Frascati is a Mediterranean style bistro neighborhood restaurant on Russian Hill in San Francisco. Since 1987 this place has been serving it up. It has some of the highest ratings on Yelp.

Decor, Vibe - Small corner building with 3 inter mingled levels. This place has neighborhood charm and had lots of locals in their 30’s to 50’s eating. The hostess knew many of those dining.

Menu Pictures

Dessert menu

Big Wine list

Wine by Glass

Picks:

Russet Potato Gnocchi ($10) with butternut squash, black trumphet mushrooms, melted leeks and white truffle oil was very good. Good portion of tender gnocchi, cooked just right.

Maple Leaf Duck Breast ($26) with herb spatzle arugula, hearts of palm salad, scallions and huckelberry sauce was cooked to a requested medium rare. The top duck piece had a crispy skin. Cooked just right and tasted wonderful, one of the better duck’s around.

Osso Buco Milanese ($27) with saffron scented risotto, carmelized leeks, baby spinach, citrus gremolata was very tender and full of flavor. They even give you a spoon for the bone marrow. The risotto was even better.

Roast Cauliflower Soup ($8) with cauliflower salad and Basil oil was very good, smooth and creamy, but not too heavy. Oil gave it a nice accent.

Apple Cobbler ($8) with vanilla bean ice cream was hot out of the oven. Pretty big size and decent quality. Good ice cream.

OK:

Duck Confit Salad ($10) with baby spinach, red onion, dried cherries, gorgonzola, and balsamic vinagrette was a good salad but very meaty. Dressing was also on the heavy side. Get it if you like duck and are not getting the duck breast for an entree.

Blue Nose Bass Livornese ($25) with tomato, chiles, arugula, potatoes, white anchovy and black trumpet salsa was a fair dish. Fish was not cooked as well as it could have been. The tomato pairing did not work well.

Pans:
None

Frascati had above average service with servers around most of the time. Quality was high as were prices. This is not an everyday neighboorhood eatery unless you are very wealthy.
While the food is very good, we feel it does not reach the level of the top tier restaurants in the city. If you are looking for a quaint romantic neighborhood place, this is a good place to dine at. This place reminds me of Chapeau!, a quaint neighborhood place in the outer Richmond, which has better food.

The bathroom has to be one of the all time smallest around.

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Overall Rating:

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Food Rating:
Service Rating:
Atmosphere Rating:
Value Rating:

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Fair/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:	Beer, Wine
Attire:	Dressy
Hours:	Mon-Sat 530-945pm, Sun 530-9pm
Parking:	Street
Reservations:	Yes
Prices:	$20 - $28

Frascati 1901 Hyde St (At Green) San Francisco, CA 94109 415-928-1406 Website

Viognier Restaurant is named after a grape grown in France. We tried lunch and dinner here. The menu changes seasonally. We had not eaten here for a while, so it was time to rekindle our memories.
Dinner is a prix fix 3 to 5 course meal where you can select any course including 3 entrees.

Cocktail

Decor, Vibe - Rustic decor with stylish art and a large open kitchen. It is a power lunch place with lots of well dressed business people. At dinner on a Sunday night it was pretty barren.

Menu Pictures

Dinner Menu

Extensive Wine List

Website Menu

Picks:

Steak Frites ($21 Lunch) New York steak, Homemade Fries, Bearnaise Aioli had a bunch of fries and a small piece of high quality meat that was cooked correctly.

Warm Scallop and Prawn Salad ($20 Lunch) with baby spinach, avacado, bacon, Sherry Dijon Vinagrette. It only had 2 of each tasty shellfish. Dressing was a little too creamy.

Main Lobster Salad (Dinner) with apples, persimmons, walnuts came with lots of tender lobster. The fruit balanced out the lobsters very well.

Seared Yellowfin Tuna (Dinner) with farro, lemon, watercress, extra virgin olive oil was delicious. The tuna was fresh and cut very well. All ingredients worked well together.

Seared Duck Breast (Dinner) with Huckleberry Jus, Happy boy farms Turnips was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Tender meat and crispy skin made for a very good dish. Could have used more huckleberry sauce.

Grilled Prime Beef Strip Loin (Dinner) with Kennebee potato hash, garlic spinach, piquillo pepper sauce was done to a nice medium rare. Good quality meat with good flavor made this a good pick.

Line Caught Halibut (Dinner) with shitake, pistachio, lemon brown butter emulsion was cooked just right. It is hard to cook fish perfectly, but they did it. Very good sized portion.

Souffled Pumpkin Cheesecake (Dinner) with maple baked kabocha, toasted pepitas, Candied ginger was inventive as it was more like a cake with cheese cake flavor. Interesting and still very good.

OK:

Wild Mushroom Soup ($10 Lunch) was average, not creamy but nothing special.

Organic Baby Field Greens ($9 Lunch) was a pretty standard salad with good quality greens.

Pans:
None

Service was decent especially seeing how empty the place was during lunch. There are not a lot of alternatives for high end dining in San Mateo, making this one of the best bets. Prices are on the high side but quality rivals many places in San Francisco charging more.

Complimentary Cookies

Viognier Restaurant is know for their extensive 1700+ bottle wine collection. Glasses start at $8, bottles from $23, $25 Corkage.

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Overall Rating:

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Food Rating:
Service Rating:
Atmosphere Rating:
Value Rating:

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Fair/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:	Full Bar
Attire:	Dressy
Hours:	Daily 11:30am-2:30pm, 530-9pm
Parking:	Street
Reservations:	Yes
Prices:	$14 - $21 (Lunch) $55 - $85 (Dinner)

Viognier Restaurant 222 E 4th Ave San Mateo, CA 94401 650-685-3727 Website

Waterbar is a seafood restaurant located strategically on the San Francisco waterfront. It has extra ordinary views and is next door to the steakhouse restaurant Epic Roasthouse. They are both part of the vast Kuleto Restaurant empire.
The chef Mark Franz also runs Farallon and Nick’s Cove. Waterbar has several meat entrees forced to come here. The use local and sustainable seafood.

Decor, Vibe - Pat Kuleto is a master restaurant designer and has created 175 restaurants including Boulevard, Jardinere and many other restaurants. This place has several impressive floor to ceiling aquariums which add to the dynamic atmosphere. Views are fantastic, even better than next door. Folks from their 30’s to 60’s were dining. Many larger parties. Business people after work were hanging out in the beautiful bar area.

Menu Pictures

Website Menu

Picks:

Platter of Oysters ($2.75 each) - We had a variety of oysters, all were fresh and came with dipping sauces. It is funny the oysters are cheaper next door.

Geoduck Ceviche ($16) with Dashi custard, uni, shaved celery tasted incredibly good but was super tiny. Quality over quantity.

OK:

Yellowtail Jack ($33) looked great but was just average in taste. It was not cooked very well. The portion size was decent.

Roasted Heirloom Potatoes ($8) were plentiful but small.

Spigairello Kale ($6) was a little watery but tasted fine.

Pans:

Pressed Main Lobster ($65) with cauliflower gratin, natural juices was super expensive and came to us almost cold. The meat tasted fine. Should have sent it back.

We complained and they comp’d us some delicious cookies and truffles.

Waterbar service was above average but could have been more attentive for such an expensive place. They have a 4% service surcharge for health care. The food is good, but we feel that there are many cheaper places with superior seafood. Hopefully they will work on the food.
Obviously prices are inflated by the expensive architecture and the views. Wine starts at $9 a glass with corkage a high $25. A cheaper option to see the incredible view would be to hit the incredible bar for some oysters or cocktails and dessert.

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Overall Rating:

Come Back?

Food Rating:
Service Rating:
Atmosphere Rating:
Value Rating:

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Fair/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:	Full Bar
Attire:	Dressy
Hours:	Daily 530-10pm, Mon-Sun 1130am-2pm
Parking:	Paid Valet, Street
Reservations:	Yes
Prices:	$28 - $65

Waterbar 399 The Embarcadero San Francisco, CA 94105 415-284-9922 Website