Top of the Mark — Restaurant in San Francisco

Yesterday, I took my wife for her birthday to Top of the Mari at the Mark Hopkins International Hotel on California Street. Top of the Mark has been operating in San Francisco since 1939. They’re currently celebrating eighty (80) years of business, which is no small feat, I took my wife to the Top of the Mark because it’s an iconic high-end cocktail bar with 360-degree views of the city. Top of the Mark offers “romantic packages,” for special occasions (birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, etc...) which was attractive to me because it would make for a very special night. I was in communication with their food and beverage coordinator Joanna for a little over a month before the event and I thought we had everything squared away. I went with the “Head Over Heels,” package which came with the following: guaranteed window seat (with a city view), two (2) rounds of cocktails, and a desert. I spoke with Joanna and specially asked that they write a specific message on the desert plate and to my surprise, they spelled my wife’s name incorrectly! This is absolutely unacceptable. My wife’s name is five (5) letters, and I specifically reviewed it with Joana almost a month in advance. When the server brought out the plate, instead of immediately apologizing for the error, he said; “they made it downstairs, what should I do?” Despite my frustration, which wasn’t his fault, I advised him to “fix it somehow.” No customer, especially one that had “planned and paid for a package,” should have to deal with incompetence on a special day. My next issue, was that I told Joanna that I wanted to prepay for the package, as you have to do an online reservation and indicate your payment method,” but of course, that also wasn’t done. I’m so disappointed. Overall, my wife was not aware of their errors or the effort I put forth and we had a good night, but, for a first time customer at Top of the Mark, I can’t say that I’ll be a...

Summary: poor cocktails, poor decor, poor service. The views are good, +1 star. (honestly, since 1939 the city has changed to the point where the views are no longer as amazing, if only the hotel was rotated 45 degrees...).

We pre-booked the "Top of the Mark" upgrade as part of our hotel stay, so that we could get "Preferred Seating". If you choose to stay at the hotel, I recommend you DON'T DO THIS.

We arrived at ~5pm on a Saturday, and presented our "VIP vouchers". The place was certainly humming, but there were at least 4 empty tables immediately next to the windows, with the good views. The receptionist insisted that we couldn't have those tables, and that the only available seating for us was either at the bar, or on the raised center island. I guess he was optimizing the fact that all the empty tables had 4 seats, but we were a party of 2. So much for "Preferred Seating".

We went to a table more distant from the windows, with significantly worse views. (but great views of empty tables, sadly). We ordered some cocktails, including their signature "International Mark 75"...disappointing. Bee Pollen sounds fancy, but I've had (and made) much better French 75's.

The decor in this place is uninspired, and outdated. If you want a high end cocktail experience with hip decor and ambiance go to the Boom Boom Room in NYC. Or even The San Francisco Marriott Marquis "View Lounge" on 4th and Mission.

I don't recommend The Top of the Mark, but if you still want to go for the views, whatever you do don't pre-pay for this. Keep whatever leverage you have in case it's too busy during your stay, or the host forces you to inferior tables despite...

I was very disappointed with my first, and probably last, visit to Top of the Mark last night. I volunteer on a committee with Junior League, and we made reservations for a holiday dinner last night. The reason people come to this restaurant is for the views, and they stuck us on a couch with a small cocktail table in the middle of the restaurant, instead of letting us sit at a proper table by a window. Of course, we asked twice if we could move to a table, and they denied us, which is very bizarre. We came for dinner and had a dinner reservation. There were several available table options, for the duration of our 3 hours there, so I don't know why we were ignored and discriminated against. We were all dressed nicely and excited for our one social event of the year together, and were hoping it would be special by selecting this iconic spot in SF.

Our bill was a whopping $400 for a few Lunchables, I mean, appetizers, a couple of watered down Aperol spritzes, and a couple glasses of wine. I found the service to be rude, seriously delayed (we were ignored for the first 30 minutes we were there), and the food/drinks to be third-rate. I do not recommend Top of the Mark unless you come up for just the views and a glass of water.

Finally, we chose Top of the Mark after calling last week to confirm their holiday cocktail menu would be available. They said it would, but alas, when we arrived last night to our unfortunate couch situation, they said they aren't offering that menu until 12/16. It would have been helpful if their host would have mentioned this when we called to confirm...

Overall - this...