Zuni Café — Restaurant in San Francisco

EDIT: I did have the opportunity to try Zuni Café again in October 2023, and I raised my overall review from 4 to 5 stars because my dinner service was exceptional. Everything I had was delicious, from cocktail to starter to main dish. I did end up trying the famous roast chicken, and I will say that the chicken itself was good (albeit a bit dry, but that's just the consequences of roasting a bird whole) but the warm bread salad it was served on was even more spectacular. I might just have to try and reverse engineer the recipe myself lol. I will also add on that I did not manage to snag a reservation this time around, but they do take walk-ins and we were able to secure a table pretty much right away. . . . To preface my review, I will say that I dined here solo back in November 2022, so the dishes I had are a reflection of the menu at the time. I went for dinner because I had heard really great things and Zuni Café is apparently well known amongst foodies so I had high expectations. The atmosphere was really nice, the music was soft and the lighting was warm and inviting. I never had to ask for more water as my glass was being replenished often, and my server was attentive and made sure that I was having a good experience.

I had ordered rabbit leg, and while the mashed potatoes it was served with were absolutely delicious, the rabbit itself was undercooked. I had to send it back in fear of getting sick from eating undercooked meat. One of the gentlemen at the table adjacent to me had also ordered the rabbit, and had received it undercooked as well, so I was disappointed that it wasn’t just a one-off mishap. Luckily the waiter apologized and took it back to be fired up again, and brought out some bread on the house which was tasty and kept me satisfied while I waited for my dish to come back. I felt well taken care of even though I was dining solo on a busy night, and I would like to come back again to try a different seasonal menu and give Zuni Café a well deserved chance...

My husband and I know fine dining. Our favorite place to eat is Halls Chophouse in Charleston that dining experience is worth the $350 price tag. So with Zuni let's start with Pros: Love the building and local artist paintings 4 and did enjoy the food 4. Front of the house 4 and bar 3. Cons-and the reason for the 1 1)If you are giving your guest a 25% sir charge please have the service to back it up. 2) My husband asked for raw clams, the waiter stated they were out. The next table came in after us and received cooked clams. Hey waiter I thought you were out of clams, he stated only on the raw bar. A good waiter would have suggested the cooked clam dish as an alternative. 3)Appetizers came out quickly and were good, oyster and Ceasar salad which was fresh and hearty but a bit over dressed b/c my croutons were soft by the time I finished it. 4) the kitchen was a bit slow with our main course. 5)husband order lamb chops the waiter said it would be a rack, we received 1 bone and 1 bone with no meat just fat and grissle, the 1 bone received was cooked perfectly and very tasty. 6) I had swordfish and the combination of the vegetables, fish w/olive relish and hummus was great until I found an eyelash. This is when the manager took care of our entrées. I was not going to write a review because the manager apologized and took care of the main courses. But I still wanted to share my experience and say with the drinks at the bar as we waited for our table $40 and the Appetizer they did not comp we paid $60, so would I recommend. The food was really good, the service also good, but please step it up a notch. We are just passing through San Francisco on our way to Hawaii from Charlotte we enjoy great food and are returned guest to our favorite spots but I'm afraid to give this restaurant another try until I know they are worth...

Went for lunch on a weekday. We made a reservation online the previous week, but there was seating available for walk ins when we went there. It is hard to find parking around the area, so I suggest getting there by public transport. The inside of the cafe is beautiful. We were seated on the upper floor and had some nice views of the restaurant. The restaurant is located in a corner unit, with lots of windows and tons of natural light. That was super nice as it was a sunny day outside and it was great to be able to enjoy the sun. We walked around after finishing our meal and really liked the kitchen and bar area. The wait staff was very professional and friendly. They explained the menu thoroughly and were eager to answer any questions we had. When iI clumsily spilled some water, they offered to change our table top, which was very generous of them. Based on what the staff told us, the menu changes daily, with a few dishes such as the Cesar salad and roasted chicken available at all times. So, come with an open mind and do not expect to order dishes you had seen online. We ordered the broccoli and burrata appetizer which was savory, tangy and delicious. We also ordered the mushroom soup, which was good, but not great. The mushroom flavor was not very strong. For our main, we ordered the fish (don't remember what type) with brown sauce. It was very, very good. The brown sauce was soooo good, with the capers. It came with (steamed?) carrots, brussels sprouts and potato, which tasted really bland and it seemed that they had just been thrown on the dish at the end. We shared it between two people and they were nice enough to bring us two plates. Next time we come here, we want to try the Roasted chicken. We saw it coming out of the brick oven right before leaving and it looked...