Le Comptoir — Restaurant in San Rafael

My anticipation for trying Le Comptoir has been building for more than two years. I recently celebrated my birthday here with three others. We started off with a cheese and charcuterie board consisting of smoked duck breast, Bresaola, and a pork pâté, and two cheeses (which I can’t eat, as I’m dairy free, unfortunately), cornichons, pickled onion, and a hot dijon mustard . The meats are made in-house, but even so, the quantities felt sparse for the nearly $50 price. The pâté was my favorite and most flavorful - creamy and herbaceous. My entree was the goat stew with polenta - the goat had delicious, deep, fatty flavor and seasonings in a tomato base and the polenta was very creamy, though not much seasoning. I highly recommend this dish. The hangar steak was undersized, 4-5 ounces, pre-cut and perfectly medium rare, and smothered in blue cheese sauce, which concealed the taste of the meat entirely. It came with a generous portion of fries, but they were very disappointing —soggy, not crisp. My mother’s salmon was moist (and she ordered it with fries, instead of spinach that it comes with). My father ordered the duck confit, which was perfectly cooked, great flavor, and a generous size. It came with lentils. We also ordered a side of cauliflower —it was charred black in some areas and was served in large chunks that were difficult to cut into individual portions. I don’t recommend it. The other side dish we ordered was the braised cabbage—vinegary, buttery, umami—I couldn’t get enough of it. Order it! For dessert, we had the profiteroles —three large ones poured over in lots of milk chocolate. It was described by my dining mates as standard. Overall, this place has hits with misses. The shop (connected to the restaurant) is a lot more special than the restaurant itself, with imported gourmet goods, including cheese and wine. This place is worth a...

What a strange experience we had here…We loved Le Comptoir a few years ago. Amazing food and service - but it’s clear something has changed.

We were seated and waited sometime before being informed that there was no wine list - despite an extensive number of wines at the bar. We were told to go “look at the fridge” of the grocery store they own next door. Ok…we’re not snobs…so we go and look at the wines and there are no prices whatsoever. We pick a wine and just go with it because it was a special occasion.

We drink our wine, $46 a bottle (not bad luckily) and wait for menus. We’re having a nice time chatting so it’s no concern, but about 25 minutes in we still don’t have a menu. The owner (I think?) comes to our table, and while nice, he frankly seems like he’s had a few glasses himself. He sort of gives us a pretentious chat about how Americans don’t appreciate French food.

He proceeds to tell us “you can have the tasting menu - it’s $70 a person - or if you don’t trust me I can tell you what we have”. Alight…no menus…we decide to trust him and go with the tasting menu. Here’s what that entailed…one shared appetizer of salmon pate, jambon and and beets. Some bread on the side. It was fine, but nothing to write home about.

For dinner it was another shared plate of overcooked pork in a brown sauce and then a bunch of rice with shrimp on top. Not very French to me…I can make pretty great overcooked rice and Costco shrimp at home.

The dessert was equally unceremonious, on a shared plate. A chocolate mousse, an apple tart, and a small cake with vanilla ice cream. It all tasted store bought - and if it’s not - oof.

The kicker to all of this? $362 with tip for 3 people. Sheesh. For a tasting menu, I’d expect better food and service.

On top of all this the service was just ok…walked away feeling ripped off. Sorry le comptoir, but get...

Possibly the finest French restaurant in the Bay Area, think of Le Comptoir as what Larkspur's Left Bank was in its glory days, back when it was run by its creator. From the wines to the exquisitely prepared main dishes, everything at Le Comptoir is, for lack of a better word, perfect. The attention to detail is amazing, like salads that are properly dressed--which might seem like a little thing; but it brought me back to my childhood, and how my father used to prepare salads.

The menu changes weekly, which means I might have to wait awhile before the sliced flank steak and the pork tenderloin are once again on offer.

Le Comptoir leaves Left Bank--the county's most well-known French bistro--in the dust. Which is not to say that Left Bank is not a distinguished French eatery, but their reds leave something to be desired, and I've had mixed experiences in 2022 with their main courses.

Value-for-money puts Le Comptoir at the top of my list of SSS-category restaurants in Marin as a whole, and certainly San Rafael. I'll update this review...