Chez Maman East — Restaurant in San Francisco

Based on several recent very positive reviews, decided to stop by Chez Maman East for lunch at 11:30am on a Wednesday. Free (2 hours) parking is available on all nearby streets which was not too difficult to find. Overall, we were quite pleased with the quality of the food and service at this locally popular restaurant. Immediately upon arrival, we were warmly greeted and service provided by our French server was very friendly and efficient. She was very familiar with the menu and gave us some very good suggestions. It was enjoyable to speak with her in French about France and San Francisco.

Appetizers: Baked camembert with roasted garlic was very rich and tasty – what is really nice is that the roasted garlic is placed on the side leaving the customer to decide exactly how much (if any) garlic to spread on the toast. Assiette de merguez with harissa and mixed green salad was absolutely delicious. Best merguez we've ever tasted anywhere.

Salads: Endives, pears and roquefort was crunchy fresh and delicious with just the right amount of a very tasty balsamic vinaigrette.

Entrees: Roasted duck confit with port reduction was perfectly cooked, tasty and delicious. Unfortunately, both the green beans and potatoes gratin were perfectly cooked but covered with too much garlic making it difficult to eat. The pan-seared petrale sole Meuniere was super tasty, tender and delicious – it was served hot which I really appreciated. The accompanying cauliflower puree and charred romanesco was also tasty and delicious – I couldn't have been happier with this entree!

As we were finishing off our after-meal espressos, one of the chef/owners stopped by our table and since my wife is from France, we had a very nice conversation following our 5 star meal. Next time we are in San Francisco, this will be on the top of our list of...

Chez Maman is setting the bar quite high for french food. The service. The ambiance. The food. It is definitely not a surprise why Chez Maman has been around for 20 years, and the crowd for dinner is still not dwindling!

The outdoor patio is perfect for day and night. The natural lighting of the day and the dim heat lamps of the night definitely set the vibe for a cute date, friend hangout, family meal, or business occasion. The servers are very attentive at all times. They made sure all of our needs are taken care of and consistently checked in with us. The table near us celebrated their birthday, and the staff helped the family surprised the birthday boy. WHAT A VIBE~

We shared the French Onion Soup, Escargots, Les Moules with Fries, and Duck Confit for 2 people. We both thought the french onion soup would be heavy by the look of it, but it really wasn't. YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY GET IT. The escargots were fresh, imo. and the fries... I CANT STOP EATING THEM,,, yet the MAIN PLAYER is DUCK CONFIT. when you cut into it, HOLY MOLY, THE TENDERNESS. paired with the sauce, CHEFS KISS! the mashed potatoes too. how did they even do that! if you can only get one thing, get the duck confit. you will NOT regret! We then ended the night with some sorbets.

Chez Maman lives up to its name with its welcoming staff, warmly ambiance, and delicious food. The way they make their customers feel... makes me feel fuzzy inside :D I will for sure return to...

This super cute hole-in-the-wall french diner was exactly what I wanted when I was famished and craving burgers and honestly the burger was the most average part of the meal. We started with the French onion soup which was to die for (a little salty but I love me some salt!). Next we moved on to the beef tartare which was pretty good but it had a bit too much mustard for me, but since it says mustard on the menu, jokes on me. Next we split a burger (the standard one) and fries. It was cooked well, but just an average burger, honestly. Finally we had the garlic, lemon, wine muscles (i think that was the broth) which were excellent! I topped off a meal with their Cab-Franc which was a perfect compliment. It's a nice touch when a wine menu has only one of each type of wine and it's actually good, instead of forcing you to wade through a list of junk they got paid to promote. The way the lively and energetic french owner was dumping the wine into the glass (yes, dumping) was so awesome and I felt the urge to high five him every time. Either way, this place embodies that hole-in-the-wall vibe and the owner brings a lot of energy and personality to the experience. It's a bit pricey, but considering all we ordered I'd say it was about right. Can't wait...