Frances — Restaurant in San Francisco

We have been eagerly awaiting the reopening of Frances for over a year now. Before the pandemic, it was our favorite restaurant in the city, and our go-to for everything from special occasions to a fun Friday night. We loved the first come first serve seating in the window, where we’d nosh their mouth watering panisse and self pour house wine. We returned to our beloved Frances quickly after they reopened, and while the ambiance and the service were as excellent as ever, the food just isn’t what it used to be. For about $400 for two people (tasting menu ~$90 and wine pairing $65), there are simply better options in the city now. Signature Frances foods are still available, like the lumberjack cake and the panisse, but they’re added a la carte to your tasting menu and they aren’t worth the add anymore. The lackluster Lumberjack cake left me missing the delicious caramelized outside, sweet ooey gooey toffee chew inside of the legendary OG Lumberjack. Other old favorites at Frances, like the delicious, self pour (affordable!!) house wine, aren’t available at all. Our meal began with a rockfish crudo and carrot “hot sauce” that was under seasoned and one note. Zero heat despite the “hot” promise, not enough acid or salt, and the large, tough chunks of rockfish weren’t helping. The melon salad and panzanella that followed also weren’t anything special: the goat and sheep’s milk cheese wasn’t sharp enough to contrast with the melon and sort of flopped sadly overtop of it; the tomatoes in the panzanella were mushy and tasteless, lacking sauce and salt and especially surprising given the delicious tomatoes available in the Bay this time of year. Of the starters, the dip and the bread were the best, but overall, these five courses were not what you’d expect from a $400 meal. Chips and dip, panzanella, melon, bread, and rockfish…I would have traded them all for a bite of the old panisse. The pasta was lovely, with dragon balm both folded into the dough and sprinkled on top. More flavor like this, please! The final savory dish was duck, and it was cooked well, but here again, not the taste sensation you’d expect from Frances or from the price tag. Just some properly cooked duck served dry, with a chunky cauliflower sauce and some greens scattered on the plate. The meal closed with a cake (not the lumberjack cake), which also left me wanting. Like the rest of the food, it was…fine I guess? A dry brown cake, scattered around ice cream, with a few sprigs of mint. In every bite, I looked for my old friend Frances, but each course was another round of, “this is ok, but we could make it better at home.” Not what you want for a $400 price tag. Sadly, after years and years of building our weekends around this sweet little neighborhood restaurant, I don’t think we’ll return to Frances again. I’m so glad for the years we had there before the pandemic. Smile because it...

This place treated my guest and I like GOLD. It was my birthday dinner and it had to be one of the best meals I have had in a long time. Granted, I had a few to drink prior but instead of Frances being my after binge drinking feast it was delectable, delicious, and well worth the reservation wait.

We showed up about 10 mins earlier than our reservation time and the place was packed. knew that that spelled disaster for any person who had made a reservation and hoped to get in on time. The host, was very kind and greeted us upon arrival. He offered us a free cocktail for the wait (which meant it would be longer but I couldn't complain) so we graciously took it and sat at the window while we waited. One of the servers came up to us and asked how we were doing and I told her that I had heard amazing things about the Smoked Bacon Beignets but didn't see them on the menu. She said that she would be right back and she was off. She came back within a few minutes and had two starter dishes along with our drinks and said that they were all complimentary because of our exceeded wait (which had now stretched out into the 45 min mark) but we could have cared less.

This is how service should be. The rest to follow was a 3 course of spectacular-ness. The drinks are simple and outstanding, and the food was more than amazing. I will definitely be...

A little bit disappointed overall as we were pretty excited about this one. It ultimately just didn't deliver anything all that unique food-wise.

Thursday night with 4 people. First note - service/staff were great, and the ambiance was uniquely vibey for SF. Design of the space is nice, dark, busy. Food was just mixed, especially for the overall price.

First off I was a bit uninspired by the menu/mains especially - a short rib and atlantic salmon did not totally mesh with the more creative starters.

Quick review of what we ate -

Beignets (probably best dish - really unique), figs (pretty good and sauces were unique, though the figs themselves were all over the place with size/taste), shrimp (solid - sauce was delicious), lettuce (nice lettuce but very basic), spaghetti (I enjoyed it but my wife, who loves pasta more than she loves me, literally couldn't eat it because she said it was the most acidic red sauce pasta she's ever had), short rib (thought it was way overcooked and just not particularly unique - wasn't in enough sauce, and it's short rib; probably our mistake for ordering it in the first place), atlantic salmon (also our mistake for even ordering this as it just wasn't very special and we also felt overcooked, and the beans were really not cooked), peanut butter desert (this...