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Category: Restaurants [Edit]
Neighborhood: Mission
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Watercress is one of my favorite places in San Francisco. The dress is smart-casual and it's the perfect place for a private low-key event such as a birthday or anniversary. It's hidden around 22nd and Valencia away from the hustle and bustle of the Mission, but don't let that scare you off, because unlike the majority of the Mission, the restaurant is clean and friendly and the atmosphere maintains the "mature meets hip" feeling of the Mission area. The food is an excellent French/Asian fusion. But before I get to far into that, here's a little known local history about the place...
My friend turned me onto this place several years ago when it used to be called Watergate and it quickly became one of our favorite places in the city. A little known secret about the Watercress is that the original name of the restaurant was "Watergate". Also, the owners are a married couple of French and Chinese decent and her name means "Water" in Chinese and his name means "Gate" in French (or it could be vice verse); but that's how they came to name their French/Asian fusion restaurant. Countless recommendations later, I was told that the owners opened a more upscale version of the restaurant over by the Fairmont Hotel, took the first restaurant's name (Watergate) to launch it, and renamed the Valencia place to Watercress. After experiencing both places, my heart & stomach absolutely belong to the Mission restaurant, Watercress.
You can get an excellent three course meal for around $25 at Watercress. There are multiple mouth watering selections on the menu but my friends all seem to gravitate toward the appetizers and deserts as their favorites. The lobster cocktail is always a hit with seafood lovers and you can be guaranteed that any other choices will be served with the pride and care I've come to love about Watercress. Personally, my favorite dish at the Watercress, and potentially of all time is the Fillet Mignon off the $25 three course menu. It sits on a bed of fresh spinach which has a blue cheese wanton underneath it. There's a caramelized onion atop the fillet and the whole dish is smothered in a delicious mouth watering balsamic reduction. The combined flavors of the fillet, balsamic reduction, spinach, and the blue cheese wanton are so amazing, that my mouth waters just typing it and the meal still resonates as one of my favorite dinning memories in San Francisco.
In short, I highly recommend it to the casual diner. In addition, you'll be hard pressed to find a hip, high quality, yet low-key dinning experience for the money.
This place rocks. I haven't been here in a few years and the decor, atmosphere, and menu seems to have changed for the better. The space is a little more modern now, and they've incorporated some California fusion into their once traditional French menu. Hey, I love traditional French cuisine, but for something like that, I'd rather go to a restaurant like Chapeau.
Foie Gras. You can't go wrong. I've never had a bad tasting piece of seared foie gras, but Watercress does it exceptionally well. I believe it was seared with a muscat reduction ...very flavorful.
I had the special of the evening, which was salmon in a sesame ginger sauce. That was a good piece of fish. The outside was crispy and the inside was nice and flaky, almost buttery. Most of the time, I think salmon is either dry or undercooked.
Oh, and guess what? The meal was incredibly inexpensive. I went with their prix fixe option ($20 odd dollars) and paid a little extra for things like foie gras and the salmon. However, the meal cost less than 40 dollars (per person) and I had an appetizer, entree, desert, and a glass of wine.
The only reason they don't get a five is because the dessert was only mediocre. Other than that, it's a perfect place to go for a casual french dinner.
The first time we came here, it seemed okay so we actually came here with a large group a couple of times. But it just kept getting progressively worse.
They are pretty cheap when you can go with their prix fixe menu. One of the cheaper in the city. However, it seemed like oftentimes, they would run out of things. Seemed like they would NEVER have the oyster first course.
And it's funny cause, I started talking to some of my other friends about this restaurant, and the same thing happened to them. I'm thinking, if you don't have something, just don't put it on the menu.
Are you too cheap to print a daily menu for your guests. I really felt like the restaurant WAS cheap. Just had that vibe like they didn't want to give you some food to eat.
Like it was their Right since they are one of the cheaper prix fixe locations. Well, you get what you pay for most of the time, right???
*VIRGIN OUTING*
People who gave this restaurant less than 3 stars are tripping. This was a great place to have dinner with a group of friends. Immediately upon being seated, my friends and I were taking in the entire ambiance and grooving to the music. This French-Asian restaurant is laid-back, giving u that real French feeling. The service was quite good (except for a bit with the check, but that was minor), coming with its on French waiter. Good accent, minus the attitude. :)
The prix-fixe dinner is affordable and oh so good. Can this really be in the City? The special salad with raspberry vinaigrette and brie en croute was yummy. Half of the table was veg and we ended up ordering the Vegetarian Risotto, which had huge chunks of 'shrooms and was quite filling. And for dessert, Chocolate Lava Cake. Need I say more? OH, and did I mention their Mojito? Strong and gOod. Will definitely a do a repeat here. :)
Been here twice.
First time the chef was still alive and the place was PACKED. Amazing assortment of dishes and truly outstanding flavors.
Second time was after the passing of the chef. Poor service, sad flavors, completely empty.
if you don't like people seeing you eat and you want some private time with a bottle of wine check it out.
I had a great time at this restaurant!! The service was fabulous, food was good, and the prices were cheap!! What else can you ask for in a SF restaurant!!! They have a 3 course meal for only $20.95 a person... I had the goat cheese souffle to start. So light and fluffy... I really enjoyed it. For my entree, I had the duck confit with spinach and lentils... it was so tender.. I didn't really even need a knife to cut it off the bone... the portions were the perfect amount as well. I had the perfiteroles for dessert. It came with two: vanilla and cappaccino. Delicious... I would definitely go back. Great first date place if you want to impress someone without spending lots of money!!
3 courses for $20 is a fantastic deal, and more than enough of a reason to go back. Salads were a bit dull (plain lettuce; should have more interesting greens) and took forever to appear after we ordered, but lamb shank was so tender it didn't need a knife. Penne was also good, but seemed more like ground meat than bacon. Tasty desserts, though creme brulee was a bit watery.
Romance on a budget and on Valencia St. as well. The service here is a great, the food is amazing and the price is phenominal. This place offers 3 course meals for $21. Order the sole, even if you think you don't like fish it will rock your tastebuds. Also the grilled prawn appetizer. If you would like to take someone out on a romatic date but don't have a lot of lolly in your pocket go here. Oh, and the waitors are really cute.
I should have known when I walked in; something just wasn't right. Whether it was the music (bad), the lighting (too bright), the obsequious host (bad) or the menu that tried to hard, I am not sure but in fact it went downhill from there. At best it was like a midscale hotel restaurant.
This is the place people go to for last minute reservations when nothing else is available on Opentable.
I liked it. The food really made me think. Granted, I was a little confused at times. But I think they do a good job. The foie gras with port reduction is insane but it rocks pretty hard. The scallops were a bit overdone but the salads are all dressed very well. My suggestion is, if you're ever feeling downright bored of eating the same shit all the time and want to experience some different flavors, go to Watercress.
I've been here once, and ordered the veggie risotto ( I think i was veggie at the time)...so, the risotto was perfectly cooked and soo good! It was drizzled with truffle oil (can it be anymore delicious?!) It's a bit expensive, but all French restaurants are...The ambiance is really nice for dates...dim lighting, kinda cozy. Although I liked my own dish, I tried some of my family's dishes and they weren't as amazing...they were bland and not cooked well (the sole that my mom was served was still raw in the center--disgusting) and, the waiters are not too nice or inviting. Also, the place was really cramped (not good for groups) and they messed up on our reservations.
Not sure what the theme is, maybe French-Vietnamese or something. Decor is Asian fusion Howard Johnson. But pleasant ambience, and usually packed with regular customers. The reason being the amazing value three course menu for $20. Most dishes are excellent, especially the rib eye and cheesecake.
12/2004--Had a good meal, but restaurant needs to pay more attention to service (it was lackadaisical though the restaurant was nearly empty) and they should heat their plates so the food stays warm longer (restaurant was chilly). We both ordered the prix fixe meal (good deal) and had the Watercress salad (good), soup (great flavor, but not hot enough), steak (steak very tender - cooked right, fries overdone), lamb (very yummy sauce and coating, but not hot enough), chocolate genoise (yum), and profiteroles (yum).
One of my friends saw the 3 course meal for $20 and decided to throw a small get together here and it was a good experience overall. the choices were varied and the you would probably find something to satisfy your fish/meat/poultry preferences. although the serving was small, (what did you expect from $20?) it was not lacking in flavor department and was plated in an attractive way. the service staff were gracious and the ambiance had a good vibe and was apt to its French-Asian fusion theme. The desserts were good ...ranging from gelato to pastries to marnier and of course i had the cheesecake...which was yummy too!
...so sorry you closed...
FUCKING GROSS. SERIOUSLY.
We did the pre-fix course and it was definitely worth the money. Very romantic place, great for dates.
impressive. good service. nice, somewhat-trendy atmosphere (when the music starts playing at 7:45pm, anyway). ingredients that make you go "wow." flavorful fish (sole), amazing foie gras. awesome salad dressings. many points for presentation. disappointing bread - ask for it warm - i did, and it made my morale shoot way up. also, a prix-fixe menu that's worth it and gives you an excuse to order dessert.
The price is great and the food is good! $19.99 for a 3 course dinner. The portions are also very good sized! Seared Ahi Tuna was good! The desserts were yummy! Check it out...you will love it!
Offers California-French food with nice atmosphere at a very reasonable price. Food is quite good but my memory tells me it is not out of the ordinary to remember or to die for. A big plus is easy accessibility by bus and Bart. Service is quite good. Perfect place to have a very decent casual diner without spending a lot of money.
Appetisers were okay, but dinner was poor. Nothing inherently wrong with the meals (like undercooked, etc). Agree with Melissa B about all of the sort of aesthetic warnings about this establishment. Yeah, what's the deal with the host? Should have known better. Boyfriend ordered the smoked pork chop that ended up tasting like ham drenched in barbeque sauce. Really not a good idea.
Discount
Neighborhood: SOMA
$32.95 three course prix fix…
Neighborhood: SOMA
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