Horsefeather SF — Restaurant in San Francisco

6/2/25 Update:

Although we hadn't yet eaten at Horsefeather, my partner and I loved their cocktails and were long overdue to try their food.

With my parents in town, we decided to give Horsefeather's food menu a try, and we were extremely impressed.

As an appetizer, we all shared the Goat Cheese Artichoke Dip. For entrees, my mom got the Cobb Salad, my dad got the Spinach Miso Mushroom Linguine, my partner got the Jumbo Prawn tacos, and I got the Red Wine Braised Chuck Roast.

I also tried the Desafinado spring/summer cocktail, while my partner tried the Sun Never Sets seasonal cocktail. The Desafinado cocktail was fantastic! It had a nice savoriness from the celery bitters and celery salt, as well as a nice umami finish with the cherry tomato and dehydrated tomato flavor.

The Sun Never Sets was pretty good, although not as noteworthy. It was smooth and tasty, although tasted a little stronger of grapefruit and passion fruit than we were expecting, so the whiskey flavor was not very prominent.

Shortly after we received our drinks, the Goat Cheese Artichoke Dip appetizer came out. We ordered this with extra bread, which really isn't needed as the plate came with a good serving of bread. The dip was fantastic, as it was still very hot from the oven and had a great spinach and artichoke flavor that paired beautifully with the goat cheese.

Everyone loved their entrees! The Cobb Salad was nice and filling with my mom's addition of chicken, and the salad had a nice smoky and rich flavor from the bacon bits, which were distributed throughout nicely. My dad quietly consumed the linguine, and was super satisfied with the dish.

My partner's jumbo prawn tacos were delicious as well, and the handmade tortilla held up well and provided great flavor in addition to the prawns and salsa.

Finally, I really loved the Red Wine Braised Chuck Roast. The meat was fork tender and covered in the luscious braise sauce that paired very nicely with the mashed potatoes. Everyone said that it reminded them of a homemade dish, in the best way, as it was reminiscent of a pot roast or similar dish.

All in all, we were very impressed and satisfied with the meal at Horsefeather. We already knew the cocktails and service at Horsefeather were amazing, and now know to come back for the tasty food options.

Highly, highly recommend trying the food at Horsefeather if you're in the area, or if not!

Original review: As a disclaimer, this review is only for Horsefeather's cocktails, as we have not yet tried their food.

Although quite busy when we stopped by, we were able to grab seats at the bar since we were only ordering cocktails. I started with the Daywalker while my partner started with the Moonraker. Both drinks were absolutely fantastic!

The Daywalker had a nice smoky, mango flavor, that came together beautifully with the tequila and other ingredients when I stirred in the foam. I was particularly impressed with how well composed the cocktail drank, given the different flavors from the various ingredients.

As cafe de olla lovers, the Moonraker was our favorite coffee cocktail we've had so far, and the cinnamony essence of the cafe de olla elevated the flavor above an espresso martini.

For our second drinks, I got the Golden Hour while my partner got the Breakfast Punch.

Although still tasty, our second drinks did not quite live up to our expectations set by our first cocktails.

The Golden Hour had a nice coconut and lime flavor, and was super quaffable and enjoyable, while the Breakfast Punch had a nice corn and cinnamony flavor, that definitely hit the Cinnamon Toast Crunch flavor they were going for.

Overall, we still really loved the cocktails at Horsefeather, as our first round of cocktails were some of our favorites we've tried thus far in the city, and will definitely be back to try the rest...

3 stars purely for the food — it’s absolutely phenomenal; the service however is abysmal

Went here to celebrate a coworker’s birthday while visiting SF. Host was decent, a bit rude but she at least brought us plates/straws/cutlery that were missing from our table when we asked.

Our server was a nightmare, he had a passive-aggressive comment for everything and largely ignored our table the entire time. We were a party of 4, so not particularly difficult to manage compared to a large group. When he did acknowledge us, he was extremely dismissive/condescending; would roll his eyes and walk away before we could finish speaking when putting in our order.

There are no pictures of items on their menu, and our server mentioned their website (which does provide photos) is not updated to reflect everything currently available. I ordered one of their specialty gin cocktails to try. When my drink finally arrived, I took two sips of it before setting it aside since it looked and tasted like an espresso martini. When we managed to get our server’s attention 20-30mins later, we confirmed it was the wrong drink. I asked if they could take it back and replace it with what I did order. He said the bar was now closed and made a face before promptly walking away again.

When we received our check, he had included both drinks on the tab. We asked that they be removed since I never received the one I ordered and I had not touched the one I tried to send back after tasting it initially. He refused, saying “Well normally people would ask that before, but you already drank half of it so that’s not how this works.” At this point, the drink was still visibly full on the far edge of the table away from me. My other coworker objected, pointing out that I had asked for it to be taken back and that it was still mostly untouched. Our server began to argue with him, getting increasingly heated when he added how terribly he’d treated us from the start when we were first seated.

Our server continued raising his voice, blaming us for making things difficult when he’s “overwhelmed because the place is busy,” asking “is this what everyone from LA is like, are you all this awful?” (in our group of 4, only 1 person was from LA; 2 of us are from the Bay). We reiterated that we just wanted the items removed and that this situation was not what we wanted while trying to celebrate a birthday. He yelled “F*ck the tip, y’all can just never come back here again” (no one had said anything about not leaving a tip) and threatened to make sure we were permanently banned from the establishment before walking away and chucking a piece of trash onto the table behind us on his way.

My coworker took the receipt for our tab to the back to have it adjusted. Eventually our server returned with another check and just stood tapping it over the table while we were getting our cards out to pay. I said I’d cover it so it wouldn’t be more hassle trying to split the checks. Our server leaned over to snap his fingers at me, asking if we had a card to give him figured out yet. I took a photo of the receipt to do the math later amongst ourselves. He chimed in again to ask if we “all had our little pictures now” before finally running off again.

If it wasn’t for the food genuinely being some of the best I’ve had at a trendy-casual spot, I would rate this place negative stars. My highest regards to whoever the chefs are, their quality and their speed is amazing.

And yes, for the first time in my life, I did not leave a tip. God help whoever does the hiring...

NOT COMING BACK!!!

came here last night and the waitress was just insanely rude for no reason. i had missed a sign saying to seat yourself - and asked her if someone would seat me and if they were still serving food.

the look on her face was as if i had just assaulted her or walked out of the gutter. she proceeds to provide me with NO CLEAR ANSWER at all.

she’s talking to me but it’s as if i am asking the stupidest questions ever. when i understood that i needed to seat myself i asked if i should order at the bar or at the table, because no one was volunteering any information and there was no QR menu.

eventually she said she’d come back with water, utensils and a menu. she just came back and literally threw the menu at me. never saw her again that night.

i’m not gonna lie - this actually stumped me and also another diner who oversaw this. and it was honestly genuinely upsetting - like what did i do wrong and why did i deserve to be treated like i was being the assh*le?

another waiter came and took my order. i asked for a cobb salad with chicken and i watched him write in big sharpie letters CHICKEN. somehow, they then forgot the chicken. (and the utensils! and the water!) i asked another waitress and she brought out utensils and water and got the chicken comped for me.

this second waitress provided service - but only after the fact that it had not been provided to me by her other team members. i was sitting constantly waiting for water and utensils. my food was sitting waiting waiting for me to eat it and getting cold. i got my salad protein after i had finished my salad. drinks took forever. this is not a good experience!

overall a wildly aggressive, overpriced and mediocre experience. attaching my receipt - sometimes going out just doesn’t feel worth it anymore. especially when they shove the tip screen and 20% is the lowest and they are watching you choose. (maybe i need to get over my tip guilt - i really wasn’t planning on leaving a tip at all.)

but still: how did a salad, a tuna appetiser, and two drinks equal $97? (even with the comped salad protein!!!!!! what the hell!!!!)

i feel like i have lobotomised myself to make this make sense - when in reality i just shed almost $100 on an experience that i hated? i have no plans on...