Jack Falstaff
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: (415) 836-9239
- Price:
- $$$$
- Hours:
- Mon-Thu 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-10pm, Fri 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-11pm, Sat 5:30pm-11pm
Editorial Review for Jack Falstaff – by Joanna Currier
The Scene
A modern sage and black dining room features a low ceiling, white tablecloths and brushed steel seating set against padded, ultrasuede walls. In front, a heated concrete patio provides an urbane setting for cocktails or al fresco group dining. Within, soft booths for two can be curtained off for privacy. A petite metallic bar flanks the entrance. Accomplished black-clad servers deliver the goods, but pacing is a problem here; the flavors of one plate may be long forgotten by the time the next arrives.
The Food
Chef Jonnatan Leiva plays with pedigreed seasonal ingredients, and some dishes are quite memorable. Charcuterie includes a light, flavorful guinea hen terrine paired with young, pickled vegetables and teardrop dollops of mustard and cherry marmalade. Dungeness crab and Maine lobster salad is made innovative with paprika-doused summer beans and baby plums. Leiva nails complex fish dishes but his meats, such as the angus beef duet, are less stunning. Desserts can be outstanding. Case in point: the intricate, winning deconstructed banana split.
Hits: Playful, expressive desserts and a fabulous wine list are reason alone to come here.
Misses: Inconsistent service with an overwhelmed air can leave diners feeling shunned, even when the place is sparsely filled.
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Insider Tips
Save MoneyNo need to decide between the house mark-up or the bring-your-own corkage fee. The wine list, with an emphasis on the organic and bio-dynamic, features retail pricing.
Where to SitOn a date? Nestle into one of the semi-private booths.
User Reviews for Jack Falstaff
01/26/2008 Posted by ebayfoodie
A friend and I came here for Dine-About-Town on a Friday night and enjoyed a wonderful meal accompanied by superb service. I don't know if the owner has been reading all the bad reviews regarding service and decided to implement changes or what, but all of the staff from the hostess to the busboys were courteous, pleasant, and professional. Our water glasses never had a chance to near half empty, all plates arrived in a timely fashion, the table was cleared efficiently after each course, and not once did we feel rushed. In fact on several occasions, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed our server quickly return to the kitchen with our next dish when he observed that we still had some remaining food on our current plates. Additionally, the chef even sent out complimentary samples of a cauliflower panna cotta topped with a red chile powder and watercress which I found innovative and flavorful. All of the servers seemed well-informed about the food (we ordered additional items outside the DAT menu) and provided details regarding the ingredients as they set the dishes before us - very nice touch. Overall the food was good. A few items such as the potato leek soup and chocolate ganache cake w/sundae were not memorable, but the black truffle & ricotta pasta, maple chicken, and sorbets were stand outs. And I don't even like sorbets! The beet salad was a nice mix of flavors, but the burrata was definitely not up to par with others I've tried, e.g. Mozza in LA, and the Cheeseboard in Berkeley. Definitely a restaurant worth trying at least once.
Pros: service, patio seating for sunny days
04/16/2007 Posted by mc_sfo2004
Setting: quiet and comfortable, lighting pleasant Service: weak - inattentive server, bread arrives halfway through dinner, then butter only after requested. Waitstaff attempted to clear table before courses were finished Food: Salad of vegetables and Greens was attractive except for odd choice of muscatel vinegar for the dressing. Tasted more or funky wine than vinegar. Vegetable composition could have been helped with more color variety for visual appeal; Steak tartare: tasty but plain.. offer some capers or minced onion on the side and fresh cracked pepper Dinner: Guinea Hen was moist but the accompanying side of tabbouleh, tomatoes and cippolini onions was bad - very odd seasoning and too salty. Wine list was very good. A lot of nice choices at appealing price points. Overall, I would not go back. For the price, there is much better in town.
Pros: Pleasant and quiet seating area
Cons: Indifferent table service; badly seasoned sides ruin entrees
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