had, but I do believe it was Halibut over greens in a broth of some sort. BF had a meat product with some fried sauteed potatoes. We were really happy with our meals.
The reason this also isn't getting four or five stars is that although I liked the meal, I don't feel especially like rushing back there. If I lived in a different city with a smaller density of amazing restaurants than SF, or if I lived a wee bit closer it might be a go-to place. HOWEVER, it did seem as if there were a back porch, and if so, then I might be back this summer because there is nothing I like better than eating outside. Except for maybe beer. -
Review from kittenheel s.
Mountain View, CA
1/3/2007
Went here for a company holiday party recently and was not too impressed. Initially, I thought our service and food was impacted by having to serve a large group on a busy Friday night, but after reading the reviews here I think it's par for the course.
Our group must have been around 30-40 people. They crammed us all into the back room behind the kitchen. There were so many of us walking to the back room that I barely noticed the kitchen details, but the smell. Ugh! As soon as we made it to the room, someone asked where the restrooms were located. I couldn't help but respond that I thought we just walked past them...the smell was THAT bad! Turns out the bathrooms are on the other side of the kitchen (you have to walk around the bar to get to them). GROSS!!! First sign that this isn't going to turn out well.
I should mention that it took us 2.5 hours (in a chartered bus) to get to San Francisco that night (rain + Friday night traffic + 101 = gridlock and extreme hunger!!!). So by the time we get settled in, we're all ravenous and almost on the verge of biting off our arms.
There's a cocktail hour or something like it, and we're crammed in this back room. Without adequete heating in this room, they supplied a floor heater which I was painfully aware of because I happened to be standing near it and nearly burned my pants. With that many people standing in a tight space, isn't that a fire hazard? Oh, and the other thing that sucked about the "standing room only" thing that I hate is when you pack people in so close together, you can't help buy being spit on...I'm short and it happens frequently, but man, I've never been spit on horizontally by someone talking to me. Another ICK!! ( I know it has nothing to do with the food, but the ambience isn't winning any points with me at this point)
Appetizers start coming into the room on platters held by waitstaff who can hardly manuever around all of us. The food seemed inventive and creative, but was lacking that special something. I think it's called taste. I recognized the skewers of beef (I think) satay as the same ones that were sitting on a shelf in the kitchen when we first walked past. I don't know how long they had been there, but it must have been forever because they were cold. (What is it with me and cold meat?!?)
Anyway, we finally get seated for dinner and things start coming out in rapid session. We had a choice of entrees in the weeks leading up to dinner and I chose salmon. A lot of people chose salmon. We all received tilapia. Not a big deal, but no forewarning on that one. Tilapa was served on a bed of risotto that was somewhat overwhelming for the light fish and bland overall.
Halfway through dinner, we notice that it's almost 11pm and there's still dessert to come. At this point, I just want to go home. This is not a fun holiday party and it's more like work to remain awake and interested at this point. The company had nothing to do with this, I was just bored with the restaurant. There's a huge time lag between dinner and dessert and finally around 11.30pm, we each receive persimmon creme brulee which was actually pretty good. However, it was obvious that the kitchen wasn't prepared for such a large group because of the time lag involved and everyone received their dessert in a different-shaped vessel...some people had ramekins, some small bowls, we had two small espresso cups each of creme brulee - which was interesting because we were given huge spoons to eat it with and they didn't fit in the cups!!
I don't know how interested I would be in going back. I normally love the concept of Asian-fusion, but this was too scattered for me. Maybe with some close attention to detail, planning and cooking method, this can work. -
Review from Jordan C.
San Francisco, CA
2/29/2008
Quoted by my roommate as "her favorite restaurant in San Francisco", I was tempted to try it. As we were attending Yoshi's Jazz Bar after, we decided location wise it was a good choice, and I told the 3 lady friends I was meeting to meet me there.
We got there exactly 8:00 on a Saturday night, and despite the fact that it was 3/4 empty, it had that "Every table in the house is booked" vibe to it. There was a short line of people waiting to speak to the Maitre D', but she was nowhere to be found. I waited almost 10 minutes before she appeared, and we were INCREDIBLY lucky, and got the corner table for 4 (as far as I could tell the last unbooked table).
---
Service was mediocre. The restaurant, despite being tiny, always felt like it was underserviced. 2 waitresses should easily be able to cover that many tables, but I felt at times that no one was around.
Food: Food was excellent. I had prosciutto wrapped chicken, one girl had salmon, one girl had sea bass and someone else had a vegetarian dish, and everything was good.
So food wise, excellent, but overall I would not go back unless I had a reservation and no show to rush to afterwards. -
Review from David S.
San Francisco, CA
7/1/2006
Time for a REALITY check! People seem to find this place to be something "new" and "exciting". This is all just hype. I feel if people truly did their homework, you would find that there is nothing new here. Let's take for example the Miso-Bass everyone speaks of. Mina has been doing this plate for ages....you can also find the recipe here (minus the beurre blanc ~ of course) --- http://www.epicurious....
Now, just add White Miso broth, some Udon Noodles, and steamed Bok Choy. And "PRESTO!"....you have $32 stolen from your wallet. Not to mention that the menu states Chilean Sea Bass; however, if you examine closely. You will see the bass fillets are much too small. Most likely it is Black Cod or Black Bass....ask the owner to show you the invoice. Anyone wish to wager on this one???
Take it from a seasoned and experienced culinary professional. Elsewhere, your money is better spent. -
Review from Keith R.
San Carlos, CA
8/7/2006
Cafe Kati has really gone down hill. The last time I went was about 3 years ago and I found they did a great job of modernizing some classic pan asian dishes. Upon our return last night we were sorry we didn't stick with our fond memories.
Service was agonizingly slow. After being seated we waited 45 minutes to have our drink and food orders taken. Then our appertizers came out an hour later and our entrees another 45 minutes later. We skipped dessert to prevent what we had planned as a quick evening meal from descending into a marathon waiting session.
I wouldn't really call our "meal" at Cafe Kati, an eating experience since much of the food was so disappointing we couldn't even eat it. The appetizers are really the best of the lot here with some wontons, fried shrimp and spring rolls that are great. But when you get down to the entrees they're almost inedible. A steak was served cold, which would have been perfect for cooling you down on a hot day since it was so cold. We asked for our salmon as raw as possible and it keep out as tough as leather and charred to a crisp. Meanwhile the tilapia which sounded incredible on the menu (pan fried with mushroom risotto) came out deep fried dripping in oil with completely undercooked tomato risotto. I guess they ran out of mushrooms. That dish also came out 20 minutes after the rest of our entrees. It was an amazingly disappointing meal. -
Review from Rich S.
San Francisco, CA
4/10/2006
Super friendly staff and fusion at its finest.
The owner makes an effort to really make you feel welcomed and often sits down next to the guests to chat for a bit.
The spring roll appetizer is good - but not remarkable.
The sea bass is excellent (the udon/miso soup it comes with is a bit of a disappointment though).
The flank steak is wonderful.
If you got room at the end go for the Sundae - a decadent way to end a pleasant dining experience.
Cute little place that serves above average fusion dishes.
