Mastro's Steakhouse — Restaurant in San Francisco

I am aware of making “service” a 1/5 on the rating list. I want to preface that I was sitting at the bar during my dining experience at Mastro’s. Both bartenders Monique and Tania were phenomenal. I specifically tipped them directly based on how well they treated me and served me. On the other hand of this review that made the rating a 1/5, was due to the fact of manager Jake Lee (I was told his name was) demanding my hat was removed. This was out of the blue and not requested but more so demanded. I understand a dress code policy. At the same token, I was a walk in customer, no familiar with the area, and was told by a local to enjoy a dinner at this specific restaurant. Jake was not understanding nor serviceable, demanded my hat to be removed. I responded with, “I am a paying customer.” He then says, “I do not care you are a paying customer, so is everyone else that is in the building.” With respect I took my hat off, not too happy. I was asked by the bartenders serving me, “what was said and if everything is okay”. Graceful of both of them to knowledge the situation. I continued to explain the situation that was had between me and Jake (the manager on the floor). They both felt like the situation was not right and made me felt heard. I asked to speak with another manager on the floor. Tatianna Sullivan came to ask about the situation at hand and provided me with the information that wearing a cap was against company policy. Keep in mind, I was not told at the door, nor by anyone else, whether that be the host stand or prior to being served that caps are not allowed (I am from out of town and have never been to a Mastro’s before). I understand the policy as Tatianna was great with her explanation and proceeded to accommodate to me as stated. Tatianna told me “I am not going to make you take off the hat as that is your choice but to express our policy for future notice”. I believe that is a very professional form of communication. I proceeded to put my hat back on due to the nature of my hair being a mess and not feeling confident. Jake Lee, following him see me talk to Tatianna, decides to make his way over to me expressing his opinion of how I am embarrassing his restaurant and how he has to apologize to every costumer that is sitting in the dining room about how I am wearing a hat. I explained to him that I do also work in an upscale restaurant and understand dress code as a policy, but continue to speak about how the policy should be enforced prior to me sitting at the table for 30 minutes and having my entrees be placed in front of me. If the verbiage was pronounced at the door step before getting sat, having a drink, ordering my food, and having it placed in front of me, then I would have followed those policies and went back to my hotel, do my hair, and continue to dine with Mastro’s. Following a back and forth with Jake Lee, he proceeded to state, “if I was sitting in front of my grandmother at the dinner table with a cap on, I would be slapped across the face”. I do not understand the importance of this tale he decides to provide me, but rather find his behavior extremely unprofessional/embarrassing for the company at this point in time. Following this second unpleasant interaction with Jake, he walked away, approaching both bartenders with an atrocious attitude. A couple of other customer decided to ask what happened and ask if everything was okay. Me, being extremely uncomfortable from this situation, trying to enjoy me food and go about my day. Tatianna came over once again and stated she would take care of the entire bill and was not assisting with the behavior Jake was providing. This behavior is not warranted and I will not be continuing to visit this restaurant under the supervision of Jake in the future. Jake Lee is not a well representation of Mastro’s. If I can vouch for anything, the manager (Tatianna Sullivan) and both bartenders, Monique and Tania were more than great and I could not appraise their behavior more. Those 3 members of this team saved my overall dining experience...

Meh. Not recommended. The steak was not better than a $50 steak place and sides were average. Steak and side for $110 per person, and drinks ($25+ each) and dessert and tip on top of that. I had the Kansas City bone-in strip for $76 (sides are extra). I ordered medium rare, but I was hard pressed to find any red in the center. Shame on a steak place over-cooking steak! The plates are hot, so my guess is it overcooked while waiting for the orders for the rest of our group of 5. My steak was a little grisly, and it should have been trimmed off. Our group also had orders of porterhouse (large and shareable for sure) and bone-in ribeye, but again, the flavors and textures were just meh. The strip steaks were better, followed by porterhouse. Just make sure they don’t overcook it!!!! Ack!!! Contrary to others’ posts, we asked for them to be sliced by the staff and our waiter said they don’t do that. I asked for mine to at least be trimmed off the bone, and that wasn’t done, either. Speaking of waiter, he was kind of a jerk. We asked 2 times about sides, and he responded, “I’ll give you my spiel in a minute.” Spiel??? They try to fight the chain restaurant stigma, and they fall back into chain restaurant spiels. With no recommendations except that they are known for lobster mashed potatoes, we ordered the mashed potatoes (instant for sure), creamy spinach (not worth the hype), Brussels sprouts (good), baked potatoes (terrific), lobster bisque (too thick for some ). Sides are large and shareable for sure. The butter cake was seriously delicious, and weirdly the waiter huffed when we ordered it. It was so laughable. We are an older couple dining with our middle aged children, and our only 2 questions were about the sides. We didn’t ask much of our waiter and were there for only 1 1/2 hrs, so his huffy behavior was bewildering. The music was nice. We were on floor 3 so the sound was perfect. Floor 2 has a louder vibe and a more entertainment feel. The ambiance throughout the place was nice. Get a window table for sure. They automatically add in the tip for tables of 5 or more, so perhaps that’s why we got sub-par service from our guy as he knew he was already tipping himself a couple hundred bucks. The people who said service was good must either be large groups with 2 waiters, or 4 or fewer where the waiter had to earn the tip. All in all, Mastro’s steak house NOT recommended. I really tried to like it as a go-to with family or guests, but I can’t get over the waiter flaws. I even had to go up to the bar to ask for water. Maybe try to choose Harris’ or Niku Steakhouse for their excellent service, great steaks, wagyu, sides and little extras for the price. I will miss the butter cake here, though. The restaurant reached out to me and said a manager would call us back and give us some credits. But, that hasn’t happened yet. I would amend my rating if this was a one-off. We’ll see. But, in the meantime, you’re going to be dropping a lot of cash, and a different steakhouse would probably better...

The first time I had Mastro's food was Christmas 2020. Even thought they had only opened in December 2019 and have a huge space, they managed to survive lockdown by doing take-out. Even though our Christmas dinner was a much smaller gathering than usual (read: 2 people), the food made it really special nonetheless. Impeccably tender steak, creamed spinach, and maybe the most delicious cake I've ever had - the butter cake; a can't miss item.

While Mastro's food at home was great, the in-house dining takes things to a new level. The restaurant has a classic steakhouse feel and a beautiful bar, with interesting and classy accents. I believe they have a lounge on the second floor, but I have only ever eaten in the main dining room. The first time I got to enjoy the complete experience was after seeing a play across the street at A.C.T - some friends and I just popped in for a quick drink, but ended up having a couple because they were so good, and then rounded things out with a seafood tower to mop up the booze (I think it was some combo of the shrimp cocktail, crab legs, and oysters). The seafood was super fresh, and the presentation had a some razzle-dazzle which made it fun. Shout-out to our server that evening, Aladin, who ensured we wanted for nothing. I accidentally left my phone (maybe one cocktail too many) and they were so helpful in making sure I knew it was safe and assisting me in getting it back the very next day.

Most recently, my husband and I went in for a celebratory dinner with friends and ended up splitting the best crab cakes I have ever eaten (SO much crab in them), the dry-aged ribeye and filet steak with an amazing compound butter (both sliced, so we could all share), the sautéed broccolini and the scalloped potatoes. Everything was divine! The cocktails were super good, again (loved the seasonal cocktail "The Bee Sting," a gin-based cocktail which had a fresh honeycomb garnish but was not too sweet) and even the bread basket was a treat - 4 different types of bread, super fresh, with plenty of butter to go around, though the bread was lovely just on it's own. We had very attentive service with great recommendations - thank you Jo, Tania, and Monique - and of course we got the butter cake again.

In addition to how consistently delicious the food and drinks have been, Mastro's has had amazing live performers both times I've been in. I tend to be wary of live music in restaurants because it can make things awkward, but Mastro's strikes a perfect balance of having very talented performers who you can easily enjoy but who also do not distract from your meal or your conversation. It's so hard to get that right.

Highly recommend Mastro's for a celebration, a fun little night out, or just to pop in for a drink and dessert after a show. Wish I had been in town to come during SF restaurant week, but will...