International Smoke San Francisco — Restaurant in San Francisco

This is an update to a review posted earlier this year. On Valentine's day, my wife and I went to International Smoke and due to some confusion over the online prix fixe menu vs what was printed, we ended up with a not so good experience. We had thought we were ordering a Tomahawk steak, but were served NY strip steaks, that IMO, did not justify the price or quality expected. That happened, and my review was pretty negative. But the general manager reached out to me, and offered to make it up to us. I've been traveling so it was just last night that I finally had the opportunity to make it back into the city. Jose explained that the response to their Valentines Day feature was beyond their expectations, resulting in the menu change and overall experience of the night.

Our experience last night was 100% different, and completely worthy of Chef Michael Mina's reputation. This time rather than a steak, we ordered their tasting menu, a couple of cocktails, and a couple glasses of wine.

The cocktails: I had the "International Smoke Old Fashioned". OF's are my go-to cocktail, and this didn't disappoint. I would describe the flavor as "dusty" rather than "smoky" but it was complex, original, and I'd definitely order it again. My wife ordered the "Penicillin". This was also very good- not too sweet and not too strong, but a great sipping cocktail. My wife really enjoyed it.

The wine: we just ordered a couple of glasses from the by-the-glass menu to go with our dinner. I'm a bit of a wine snob and most restaurant wine is mediocre compared to what I'm used to. But the St. Francis cabernet was an excellent wine that could stand up to plenty of Napa cabs at higher price points. It got even better as it breathed. If I didn't have to drive, I would have had more. My wife had the Volpaia Chianti which was also good, but I still preferred my cab.

The food: I'm glad we took our server's recommendation to try the Fuego tasting menu, with the signature rib trio. This was excellent and the many tastes showed us what International Smoke is really capable of. It was a 5-course meal starting with a perfectly hot, and delectable Thai coconut soup with "Ayesha's Cornbread". This was an excellent start to the meal that left us wanting more. Then they brought Ahi Tuna rolls. I may go back just for a full meal of these rolls. They were sublime. Then duck wings that were also cooked perfectly and delicious. This was followed by the signature rib trio, with American, Korean, and Jamaican style ribs. The ribs were all fall-off-the-bone tender and moist. I liked the Korean style the best, followed by the American style. You'd expect a restaurant named "International Smoke" to deliver in the pork rib department, and I can say they exceeded expectations. I've had plenty of good ribs all over the USA - and these were among the best (certainly the most tender). The meal also included garlic fried rice and asparagus- both excellent (we took home the leftovers). This was followed by a "PB&J Puff" for desert and a cappuccino, which was a perfect end to this excellent meal. This was a lot of food- we left very full, and satisfied.

The service: Superlative. We were served by the sommelier, and unfortunately I'm bad at remembering names- but he made sure our evening was excellent with his spot-on recommendations and impeccable service.

Ambience: we sat in the atrium and loved the ambience. It was casual and relaxing. On our prior visit we sat in an adjoining section and while there was nothing wrong with that, we preferred the open atmosphere in the atrium.

I appreciate Jose's outreach to us, and I'm very glad we got the opportunity for this experience. If you are a foodie, or just want a spectacular foodie experience, I would recommend International Smoke and the tasting menu without hesitation. Or if you want some out-of-this-world ribs in SF, this is the place. I look forward to going back where I can explore the wine menu and the sommelier's recommendations a bit more. And ... how did I get out of there without trying the mac and...

My friends and I wanted to catch up at International Smokes. I was pretty behind for food options in FiDi, so I ended up doing some quick research. Yo, this is the restaurant co-founded by Ayesha Curry! I read about it in the past but didn’t really make any effort to try it. I was hoping for a chance to see Steph and Ayesha in person, but rip, they have a game in LA against the Clippers. Let’s be real though... it’s a very low chance to begin with.

The exterior of this restaurant is currently covered by construction, but you can still easily access the restaurant. The interior is spacious and nice, with some interesting wall decors. One of them gave us a Star Wars vibe. The crowd was pretty diverse as well! You have your finance bros in their Patagucci vests, people celebrating, people just wanting to drink and catch up, and more.

Anyway, onto the drinks! The drinks are on the pricey side. I tried their Japanese Manhattan and I love the way they implemented this smoke bubble. I thought they were going to smoke it within a container, but nope, they had this cool gadget that does the smoke bubble for you! I didn’t know we’re supposed to pop it with our nose while we drink so we can breathe in that sweet rosemary. That was definitely the missing touch to an otherwise very smooth and delectable drink. I also ordered their espresso martini, but it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Now, for the food! We shared some small plates and ordered separate entrees. Ayesha’s fresh baked cornbread turned out pretty good. I’m used to cornbread being a choking hazard. No issue here for the cornbread. We opted for the smoked Hamachi crudo and the ‘Peking’ smoked pork belly bao buns (why is it bao bun because that’s redundant lol). The truffled ponzu sauce was delicious – highly recommend this! I prefer the Chinese style for the baos, but I didn’t mind their interpretation. I had a very hard time choosing my main course but I ended up going with their miso marinated sea bass. I tried some of my friend’s filet mignon. Both of these dishes met expectations but there was nothing that really made it “special”. The oxtail looked enticing; however, I can’t bring myself to order it because oxtail used to be hella cheap when I was younger.

Expect to pay more when you come here. While the prices are on the higher side, the overall experience was great. The service was almost perfect. They forgot the garlic noodles side we asked for. I do have to comment that the garlic noodles need to be way more garlicky. Wondering if I dodged a bullet with their mac and cheese. I really wanted some but why is it so expensive?! Other than that, they did keep our table and surrounding clean. They weren’t overburdening us with their presence either. They noticed one of us dropping a knife and swooped in to help us replace it immediately. I’d say a solid 4 stars...

As the name implies, almost everything here is smoked, or grilled over an open flame.

I had a very good experience here. Great service, great atmosphere, and tasty food! But it comes at a price.

This place does a hustling business, so reservations for parties of 15 or more require that you order from a preset menu. I was there with a party of 18 of my closest gangsta’ friends, so that’s exactly what we did. Man, oh man, we got PLENTY of food.

Here’s the layout in the order it was brought to our table:

Red curry cornbread - I’m not a fan of most curries, but this one was very tasty and the cornbread was the moistest cornbread I have ever tasted.

First Course (Starters) Truffle Caesar Salad - nothing really crazy or impressive about it, but it was ok.

Double Duck Wings - coated in a mango glaze. Duck can be hit or miss sometimes, but this was pretty good and it didn’t have that gamey taste to it - although I have experienced better duck wings. The mango glaze was good, but I think the smoke kind of toned it down a bit and disguised the flavor.

Charcoal Grilled Shrimp - perfectly cooked, delicate shrimp in a miso butter sauce. So fattening, but oh so tasty!

Second Course (Mains) Smoked beef short ribs - I’m usually not a fan of beef short ribs, but these were so tender, and cooked in a sweet apple glaze that made them stand out from everything else that night.

Cedar smoked salmon - coated in white miso and mustard. The salmon won a VERY close second place ribbon right next to the beef short ribs.

Sides Grilled asparagus in a lemon vinaigrette dressing - they kind of lost me with this one. I’m always a fan of grilled asparagus, but it wasn’t as warm as it should have been, it lacked a whole lot of flavor and wasn’t as tender as it could have been.

Whipped potatoes in duck fat gravy - they were tasty, but for the price we paid, I expected more oomph if you know what I mean. These were just on par with the mashed taters and gravy that your mom makes at Thanksgiving dinner. Just nothing to rant and rave about.

Dessert (each of these were included with the preset menu, but I didn’t get to taste any and didn’t get any pix, so sue me!) Key lime pie Valrhona chocolate cream pie

The entire staff was professional and courteous, but pretty slow on the food delivery. We were there for a little more than 3 hours. But I think this is the norm for most places that serve family style. There was a LOT of food brought out that night! The photos I have uploaded only show the food brought out for one section of our table. Trust me, you will NOT go...