Jilli SF — Restaurant in San Francisco

TL; DR - if this is the soft opening, I can’t wait to see what Jilli will do when fully underway!

Our server recommended that we get 3 - 5 dishes for a table for two. We ordered the honey butter chip, cucumber salad, popcorn KFC, and the jeyuk.

Could I have eaten more? Yes! But, I didn’t need to. I didn’t try makgeolli this time around, instead sticking to beer. Given the menu and our choices, clear that a number of these dishes are perfect for laying down a foundation for some heavy drinking!

The honey butter chip for me, would be best as a snack to go with drinks rather than as part of a meal. That said, I could happily eat a couple orders of these.

I’m a sucker for a cucumber salad, or smashed cucumbers, which this salad reminded me of. I liked this stacked presentation as it made it really easy to eat with chopsticks, and to dip the cucumbers in the sauce.

The popcorn chicken was very flavorful, as was the sauce. I liked that it was something different than the KFC (Korean fried chicken) I’ve had elsewhere in the Bay Area, and I’m definitely interested in checking out more of the Chimmelier offerings, which I think are served during lunch (please correct me if that’s wrong).

The pork jowl was excellent, fatty and juicy with a little freshness from the salsa verde and “overgrown garnish” as our server called it. This dish I could have ordered 3 servings of.

Despite visiting during the soft open, the place was packed. It’s not a huge space, so when full, it can be a little tough to hear each other.

There are still some signs of the Moroccan restaurant that used to be in the space, which isn’t a negative, more of a reminder that Jilli is still coming together.

That said, overall, Jilli’s soft open is a better experience than some more established restaurants in the area.

Would I go again? Yes, absolutely! I’d recommend this place for a couple, or maybe groups of 4 at most. I’d say it would be best to come hungry, thirsty,...

I had a very great first experience with Jilli. I’ve been meaning to come here since mid-June, but after making a couple of reservations where my plans kept falling through, I thought I wouldn’t get to try this place until much later.

With some luck, I stumbled across a 6:30pm reservation for a Saturday night literally the day before! It was perfect. And then… I accidentally cancelled my reservation from tapping too quickly on my phone LOL. I decided to try my luck anyways and showed up in person to see if I could do a walk-in. They were fully booked until September. I was sad. However, I then explained my situation and was given a chance to dine at the bar for an hour!! I couldn’t believe it.

We wanted to be considerate of the staff’s time so when we got seated, we placed our orders right away and they came out in no time. We got the makgeolli flights, perilla oil noodles, shrimp toast, honey butter chips, wagyu tartar, hamachi crudo, and kimchi rigatoni. The portion sizes were considered bar bites so despite there being quite a few orders, this was just enough for 3 girls. Needless to say, we left no crumbs. 😂 Everything was tasty and I especially enjoyed the flight & the perilla noodles. The best part is, we left right at 8pm and I genuinely think it was the perfect amount of time.

I think what really elevated my experience with Jilli was the staff. Helen and Hwang Ha were both so accommodating towards us and I completely understand that they did not have to. We really appreciated being taken care of and didn’t feel rushed in any way. I liked that they just took an extra step to help us out and that truly goes a long way. When you’re met with good service in addition to delicious food, you know you had dinner at the right spot. I wish for nothing but continued success for the Jilli team....

I came here during the soft opening and knew immediately that this place would blow up. The cute vibes (loved all the decor), amazing food, and great hospitality (shout out to Jillian our server!). I had no reservation and they kindly accommodated my husband and me.

The owner, Hwang hah, was so fun to talk to and was very knowledgeable about the makgeolli. I started delving more into makgeolli recently, so it was fun to explore all the different flavor profiles. Hwang hah immediately made us feel at home, which truly made our experience much more special (thanks again Hwang hah!).

As for food, every dish was spectacular! We had the tuna dip + trout roe, wagyu beef tartare, chimmelier popcorn KFC, pork jowl jeyuk (my fave), and shrimp toast. Can’t wait to come back and try all the other dishes.

Overall, it’s refreshing to have a makgeolli bar in SF. This is perhaps my new...