Savor Cafe — Restaurant in San Francisco

In a quiet corner of inner sunset sits a mighty new entrant to the food scene of San Francisco. A notable new entrant that had us salivating for more and planning our next meal already. Chef Mohammed is an artist with 30+ years of fine dining experience. This according to him is his last gig, and he went vegetarian and vegan for his labor of love.

This is Arabic fine dining at its best. Beit Rima used to be our favorite but that throne is now with savor cafe. Chef Mohammed reimagines Arabic classics and like an artist working with his muse, transforms the familiar into the sublime. You get fine dining refined palette at a fraction of the cost of any etoile conferred by Michelin.

We had an incredibly challenging time selecting the dishes, since so many dishes spoke to us. We asked the sole server, who was also doubling up as the person behind the counter, making beverages and communicating with the sole employee in the kitchen - chef Mohammed - one man genius who is proud of his roots.

We started with a turmeric oat milk chai that was caffeine free but had sage and hints of some wonderful spices that warm you up on a cold San Francisco evening.

Next up was the savor platter, which takes what could’ve been your hummus baba ganouj pita platter and transforms it into a charcuterie board with whipped hummus, an insanely delicious babaganouj, a mint infused hummus, saffron and eggplant dip, and melt in your mouth falafel like you have never tasted before. Served with high quality pita. Definitely order.

Next up was the dish of the year for us called Mashi: Baby eggplant stuffed with leeks, anaheim peppers, organic corn, sumac, pine nuts, served over yogurt garlic sauce. It is served warm on a ceramic hot plate. The taste borders on umami and the melange of ingredients offer an explosion of flavors that are enhanced by the sumac and garlic sauce. Definitely order. A vegan version of the yoghurt garlic sauce is available.

Up next was the Saffron Kufta: Beyond meat, shimeji mushrooms, mint, parsley, allspice, shallots, & bell pepper with saffron sauce. This is ideal for the meat lovers who want the taste and texture of minced meat with a saffron bbq sauce. I am not the biggest fans of beyond meat, so I’ll pass this next time. But the texture, mouth feel and flavors were incredible. However in comparison to the other 2 dishes, this one ranks a notch below, perhaps because beyond meat has a distinct flavor already.

Our final dish for the night, as the friendly server informed us that the chef recommends 4 dishes for a party of 2, was the Wild Mushroom Knaffe: wild mushrooms with vegan cheese, baked in shredded phyllo, topped with a roasted tomato-bell pepper sauce. This dish looks like it belongs in a Michelin starred restaurant. It has many layers, textures and is delicately put together with a birds nest of shredded phyllo strands. In terms of quantity this one is rather small, but incredibly packed full of flavor. However by now we were so satiated that this was our third favorite after the mashi and savor platter that defined the ceiling of where this experience could take us.

Finally we savored two desserts that made the Savor Cafe experience complete and we could safely say with a wide margin that this was the best meal we had in 2023 in California. The blueberry dessert had hints of rose water and the texture of halva, soft and tender, not too sweet and incredibly addictive. Our winner for the desserts. While the next one was an almond torte that is served warm with layers of what felt like marzipan. Incredible but takes second place to the blueberry pie.

Savor cafe is doing something right in a city that is struggling to shine after the pandemic. Chef Mohammed is working really hard to make fine dining accessible with an experience that you will relish. This was a perfect date night for us with a meal that was memorable to the soundtrack of sonorous Yemeni music.

Must try! Restaurant of the month, and probably of the year. We can’t wait to come back and try some of the other...

This place was an absolutely amazing find. Its been there for around 2 years. The menu is fully vegan with focus on Yemenese cuisine. All the offerings are Tapas style( small plates) many for sharing. We ordered about 6-7 dishes. 1. potato and sage torte 2. Wild mushrooms knaffe 3. Bakhlava 4. Falafel croquettes 5. Roasted cauliflower 6. House special ( collard green stew with lentils and pita) ( not on the menu), 7. Yemenese spice tea ( made from oatmilk), 8. Blueberry tart with toasted almonds.

All the dishes were absolutely finger-licking delicious. The balance of flavors were amazing. I loved the house special collard green stew , the mushroom knaffe , potato torte and blueberry torte with almonds. The mushroom flavors in the knaffe was intense and that was something I absolutely loved. It came with a red pepper sauce which was equally delicious. The highlight for me was the house special collard green stew with lentils. It was suggested by the chef with great confidence and we ordered it based on that. The stew was rich, balanced in tens of spice level. It was very well complemented by the barbecued lentils and the pita to wipe it all from the plate 😀.

At the end of the meal, when we thought we were full, the chef offered a blueberry torte ( on the house) and to accompany that, we ordered the Yemenese chai . I was absolutely surprised my the torte which had a great balance of sweetness , with the nutty flavor from toasted almonds which all complimented the blueberry flavor. The chai was mild but all the spice came through very well.

Overall it was a great dining experience ( something that will start in my memory for...

We were really looking forward to trying this restaurant based on the glowing reviews, but unfortunately, our experience was deeply disappointing and left us feeling disrespected and possibly discriminated against.

This is a tapas-style restaurant, so we began by ordering two items and asked to keep the menu so we could order more throughout the meal. The owner, who was also our waiter, responded with a condescending remark: “You’ll be hungry later and looking for a cheap burrito.” Not only was this comment unprofessional and rude, but it also felt like a stereotype-laced jab that made us extremely uncomfortable.

After our food arrived, the service continued to deteriorate. The waiter never checked in to ask how the food was or if we needed anything else. Meanwhile, he continued to be attentive and friendly to other (white) patrons seated nearby. Feeling ignored and unwelcome, we ultimately decided to leave.

We don’t take lightly to leaving a negative review, but it’s important to share our experience in the hope that others are treated with more respect...