Acquerello — Restaurant in San Francisco

Like many of the locals, Acquerello is a successful millennial, just a little over three decades old. It would have been cool to have seen this place before it was converted from a chapel. The history seems to linger with the look, feel, and smells of an older building with the dark wooden beams. We came to celebrate an anniversary with the $150 4-course prix fixe and the $95 wine pairing. We were seated in a cozy little corner and served fresh bread with salt flakes and perfectly wheel shaped pat of butter, which the server informed us is Clover butter. To start, we had a trio of amuse bouches - stuffed olives duck liver mousse, and what I believe were hamachi tarts and olive oil cakes. All were incredibly tasty, and the rest of the dishes were good, but actually did not have as much of an oomph.

Carpaccio of Hiramasa, melon, tapioca, fermented pepper - Great! Never thought I'd be eating raw fish with tapioca, but the textures work, similar to that of a poke bowl.

Rossotti Ranch vitelo tonnato, caper, Parmesan, olive - Great! Buttery raw slices of veal accompanied with a buttery parmesan cube, an olive and a caper spread.

Ridged pasta with faux "foie gras," black truffle, and Marsala - Great! I was most looking forward to the pasta dishes, which were rich and delicious, though not altogether amazing. I would not mistake the creamy sauce for 'faux foie gras' and the 'ridged pasta' resembled rigatoni to me. The black truffle was the best part. On a side note, they kept upselling the truffle, which was kept in an enclosed case. Every time they opened it, the wonderful aroma wafted throughout the restaurant.

Cocoa and oxtail ravioli, spiced peanut, crispy leeks - Good! The ravioli, shaped like ridged tartlets, were also rich and tasty, although it is rather on the sweet side. With each successive bite, the sweetness builds.

Liberty duck, sour cherry, fennel, smoked honey, black cardamom - Good! Very tender duck with golden brown skin (which could have been crispier) topped with salt flakes, and with crunchy fennel on the side. Sour cherry sauce also added to the sweetness of the meal.

Olive oil-poached black bass in saffron and shellfish broth, butter beans, prawn oil - Good! Tender, flaky bass and tasty broth. I actually could have done without the butter beans and the mussels, which were actually a tad overcooked.

Affogato - vanilla gelato, Guanajo chocolate, hazelnut, espresso - Great! I didn't expect much from a dish that is typically ice cream and espresso, but this exceeded my expectations. The bittersweet notes from the espresso, chocolate, hazelnut, and gelato were delicious. What put it over the top was actually the dessert wine our sommelier paired it with. It all came together perfectly.

Strawberry and pineapple pavlova, lime, mint - Good! This was beautifully plated and the custardy cream and strawberries were wonderful. I wasn't a fan of the candy-like tablets that topped the meringue structure.

Petit Fours - Ok! Also beautifully plated, but it didn't do it for me. Madeleines were a bit dense, and the jellies were too sweet.

Almond Biscotti - Great! Who doesn't love a take home treat, especially freshly baked almond biscotti? They went great with coffee the next morning.

Wine Pairing - Excellent! I can't remember what the wines were, but I remember each glass complemented the dishes so well. The aperitif, which I initially didn't like because it was so exceedingly sweet, was actually delicious with the espresso in the affogato.

Food was great, and service was even better, especially our charming sommelier. The wine pairing itself was actually what tied the entire meal together and made the...

Quick Summary For a 2 Michelin star restaurant, I was disappointed by the entrees from the Prix Fixe menu. The service and atmosphere/decor were impeccable. The pastries were fantastic as well. But expected more from the entrees

Food- 4 stars Starter course- the meal started with 3 starters: a raw oyster, a seaweed cracker, and I forgot the last starter. The oyster was fresh but there was a bit too much acidity in the sauce. The seaweed cracker was very good though

Blackcod- this first dish was pretty good. Fish was cooked perfectly and the sauce was phenomenal.

Carpaccio of Hiramasa- this was very good first dish as well. Plenty of flavors and glad to have some bread to dip in the rest of the sauce

Acquerello risotto- the second dish was the big hiccup for me. I decided to be more adventurous and ordered the risotto with the strawberry soffritto. It was an interesting take on the risotto, but there was way too much acidity on the dish and there were certain areas that were overly doused with balsamic glaze. It didn't make a good impression

Ridged pasta with faux "foie gras"- this second dish was good, but it was more of the rich ingredients of the truffle and foie gras that made the dish, rather than anything else that made it spectacular

Sea scallops- the meal steered to a better course with the third dish. The scallops were cooked perfectly and had plenty of flavor. Again, perhaps my expectations were too high, but there are many restaurants without Michelin stars that would have served a similar quality dish

Liberty duck- I would argue this was slightly better than the sea scallops. Duck breast was very juicy and cooked well. Sauce was very good as well

Strawberry and pineapple pavlova- the pavlova was very good and light. Would choose the chocolate mousse though as the better dessert

chocolate mousse and sea salt caramel- the pastries were on point. I've never tasted a chocolate mousse that had the perfect balance of sea salt. Each bite started with some salt to start the bite and also to end it. It's difficult to describe, but probably the best chocolate mousse I've tried

Final desserts- 4 final dessert dishes were offered to end our night. Each pastry was fantastic and so were the almond cookies given as a gift at the end of the night

Service- 5 stars Service was impeccable. Each waiter was fantastic throughout our entire experience. They even created a welcome card to celebrate our special occasion!

Bottom Line Perhaps it was higher expectations, but the risotto and the lack of awe in the first and third dishes left me wondering why Acquerello was a two-star restaurant. The pastries and service were fantastic, but still disappointed by...

This was my second time at Acquerello and it is definitely my last! In fact, I'm telling all my friends to keep away from it.

My first time dining at Acquerello was at a 75 Birthday Party in their private room and the first bite, of my first serving I had to send back as it was so salty. The rest of the meal was ok, but nothing special. I thought, oh well, an off night and it was for a larger gathering.

I returned again early July with 3 other persons and, again, I was disappointed. The service was good, but the food mediocre at best. Most of the items where rather tasteless. On top of being way overpriced for what you get, in our initial reservation (which you have to secure with $100 per person [I think this is ridiculous]) we stated that one of our guests was allergic to strawberries. When we arrived the maitre de asked about any food issues, we stated — strawberries. The waiter asked, again, we said one of our group was anaphylactically allergic to strawberries and then the server asked, yet another time. Well you guessed it, his duck entree was served with strawberries. Immediately, we complained. The side to this dish was changed, but not a new entree ... they simply removed the duck serving it with a different side. What really burned me was that no apology from the chef/owner and no overture was offered to compensate for their mistake. Then came the wine pairing bill of $1645 for what was, as I said above, a mediocre meal. On top of all this, the restaurant made it very clear in emails before we arrived that men needed to wear a sports coat and yet, of all the men in the restaurant that evening (about 9 or so) we were the only ones with coats and one man was sitting near us in a black t-shirt. So, if this is their policy, they should enforce it, but in my opinion all Acquerello cares about is $$$$ and living off their past glory. They don't deserve 1 MICHELIN star much less 2!

If you're looking for a good restaurant try Gary Danko or Birdsong. Whatever you do, stay away...