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.

Izakaya Mai is a Japanese Izakaya or Japanese drinking establishment that also serves food. They are more small plate oriented restaurants. This restaurant has an extensive drink menu.
This restaurant is located in the downtown San Mateo area that has Japanese restaurants on almost every block. Japanese people run it so it must be authentic. The menu is full of translation errors.

Decor, Vibe - Pretty small cramped restaurant with sushi bar, traditional seating, and regular seating. Pictures all over the walls. Most asians in their 20’s to 40’s were eating. Some families. There were people waiting most of the time for tables.

Menu Pictures

Dinner Menu

Fried & Boiled?

Grill menu?

Specials Board

Picks:

Hamachi Kama ($10.50) - Classic yellow tail collar was tender and delicious. Came with dipping sauce.

Pork Sausage ($5.50) had 6 small hot dog like sausages that looked terrible but tasted good. Includes a Japanese mustard that looks like peanut butter.

Oden ($6.50) had several kinds of fish cakes and an egg. Home style delicious dish.

OK:

Kushi Yakitori ($4.50) was 2 skewers of chicken with teriyaki sauce. Average, nothing special here.

Chicken wing ($4.50) was 3 small pieces of grilled chicken. It was flavorful and tender but pretty burned

Homemade Stewed Pork ($5.75) had 3 pieces of pork that were stewed and then grilled. Fairly average dish.

Baked Squid Tail ($5.75) had lots of quantity but was a little salty and very chewy.

Tekka ($3.95) had pretty fresh tuna in the middle.

California Roll ($3.95) was a pretty average implementation of the classic.

Pans:
None

Izakaya Mai had fair service, slightly above average but the server did not come by that often. The food was fair, not great, but the diversity allowed us to try a lot of different dishes.

This is better and more authentic than O Izakaya Lounge in San Francisco’s Japantown area. It is a welcome change to the usual Japanese fare that is served elsewhere. Frankly nothing wowed us, this place might be best for a quick bowl of Champon noodles and an adult beverage. It is also open late. We have to try Saizo in Sunnyvale and Gochi sometime.

As with most other small plate places, prices can add up quickly, but the fun is in trying different items.

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Gitane Restaurant and Bar is a “modern, funky, and artistically bold restaurant” in downtown San Francisco in a hidden alley. It focuses on Basque small plates or tapas. They have a large beautiful bar area, outdoor seating, and upstairs dining room.

Beautiful Bar

Upstairs Dining area

Decor, Vibe - Modern, eclectic feel with lots of interesting colors and textures. Mostly people in their 20’s to 50’s were dining. Lots of yuppies in the bar.

Menu Pictures

Website Menu

Picks:

Eggplant asada ($10) sliced grilled eggplant, chilled and rolled with herbed goat cheese, arugula salad, balsamic reduction had 4 decent sized pieces of eggplant on top of a small salad. Quality and freshness was good.

Cordero natural lamb foreshank ($27), braised in tempranillo red wine, orange zest, coriander, with baked polenta was one big piece of tender lamb. Still a gamey but the meat came right off the bone. Polenta was too salty.

San sebastian Cocktail ($9) sagatiba cachaça, fresh lime juice, lemon, mandarin, & grapefruit slices was a potent balance drink. Not too sweet or fruity.

OK:

Ribs ($12) hill natural baby back pork ribs, honey-soy glaze, brussel sprout leaves, parsnip puree, crisped serrano ham was just too lukewarm. Sauce was not special.

Espinaca ($5) sauteed spinach, pine nuts, golden raisins was an average spinach dish.

Pans:
None

Gitane Restaurant and Bar is a very stylish and fun place. The food is average, nothing amazing. We would recommend going here for drinks and a couple small plates. Bigger meals get pricey, causing value to severely erode.