Dragon Horse — Restaurant in San Francisco

Let me start with the positives - the drinks were really, really good. We were big fans of the Onion Cream Cheese and Seaweed Mustard cocktails, both of which sound a bit bizarre, but had amazing flavor profiles. We also tried the Tomato Jalapeño, Guava Thyme, Smoke Umami, and Tea N Strawberry, all of which were very solid.

The scallop nigiri was really fresh and the karaage & gyudon were fragrant and perfectly cooked. The hamachi collar was tender, but had some bitter parts (maybe from burnt bits that stuck onto the outside from the grill?), but overall, was pretty decent.

My biggest gripe was with the service. It was a Monday night and wasn’t terribly crowded when we arrived. Drinks came out within 20-30 minutes, which is a bit slow but acceptable, but the first dish (gyudon) didn’t come out until 45 minutes after ordering. The 2 small pieces of scallop nigiri, which didn’t even require any cooking, took a full hour. We also ordered monkfish liver and hamachi collar and checked with the waitstaff 2 times on the status of our order because our food was coming out so slow. We waited 1.5 hours for these two dishes but they maybe forgot to put the order in or and never checked with the kitchen any time we asked about our food. When we inquired a third time, they finally checked with the chef and said they had run out of the monkfish and only just started cooking the hamachi. We ended up subbing the missing monkfish for karaage because we were starving.

The portion sizes for each were also quite small and we had 4 people, so it was difficult to fill up on enough food for it to qualify as a proper dinner. We had planned to order more, but the food was coming out so slowly that we decided to just eat more elsewhere. Also because our food took forever, none of our individual dishes came out at the same time, so we were awkwardly left watching each other eat.

The waitstaff was kind and apologetic when we mentioned how long it was taking, but the long wait times soured our experience. Such a shame when the food and drinks themselves...

This place was such a gem to find. We were out late and exhausted after the SOAD/Deftones show, and were mistakenly dropped off here by our Lyft, a mile from our other destination. We decided to eat there when we saw vegetarian options for our friend; we were not disappointed. Upon entering we asked if the kitchen was still open, and even though they said it was closing in five minutes, they whisked us inside. The atmosphere was trendy and cozy, our water glasses stayed full, and we were happily given the opportunity to order one more round of food before they officially closed-up shop. We absolutely loved the Tori Karaage, as well as the Agedashi tofu for our veggie friend (both of which we ordered again in the second round). We also got two orders of the salmon sashimi, as the salmon had perfect taste and texture, and the pieces were thicker than anywhere we'd get at home. I only wish we'd had the time to dig into their drinks menu. Both people we encountered (server and cook, possibly owners?) were incredibly friendly the entire time. We left for our hotel satisfied, well-hydrated, and feeling like we were truly...

Perhaps the best cocktail bar in San Francisco. Yes, better than Cold Drinks Bar or Trick Dog or True Laurel or ABV. Dragon Horse features cocktails from The Blind Pig in addition to drinks specific to Dragon Horse.

Drinks: The bartender and owner, Derrick, is an award winning mixologist and it shows in the creativity, complexity, textural interplay, and balance of the cocktails.

10/10 across the board with no weak point in any drink. Loved the philosophy of showcasing Asian ingredients and flavors front and center vs. having Asian ingredients and flavors as the accent on the side. Every drink I ordered was spectacular but what particularly stood out was the Kumamoto's Sunshine, Greenland Pig, and Smoke Umami.

Dare I say that the cocktails are underpriced at $16 for their quality. These cocktails are easily $30+ quality. But I hope they don't change the prices :)

Food: Classic "food to accompany the drinks" setup vs. "drinks to accompany the food." Great karaage, skewers, and tatakis.

The only slight con may be the location as it's on the border of SoMA and the not as nice...