Cultivar San Francisco — Restaurant in San Francisco

I am struggling to post this review, mainly because there was so much good about Cultivar, but one bad thing that ruined the evening for us. This is a local gem in the area, with a nice interior, seating out front, and an excellent back patio you will love. Service was just great from beginning to end. There for us when we needed him, and super friendly throughout. For dinner we started with the Bacon & Blue salad, which they generously split and served for us. Excellent combination for a summer afternoon. For our main: The "Tender Roasted Beets" to share, and we each ordered the Grilled NY Steak Bistecca. The roasted beets were great, with the flavors of the grill in them. Our downfall was with the steaks, both requested medium rare. The flavoring of salt, red peppercorns, gremolata and balsamic reduction was perfect and very flavorful. But, the cut of meat for both steaks was terrible. Fatty, and full of gristle so much that we were unable to eat about 30% from each of ours. It was just such a letdown. Our server was quick to acknowledge our situation and apologized profusely. Without our asking, he went to the GM and she came over to also apologize and address the issue. If there is always something that stands out for me, it is the owner/manager taking responsibility for the overall food/service experience. I applaud her for stepping up without any question. We will definitely be back to Cultivar and I do hope to up my overall rating as there is so much good...

Came for Happy Hour on a Monday and unfortunately didn't have the best experience. We waited at the door for about 5-6 minutes before being acknowledged, and the inside was almost empty. The bartender was talking with someone, and there was no server/host/hostess, so we awkwardly stood there, glancing at the menus. There was a sign that said, please wait to be seated, so we didn't want to barge in, but there was no acknowledgment from the bartender that she would be right with us, so it was an unfriendly welcome. Additionally, we searched for someone to order, so we gave up and went to the bar. Also, we grabbed a bottle of water because we couldn't catch anyone's attention. The menu is what they have online. We had a glass of the Cabernet Sauv and Sauvignon Blanc, which was nothing too special but decent pours for happy hour. We also got the grilled cheese and BBQ Chicken Slider. The grilled cheese was a very large portion but quite bland. However, if you're looking for quantity, it's great. The slider was quite flavorful, but for $7, I expect more than a single slider of that size. Though they don't advertise it to be multiple sliders, they aren't purposely misleading. Overall, might come back on a more lively evening, but wouldn't go out of my way to...

I was looking forward to try this place as it always looks so popular but it was pretty disappointing. (Came here for a pre-dinner drink so my review/rating isn’t about the food)

The good 👍🏼: their food menu looks really nice and they have an extensive list of wine, organized by price. They have a lovely parklet in the front and our server was lovely.

The not-so-good 👎🏼: we tried 2 different glasses of red wine and asked for something with medium/full body, one priced at 13 (a wine from the Rhône region in France) and one priced at 17 (from Napa). The first one was tasteless and while it was on the lower price of their menu, it’s still 13 dollars which is average for SF. Moreover there was so much wine dregs at the bottom of the glass, even though they’re harmless it’s not appealing. The second one was a bit tastier but still very light.

We also tried their olives just to have a little something to pair with and they were also not super tasty and full of thick oil from their container.

Finally, they add a 5% service fee by default. So 2 average glasses of wine + olives ended up costing 50 dollars....