Ben K.'s Profile

Was lucky enough to call in to Modo Mio on a Saturday afternoon and get an 8:30 reservation for three of us that night. As stated before, the only way to go at Modo Mio is the $32 per person prix fixe menu. When we first sat down we were served amazing mini crostini of parmesan, escarole, goat cheese and proscuitto. The server then brought bread, that had me quite perplexed - the crust was crispy, but when I bit into it, I was immediately reminded of a moist, dense banana bread, it was rather jarring at first but grew on me.

I'm going to break the meal review down by course.

Antipasti

Two of us ordered the mussels in spicy red sauce, and were immediately blown away by how large and well cooked they were. The sauce was so delicious that we had to ask for spoons to lap it up. Our other friend ordered the shrimp with blood orange sauce and dubbed it "the best shrimp dish I've ever eaten."

Pasta

The special pasta of the evening was a rabbit ravioli in sage brown butter sauce with toasted pistachios. The handmade pasta was cooked perfectly and melted on the tongue to reveal an amazing seasoned, and flavorful rabbit meat inside. Think of the flavor of Italian sausage but more tender and less heavy. We also tried the truffled potato ravioli, which was equally as delicious if not better. Each bite revealed an even balance of melted butter and potent truffle flavor.

Secondo

Already loving my meal and feeling somewhat adventurous I ordered the special entree of the evening which was a veal cheek over grilled eggplant with Gorgonzola cheese in a sweet and sour sauce. It was my first time indulging in veal cheeks and I was blown away by the flavor, tenderness and complexity of the meat. I would have preferred something different than the sweet and sour sauce on the dish, but when all components were eaten together, I experienced the elusive foodgasm in my mouth. The others ordered the duck leg confit which was superbly cooked and seasoned and the monk fish with shrimp and clams, which had a delicious sauce but was served on a large piece of toast that seemed like unnecessary filler.

Dolce

By the end of the meal, we were all full enough that dessert was questionable, but since it was included in the prix fixe we couldn't turn it down. We all ordered differently - a tiramisu which was one of the better I've had, a blueberry-coconut torte which was surprisingly delicious despite low expectations, with large blueberries and a pumpkin cake with Nutella which turned out to be a perfectly baked pumpkin loaf with.... a dollop of Nutella.

Our server was extremely knowledgeable and helpful throughout the evening, always checking in on us and even brought shots of sambuca after overhearing that we were there to celebrate my friend's birthday. The brilliance of Modo Mio lies in the extremely reasonable prix fixe and how perfectly portioned each course is. You will leave the restaurant extremely satisfied but not stuffed to the gills. Add the fact that its BYOB and in an area where there is an abundance of parking and you have pure gold. Just make sure to remember that it is cash only and to make a reservation in advance! Will most definitely be back to taste even more of the menu.

I consider my love for mac and cheese to be a bit more than the average schmuck. That's why when I heard that Swallow was going all mac and cheese, all the time I knew I had to get over and give it a try. At the same time, I was a little turned off by all the hype. This isn't something new - actually there's a great placed called S'MAC in the East Village NYC that has been offering eat in, takeout and delivery mac and cheese for awhile.

We arrived sometime during this past week at 8:30, I'm guessing close to their closing time. The place was deadsville except for one table. As we walked in, I swear the other patrons gave a little smirk at me as if they were thinking to themselves "Ha, wish we could tell this guy what he's in for!" I already had a bad feeling.

After contemplating the menu for a few minutes we went with the Greek (gyro, feta, monterey jack, kalamata olives, spinach) but substituted mushrooms for the olives. We also created our own concoction of ground sirloin, asiago, cheddar and jalapenos. The dishes arrived in just under 10 minutes. Two small orders are definitely filling enough for two people to share.

The dish we created was unsatisfying for two reasons - not gooey enough, and very bland. When I eat mac and cheese, I want creamy, gooey, stringy mouthfuls of cheese. It's just wasn't so with this one. Also, the sirloin was seemingly completely unseasoned, a disappointment in my mind. The Greek was much better, both in the cheese department and flavor wise. There wasn't a whole lot of lamb in there, but for $7 I can't complain.

Our visit was very short, but in the end we were both somewhat disappointed. I'm going to be completely honest here and say that I would have been 10 times happier eating the mac and cheese for $5 at Silk City. That is some incredible stuff.

To improve on their menu, I really urge Swallow to get a little crazier with the flavors. Maybe add a few more ethnic varieties. S'MAC in the East Village does an amazing chicken tikka masala mac and cheese that blows my mind every time. Also, sauce these things up a little more, give us more flavor.

All in all, it's worth checking out if you dig the mac, but nothing mindblowing.

I honestly don't know how I've lived in Philadelphia for years and never have been to Royal Tavern. All of the reviews here are dead on. This place is the truth!

If you haven't read it enough, here is how they described the Angus burger: caramelized onions, bacon, Smoked gouda, pickled longhots and chile mayonnaise. The diameter of the patty was small but it was hand molded and very thick. The sesame seed bun is from Baker Street Bread and was fantastic - dark and crusty on the outside while chewy on the inside. The cheese, mayo, everything was just gooey and delicious. The only thing I'd complain about was the longhots. Perhaps they were overcooked but the skin was a little plasticy - but no worries, I pulled them off easily. Another complaint? Why can't a cook in this city actually make a proper medium-rare burger? I understand people are nervous about food poisoning but come on! When I order a medium-rare burger I expect it to be pink and juicy, not mostly brown.

I also highly recommend the meatloaf sandwich. Although my mom never made meatloaf, the thick cut slabs of meat on this thing taste exactly how I'd imagine hers would. It's served on ciabatta with bacon, provolone, fried onions and porcini ketchup. This sandwich is enormous, I mean EPIC and I was surprised we couldn't finish it.

The fries are amazing, the beer is great. We drank Corsendonk, Brooklyn Brown and Lagunitas IPA. Our waitress was super cute and extremely nice. I will definitely be here again and again.

I was tipped off to the Prohibition Taproom after reading about the November 1st opening on Uwishunu. The owners also own Cafe Lift (which I've never visited), also located in the loft district.

The place is well lit from the outside with a huge red neon arrow reading "BAR" pointing to the front door. You can't really miss it. Inside, you get the speakeasy feel with dim lighting, clear large filament lightbulbs on the walls that are clad in dark wood paneling. A huge, giant wood bar runs the length of the plus with highbacked leather lounge style chairs.

The menu consists of your typical gastropub fare. Appetizers: mussels, BBQ or Ranchero wings, and beer battered green beans. Sandwiches: Burger with choice of jack, blue or brie cheese, pulled pork and a grilled marinated veggies for the herbivores out there. Entrees: steak frites, baked mac and cheese, crab & shrimp cakes and roasted chicken.

The real reason we came by was to checkout the beer selection which was definitely larger than most places but not mindblowing. I'd say about 10 brews were on draft including Slyfox Stout, Post Road Pumpkin, Stoudt's Oktoberfest, Allagash White, Hook & Ladder, Victory Braumeister and a few more. They also had Yards ESA on cask (hand pump). The bottle selection included several Belgians and Germans plus the usual domestic suspects like Dogfish Head 90-Minuyte IPA.

We had the pulled pork and burger. Both came on toasted Metropolitan Bakery ciabatta with a side of fries and the pork came with coleslaw and an out of place babycarrot. Although the burger was ordered medium rare, it came much closer to medium but the big patty and fresh produce (lettuce, tomato, fried onions) made up for it. The pulled pork was great, a little spicy and not too saucy. The fries taste housemade and are cut shoestring style.

Overall, we liked Prohibition Taproom but weren't blown away. I don't think I'd go out of my way again to come back here. It seems like it will be a great spot for the people living in the loft district, but might be a little too low key for some. However, there isn't too much in the area with this sort of beer selection - but if you're looking for really great stuff, I'd recommend trekking a little further to Belgian Cafe anyway.

My parents came to visit this past weekend and I suggested they book a room at the Nikko based on rates and also the reviews here. They had a wonderful time at the hotel - the room was clean and seemed recently updated with a 42" Hitachi plasma TV on the wall. The bed was very soft but still pretty comfortable with tons of pillows. They also thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast buffet that was included in their rate each morning. Although the food wasn't spectacular it was very convenient before going out for a day of touring the city.

The front desk and concierge were both extremely friendly and helpful. I had left my sweatshirt on a chair during breakfast and didn't realize it was missing until later in the day. We called down to the front desk and they fetched the sweatshirt from the lost and found and delivered it to the room, nicely folded and placed in a bag. The concierge suggested several good restaurants and made reservations on the spot, even helped my dad print and fax some documents without charging him.

There is also a Starbucks attached to the lobby of the hotel for you coffee drinkers. Although when you first walk in the lobby seems a little dated, I would highly recommend the Nikko to future travelers.

My parents are in town for the weekend and since I've never checked out Slanted Door and the meal was on them, I figured now was the time to go! I easily made a reservation for tonight earlier in the week but it was pure luck because someone had canceled, otherwise the list was completely full. We arrived a little bit before our 5:30 seating and headed over to the bar for a few drinks. All of the cocktails were worth the $10 each because the bartender was heavy handed on the liquor. My gin and tonic came as a more than 3/4 full glass of gin with a high quality bottle of tonic on the side. We were promptly seated at 5:30 and brought our drinks to the table.

Our waiter was friendly and slightly helpful as he answered the questions we had about the menu. I got the feeling that there weren't many other servers on yet because he was rushing between tables but never made us feel like we were waiting for too long. We started with the Crispy Imperial Rolls which come with romaine lettuce, rice noodles and sauce. The rolls were crunchy and tasty, typical of what you'd have at any Vietnamese place. Next we had the Beef Carpaccio which was great quality meat and marinated wonderfully in lime but the presentation was a little odd. The beef was spread across the plate almost in one piece making it hard to cut (especially since we weren't given knives). It comes with a huge puffed rice cake (the actual name of this is escaping me) which you can break apart and cover with the beef, absolutely delicious.

The three of us followed the appetizers with the Sweet Corn and Dungeness Crab Soup. As the soup was placed in front of me I was skeptical because all I could see was a clear broth. However, as I dipped my spoon into the bottom of the bowl, I found it was literally inundated with chunks of crab meat. The broth was perfect, not too salty and the combination of the crab meat and sweet corn played off each other well.

Since we started with so much we only ordered one entree - the Chicken Claypot with a side of spicy haricot verts and brown rice. The sauce of the chicken dish was outstanding with ginger and cumin flavors coming through with a red pepper kick. I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the meat used, it was chopped up dark meat instead of the white meat that I'm used to in these type of dishes. The haricot verts were perfectly cooked, at least for my taste as they were still crunchy and covered in a very light sweet but spicy chili glaze.

Although we opted out of dessert I was excited to see both coffee from Bluebottle Cafe and also both Vietnamese hot and iced coffee on the menu. We ordered a french press of Bluebottle which easily filled 4 cups and I also ordered a hot Vietnamese coffee. The Vietnamese coffee was one of the best I've ever tried, coming out in a glass mug with the condensed milk in the bottom and a coffee drip placed on top. It was unbelievable. The Bluebottle was also outstanding, tasting almost as good as if you were to get it at their cafe.

Overall we had a great experience. We were seated directly next to the window and had an amazing view of the bay and bridge. I did not experience any of the negative things that people wrote about here but maybe we were just lucky coming in right when service started. Although this isn't the best Asian fusion or Vietnamese I've ever eaten, it's a fun place to check out.

Went to 21st Amendment last night before the Giants game. Wouldn't recommend you go at that time as the place was PACKED but they do have a beer garden on the side of the building that makes things a little less crazy.

I'm a beer enthusiast and don't typically love fruit beers but of course had to try the fabled watermelon wheat. Although I was skeptical (I love watermelons but not watermelon-flavored things) I was thoroughly impressed by this brew. Nice foamy head, fresh watermelon taste on the tongue and that good crisp wheat finish. The Transcontinental IPA however, is unbelievable. I prefer a really hoppy beer and this things got bite, not to mention the 7.8% ABV.

We started with the Artichoke and Crab dip which was way too overcooked and came with maybe 10 bite-sized pita chips. Despite the crustiness the dip was delicious. We asked for extra chips and the server brought us out a slightly better portion but we later found that she charged us $2 for them. My friends ordered the veggie burger (apparently very good), the spinach salad (good portion and tasty walnuts) and the veggie pizza (just ok quality vegetables and the crust was too floppy). I had the chicken sandwich with mango remoulade. The chicken breast was pounded super thin, and the dutch crunch it came on wasn't very crunchy. It was still a tasty sandwich with all the flavors combined and the thick cut seasoned fries were delicious.

Overall we had a good time, it's a nice place to stop off before a game since it's only a few blocks from the park. If I were only rating the food I would have given 3 stars but the beer deserves a 4 star rating.

Before I get started I'm going to admit this right now: I'm from Philadelphia where I am blessed to have dined many times at Monk's Cafe which is rated one of the best Belgian restaurants in the country and one of the best bars for beer selection in the world. When I see a restaurant with Monk's in the name I immediately assume that I will experience something similar to my beloved hometown joint, but unfortunately that isn't always true.

I consider myself a beer enthusiast and when I learned of Monk's Kettle I knew I had to check it out. At first glance of the food menu I was surprised that one of the most important items on a Belgian menu was missing - mussels. Disappointment aside, I picked up the beer list to get a footing on their selection. I was thoroughly impressed by the draft selection.. around 20 beers including a lot of locals and several Belgians. I ordered a double-IPA and went back to figuring out what to eat. For it's location I found MK's menu to be extremely overpriced. A burger will set you back $11 without toppings with an outrageous $2 for mushrooms, $1 for caramelized onions and more for cheese, etc. My date's burger came out to about $14 with toppings. I opted for the pulled-pork sandwich.

The food arrived rather quickly which was impressive considering the place was full. The burger was presented on an incredibly nice looking sesame seed bun, but we were unimpressed with how small the patty was; extremely thin, a quarter-pound, maybe. The burger itself with mushrooms, onions and blue cheese was incredibly delicious though, great seasoning and cooked to the correct temperature. My pulled-pork came on an extremely soft (almost too hard to pickup) foccacia roll but the sauce was delicious. We were a little upset about the fries, they weren't so much frites and didn't taste like they were handcut.

With a decent food experience you might ask why I gave the 3-star score. The real reason is price. $14 for a burger of that size is unheard of, especially in that area of the Mission. On top of that I was very disturbed by the pricing on the beer list. Our waiter who was very helpful in the beer department suggested I try Russian River's Pliny the Elder double-IPA so we ordered a 500ml bottle with two glasses for $11.50. The beer was delicious but here's the problem. Last night I was in both Whole Foods and Healthy Spirits and found a 500ml bottle of Pliny the Elder for $3.79. Never in my life have I seen a restaurant mark up a single bottle of beer that much. Other beers on the menu reflected the same extremely marked up pricing scheme. I know I'm going to catch flak from fellow Yelpers who will tell me that these beer stores buy much larger quantities of the beer, etc., etc. but with Pliny the Elder which is brewed in very small batches that simply is not true.

I called the restaurant to express my concern about their pricing and the manager assured me that "that's just the restaurant business man, all alcohol gets a 300% markup". He went on to tell me how Pliny the Elder is a very limited beer and the owners of Monk's Kettle price it high to try to keep it in the bar as long as possible. I found this to be funny considering Russian River explicitly has copy all over the bottle urging you to drink the beer as close to the bottling date as possible because double-IPAs don't age well.

My anal kvetching aside, if you don't mind spending some money and have an interest in trying beers from around the world, check out Monk's Kettle. Me? I'm going to stick to buying my beers from the amazing selection at Healthy Spirits on Castro for 300% less. Ha!

Hype aside, Tomasso's is just a downright, no frills good place for pizza. I come from the east coast, some may call it the "right coast" and for good reason - our pizza crust and bread is out of this world. I wouldn't call myself a pizza snob but I sure have eaten some of the best pies in this country and am extremely disappointed by the quality of pizza here in San Francisco. Fortunately Tomasso's smashes that disappointment.

We were randomly in the neighborhood last night and stumbled upon Tomasso's - I was with a group of people who had no idea what they wanted to eat and I insisted we step in for a pie. We started with a Caprese that was delicious - amazingly clean tasting buffalo mozzarella cut thick on some beautiful tomatoes and really fresh basil. We ordered two pies for four hungry guys - a large mushroom and onion and a small neopolitan (plain). This was plenty of food for all of us so take note. Now normally when you order a mushroom pizza, you get around three or four thin slices of mushroom per slice. Tomasso's is very liberal with their toppings, and the entire pie was covered with fresh sliced mushrooms to the point where you could almost not even see the cheese. This pizza is made of exactly what makes an amazing pie - slightly sweet/tangy sauce, salty cheese and an extremely thin crust cooked well done in a brick oven. The crust is crispy while still retaining a little chewiness and has that dusted semolina flour taste to it.

I'm going to make a point of going back to Tomasso's soon to try out their pastas - the few times I've been I'm just so overwhelmingly tempted by the pizza that I don't order anything else. If you haven't been, definitely give this place a true. And to you SF natives - don't worry, there aren't too many tourists in here.

4 stars for a fast food place in a mall food court is pretty damn impressive. But then again, the food court at the San Francisco Centre is unlike your typical Burger King, Taco Bell, Chik-Fil-A joint.

The portions here are pretty big so I would suggest if you don't have a huge appetite to go with one entree. Every dish comes with choice of white or fried rice which is filling in itself. I highly recommend the pumpkin chicken curry which is creamy and slightly spicy and also the pad thai and the crispy basil chicken. Since the place constantly has a line, the food is replenished often and always tastes fresh. If you're down with the extremely sweet thai iced tea then you'll be pleased with Coriander's. A meal with two entrees, rice and a drink will run you about $10, not too shabby.