Park Tavern on Washington Square — Restaurant in San Francisco

What a bummer! Having been longtime PT fans we were very excited for the reopening- we’ve been missing our favourite neighbourhood haunt! The remodel is gorgeous, crowd very chic. Host was fabulous and seated us right away. Once we were seated things went completely sideways. After 15 minutes no one had greeted us, given us water, or taken our drink orders. The disorganisation was wild- groups of waiters lingering behind us yet simultaneously rushing around super flustered. No one seemed to really know their section or the table numbers by the way they were acting. We finally flagged the host down to ask for service, he got a waiter who was clearly not happy to serve us and we ordered drinks and some appetizers. I will give them that the apps came out super fast. The Burrata and prosciutto were fine but completely unseasoned Burrata, sort of weird. Sourdough bread was ok, tiny portion for the price and burnt on top but we were trying to be positive. The charred little gem lettuce was ok. By the time we finished our apps, still no drinks. We were left in no man’s land again for far too long, finally our waiter arrived and saw we still had no drinks and rushed off to investigate. When he brought the drinks he zipped off again before we could grab him. At this point we chatted with the manager, who is incredibly lovely, so lovely that we decided not to complain, it’s only their third week or so after all. Still no mains ordered, so once Jeff left I flagged our waiter and asked if we could please order. He did not receive it well. We ordered and after waiting another 10 min, flagged him again to order drinks. At this point all four of us are pissed off. We put in our drink orders, I had originally planned on not drinking but was driven to a martini, and waited for our mains. We got carbonara, a steak, pork schnitzel, fish, side of potatoes and bok choy. Fish arrived much later than other dishes. My carbonara was good, steak was ok, pork schnitzel was good, potatoes excellent, bok choy ok. The fish was not only way behind but was cold and raw, had to be sent back. As we were eating our second round arrived. The server sent with the drinks from the bar didn’t know how to serve…. Spilled all of our drinks in our food vs rotating around the table and serving on the left as I had been taught as a server. We shared our experience with Jeff and he was gracious. The fish was comped but honestly shocked nothing else was covered or removed given how shit the experience was. 15 min without seeing a server, 30 minutes without drinks, having to ask for help four times to get service…3 painful hours on a week day. Wanted to love it, so bummed. Lovely management but everything else was awful,...

Park Tavern is designed to be perfect for any occasion -- birthdays, business meetings, catchups with friends, anything. It has a great atmosphere, thanks to the excellent design of the place.

The service was absolutely incredible. From the hostess to the bar server to our wonderful dining server, Emily, everything was on-point. We had to add 2 people last-minute to our table, and Emily graciously and happily helped us move to another table halfway through our meal. It really made our experience that much more enjoyable.

The food was a hit or miss for us. I'm a fan of Marlowe, so I was expecting the same level of excellence here, but it was just lacking a bit when compared to Marlowe.

FOOD:

Deviled Eggs = Delicious. Everything goes together perfectly.

Brussels Sprouts Chips = Addictive as always. Can't go wrong here.

PT Fries = Good, but nothing spectacular. The caviar wasn't salty enough to bring the flavors together between the egg yolk and the aioli. Half of the fries were overfried.

Grilled Pork Chop = Tender for the most part and had a pure flavor to it. It wasn't exciting, but it was definitely a well-cooked pork chop.

Mussels and Clams = This was good, but again, nothing exciting.

3 Variations of Duck = I had high hopes for this one, but again, it fell short. The duck breast was a bit dry, the duck confit was a bit overcooked, the duck skin wasn't crispy enough, and the duck liver mousse was too watery. The flavors were all there, it just could've been so much better. Plus, the beans didn't really add anything beneficial to the dish.

Venison Tartare = This dish was a great attempt, but was definitely lacking in execution. The beef tartare was good, but it was missing something with a bit more umami (for instance, it could've used some sesame oil or quail egg). The deep-fried bone marrow is an interesting idea, but was completely lackluster in execution. The bits of bone marrow were easily overpowered by the breading and it just tasted like fried oil.

Hamachi Crudo w/ Gin & Tonic = This dish wasn't good at all. There was no depth or excitement whatsoever -- it needed a couple of extra layers of flavor (something salty, something tangy) to really make the hamachi pop. Unfortunately, it ended up being just a bland, strange mixture of flavors between the overpowering cucumber, the bland gin & tonic ice, and the nonexistent flavor of the hamachi.

All in all, Park Tavern is a good space with a great bar and phenomenal service. I'd definitely come back for some drinks and small bites. The food, however, just doesn't match up to...

This restaurant gets one bonus star for how dang amazing their fries are but that is it. So let me start there. Their fries are fried in beef tallow, and are gluten-free and safe for celiacs. As someone with celiac disease this was a rare treat. They were crisp and savory and some of the best fries I've ever had.

That being said, our experience here was TERRIBLE. With a reservation we waited 20 minutes for a table. We ordered drinks, that were good, and water was served right away (although, in SF aren't they supposed to wait until you ask for it, because of drought?). I asked our server which items could be made gluten-free and he advised me that any item that contained gluten had it clearly marked. The server then took our order for appetizers, but only appetizers. This seemed strange to me. The appetizers arrived within a reasonable time-frame. When one of the appetizers arrived the server mentioned that it was also not gluten free because it contained soy sauce. Luckily, I was not planning to eat that one. I ordered the fries with a soft boiled egg and caviar. The fries were delicious as mentioned about. I have no idea how the egg was as it didn't come with a spoon, and I couldn't eat it with a fork. By the time I saw our server again it was cold and not worth eating.

After we had "finished" our appetizers and they were taken away our server returned to take our orders on the main course. We ordered two orders of the duck, and two of the steak. It took nearly 45 minutes for our main courses to arrive. Various staff come over to apologize at different times, however, that was it. They didn't offer a free round of drinks or a plate of fries or anything. When our food finally did arrive the duck was undercooked and very rubbery. The steak was overcooked. The sides were alright with the fries and the polenta being quite lovely, but overall the meal was definitely not worth the price. After dinner, I would have liked to try dessert, but the other members of my party were so tired of waiting that we opted not to get dessert. Overall, a dinner that was definitely not worth it's hefty price-tag. For the cost you'd be much better taken care of at NOPA. Don't waste your time or money here, unless you are celiac and just want some delicious fries...