Bar Crudo — Restaurant in San Francisco

I had the most awesome dinner here lately.

I came here to celebrate my belated birthday with a girlfriend. I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting much. When I first arrived, my expectations were more or less met... I was the first to arrive so I was pointed towards a standing table with a drink menu, yet no one came to take my drink order for about 10 minutes. As someone finally walked over, my friend arrived, and we were taken to our table.

We ended up ordering a bottle of Albariño, the crudo sampler, the San Sebastian, and the roasted crab, though we were seated for perhaps another 10 minutes before someone arrived to take our order.

Albariño: fruity but dry, really nice pairing with almost every dish we ordered

Crudo sampler for two: the scallop with soubise, pickled corn, chili, and chive blossom was the perfect start of this sampler. Super fresh, a bit spicy, some pop from the pickled corn, some creaminess from the soubise and fat from the olive oil. A really perfect bite, especially for scallops, which are messed up far too often. The second sample was butterfish with grapefruit, almond, pink pepper, and rosemary oil. It was tasty, but not as good as the first. The third was tombo tuna with citrus, chili, fennel, and black tobiko. It was a bit fattier than the first two, with some salt and crunch from the roe and a bit of spice from the chili. This one grew on me the more I ate it. The last was great though, arctic char with horseradish créme fraiche, wasabi tobiko, and dill. It was super fatty, with subtle spice from the wasabi tobiko to cut through the fat and the dill paired perfectly. Almost like a sophisticated lox and cream cheese! If I come back, I'll definitely stick to this one and the scallop.

San Sebastian: tuna confit with romano beans, roasted red peppers, soft boiled egg, castelvetrano olives, caperberries, piparras, manchego, and tomato bread. Not too dissimilar from a Nicoise salad, but really delicious. Almost unexpectedly so. Each ingredient was perfect and strong on its own, but they all came together in a perfect combination as well. The bread was spicy with a nice char. The tuna was perfectly confit, and the whole dish was simple and fresh, with just a bit of olive oil to accentuate flavors.

Roasted crab: with chili oil, fennel, and lemon. The sauce on the crab was awesome, spicy and peppery and perfect for dipping bread in. The crab was nicely roasted, flavorful, and easy to crack and eat. The fennel gave a nice finish against the oil.

We finished with a caramel truffle, which was outrageously good and the perfect size to finish the meal without being too rich or overwhelming. Despite the weird/lazy service, it was a fantastic meal and I'm excited...

We were party of 4. Our waiter was rude and slow. So at the end of the service we weren’t happy automatic 20% tip was included. We were gonna pay like 10% after $411 total. The restaurant manager kept insisting it’s a normal to add 20% automatic tips even though we were only 4 people. We explained to the manager the server was kind of rude and service was slow, after that she agreed to take 20% charge out of our tab. We left 20$ tip (about 5%) but the waiter harassed us to the street. Had a horrible experience and ruined double date that night. I just found out the restaurant still charged my card 20% tip. Now I have to call my bank to correct that. Lucky for me I took the photo of my receipt. I also found out they added tips before the tax. All around scam master restaurant, don’t go there… food wasn’t that great either.

UPDATE: About a week after this review, Bar Crudo reached out by email. The owner told me that after their own investigation the waiter was let go and they also refunded $60 from our bill and told me he is sending a gift certification as well. I appreciate the owner reaching out. After a good gesture by the owner, I feel like it was more of an isolated incident by a grumpy waiter that night. I've changed my rating from one star to three star now. I hope the restaurant learned their lessons and emphasis on a good customer service...

Date night for me and my lady! We've been following them for a while now on social media, and decided to take the trip out to the city (from the east bay) for a seafood centric dinner!

Made a reservation the day before (I think) for an 8:30 arrival on a friday, and still plenty of time to eat, even with them closing at 10. But get there early, parking is atrocious, especially in the area.

Started with beer and champagne. Got a half dozen order of our favorite Kumamoto oysters. Little bit of lemon, hot sauce and you're golden (they have tobasco, even tho we fancy crystals better!) we then continued with a dozen Kumamoto oysters, which disappeared faster then they came out.

We ordered one of the 4 Crudos, halibut pineapple I'd like to say? Tasted amazing, and the edible flowers made the dish!

We then finished with tacos and Tostadas. 2 crispy cod tacos, 1 grilled prawn, 1 Hokkaido Scallop Tostada and 1 Dungeness crab Tostada. All super flavorful in their own right!

Our waitress could tell we liked spicy (we have an exotic pepper farm) so she brought out their house made habanero salsa, which paired perfectly with each dish, adding just the right amount of spicy.

We didn't ask about dessert, so can't speculate. Overall though, was a great 1st time experience, and would highly recommend for an...