Dalida, San Francisco

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Dalida 101 Montgomery St Suite 100 San Francisco, CA 94129 (415) 237-1999 Dalida Website

Dalida is a Modern Mediterranean Restaurant in San Francisco’s Presidio. Dalida gets its name from a few places. In Polish-Yiddish it means dahlia, the official flower of San Francisco, but its also chef’s mother’s name. The food is a little Turkish, a little Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Arabic and Persian. The couple also runs the Mexican Restaurant Maria Isabel.  The chef Sayat Oyzilmaz worked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and joined the Le Bernardin. He’s probably best known around SF in working at Noosh and leaving. (Yes we ate there when they were cooking) The food is geared towards eating family style.

Dalida is divided into 2 areas, dining room and bar on one side. Open kitchen with counter and communal seating on the other. They tried to put us in the communal area even with a reservation on our first visit. The 2nd visit we ate in the dining room in 2026. Lunch on a Tuesday was pretty full.

Food is exciting, not the usual fare you are used to seeing. Good place to eat with a larger party so you can sample more dishes.

Service was fair. Waiter was not that up on the food and could not handle dietary restrictions well. He annouced the dish we order didn’t work, seconds before it arrived..
Long pause before entrees arrived.

Safety Pluses – Online menu, outdoor dining.

Food Review:

Breaking Bread ($18) Hummus, muhammara, smoked yogurt, pickles, marinated olives, chubby pita is one of those starters that most will order. Nice smooth hummus and a bit sweet muhammara. The pita was warm and soft. 9/10

Kibbe ($18) was more meaty than expected. Spiced meat with nuts in a crispy bulgur wheat, Tahini sauce on the side. Deep fried goodness hot out of the oven. 8.5/10

Cypriot Lamb chops ($35) wrapped in ground lamb were lovely. Not sure why the waiter tried to steer us to chicken! Give me a break. Juicy, tender with a stripe of hummus on the plate. 9/10

Mt Lassen Trout ($41) was a fillet that was grilled. It still had a couple bones but proved to be perfectly cooked. Nice bed of couscous too. 10/10

Iberico Pork Souvlaki ($19) Fresh Iberico jowl, crispy potatoes, mustard sauce had a nice skewer of pork belly. Some chunks were 75% fat. Thinly sliced potatoes. 8/10

Steamed Corn Masa in Grape Leaves ($26) Stewed beluga lentils, apricot charoset sauce brings together the chefs background with a vegetarian Mexican tamale-like item filled with Middle eastern oriented ingredients. 8.5/10

Saffron Tahdig ($14) is a Persian rice dish with barberries that we have never tried. Crisp crust on top. 7.5/10

Roasted Cauliflower ($11) Harissa spices was bit on the spicy side and not a big portion 8/10

Char-Broiled rice pudding ($12) Smoked caramel sauce is a cold dessert that is just okay. 7/10

Marash Style ice cream chocolate ($8) was recommened by the chef and is really good. Stretchy, Eggless. Not very sweet, smooth. Huge portion enough for 2. Highly recommended. We’ve tried Chocolate, and sour cherry. 10/10

Warm Irmik Helvase Cobbler ($14) was a great cobbler. A bit on the sweet side. Nice smooth goat milk ice cream. 9.5/10

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