Cockscomb Restaurant — Restaurant in San Francisco

Cockscomb has been on my bookmark radar for quite some time now, but I've just never made much of an attempt to go. Was I missing out big time? No, not really. Was it good food though? Yes, it was.

Attention to detail and quality sourcing is an undeniable fact at Cockscomb so you best be sure that you'll be paying a premium for many of these dishes. That being said, the level of service provided is second to none. Dishes were described with impeccable precision, glasses were regularly topped off, and waiters would even refold your napkin if you stepped away to use the restroom!

We began our meal with the Hot Mess which is grilled sourdough topped with braised trotters and seared foie gras. It is then drizzled with brown butter pork an jus and garnished with mission and kubota figs. This is easily one of the most decadent things I've had in my life, but it hit all the right notes. The sourdough crust, despite being soaked in an jus and fatty foie gras, still maintained a little bit of crispness. The braised pork trotters then added a little bit of meatiness. Buttery notes were met with the foie gras and also the soft braised pig skin. And the figs then provided some nice sweetness. I definitely could have used some actual bread to soak up the extra an jus/sauce though. This dish was also very popular - at least all 3 of our adjacent tables also tried this.

For our shared main, we went with the ribeye wagyu (14 oz) which comes accompanied by diver scallops (locally sourced), roasted baby onions, roasted butterball potatoes, and drizzled with a brown butter green pepper corn an jus. The wagyu was good, but not the best I've had. It was tender, but did not have the melt in your mouth feel that I've experienced with wagyu at Japanese restaurants. The scallops, on the other hand, were definitely one of the best I've had! They were perfectly seared and the peppercorn an jus was a delicious accompaniment for it. As for the sides, I liked the roasted baby onions - they were sweet and slightly carmelized, a perfect pairing with the steak. The potatoes were more hearty but I personally felt they were a hair bit undercooked, a little harder than I prefer.

We also added a side of brown butter gnocchi with fresh parm. They were delicious little pillows of potatoes served over browned butter....so what's not to love?

And to finish the meal off, we opted for the panna cotta. It was perfectly set and had the right consistency. It's pairing with fresh sliced strawberries and a reduced balsamic vinegar was also very good and not overwhelming, just acidic enough to cut an otherwise very creamy dessert. I've had a similar version before where the vinegar was not reduced nearly enough and it sucked so much, but Cockscomb version was on-point and one that I would opt for again and again!

Overall, Cockscomb is a great place to come if you want to try some unique plates and...

• In Short *

All. The. Meat. Vegetarian? Yeah don't come here.

• In Depth *

Ah, this is an hard review to have to write. I was definitely on the hype train for Cockscomb, given all the great things that I'd heard from friends about it. We came as a group of six, and, unfortunately, had to limit our pork options since one person in our party didn't eat it, leading to orders of the:

Squid... something - Probably the tastiest dish of the night, which is unfortunate because there were six of us, and one of this little appetizer/side. And, yet, oddly, none of us remember exactly what it was we ordered: I'm inclined to think it was a pasta dish, but don't quote me on that.

Pig Skin Noodles - My hearing must not be what it once was, because I completely misheard/understood how this dish was prepared, after asking our waiter, thinking it was pig skin inside a noodle dish. But nope, the noodles themselves are actually made from pig skin :o Tasty, and, as you'd expect, incredibly rich and fatty. The texture of the "noodles" is, well, chewy and squishy, so prepare yourselves.

Pin Bone Steak - So, this was the centerpiece. Some tables went with the pig head, some with this, and others with both. Given the aforementioned pork limiter, we opted for the steak, and... any disappointment I had lay almost entirely in this dish. Yes, the quality of the meat was quite good, but our medium rare steak ended up coming out more as a rare steak, and one that seemed unseasoned, almost. I'm not usually one to complain about bland food, since I eat lighter than most, but EVERYONE in our group thought this was bland, even with the provided jus and bone marrow dip. It was bland enough that we had to bust out the salt shaker, which I haven't done since... 15 years ago?

Panna Cotta - Not something I usually order because, well, I'm lactose intolerant, but that I've somehow probably had more of than any other fancier dessert. And theirs was QUITE delicious, creamy, and rich.

Side dishes aren't enough to save a restaurant, and, while I rarely given two star first experiences a second chance, there's a good chance I will with Cockscomb, since my friends insisted that this was probably a one off fluke. So, until then, 2.5 stars for the place.

Accessibility Info

Venue - I can't speak for the main floor of the restaurant, but they do have an elevator that goes up to the second floor, where I'm guessing the larger parties are seated. Given that, I can't imagine the ground floor posing much of a problem.

Bathroom...

TL, DR; Decent food, hip atmosphere, but probably not worth the price.

I came in on a Friday night with my parents and boyfriend. We had an 8pm reservation but when we showed up the table wasn't ready so we headed upstairs to the bar. The cocktails were fine, we shared a charcuterie board... and waited... and waited... and were finally seated about 25 mins past our reservation time.

Charcuterie platter - 3 stars. A few pieces of bread served with three different mystery meats (not described on the menu and not told to us by our server) and mustard. The meats were good... one seemed to be prosciutto, which was tasty, but standard. The other two were more of a chopped meat, not sure what each was, but one was tastier than the other.

Gnocchi - 3 stars. Served with sage and brown butter, these came out steaming hot, browned on the outside but almost molten liquid on the inside. It was weird, not the texture I'm used to, but I found it tasty all the same. I think I preferred the gnocchi about 10 minutes later when they cooled a bit and had more of the pillowy texture I expected.

Spicy pork fennel sausage - 4 stars. Served with brown bread, celery root remoulade & crispy oysters. This was a really tasty dish, a few different textures between the little bread patty, the oysters, and the sausage. I liked how the salt of the oysters played off the meatier flavors of the sausage, but overall, the dish wasn't mindblowing.

Berber spiced carrots - 3 stars. Served with charred dates & cilantro, though I'm not sure I tasted either. We were also initially served the asparagus by mistake, then didn't receive the carrots until nearly the end of the meal.

Overall, I wasn't blown away here. We had a few service gaffs and while we got an apology or two, there wasn't an offer to adjust our bill or anything like that. The food was good but not outrageous and the bill, well, it wasn't cheap. I'm glad I stopped in but I'm not sure I'll be back...