54 Mint Cucina Romana — Restaurant in San Francisco

It has been a long time since I have been so disappointed in a dining experience, but perhaps it is because my expectations were so high, perhaps too high. San Francisco has an extremely competitive restaurant scene, so I was surprised at the lack of customer service. The attitude seemed to be, "You are lucky we agreed to accept your reservation, and you'll be lucky we deign to make your plates, so show us how appreciative you are that you get the pleasure of dining here." It started as soon as we arrived. I was with a group of older diners, many of whom had walked a long distance to the restaurant. Those who drove were visible at the end of the street, but the restaurant would not seat our party until all had arrived. Again, the others could be seen at the end of the street walking toward us, but we could not be seated, "per restaurant policy." And, we were among the first people there as soon as they opened for dinner. No other seated tables were visible. We requested outdoor seating, and they honored that. Again, NO OUTDOOR PARTIES had been seated but us when a member of our party asked if we could move to the exact same sized table closer to the heater. We were told we could not that "All tables have been assigned tonight, and this was our assigned table." It was Valentine's Day, and the restaurant had a pre-fixed menu; however, the website clearly stated that an a la carte menu would be available on request. When a member of our party asked to see it, we were first told no, they were doing pre-fix. Then when they saw my phone which was open to the "a la carte available on request" page, we were told, "I'll ask management if we can get one for you, but only one person from the table could order from it." A member of our party asked if they could start with a small green side salad as it helps with their digestion. Again, they were told the pre-fixe doesn't have any salads. When our party protested it helped the person's digestion, we were told, "No, I'm sorry. The kitchen won't make any salads tonight." Several in our party ordered cocktails. Might I suggest that they get either smaller glasses or smaller cubes. Their cubes are large squares, and the cocktail does not even reach the top of the ice. When one member asked if their cocktail could be made so that it at least reached the top of the cube, we were informed that every cocktail is exactly 3 ounces, no more, no less. For my first course, I had the meatballs, and they were phenomenal. The broth was so good, I ate it like soup. For my 2nd course, I opted for the seafood. This was a mistake. My lobster had clearly been under the heatlamp or left out too long. It was very dry, and two of my shelled items were completely empty of morsel. The sauce/broth was the best part of the dish. Another at our table got the beef cheek dish, and almost 3/4 of it was inedible fat. We were told that all their cuts are the absolute best available. No apology, no "let us bring you another." Their dish was perfect as is. We were there for a birthday, so when they brought dessert, they had ice cream on the plate of the birthday person. Another member of our party asked if they might have a small scoop as well, and, no surprise here, were told, "No. Ice cream is not on the pre-fixe menu." The food was disappointing (dry lobster, fatty beef cheek) and certainly not worth the cost in my opinion, but this could have been a 3-star review had it not been for the service, which remains some of the worst I have ever received in any restaurant but particularly in highly competitive...

I travel to SF for work often, when in the city I love to explore new italian restaurants and I’m always looking forward to finding new top spots with the best tasting food I can find around me. Today after researching restaurants in the city I though - 54 Mint would be the best choice around me. When I arrived I was told by the hostess that the restaurant was fully booked for the night, and they will not have tables or bar space available at all for the night. Even though I looked around and saw 5 empty chairs at the bar and some tables available, but sure the hostess said it’s was all booked. I left, decided to call a bit after and the hostess answers. I asked if there’s a table or space at the bar available but this time I said for 2 people, She said in about 30 to 45min I should have space. So I walked around for that amount of time even though there was actually space at the bar and tables then I returned. When I arrived again I said , I called, and you said there should be space in about 45 minutes. So I’m trying to seat at the bar please, this time not really asking and demanding it because I would’ve have probably been turn down again if I just nicely asked like I did the first time. She was again looking at me like “I told you there was no space?!” I still see open spaces at the bar but she says let me go check for you, comes back around and finally seats me. I haven’t even ate and already had this hard time basically being profiled and lied to by the hostess because the way I looked or choose to dress, my skin color or tattoos. Whatever reason she might’ve had. I was very hungry so I went ahead and ordered. The drinks were probably best, the food was ok, but not the elevated meal I was expecting for the price. After I finished I’m being hurried by the bartender now, I order another drink and then asked for the desert menu. I ordered my desert to-go, and it comes accompanied by the check even though I still have a full cocktail in front of me. But I’m like “ok cool” here’s my card and pay, but find the action once again out of place. The pre-selected tip percentage includes tax and other fees as well. I still decided to leave 20% of the subtotal because I’ve work at many restaurants before and actually know how much stress and a tough job it can be. I keep drinking my cocktail, sign the receipt, then place it between myself and the cocktail. Bartender comes by, put his hands in and grabs it then lets the hostess know he now has more space at the bar to seat people. I’m like sure I haven’t even finished my drink but whatever I’m done with this terrible treatment, so I chugged the whole thing and left. I do not leave reviews often, I actually hate losing my time like this instead would’ve rather had enjoyed the experience and food which was the reason I came here for. But I feel like these weird individuals need to get it straight and watch who they pick and choose. On top of everything it’s more expensive than some better restaurants I’ve tried in the city before actually worth those prices but they’re actually cheaper. Do yourself a favor, and instead go to Lupa Trattoria - Wild Boar Ragu and Lasagna are Amazing, and incredibly cheaper not affecting quality whatsoever. Vega - Boscaiola is my favorite but all the other options are very much amazing as well. Terrible Experience here…Thank You for nothing… Shame on this place....

This was a bit of a disappointment. I grew up outside of Rome so I’m quite familiar with Roman cuisine. I found the food here uninspiring and frankly in some way amateurish.

The menu claims that the pasta is “extruded daily” on premises. The bucatini all’amatriciana I had for dinner definitely looked and tasted store bought. Bucatini are like thick spaghetti with a tiny hole in the middle, so they are a bit difficult to make in small quantities without dedicated equipment. Maybe this was the exception but the menu didn’t mention it. First disappointment, but I can get over it. The amatriciana sauce was fine but I have to say it was way too rich and overwhelming. Too spicy (contrary to common American belief, Italian cuisine is mostly very mild) and too oily (yes, Italians are obsessed with digestion and often consider rich foods to be “too heavy” or “hard to digest” or causing heartburn; although that’s true, looking for the right balance between rich and delicate flavors is something Italian chefs excel at, and at which this dish failed). The cheese they put on top didn’t look or taste like authentic pecorino to me. The guanciale was good but being smothered in oil made for an unpleasant experience . This was another disappointment.

Next I ordered the broccolini. Italians are very specific when it comes to cooking vegetables, especially things like broccolini or broccoli rabe. The expectation is for the broccolini to be firm but not hard and flavored with enough olive oil and maybe a bit of garlic and hot pepper flakes (not for heat, for flavor). At least that’s the most common way to prepare them in my experience. The broccolini I had here were way too hard and grossly under seasoned, so much so that I drizzled additional olive oil on top. No garlic nor pepper flakes that I could see or taste. On top of that, this type of green usually has a bitter or unpleasantly spicy (to an Italian) taste, which can be easily corrected by blanching them for a few minutes before sautéing them. This had clearly not been done. So the texture was off and the flavor was both uninspiring and unpleasant. That’s the third disappointment. I also ordered the bread basket which was fine.

My main issue here probably has to do with marketing: the food here falls short of being Roman or even generic Italian cuisine (maybe unless compared to a tourist trap in the heart of Rome). I am probably not the right audience for this but I really hope people don’t walk out of this place thinking that they have had good Italian food. You haven’t. This is at best an OK Italian adjacent food experience. And it was a bit pricey for...