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I had dinner here with some friends because of Restaurant Week.
None of us had been here before, and this seemed like a great opportunity to give them a try.
We were seated in a separate room at the back of the restaurant. When I asked why we were put here, I was told it was where the larger parties were seated.
I think we all would have rather been in the main dining room, as it's much more attractive and interesting, and has a better overall ambiance.
I started with the beet salad. It came in a martini glass, and although it was described as having truffles, luckily (for me, since I'm not a fan) they were undetectable.
I enjoyed the golden beets and slivers of green apple. It was very light and refreshing.
For my entree I chose the prawns in saffron broth with root vegetables.
The portion was a bit smaller than expected, but OMG, it was AMAZING!!!
The broth was absolutely incredible and all the components of the dish were cooked perfectly, and worked very well together.
The dessert I chose was the gelato with cookies.
It consisted of two and half small scoops of gelato, a bite size brownie, and a small palmier cookie.
I was actually surprised the dessert wasn't smaller, (given the size of the other courses.)
I thoroughly enjoyed the interesting gelato flavors. I think one had balsamic in it, which was much better than you'd think.
The cookie and brownie were also svery good.
Everyone at the table loved their food.
Service was good at the start of the meal, (we were the only ones seated in the back room.)
We noticed it dropped off considerably once it got busier. I had to ask for water refills several times, and it took awhile to get the bill, and then have it picked up.
All in all, I adored the food, and would come back for a special occasion, or if they participate in Restaurant Week again.
We came here for the first time because of Restaurant Week. The staff was friendly and the service was excellent-except for one glaringly bad experience.
Food: I had the roasted beet salad, which was amazing if a bit on the tiny side (served in a martini glass, wut?), the prawns in saffron broth (again feeling a little hungry as I stared at my 4 prawns), and the rosemary creme brulee. We also ordered the optional cheese plate to be served before the dessert because we love us some cheese. Mr Q ordered the squash soup with vadouvan pesto, the porcini rubbed chicken and the creme brulee as well. His soup was "meh"..the most interesting detail being the curry-like vadouvan spices swirled into the top. His chicken was (Rachel Zoe voice) A-MA-ZING. I was really kicking myself for not ordering the chicken. Seriously a must try.
Now for the bad part. Our reservation was at 8:30. We didn't get our appetizers until 9:30. The server did come over to apologize but it was *after* I realized we had been in the restaurant close to an hour and we started looking around trying to figure out what was going on. The excuse given was that they ran out of the soup my husband ordered and they had to heat up more. Soup does not take an hour to heat up. The kitchen should have communicated to our server so that he could have asked if we wanted a different entree.
Aside from the long wait the food was very good. They comped us the cheese plate by way of apology. Most restaurants don't even care enough to do that. We will probably be back for the larger tasting menu someday.
Came here for the Silicon Valley Restaurant Week Prix Fix menu and was totally underwhelmed. While this place has the chance to win over some new customers by showcasing their best, they seemed to have done the opposite by low balling and cutting corners. I mean, everything tastes good but it is not WOW good. There just isn't enough incentive to try this place again and here is why:
We got seated in the back party room where the atmosphere was a bit crappy compared to the front room. Overall, the decor is sub-par.
The Red Kuri Squash Soup with Vadouvan Pesto was a thick soup. Nothing is wrong with it other than there being too much of it and being too thick.
Roasted Beet Salad with Apples and Truffles was surprisingly REALLY good. I didn't think beets can be so tasty so no complaints here.
Butter Pached Prawns in Saffron Broth with Root Vegetables - The shrimp was cooked JUST right with a non overpowering sauce that complements the shrimp very well... its just that there's only 4 of them!
Porcini Rubbed Chicken with Pearl Cous Cous, Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Golden Raisin-Harissa Jus (Sent Sovi) - Chicken is very tender and it is flavored very uniquely and harmoniously
Rosemary Creme Brulee (Sent Sovi) - Very typical creme brulee with too thick a layer of sugar crust on top. The cookies didn't seem like they were made there.
Trio of Massimo's Gelatos with Cookies (Sent Sovi) - Yep, tastes great but more of the SAME cookies are in the Creme Brulee. Blasphemy!
Overall, the proportions of appetizer to entree to dessert seems a bit off and that everything can definitely be improved.
I am reviewing this again after having a wonderful birthday dinner there.
We had the chef's tasting menu with the 3oz regular wine pairing. Was going to have the grand tasting menu, but the chef was out that day, unfortunately. My boyfriend talked with him on the phone for quite a while though and said he had a good chat, so he was pretty happy before we even got to the restaurant.
I've already decribed the decor on my prior review, so I'll skip this part. I'll focus on the tasting menu.
First, we got complimentary dishes. Raw oysters for me, a pork and liver pate with bread and mustard for the mister. He doesn't usually want to know that he's eating animal insides, but he finished the whole thing and said that the pate tasted like "Creamed bacon". In other words, yummy :) As for my oysters -- the oysters are really fresh and crisp and are almost as good as they get.
Onto the tasting menu. First we have the roasted rutabaga soup with apple jelly cubes. First off, the presentation is great. 2 soup plates with little cubes in the middle were set in front of us, then the warm soup is poured into the plate from sake-ish bottle. The soup is amazing, it's sweet and flavourful, but yet comforting. The sour of the apple jelly really complimented the soup, especially when you're half way full and feel like maybe the soup is a bit too much.
Then we had the shaved veal tongue with a salad. The veal tongue was good, salad was flavourful (love the little dab of vinaigrette on the side!), a somewhat conventional combination but so far so good.
Then we had the butter poached prawns in saffron broth. I already had it before. Needless to say, I still love it.
We also had a gnocchi dish -- it's not in their 6-course menu, but it was wonderful. It has mushrooms, black truffle in it, according to the online menu, but I didn't know, and it's probably my favourite out of all the dishes. I guess I just like truffle that much!
Another palate cleanser - a shaved ice thing with apple, cucumber and lime. It was amazing, given how simple it is. Boyfriend said it's probably the best thing he's had. He absolutely loved it.
Then comes the main dish, which is a lamb ribeye on top of lamb and wild mushroom. Lamb is great -- doesn't have the usual "lamby" taste and is very tender. The sauce is great too.
Then we got the cheese plate. It has 3 cheeses, the names of which escaped me. The manager carefully explained all three kinds of cheeses to us, how it tastes like and all. The cheeses were very good, as are the tiny gold apples, pears, and nuts on the side of the plate.
Finally, we had the tarte tatin to finish. It's like an apple "turnover" tart, if you will. The tartness of the apple and the sweetness of the tart really goes well together.
The wine pairings for the meal were very good. I especially enjoyed the madeiras. Unfortunately, I don't remember some of the names of the wines we had, but we had a good chat with the manager about the wines and even got to have a taste of some of the other ones they had in mind.
The service was very friendly and I'm glad we had the attention that we got -- this is certainly a reservation kind of place, and it would help if you talk to the people about your meal beforehand. Reserve it for a special occation :)
I have heard a lot of good things about this place, and decided to try it for a double date since… Read more »
I came here last night for Silicon Valley Restaurant week.
Due to some feedback I've been given about being stricter on restaurants, rather than round up on what would have been a 3.5 star rating, I'm rounding down.
It's not that Sent Sovi is bad, but it just isn't spectacular, especially knowing when Plumed Horse is just a stone's throw away.
I'd say the most entertaining part of the night was the sommelier describing the lineage and taste conundrums with different sodas that were offered, then as a result, me having one of the unique sodas.
Food wise, my butternut squash/curry powder soup was good and unique tasting but a tad too thick.
The butter poached prawns were delicious, but only 4 were to be presented to me on the plate.
The gelato was nice, but I didn't find a rhyme or reason with the way it was paired with the 3 flavors and cookies that were offered.
If I had my friend's porcini rubbed chicken, then this definitely would have been a 4 star restaurant, but it's tough to give it a higher rating for an experience that was just average to my expectations of restaurants in that caliber and price category.
Went to Sent Sovi for a special occasion for my companion. Was greeted and seated. My expectations are always high for such a place due to its high price. I expect a great experience for such prices which came out to about $115 each with two wines each and tip.
Small inside with about 16 tables or so, and some set up outside. Sat down and received the menu from the server.
First thing I noticed was a loud grinding blender sound and some loud choping. I sat a bit, and then when the servier came back, I had to ask him to shut that noise down. I am not coming to a fine dining and expensive French experience to have noise pollution in my dining room. The decor was strange, I thought for a French restaurant, as it had a southwestern theme in all the photos hanging aroud. Ceilings were high and the floor was wooden.
They have tasting menus with paired wines. We passed on that. I had the butter lettuce salad and my companion had the beet salad. Presentation was nice and the food was tasty.
Main courses were the rack of lamb and the pork tenderloin. The rack of lamb was in the ok range, but the pork tenderloin with fava beans was really great. Nicely spiced and the pork was cut into slices that were in the bean mix and sauce. Really hit the spot on that one.
Dessert was the coconut cake plate and the chocolate plate. Certainly very tasty.
We had a half bottle of champagne before the meal, and had some red wine with the meals. Nice winelist, but a little pricey.
Overall, the food was good. I did not care for the atmosphere and especially a restaurant that does not care about their patrons by doing loud blending and preparation work that was very noisy.
No repeat for me.
Sent Sovi reminds me of Manresa in some ways. Both are somewhat isolated, run in small spaces, and provide excellent quality food and interesting flavor combinations. Manresa is definitely a step above, but Sent Sovi can produce a really great meal in its own right.
Opted for the duck tasting menu, unfortunately named "Duckman". A dozen or so courses, all centered around duck. As their specialty, it seemed like a good idea. We substituted the duck tongue initial course with a tomato salad. Good choice.
Second course, duck on a light salad with potato. Excellent quality duck in a nice light salad. The crispy bits, whatever they were, made the dish.
Flickr shot of this course here - http://www.flickr.com/...
Followed by the "Soup and Sandwich", which was a duck grilled cheese sandwich of sorts along with duck noodle soup. Both were absolutely excellent.
Corn granita with duck-fat cracker. Interesting, tasty, and somewhat refreshing, although not something I would typically get outside of a tasting menu format. Next, falling-off-the-bone duck shank. Perfectly cooked duck, spicy lentils, a near perfect duck dish. Followed up by a cheese course, which was good, not great. Simple and small, which is frankly what a cheese course should be.
Dessert was... interesting. Duck confit cupcake with foie gras frosting+truffle sprinkles. The foie gras frosting was exceptionally rich, to the point of being mostly in-edible. It was, however, one of the more interesting cupcakes I've had in my life. Duck bits, in the cupcake. Big ones, too. The ice cream and butter cookie-type-thing which accompanied it were great. Overall, way, WAY too much going on this plate, although points for originality.
We went here last month and tried the tasting menu. The dish that stood out the most was the poached shrimp in some kind of saffron sauce. We were sopping up the sauce with the bread, since it was so delicious! The first course was a chilled corn soup which was also very memorable, but it tasted like there was a lot of cream. The portion size of the soup was a bit too much, so we weren't able to finish it.
The service was VERY slow. Although it's nice to enjoy a leisurely meal, I think we waited over 20 minutes for the first course...I thought they forgot about us. For 5 courses of a tasting menu, it was about a 2.5 - 3 hour long meal. I did have some food limitations since I'm pregnant, but they did great substitutions. There was a smoked artic char for one of the courses, but they gave me an amazing heirloom tomato salad instead.
My husband and I dined at Sent Sovi for our 5th year anniversary. We usually don't celebrate "dates" like anniversaries, but we used this as an excuse to get out and try a new restaurant. We really felt that the restaurant made us feel very special, which I feel is absolutely necessary for an upscale restaurant.
Food was good. The ingredients were top notch and care was most certainly put into each and every dish. It made it much easier to really savor each dish to make it worth its cost.
I started with heirloom tomato gazpacho, which was tasty but not out-of-this-world. My husband got the foie gras, which was a nice blending of flavors with rhubarb, but he wouldn't order it again. I followed with a beet salad. I love beets, but this beet salad was the least impressive of all the dishes because I felt like I could've made it better at home and flavors were very, very subtle.
Hubby got the duck, which was tasty and well prepared. He would give the duck 4-stars. The skin was crispy and tasty and overall flavors blended nicely.
I got the mushroom gnocchi, which was really amazing. 5 -stars on this one! A lot of times good restaurants will put little to no effort into making good vegetarian dishes, but this one was phenomenal. The high quality mushrooms were so meaty and flavorful, bringing all kinds of yumminess to my mouth. I would absolutely recommend this dish to any vegetarians out there!
Hubby and I both got different wine flights. He got the "Cork Dork" wine flight and I got the "California" wine flight. Both were nice varieties of wine, if only a tiny bit frugal on the pourings. We definitely enjoyed.
We finished with the cardamom creme brulee which was tasty, but I've had similar ones before and this was not outstanding. They also brought out a plate of awesome cookies with Happy Anniversary written over the top. It was totally cute.
The best part about this place? The service. There are copious amounts of servers and they all are super nice and proper, assuring that you will enjoy your experience. The chef/owner, Josiah, kept coming out to check on us with each course and chatted it up about the foods and the restaurant. He really worked to make us feel at home there and it completely worked! What a nice guy!
We really enjoyed our expeirence here and would come back again, but would give other items on the menu a shot because they give such careful attention to everything they serve!
I went to one of their Thursdays at the cellars. That's where you sit in a horseshoe shaped table and get to try different varieties of wines or champagne while ordering off a special smaller menu of food items. The crowd older than me, but that's to be expected.
Went with the 3 flutes of wine for $10, 2 ounces each. Nothing special about the wine... it was actually pretty bland, and I'm no connoisseur. Then we ordered the Sea Urchin Butter and Gray Salt Crostini, the proscuitto wrapped figs and the risotto as a main course.
The food was all well prepared with fresh ingredients and overpriced. The service was atrocious. I usually don't use such harsh words, but it was simply horrible. We waited twice as long as anyone else at the table for our food (maybe because we were half the age?). The head chef must have personally worked on the check, because that too took years to come out. And when it did, it was wrong. We actually debated whether to tell them or to just pay over because we knew that redoing it would take so long.
For this price, the service needs to be a lot better.
They have a weekly dinner special for $45 with 2 wine pairings. To be frank, I thought since it was so cheap, the portions would suffer. I mean it is a FRENCH restaurant with California flair. Nope ... not at all. My two best buddies and I headed over for the weekly special (Vichyssoise, Steak au Poivre, desert that I forgot the name of chef even provided us amous bouche). Oh man, it sure was an amazing dinner. All three of us licked our plates clean, yes it was that good. Not only was it very rich (like most French food) the portions were awesome, we all got a nice size filet, big bowl of Vichyssoise and desert to die for. The wines were an excellent pairing as well. Service wise, we did come on a Tuesday, which was pretty slow; nevertheless we received impeccable service.
My friends and I agreed: This is our regular spot for some BOMB French-ish food =b
I went for their Thursdays in the Cellar and I was very impressed with the selection of wines and… Read more »
Finally made our first trip to Sent Sovi. It was delightful and we will definitely be back. Based on the quality of the food and the service, I felt our dinner was quite reasonably priced.
To start the chef sent out an amuse bouche consisting of a tiny cup of chilled foie gras soup topped with chives. Quite unusual but delicious and really got our taste buds ready for dinner. (I overheard the foursome at the table next to us recoil when foie gras was mentioned as an additional course for the tasting menu - the server brought them little cups of the beet salad for amuse bouche).
Hubby had the special Bastille Day menu (see Ed L's review for description) and enjoyed every bite. I started with the roasted beet salad with apples and truffles; it was served in a martini glass and was probably the best beet salad I've ever had. And I love me my beet salad and order it pretty much any time I'm in a good restaurant and they serve it. My entree was duck served with summer beans and a duck confit and potato hash. OMG. I did let hubby have a little bite of the confit which was off the charts good.
Since his dinner came with desserts (little poached meringue clouds floating in creme anglais) I figured I'd better order some too. I had the "cookies and cream" which included two small but incredible cookies, two gelatos and a sorbet. MMMMM.
With my dinner I ordered the California wine flight. I'd had two of the 4 wines previously but this gave me the chance to taste a couple of new ones. I was brought an extra taste of a delicious cabernet franc, which was a nice touch.
Service was top notch and all patrons seemed to be enjoying the experience and their meals. The only downside I can see is that there is no immediately adjacent parking, which might make it difficult in inclement weather, especially for a wheelchair user like my husband who does not have the option of using the downhill parking lot behind the restaurant. But since this was a lovely summer evening we just parked down the street.
My husband and I came here for his birthday, which happen to fall during Restaurant Week. We have been wanting to try this restaurant for quite awhile and were pretty excited.
Most of the dishes were quite good, but we were extremely disappointed with the main dish. We both ordered the prawns. The prawns were cooked well and the sauce was good, but they didn't blend together at all making the dish overall rather bland. The restaurant was full this evening, so we'd definitely be willing to give it another try based on the other dishes that we had. The soup (squash), appetizer (Hangtown Fry), and dessert (Rosemary Creme Brulee and Gelato) were all fantastic.
The biggest disappointment was the service. I don't think that our server cracked a smile once and she seemed extremely rushed. Again, I understand that it was busy but she seemed almost annoyed that we were dining there. Not what I expected from this restaurant. As other reviewers have said the service was a little on the slow side, but that doesn't bother us.
On the basis of the menu, I would give this place 5 stars. It has a range of interesting food, both classic and unusual. The fact that there are so many vegetarian options makes it a great place to take your usual mix of bay area friends.
The food was a solid 4 stars. Most of it was quite good, but not sublime. A standout was a big square hunk of bacon cooked sous vide. This didn't sound very appetizing, and it was a little scary to look at, but it was delicious!
The wait staff was knowledgeable but not very professional. We went on a weeknight, so we were probably not getting the best of the best. This was clear when our waiter actually told us he didn't want to be a waiter!
We came here for a birthday dinner and I ordered the duck. My portion size was ok but the duck was over cooked. My friend had the special (prawns with risotto. Needless to say, she was still hungry by the end of the night. If you're looking for a good french restaurant, try Le Papillon or La Maison du Cafe instead.
Good food, good service, mediocre atmosphere.... Not worth a return visit though!
I forget why we came here but what I remember most are (1) the brilliant copper moulding that ran all around the room and (2) the verhona chocolate olive oil dessert. If you're skeptical, I hope you still try it whenever its on the menu. It seems that its rotated out for the moment which is really a shame because it was really amazing.
I remember now ... our last date as singles before my husband and I got married. Chris had rack of lamb and I had the duck. It was pretty well executed and the portions were reasonable but not particularly memorable. If you're craving classic French, I recommend going over to Le Papillon instead where you get the same thing at a similar price but with much better ambience and customer service.
I heard about their $45 weekly special with 2 glasses of wine and decided to make the drive down.
It's been 5yrs and a month since we were last here. Last time, it was a bit more $ but we still enjoyed it.
This week's special consisted of:
Vichyssoise (cold leek/potato soup) with a sprinkling of nutmeg
Steak au Poivre: very nicely done with a wonderful rich sauce
Oeufs a la Neige ( poached Merigue)
All very good!
the paired wines (1 white/1 red) were from Chateau Val Joanis were very nice.
Our server Nolen was friendly and efficient though he stated he's been there just a week.
Very recommended!
All hail King Josiah!
As a vegetarian, a lot of the things on his menu are out of the realm of possibilities for me. For example, I won't be diving into the Venison Loin with Fava Bean Melange or the Duck Leg Confit any time soon. However, he does have an extravagant vegetarian tasting menu and on Thursdays in the Cellar he does things with mushrooms and asparagus that will curl your toes. I could go into detail, but I'm certain there are restrictions on how graphic food pornography can be.
Suffice to say that Chef Josiah Slone is one of the country's up-and-coming young chefs for a reason. His use of fresh, local ingredients and creative flavor combinations make him a force to be reckoned with in the culinary world. Sent Sovi is not a cheap date by any means, but Thursdays in the Cellar is a great opportunity to sit in a casual environment, have a glass of wine and sample a tasting menu with the man who created it. If you ask nicely, he'll even torch your creme brulee!
Just nice people and great food. Make a night of it!
I always like finding new little gems in the middle of nowhere, and creative, well balanced flavors and textures. Sent Sovi combines well balanced, well executed food with excellent service, and a classy ambience. My friend had an intimate wedding banquet here in their cellar room for about 20 of us. These were the items I chose from our menu selection:
kampachi sashimi, seared foie gras, on brioche. I thought the sashimi would be overpowered by the foie, but hell no. the light fish flavor provided a great counterpoint to the intense earthiness of the foie. And the brioche's slight crispiness was the perfect counter for the melting foie gras texture and the soft/slimy sashimi. Amazing dish. Great start to the meal.
beets and fuji apple salad with shaved black truffles, served in a martini glass. The beets and apples were roughly julienned (not extremely fine, not extremely thick). Beautiful and delicious. The earthiness of the truffles and beets married perfectly, with the floral/fruitiness of the fuji apples matching the sweetness of the beets and giving great accents of flavor and crispy texture.
seared duck breast, duck confit with savoy cabbage. The duck breast was a perfect medium rare, but I was a little bit disappointed that the duck confit was already broken up into little pieces with the savoy cabbage. I was hoping to have a confit drumstick there with my duck breat haha. Still, it was savory and delicious.
For dessert, I had the pear trio: asian pear with green tea ice cream, a tart with poached pear, and pear with jelly. A nice palette cleanser at the end to leave you satisfied and full.
Portions were all decent, and presentation was all great. Service was good overall.
After dinner, Josiah came out and greeted us, and then we ended up chatting for over an hour about various offal dishes and asian food overall, as well as other things like foie gras preparation and sous vide cooking. The guy's super nice and really knows his stuff.
Came here for to celebrate 2 birthdays with immediate family, there were 6 of us total. Ambiance is inviting and unpretentious, big plus for a high end restaurant. The service was very friendly, but painfully slow. It took us 3 hours to get through a 4 course meal. Courses being 30min apart is unacceptable.
Foie Gras is one of my favorite foods in the world, and my wife surprisingly loves it as well. It's a special treat we usually get when we go to nice places. Heck, I love it so much I actually got it for 2 courses at Sent Sovi! Unfortunately, it was the worst Foie Gras I've ever had. It was so salty my wife couldn't even finish hers. For my second round I took the crispy torchon off the top and it was better, but still a tremendous disappointment. The duck I ordered was 30% fat, my mom's steak was bloody, and there is no way the gnocci my wife got justified the expense.
For over $100 a person, this gets 2 stars. Torpid service, mediocre food, overpriced.
I have to admit that I don't frequent this area as much so when the opportunity to check this place out I jumped at it. It really is a cozy spot where you can be really intimate with each other, other patrons and the staff... more or less. The candles cast an orange glow all about the room reflected from the copper wall plating.
I opted for the three course versus the daily special hanger steak. The following were just more appealing to my palate at the time. Overall the food, wine flight, final wine, and dessert were great.
Torchon of Sonoma Foie Gras "Brulee" with Various Preparations of Quince---- I do like foie gras. ;D
Harissa-Rubbed Lamb Ribeye with Vadouvan Browned Cauliflower, Huckleberry "Jelly" and French Green Lentil Ragout---- I do love lamb. ;D
Trio of Coffee--Espresso Crème Brulée, Latte Semi Freddo, and Mocha Shot---- Who doesn't like creme brulee? ;D
Big Basin Vineyards "Rattlesnake Rock"--Santa Cruz Mountains '04
---- at a table of non wine drinkers.... this was thoroughly enjoyed. XD
I can't imagine why, but perhaps it was due to the spirit of the holiday season but they also handed everyone gift certificates to return. Since everyone was from out of town I now have a handful of small reasons to return....
=D
minus one star probably because I'm biased due to my jaded history of going to small venues with large groups, but I hope to soon remedy that by going back in a much smaller group...
party of two anyone?
XD
We had the tasting menu which had 6 courses, all small. The quality of the food was pretty good and tasty and by the end of the night all the courses added up to a full dinner with dessert. The first dish was probably the best for me, the crab bisque. It was followed by two cold dishes, a sorbet, lamb, then dessert.
Overall, the food was good but not overly fantastic or exciting. Service was very good. I would go back to see what ordering off the menu is like. I would hope to expect larger plates of food that I might appreciate more than the small dishes.
The tasting menu was delicious. Such a tiny little place. The service was succinct and attentive. The theme here is special occasion almost everyone in here was celebrating something and the restaurant dresses up your dessert plate for it. Nice touch.
But, this is also a good locals, don't feel like cooking tonight place.
Overall a great dining experience and spot, easily accessible and wonderful food at a not so bargain price.
i would definitely come back again for a special occasion
Venturing to this cozy, non-pretentious fine dining establishment -- complemented by its quaint, small-town setting -- was a truly exquisite experience. The food was excellent, and the staff was very accommodating, friendly, and responsive without being over-the-top earnest.
You can choose between a few options: a chef's tasting menu, which is about a two-hour fare; a three-course meal (which is what I chose, at $65 per person); or a four-course meal. The staff members, two at a time (or however many are required for your party), coordinate the arrival of each course with impeccable precision.
I started with the dungeness crab timbale, then went on to the ono fish special that evening, and squared it off with the maple rum gateaux. Each item was delectable, and the sommelier was quite helpful in pairing the appropriate wine.
Well worth it if you have the money and the right company.
I loved it.
If you're ever in Saratoga and find yourself with a lot of money and time on your hands, enjoy dining here.
They have a few tasting menus, including a vegetarian option.
The service is attentive, yet non-intrusive. It was pretty amusing to watch the coordination to make sure both of us had each course at the same time. Two people would come out with the courses in order to make sure that they were placed in front of us at the same exact time. The people who work here are also warm and not snooty, which was refreshing. Usually it's like, okay, I guess I have to put up with all the pretentiousness because I want good food, but it wasn't like that here!
The food was amazing. The sweet potato gnocchi was SO good. It had wild mushrooms and this aged balsamic vinegar. Mmmmmm....
Sent Sovi is Catalun for "sweet taste"
Great dining experience on the way to a Mountain Winery event.
Caveat: doing tasting menus is not recommended if going to a Winery event.
Nice setting in downtown Saratoga with indoor and outdoor seating.
Have nice wine list with several different wine flights e.g., California, French (excellent Ridge Lytton Springs Zin) and beers.
Thursday night is tapas/small plate/small bite night.
In additional to the regular menu, there is a weekly dinner special with an appetizer, entrée, dessert, and two glasses of wine for $45. For example, we had a very nice arugula with peach and wheat berries salad with truffle oil, a succulent bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, and a scrumptuous cardomom crème brulee accompanied by a very good Albarino with apricot overtones.
The a la carte selections are excellent. Use locally grown produce.
The amuse bouche was a sweet watermelon soup with a pickled aftertaste. The beet salad was good; and the fish entrée came with a wonderful assortment of legumes.
My favorite was the three gelati and homemade cookie dessert. The chocolate was chocolate.
Young, friendly food server staff.
There were only 4 tables of people, including us. yet somehow, service was S-L-O-W. i know it's a french restaurant and all, but come on! I beckoned the server to get menus (that's right - just to get menus! not even to order). He acknowledged me, then went to serve another table their desserts. Then served another table wine. Then another table their dinners. 10 minutes later, he finally comes to our table. He puts the menus down on an empty table next to us, and tells us what the seafood of the day is. Then he picks up the menus and walks away. Uh, what the hell?! Took another 5 minutes before we could get the menus. Pretty much the rest of the night went like that. Albeit, the servers/host were friendly, it was just extremely slow. We had to actually get up and find someone at the end of the night to get our bill. Maybe we should have tried to walk out without paying and see if they would then finally notice us.
Food was decent. The $45 weekly special is definitely worth it, as you get a three-course meal and two wine pairings.
The duck was good, but i think the duck at trevese (which sadly is now closed) was better.
All-in-all, I probably won't come back here.
Sent Sovi is a good restaurant for celebrating a special occasion. It's much too expensive to be on my normal rotation, but the quality of the service and the food make it well worth it for a splurge. My husband and I took my brother here for a celebration and we thought it was the perfect place for the purpose.
The food was expensive, but not insanely so as at some upscale restaurants. There are three ordering options: a pre-determined tasting menu with six or so courses (choose a vegetarian menu or a meat-eater's menu) for $75, a $45 prix-fixe choice which had, I think, three courses, and a rather short regular menu. My companions wanted to order from the regular menu, so I did, too.
The appetizers and salads were about $10 each -- for those small, elegant servings you get at fancy restaurants -- and the individual meals were from about $26 to $38 or so, again with all portions being no more than modest. This left room for two very good desserts, again $10 each. Surprisingly, the desserts were big enough for two people to share comfortably.
My brother ordered a flight of wine (I forget the price) and found one of the six to be quite spectacular. My husband and I drank sparkling mineral water which was the best we've ever had.
The service was the very upscale kind with serving plates, replacements of silverware with each course (I think all restaurants should do this!), and a crumb scraper between courses. However, the wait staff were still friendly and approachable.
There's both patio and inside seating. The interior of the restaurant is paneled with sheets of copper -- unusual, pleasant, and low-key.
We definitely plan to go back, but maybe not until the next birthday or anniversary.
Came here with a friend for dinner and had the full tasting menu with wine parings. AMAZING!! Everything was wonderful and when we asked about the mushrooms in one of the courses, the chef brought all of them out on a platter and educated us on the different types. Fabulous service, excellent food and a cozy space. I found it even better than my meal at Manresa.
Parking can be difficult but it's Saratoga so you expect that.
Highly recommend it for a special evening. They also have a group room in the back that I'm hopeful I'll get to use some time soon.
I thought this place was alright, I had the tasting menu and honestly the food flavors were a little odd to me. Having eaten at plenty of these types of restaurants which offer expensive chef tasting menus, I was expecting a little more flare. I did get very full and the service was over the top but perhaps a little too over the top. The host came by to ask me about 10 times during the meal if everything was ok, I could hardly eat a bite without him watching carefully!
It's a very intimate setting and definitely ... romantic I guess? I wouldn't go back though after a $368 bill I was only decently satisfied.
I think if I remember correctly the best thing there was probably their duck. That was about it.
Disclaimer: I went to SS on one of their "special" evenings. This evening was titled, "Meet the Duck Breeder" - and everything from the appetizers to the dessert, was made with DUCK. I have never tried SS' regular menu.
Yes, I celebrated my birthday for four straight days, from Thursday to D-day on Sunday. What of it?
On this special evening - this was the restaurant's menu: http://www.sentsovi.co...
The event started with an outdoor patio reception with a champagne concoction and "duck bites" - - which included a duck pate that was AMAZING, and two other duck spoonfuls that they served in plentiful amounts. The waiters efficiently passed around all the food, and the hostesses were so friendly and welcoming. Peeking into the restaurant, I was excited for this dinner!
The breeder whose duck was being featured on this night was the owner of Liberty Duck, Jim Reichardt. Visit his business site, this is outstanding duck: http://www.libertyduck.../
As we sat down for dinner, he introduced himself alongside Sent Sovi's chef, Josiah Slone. Incidentally - what I have declared as my favorite duck dish in the world, available at "Range" in SF, is duck supplied by Liberty Ducks, as is the amazing duck of French Laundry. (I've also seen Ad Hoc cook their duck.) Check out this astronomical list: http://www.libertyduck...
The wine selection, handpicked by Chef Slone, was truly outstanding from start to finish as they paired these wines to his masterpieces, course after course.
From the menu, the frisee salad with duck cracklings was a refreshing start to the meal.
The duck crepinette w/ foie gras was MIND-BLOWINGLY outstanding. I felt like grabbing everyone else's off of their plates and throwing it down my throat.
The duck confit was perhaps my least favorite, and even then, it was still good.
The pomegranate duck breast, which I really enjoyed, was my table's least favorite. I truly enjoyed this dish and thought it went extraordinarily well with the Cabernet pairing.
Perhaps most outstanding was what Chef Slone did with dessert: Rustic Apple and Duck Tart. This sounds pretty strange, and while I did hesitate to have duck with my dessert - I tried it and with one bite, I was HOOKED, in spite of being stuffed to the gills by this point.
Dinner was also made special by being able to ask questions of Mr. Reichardt and Chef Slone regarding the meat itself, cooking, or wine - - or anything else, really. We even got tips on how to prepare duck, how to cook the parts, and so forth. Entertaining AND educational. The staff kept the wine flowing to WAY beyond the normal "pairing portion" - - the faster we drank, the more they would refill.
At the end of the meal, coffee was served. Given the caliber of this meal, I was expecting french press coffee or something similar - - but was truly dismayed at the quality of coffee served here. I even made note of it to the chef. Without knowing their regular menu, I will refrain from commenting, but perhaps if only for these special dinners that Sent Sovi does, they should upgrade their coffee to something of much higher quality to retain the "WOW" effect to the last sip.
Otherwise - - it was an amazing experience, and I can't wait to try one of their other special "Thursday Evening" dinners. (I was told they do something special on every last Thursday of the month.)
Thanks to Rob and Cindy for planning a real DUCKFEST for me, this was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
In all fairness, last star reserved until I've had their regular food. It's not every night that one gets to go when Liberty Ducks is taking over for one evening....
My wife and I had a long awaited date night here a couple nights ago. The food was exquisite, the waiter and chef took good care of us. We had ordered the tasting menu and 4 course dinner, both were excellent. We have no complaints and thoroughly enjoyed each dish. We ordered pork entree as part of the 4 course dinner, it was possibly the best pork I have had in a long time, very juicy, tender and great flavor. The ambiance was quite nice, it is a small place, maybe 12 tables, and it was easy to talk to each other.
I will definitely return, and strongly recommend it.
This restaurant was highly recommended by a friend of ours so we decided to go there to celebrate our anniversary. We sat outside and the service was good.
We had the weekly special fixed menu. The main dish was mixed shell fish. It tasted okay. Some of the shell fish was a little under cooked. I should not have eaten the ones that tasted undercooked because I ended up getting really sick when I got home that night. My husband was okay. I emailed the restaurant to let them know what happened. The chef was really responsive; checking with his supplier to make sure there were no recall on any of the shell fish. Still...I wished my expensive dinner was in my stomach and not down the toilet.
I happened to attend a private party here with friends for a birthday celebration. I was quite impressed with the outdoor courtyard reception and private dining area. The staff was very pleasant and quite attentive. Not once were our glasses empty while attending the event.
The food was lovely. Our host had selected several appetizers for the reception time that were very nice. The staff not once allowed the food trays to be empty. The dinner selection was divine. I settled on a filet mignon that was prepared well. This place has quite a selection of wines too.
It was nice that the the private dining area also has it's own bathroom facilities. The group was treated extremely well and not once did we feel as if we were rushed. The staff wasn't overbearing either. There were 20 of us for this event and good fun had by all. The staff were also very good about taking candid and group photos of us for the event.
Five years and counting since David Kinch headed the kitchen.
I was stoked there was a grand tasting menu offered where you notate your likes and dislikes. The Chef takes all these into consideration as he prepares a menu to our specifications.
Sadly, it was not the most memorable or scrumptious experiences.
Service wise, they tried a bit too hard in the beginning and the owner was a bit overbearing. We were paid a lot of attention at the beginning of the evening and then as guests rolled it, our service dropped off.
Wine pairings were lovely, but they poured in the kitchen, not at the table. Odd for a finer dining establishment.
The presentation of the food was not there, quality of ingredients were lacking in some dishes and the flavors were not balanced.
Not a horrible experience, but I would not recommend this restaurant to others.
I went to Sent Sovi last night and was amazed. I never highly recommend restaurants, but this is as good as it gets. I specifically created a yelp account just to write a review on this restaurant.
I frequent a lot of nice places in the area but never ended up here, however after a friend raved about this place I had to try it out. I took a close friend to Sent Sovi for a nice birthday dinner. I planned earlier on and we got the grande tasting menu. It ended up being a 12 course dinner pared with 10 wines. The meal was just phenomenal and amazing. I highly recommend this place for anyone that has a special event.
Chef Josiah came out and greeted us 3 times to make sure we were enjoying our dinner. The food was excellent, the wine parings amazing, and the staff there made you feel at home.
Hubby's birthday - so had to take it up a notch and chose the oh-so-fancypants-french restaurant. Honestly have eaten at better places here you are paying for the decor, the wine and the chef's creations. Don't get me wrong its good food, but this experience left me wanting more.
I ordered the 3 course weekly menu with corn as the star ingredient. Loved the salad and corn risotto with shrimp but can pass on the corn infused salty mousse for dessert. Husband had the beet salad with heirloom tomato and steak for main course, of course his heart was stolen the moment they served us the chocolate dessert of a monster.
We were seated at the back (didn't even know it existed) and was disappointed the ambiance and romantic factor was definitely lacking, the front has it all - but was taken over by some other celebration - i felt robbed of my experience. I think i have checked this place off my list - Maneresa here i come!
Came here for my birthday and loved it.
The restaurant is small, about 15 tables, so you are guaranteed attentive and wonderful service. The watier carefully explained every item on the menu while we were ordering, and again when the item came.
We were set on getting the tasting menu but the waiter actually told us not to get it if we weren't super hungry. I've never seen a restaurant "care" for their customers more than the dollar price. The tasting menu was obviously more expensive than the 3 course prix-fixe but he "strongly recommended" the prix-fixe. Maybe I looked like I couldn't eat much.
Nonetheless, the food was just the right amount (good thing we didn't get the tasting menu) and very flavorful. Almost a little too-rich, but not to the point where you need to down a gallon of water.
I'd definitely recommend this restaurant to those who enjoy a treat to their taste-buds.
Fabulous food, Fabulous Service. Been there a few times and ordered
Napoleon of Foie Gras, Hamachi and Duck Cracklings with Lemon Confit . This is EXCELLENT. Could not believe how smooth the Foie Gras was. A definite treat.
Farout Farms Lettuces with Bacon Confit, Caramelized Avocado, Roquefort and Maple Herb Dressing -AMAZING. This was a a light and tasty salad.
Pan Roasted Hanger Steak with Yukon Potato Gratin, Bloomsdale Spinach and Sautéed Wild Mushrooms . I am not a fan of mushrooms so I didn't have the mushrooms so that being said, this was extremely tender steak and he spinach.. OMIGOSH, Yummy!!
Lamb Ribeye with Caramelized Cipollini Onions, Creamy Barley and Roasted Asparagus. Delicious and a well executed ribeye,
Maple Rum Gateaux with Fleur de Sel Walnuts and Super Vanilla Gelato. Not a huge fan of desserts anywhere but this was really good and a nice way to end the evening.
I will be coming back to this spot again!!!
Saratoga, CA
Category: French
Saratoga, CA
Category: Bars
Los Gatos, CA
Category: American (New)
Los Gatos, CA
Category: American (New)
San Jose, CA
Category: French
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