Wilson & Wilson Private Detective Agency — Restaurant in San Francisco

My husband and I went on a Wednesday, which may have been the problem. We got in just fine with the password and were asked if we wanted bar seating or a high-top. We opted for high-top for more intimacy. That may have been our mistake. The bartender came out from the bar and explained how the menu worked i.e. we could order individual drinks or order a flight, one from each of the apperitif, main and digestif. He left us to it and we picked out The Maltese Falcon, They Drive by Night, and something with "Evil" in the name. The bartender came back and, in true flight fashion, I proceeded to tell him the 3 drinks we wanted. He stops me after the second one and tells me to only order one of the drinks time. Weird! He brought us the Maltese Falcon, and it was delicious. The problem is, once we finished it, he never came back. The reservation confirmation I received asked that we not approach the bar and to be patient. Patience wears thin when you only have the table for 1.5 hours and are only served once in the first hour. The metal barstools became too uncomfortable to handle and we were not going to wait around hoping he'd be back in time for us to order the 3rd drink of our flight. We left $20 on the table and left. The room was cool with velvet wallpaper and the gold ceiling, but once you get past the novelty of it, enjoyment diminishes. Stick to Bourbon & Branch if you want to go to...

I wanted to like Wilson & Wilson, but it was pretentious and fell short. I wanted a flip, so the bartender recommended "Deadline at Dawn". It tasted unbalanced to me - the vanilla was too pronounced, and its aftertaste still lingers. To his credit, the bartender recognized I wasn't happy, and asked what he could do to make it right. Kudos. However, when I said I'd love to stick with a flip, and asked if I could get a rebel flip (they have a great bourbon selection) he said they only did drinks from the menu. I asked if he could re-make the drink without the vanilla infused bitters, and he said they "didn't do alterations".

If you're Dandelyan or American Bar, you'd have perhaps earned the right to be that pretentious, but even at Dandelyan I've never been told "we don't do alterations" or "menu only". A great bar will work with you, explore what flavor profile you enjoy, and come up with something to match your desires. I've never had more fun than a night with Mikey Ball exploring some super creative drinks after we talked flavor profiles. This fell so horribly short.

If you're going to stick to a strict menu and not allow any alterations, why don'y you just go ahead and batch it all. You might as well.

tl;dr: I really wanted to like Wilson & Wilson. Nice space, nice ingredients behind the bar, but I left after 15 minutes and three...

Wilson & Wilson, located within Bourbon & Branch, is hidden behind a wooden wall. Our waiter was friendly and attentive. The smaller cocktail menu is creatively themed around police case files, which we found cute. A reservation is necessary, so plan ahead. Although our reservations for Bourbon & Branch and Wilson & Wilson got mixed up, it wasn’t an issue. Walking from this area, which borders the Tenderloin, we noticed that the homeless population largely kept to themselves. Interestingly, there were fewer homeless people at night compared to around 7:30 PM, making the area feel safer after dark (we walked from our hotel - 2 females). Similar to Bourbon & Branch, Wilson & Wilson also has a no pictures, no cell phone policy. Despite this, I had my phone out briefly to answer some messages, and no one seemed to mind though I wouldn’t suggest having it out all the time. This place is not for partying; it caters to quieter, smaller groups. I wish we could take photos to share the experience with our friends back home, but it...