Mijoté — Restaurant in San Francisco

Came to Mijoté for a special anniversary dinner, and we left extremely unimpressed by all aspects of our experience.

First and foremost, for any restaurant to be recognized by Michelin, the food of course should be inventive and delicious, but the service should be of the highest caliber. More on the food shortly, but the service was arguably the largest letdown of the experience.

Upon walking in, the host greeted us and acknowledged that it was our anniversary. Beyond that, there was not a single comment made or any special accommodation for the special occasion. To me, if the diner tells a restaurant that it is your anniversary, and they acknowledge it upon your arrival, but they then to proceed to not do a single thing to celebrate it, it just confuses me. At the very least, putting a candle in the mandatory dessert you will be getting with the tasting menu. Or saying something at the end of the meal when they drop the check. Nothing. Just defeats the purpose of even asking if you are celebrating something special with the meal, in my opinion.

In terms of the meal service, our menus were dropped off very quickly by a waitress with no introduction or explanation as to how the tasting menu would work. There were supplements on the menu that you could elect to add to your meal, which our waitress did not explain or acknowledge whatsoever, and about 5 minutes after sitting down our first course of food arrived. We had to ask when we were supposed to add supplements to the meal? Because nobody asked, or guided us, and the supplement we wanted to add would have come out before the first course. Really poor effort for a ‘Michelin’ restaurant.

Then, after requesting to add a supplement (and obviously asking to spend more on the dinner because of it), they brought the supplement out while we were still eating our first plate. Then, after about 5 minutes with both plates on our table, they brought a THIRD plate to the table! So we are sitting with three courses in front of us, at a restaurant that serves a mandatory tasting menu and courses each plate out on your behalf. There should never be two courses on the table at a tasting menu restaurant ever, unless they are supposed to go together. Three courses on the table at one time is embarrassing. It felt like we were trying to be rushed to finish our meal in 45 minutes.

I won’t even go into more detail about having to ask the server for the wine list 3x that was approximately 8 feet away from our table, and taking 30 minutes (and two courses) to receive the list. At which point we had already eaten multiple courses that we would have paired wine with.

As for the food, it was extremely average. The tuna appetizer was extremely fleshy and tough. It could barely be cut through due to the tendons, and could barely be chewed. My wife actually spit her piece out and put it to the side of the plate. The scallops and celery root’s main flavors were rich and creamy, and every component of the plate had the same profile. There was no contrast, no acid, no texture. Nothing. Then, the final meat dish before dessert was a very low quality cut of meat. So much gelatinized fat, that it essentially encapsulated half of the piece of meat. It was supposed to be “crispy-skinned”, but the skin was rubbery and had no texture or flavor. The seasonings were very basic, and the accoutrements were also one-note in flavor. The dessert was fine, but still could have been easily elevated. Just a compilation of sweet things on a plate.

This experience makes me feel like the Michelin guide is becoming diluted in the restaurants they recognize, and I am honestly shocked how either the food or service at this restaurant could have ever gained recognition from a...

I wanted to love this place, particularly because I came with friends who promised it would be a good time. Sadly Mijote was one of the most disappointing meals in recent memory. The attitude and "take it or leave it vibe," was off putting since we arrived. My friends were uncomfortable because they wanted to impress us with this place but things continued to awkwardly spiral out which made for an unpleasant meal. To break the ice I ordered two bottles of wine (one was a cider that was not listed as a cider...) and we just started drinking when one is feeling a bit tightly wound.

Yet another awkward and disappointment moment when the server told us that the menu had changed to chicken (after buying our reservation way in advance, why did we get downgraded to a chicken dish for our main? It does not make any sense) and that two of the items on the menu are no longer available. We are all big supporters of the local food scene and I enjoy eating out as a hobby. We are easy going people who get that off nights happen but this was all last minute and before we even had our first bite. It was a very strange scenario and we were perplexed by the overall strange vibes. They started bringing out the dishes and the opening dish which was a fish crudo and was easily the strongest of the lot. Sadly everything else was incredibly under seasoned, especially the octopus and the chicken. That chicken dish was so embarrassing as a main... I really hope for everyone sake for paying $100+ that they never get a 2 oz piece of under seasoned breast like we did. The chicken main was a disappointment-- we all were in silence and almost embarrassed. But wait folks it gets even weirder.

The chef countertop was filled with techies/investors and it seemed like influencers who seemed to chatter about everything but the food. Most of them sat down after we had gotten there and without any subtly they all received rounds of the sold out dishes we were told were not available anymore. In fact the pork dish, the chef brought out a giant slab which could easily feed everyone in the intimate countertop seating. The couple next to us literally said, "wow not sure why we are getting this," and my friends and I looked at each other with the saddest looks in our eyes. We looked like sad puppies with our faces pressed against the glass while everyone was getting special treatment. Mind you we dropped a lot of money here...ordered wine and extra supplementary items...

I get capital allocators are important to businesses but to outright prioritize guests and shun others on top of an abysmal night was really disappointing Mijote. Is this place supposed to be about cutting edge food and SF culture or is this place just a marketing ploy for these "types?" The highlight of the meal was the first fish course and the dessert. I highly recommend the foodie curious and those who enjoy exploring the SF hospitality scene to give this place a hard pass. This night was inexcusable and giving this place two...

10/5 stars! Truly a phenomenal dinner from start to finish. I'd not just say run, but sprint to enjoy this restaurant before word gets out and it's impossible to get a reservation. $82 prix fixe menu, paid when booking the reservation which is putting a lot of trust into the chefs, since the menu changes weekly and maybe daily plating changes. After dining here, I'd trust them to prepare anything to be divine. Plus a Japanese/French concept- YES PLEASE! (Think Kaiseki meets traditional Bistro) Service was excellent, yet not stuffy; warm and friendly attention at every turn. I particularly enjoyed the counter seating that gave a front row to the chefs preparing much of the menu right before your eyes. The playlist of the music all night really stood out to me- I loved it! The wine selection was very nice, yet unfamiliar to me, so I took a shot in the dark and chose a wine that I now will be scouring the city to find (Printemps côt merlot- wow). The Amuse Bouche was a lovely Carrot Soup, perfect as we entered from a particularly windy San Francisco evening. First course was Halibut with Pistachios, Pomegranate and Watermelon Radish that I could've eaten a serving bowl size of- so fresh and light, bursting with flavor. Second course was Scallops with Leek noodles and saffron. The taste was superb, yet I found the leek noodles to be difficult to eat (didn't stop me from eating it all, though). We added the Octopus supplement and it was perfect! Delicate delivery of the cephalopod itself with bagna couda, but the accompaniment of the Puntarelle wasn't my favorite. Third Course was Pork Loin with cauliflower, golden raisins, almonds and turmeric. Wow! I'm typically not a huge fan of Pork, but I was a fan of this plate for sure. It was juicy and tender with a perfect jus. We then added the cheese supplement that was a great sheep's cheese with a pear jam and Josey Baker Bread. Dessert was the most epic - Mushroom Ice cream with apple and hazelnuts, that I'll live the rest of my life dreaming about- I'm not even kidding. It gave me beatific vibes all over. Since the reservation was paid for, we only paid for our supplements and wine with a gratuity automatically added. The gratuity was only 18% and I feel they need to bump that to at least 20%. The service and execution was so great that of course we added an additional gratuity even though they were very upfront about that it was already included. Hats off to the chefs! Thank you for a truly...