Hillstone — Restaurant in San Francisco

Sunday, July 16, 2023 5:00-6:30pm

Our worst experience at SF Hillstone ever, covering over two decades.

Service was slow, food was cooked incorrectly, even after two tries.

To top it off, the general manager, Tavia Blount, was extremely rude and unprofessional.

We are done with Hillstone, after 20+ years (Houstons then Hillstone).  We visit at least twice a month, driving 30 minutes each way, spending over $500 each time, dependent on how many are in our group...family, friends, business associates.  Our bill has surpassed $2,000 on many occasions.  We even had our wedding reception there.  (Sad, I know.)  We have spent well over $50,000 in the past decade alone at SF Hillstone.

We will not even consider returning as long as the current GM of SF Hillstone, Tavia Blount, is there.  The restaurant was unorganized and staff was untrained. They were embarrassments to themselves.  We were very kind and patient even though our server was clearly not trained properly.  He was very nice and we gave him all the slack he needed and we were very appreciative of his efforts.  We knew it wasn't his fault that he was untrained and the amount of staff was insufficient for the quality of service expected at Hillstone.

We managed to overlook the lack of food and service quality, chalking it up to being a Sunday. We enjoyed our evening with our elderly mother nonetheless.

However, after dinner things got worse and very disturbing.  The general manager, Tavia Blount, approached us and rudely accused us of being in their private area.  On our way out we stopped at a public area that has two chairs and a window overlooking the Embarcadero.  This area is directly connected to the dining room and we have been told in the past, by servers, that this area is for guests to enjoy, with a drink, just relax, wait for a table or whatever.

We stood in this public area less than a minute reminiscing how there used to be a live band. Upon exiting the area, the general manager, Tavia Blount, abruptly approached us and rudely told us we shouldn't be in their private area.  What? We were NOT in a private area.

When I asked her to please explain what she meant by "private area" she threw her hand up and said "no, I'm not going to do that, leave" and walked away.  I followed her asking her again to explain and she then called me "crazy" for being upset and that since I was upset I must be obviously guilty.  No, I'm upset because you have accused us of something we did not do.   We did not go into any private area...all is clearly open to the public.

Tavia Blount is not a good fit for Hillstone or any public interaction in my opinion.  We have never come across anyone at Hillstone who has ever been rude.  Not even close.  Everyone is always overally pleasant.  She is a horrible employee.  How Tavia Blount became a GM is absolutely mind-boggling.  Good help is hard to find, I know.  I imagine her employees must be suffering under her as well, if customers dislike her.

GM Tavia Blount's staff can thank her for my boycott and the money they will not earn because she is incapable of professionalism and making their customers feel welcomed, not scolded and demeaned with false accusations.  She had a big giant fake smile as she falsely accused us.  Disgusting.   She didn't even want to entertain the notion that this was a misunderstanding of some sort.  She told me she was "doing her job".  Someone in corporate needs to explain things to her.

All of the above doesn't even consider the fact that SF Hillstone no longer offers live band music in the evenings (since 2020).  They destroyed that entire area of the restaurant, building a big box where tables and the band resided.  They use that for storage, we were told years ago.  So, it is now a smaller, more crowded venue with no music and a horrible GM, Tavia Blount.

Time for us to try some of the many other options we are so fortunate to have in the Bay Area.

The manner in which we were treated and spoken to at SF Hillstone by current GM, Tavia Blount, is inexcusable and...

A great thing about San Francisco is that the city has a wide variety of places to Drink, Dine, and Socialize, meaning that no establishment needs to satisfy everyone nor every need. In the case of Hillstone it became the host for my office teams self reward for accomplishing several goals, and No We Did Not Sandbag On Expectations So Goals Could Be Reached :) So with a party of 8, and some Petty Cash, 1/2 of our team headed out to make the journey from the South of Market to the Embarcadero and the environs of Levi Plaza. With our office located next to a busy hotel, and the Giants playing away getting a cab just before Noon was a snap, though we had to give the driver the exact address of 1800 Montgomery so he could figure out the route via the navigation system. It was an easy ride, but 4 of us got delayed due to a conference call, and those of us at Hillstone had to wait to be seated since the host would not seat our party unless more then 1/2 the party was there (4 is less then the needed 5 when you have 8). The positive of waiting was that I could check out all the Taxis roll up, and drop off customers many of which were wearing office/ dress jackets though few ties for lunch, Yup, good sign this is a good place for expense account lunches, and dinners. The space has a rich feeling due to how, woods, metals and stone are used, it is fitted with a large oval bar with hanging video screens so the game of the day might be watched for those that want to interact but may not feel the need to talk, and the dinning area is set with booth seating that is best for parties of 4 - 6. Okay, so after about 15 minutes or so of waiting the balance of the party arrived, and with an extra chair added to the table our group was seated. This was work, and lunch but we still covered a good portion of the menu, with the first easy recommendation being the Spinach Artichoke Dip, which the table started with. This was not only very tasty. but even with 8 of us this was a generous serving. Now to be fair I think that this is a great place if you are on an expense account, or if you are in the area, and just wanting a nice meal with a slightly upscale experience where price is not a huge issue. But that said, they have some nice beverages On Tap, and the dishes we had were all good, from the Burgers (including Veggie), Sandwiches like the French Dip (though the dip was just okay and did not taste like it was made from scratch), Salads, and Entrees with the Shrimp, Rib-Eye, Chicken, Barbecue, Prime Rib all getting good reviews. The only thing that seemed lacking other then the value were the House-Cut French Fries that reminded me of Potato Sticks. So in short, Hillstone is a good choice if you have no issue paying a premium or if you are not footing the bill, and want a nice semi dressed place to meet a client or just have...

This place is great! I went in with zero expectations as I didn't know anything about it but everything blew me away: the food (flavor, price and portions), staff, drinks, atmosphere... I loved it all!

We came here to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday. The big 3 5, although her skin has the glow of a 20 year old and I'll forever be jealous of her for it... But that's another story...

So to start the bday celebrations, we got cocktails: the Emerald. Whiskey, liqueur, something else I don't remember as I had to Google most of the ingredients... But it was delightful. Off to a great start.

We then got the Chicago spinach dip. My friend said there's is really good. And it was! So good that we asked for a few extra chips to finish the dip off. Fatties for life yo.

Onto the main dishes. We got their Cajun trout special for $18. Came with broccoli and mashed potatoes. Scarfed this guy down. The broccoli was fantastic. Definitely not healthy with all that butter but that's why it was so good.

We also got their BBQ pork ribs. These bad boys were fall of the bone and I normally don't care for ribs. Mainly because they're so messy and I don't like feeling like I need to shower after eating. But these bad boys were great. And they came 3 half racks deep. I'm impressed. Anddddd it came with bomb fries.

While we were both full by then and had packaged up a lot of dinner, we can't celebrate a birthday and not get dessert... but the birthday girl couldn't decide so we got the five nut brownie and the apple walnut cobbler. Both came with ice cream, and by this point I'm ready for that lactose stomach ache. I've already fallen off the wagon with the spinach dip, might as well go all in. Rich, creamy ice cream, great textures from the nuts.

Aside from the food, the atmosphere was dark but casual. We felt very private in our mini booth for two. Gets a little louder as the night goes on but it just meant we could laugh louder. This would be a fun flirty date spot

Staff were super friendly, attentive, and kind (they remembered my girl's bday and stuck a candle on her...