Heads up - this is a long one since we are writing about our entire weekend!
We went on a weekend trip to the “City By The Bay - Californ-I-A…a-yea,yea!” (as our tour bus driver called out every 5 minutes on the trip, haha.)
We scheduled the trip because neither of us had been before but also to indulge in all of the delicious food choices AND (our most important reason) cheering on our St. Louis Rams at Candlestick park!
We thought we would use this not only for restaurants but also the fun to-do’s that we decided to give a try.
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Our scoring scale for reference:1 - Never coming here again; 2 - Edible but lacks significant flavor; 3 - Just fine, nothing exciting or wrong; 4 - Delicious!; 5 - CANNOT MISS restaurant.Per person: $: $1-20; $$: $21-40; $$$: $41-60; $$$$: $61+
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December 2, 2011
We arrived at SFO and decided to take a taxi to our hotel, Serrano Hotel, near Union Square. We LOVED this hotel and would highly recommend it!
We checked in and hopped on the pre-purchased double-decker tour bus a few blocks from our hotel. (I would definitely recommend doing one if you have never been here before. Catch them at the right time of the year and you can get 2 days of travel for the price of one - we never used any other public transportation because of the tour buses!)
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Cafe de la Presse
Lunch
Score: 3 for food; 1.5 for service.
Price: $$
The food was just fine - typical French food with good flavor. The problem - the service was horrible! It took almost 45 mins to get our food to our table and we only got two small entres. Also note - it was not busy at all. We even had the server apologize to us 3 times - however, no manager came to our table and no one apologized when the food finally came out.
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Alcatraz (night tour)
Score: 5
Price: $$
AMAZING experience at night - highly recommend it! In winter the “night” tour is 4:20pm so you still have the evening after you are finished. Well worth the money! If you go at night though be very cognizant of the temperature drop - we both needed hat, gloves & scarf once the sun went down - the wind was rough on the water ride back.
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Fino
Dinner
Score: 4 so good!
Price: $$$
Overall great! We had gnocchi and risotto and both had perfect flavor and were cooked precisely. The waiter made a great wine selection as well!
We had tiramisu and cheesecake for dessert and almost all desserts are made in house. I would recommend both. We also had a delicious Honig wine with dinner - we would recommend that as well.
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December 3, 2011
Honey, Honey
Score: 2.5
Price: $
We had the crab cake florentine & a strawberry/banana/kiwi crepe - neither were very good. The crab cake was fine - did have flavor. The crepe came recommended and was BLAND. As well, it took 30 mins to come out - after people that ordered after us received their food I asked about ours and it finally came out. It tasted like it has been under the hot lamp for a while. Worth a try, as the menu looked fun, but we will not be going back.
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Walt Disney Museum
Score: 4
Price: $ (our tour bus tickets got us a $3/person discount!)
Really fun for Disney lovers! It was really fun to see Walt’s dream recreated. In usual Disney style, the museum takes you to another world full of imagination! Highly recommend for Disney lovers.
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Cha Cha Cha (In Haight & Ashbury area)
Score: 3.5 - really good on some plates (4’s) and just ok on others (3’s)
Price: $
Chicken curry empanada - Just ok - good and different but not amazing
Pepper and goat cheese sandwich - also delicious!
Plantain fries - different and yummy!
Guac and chips - actually quite good and obviously homemade - big chunks of avacado
It has a super fun atmosphere and we would recommend coming here. When we come back I will probably ask the server for their favorites. That is typically a win-win situation.
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Chutney
So this restaurant is on the outer cusp of the “Tenderloin” (bad area of San Fran) but is worth the trip! And is actually ok to walk to - we would not recommend alone - but it is safe enough. We would definitely recommend this restaurant if you are close and craving Indian.
Score: 4
Price: $
Paneer Tikka Masala - delicious and flavorful!
Gobi Gosht - Really good! Flavor was delicious and cooked quite well.
Naan & Papadam - Good - nothing really to report
Chicken tandoori - Good flavor, cooked well (can’t really mess this up)
Mango lassi - really good, a bit thin, but good flavor
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December 4, 2011
Dottie’s True Blue Cafe (Diners, Drive-ins and Dives recommendation)
Score: 3.75 (Lindsay gives it 3.5, Russell a 4)
Price: $
Definitely good for a diner breakfast - but the line is super long so BE PREPARED.
Bread pudding (yes, we had dessert before our meal)
Meal: Coffee cake (HUGE piece, we couldn’t finish it); home style potatoes; Whisky sausage and mushroom scramble
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Scoma
Score: 4
Price: $$$
Seafood and delicious! We started with their Lobster Bisque - it was very good, but not the best we have had. I would get it if you like bisque though! Lindsay was not feeling well so she did not get any food but Russell got the fresh garlic roasted Dungeness Crab, whole. The garlic roasted was delicious however, when we go back we will probably get the regular whole Dungeness Crab.
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December 5, 2011
Go Bistro (in the SFO airport southwest terminal)
Score: 3.5
Price: $
Chinese Chicken Salad & Thai Shrimp and Pineapple Fried Rice
Both were quite good! We were impressed for an airport restaurant as well as the rest of the menu. We will probably go back whenever we are in SFO.
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Thank you for sharing our journey to San Fran! Happy New Year!
Russell & Lindsay Smith
LOVE FOOD. ENJOY LIFE.
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