Adam "FrimFram Sauce Extraordinaire" L.'s Profile

Small'ish portions and unexciting flavors.

I'll admit that I'm not a real connoisseur of Russian food, so I can't judge whether what I had was authentic or not.  

For $7, the Russian crepes (sorry, I forgot their actual name) were pretty skimpy and tasted rather plain.

The ground beef and Gorgonzola cheese piroshki was more hefty and a better value for the dollar, but didn't taste especially crisp or fresh or interesting.  I've had better piroshkis around the same area for sure.

With all that said, though... my cappuccino was delicious... flavorful, not bitter in the least.

Yeah, I'm a bit of a mocha connoisseur/snob, but the mocha I had here was pretty low on the tasty-meter.  Tasted more like a water base than a milk base, and the chocolate was anything but rich and flavorful.

My friend's desserts were colorful and artful but bland and untasty.

So yeah, I knew I'd be paying higher prices inside a museum, but I'd expect warm service and tasty food in return.  Bummer :(

I don't know if the guy at the counter was just trying to offload this particular pastry, or if it was a major money maker or if he just personally really loved it.  I prefer to think he genuinely, indeed, loved it and was thrilled that I had walked in when it was still warm.  It was a thing of beauty, if not to behold (pretty plain looking) but certainly wonderful to taste.  Hard to describe; a ring of pineapple on top, a maraschino cherry, and er... a sizeable round cake (enough for 2 people) that's deliciously crispy on the outside and very, very moist and dense on the inside?  Salvadoran pineapple rightside up cake?  I have no idea.

Anyway, the guy was both friendly and insistent that I try it, and since nothing else screamed "try me, try me!" I got it, and I'm happy I did.  Certainly among the best $2 (+tip) that I spent in SF :-)

Super delicious (and reasonably priced) pupusas.  Other food was good, but not outstanding for my taste.  Friendly but not especially attentive service.  Ample seating.  Parking a bit rough, but hey, that's SF I guess.  Entire meal for just over $10, and even with that, I took some home :o.  Can't beat that for happy value! :-)

What a gem!  I've greatly enjoyed other Philz I've been to, and this is no exception.  Wonderfully warm and helpful employees, a comfortable space, and right near ample street parking and a cute dog park!

Minus one star because my decaf coffee wasn't quite as perfect as I've had at other Philz locations; just a tad bitter this time.  But whenever I'm near that area, I'll definitely be back.  Might even buy one of their mugs, which give the bearers a large size for the price of a small :-)  Hooray for good deals and environmentally friendly proddings :D

My friend had only tea and I had just a decaf mocha, but our experience was quite nice.  Parking was a bit tight (and for-pay) across the street, but once inside, the place is rather chill with ample seating.  The woman who took our order was friendly and helpful, and my mocha was rich and creamy and very tasty.

I invited four friends to dine with me here, and thank goodness it was good friends, not a date, or I would have been absolutely mortified.  I can't mince words; the experience was simply awful.

We had two waitresses attending to us; for one, it was her first day, so it would be fair to cut her some slack.  The other one... maybe new'ish?  

But let's start with the food.

I've been to Japan (and eaten with local friends), I've also eaten very authentic Japanese food in Southern and Northern Califonia... and little of what I ate here resembled the varied, complex and delicious flavors I've enjoyed at fine Japanese restaurants.

For instance, I ordered pork belly.  It came with... a slice of pork belly in what pretty much seemed like a mostly-soy-sauce broth and one piece of bok choy.  My grilled salmon had a nice light miso glaze, but it came with a tiny piece of green pepper and an equally an even tinier dollop of absolutely flavorless stuff.  Pureed cucumber?  No one could tell by sight, smell, or taste.  And $17?!?  I've had delicious full salmon dinners for barely more than that.

But the kicker was my friend's tofu dish.  For $8, she got four very, very small pieces of tofu with a bit of sauce on top.  Tasty sauce, she said.  But about 42 cents worth of tofu, if that.  Not even enough for half an appetizer.

The sushi?  Yeah, I know this is not meant to be a sushi place, but with such sliver-sized pieces of fish, it was nonetheless a disappointment.

So okay, small portions for high prices and mediocre tasting food.  With completely lackluster presentation (seriously, would some colorful garnishes really add to the cost or labor substantially?!).  That would simply make it a meh kind of night.  

But let me tell you about the service.

Me:  "Can you tell me what's in a Big Roll?"
Her:  "Er, umm... no, don't know, sorry" and she left.

I was too gobsmacked to ask her to do the obvious ("Could you please check?").

In another instance, the waitress brought the wrong order to us twice (half the plate had sushi we hadn't ordered).  My one friend was about ready to start eating his (correctly given) sushi, and the other friend inquired about her still missing sushi.  The waitress looked dumbfounded and said she'd bring out the right order.  As she turned away, my friend interjected, "Uh, so these four pieces of sushi are complimentary?"  The waitress looked dumbfounded, so my friend repeated the question.  After another pregnant pause, she said, er, no... and then took the plate away (including my friend's correct sushi).

This is pretty much how the entire dinner went.  My friend's cucumber sushi took an enormous amount of time to arrive, and when it did, it came with ginger but no wasabi.  And so on.

*  *  *

Look, I can sympathize with a waitress when it's her first night.  But for crying out loud, pair her with someone experienced.  Or give the poor woman better training.   Or hire more waitresses so they're less harried.  

I guess others have had much better experiences at this place, but in the meantime, I think it's fair to provide some (seemingly much needed) balance to the reviews here.  I only hope that my situation was an aberration, and not part of a downward trend.

I've been delighted by Dr. Letsinger!   She takes the time to really listen and thoughtfully answer my questions, and has done an outstanding job informing me of pros and cons of various types of treatment.  Even better:  her guidance has led to excellent improvement in my skin issues... especially in areas where previous dermatologists have been stymied.

It makes me sad to give this place a decidedly mediocre review.  I love supporting Mom'n'pop-type places.  But the bottom line is that the food was depressingly bland; even the salsa was flat!

I ordered the following:
- Nachos with meat
- Enchilada plate w/ chile relleno, rice and beans
...and it came to $22 or so after tax.

I don't mind paying a premium for delicious Mexican or Tex-Mex food, but when visiting local taquerias I've typically enjoyed much more flavorful food, and at cheaper prices.  The only saving grace in this case was the generous portion sizes, though I actually threw away my leftovers rather than finish them for lunch today, so that should tell you something :(.

The customer service was mixed.  The young woman who took my order (and was also waiting on tables) was absolutely a sweetheart.  Professional, friendly, and efficient.  Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the owner (or whoever the manager was on duty).  I brought a $10-off-$15 http://Restaurant.com coupon and had planned to get the food to go since I wasn't feeling great and wanted to just hang out at home and watch movies.  But the (very embarrassed and apologetic) server informed me that the coupon was only good for dine-in orders.  Despite not listing this restriction on the coupon (as many other http://Restaurant.com participating restaurants do), the manager wasn't willing to budge, so -- without argument -- I paid the full amount.

That's just dumb.  Many of us use coupons like this to try out a place, and if we're delighted, we come back, bring friends, and pay full price.  Though due to the blandness of the food I wouldn't be back anyway in this case, such anti-customer actions probably annoy others and reduce income. :\

Meh. I'll note up front that I'm generally not super-crazy about French dip sandwiches, but I was willing to give this place a try based on the rave reviews.

- Prime Rib sandwich: perfect size (I'm full!), and the meat seemed like high quality. But flavorwise, it just tasted... sort of salty. And the bread was bland with just a mushy, non-descript texture.

- Onion rings: Flavorless and soggy and greasy.

- Root beer: When I heard they had their own signature brand of root beer, I was willing to give it a shot; I love root beer, but due to the high sugar content, I consider it a rare treat. Sadly, their root beer was nothing special... smooth, but just not very interesting. And artificial flavors? From a house brand? Really? :(

All in all, I won't be back.