Farley — Restaurant in Sausalito

Farley and Sula - Elegant Dining with a View at Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito

I have dined at Farley and Sula about five times since last November for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, both for work and leisure. While the food is consistently good, it does feel slightly overpriced for the location and limited competition within walking distance of the lodge. What sets this destination apart is the ambiance and flexibility. Guests can dine on either side of the two restaurants or enjoy a meal outdoors under heat lamps with sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay, the city skyline, and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Farley offers a sophisticated gastropub-style setting with a casual yet elevated menu, while Sula provides a more relaxed lounge experience. I love that both restaurants share menus, allowing guests to sample dishes from each while seated anywhere on the property. The service is consistently warm and professional, adding to the comfort of the experience. However, I do not agree with the 4% kitchen staff surcharge applied to food items. In my opinion, compensating staff properly should be the restaurant's responsibility, not an additional cost for guests.

Must-Try Dishes at Farley and Sula

Classic Benedict ($28) - 4.5/5 Served with Canadian bacon, tomato, hollandaise, and breakfast potatoes. This dish was flavorful, satisfying, and perfect for a working breakfast. The sauce made it a bit tricky to eat neatly, but it was still delicious.

Blue Crab Cake ($26) - 4.9/5 Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, this crab cake was beautifully presented and paired perfectly with dill remoulade and pickled mushrooms. A must-order for seafood lovers.

Watermelon and Heirloom Tomato Salad ($30) - 4.7/5 A refreshing mix of endive, arugula, feta, basil, and minted vinaigrette. The presentation was stunning, and the flavors were balanced and fresh. While delicious, it felt slightly overpriced compared to other entrées.

Fort Bragg Petrale Sole ($36) - 4.9/5 This dish stood out for its presentation and balance of flavors. The parmesan crust and toasted almond risotto were delightful, complemented by lemon and thyme butter.

Coffee-Rubbed New York Steak ($54) - 4/5 The steak was well-seasoned with chipotle-lime butter and served with crispy potato wedges and corn salsa. The flavors were excellent, but the steak arrived slightly cooler than expected, which detracted from the overall enjoyment.

Caramel Bread Pudding ($13) - 4.9/5 Served warm with vanilla ice cream, this dessert was rich, comforting, and perfect for enjoying outdoors on a cool evening. It was the ideal sweet ending to a scenic dinner.

Drinks

Sausalito Sunset ($19) - 1/5 A mix of rums, passionfruit, coconut, and nutmeg. Unfortunately, it was overly sweet and syrupy, masking the individual flavors.

Palomita ($19) - 3/5 A tequila and mezcal cocktail with grapefruit and fresno agave. The flavor was balanced but not memorable.

Final Thoughts

Farley and Sula provide one of the most scenic dining experiences in Sausalito, with panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline. The ambiance and service make this an excellent spot for a romantic dinner, a business lunch, or a relaxing brunch at Cavallo Point Lodge. While the prices can feel high and the drinks inconsistent, the food quality and atmosphere are worth experiencing at least once. For locals, I recommend enjoying a picnic on the grass, hike around the nearby trails and returning here in the evening for a glass of wine and dessert...

A Mixed Experience at Farley's Restaurant

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars)

I find myself in a complicated position as I write this review about Farley's Restaurant, situated beautifully in Sausalito, California. With online ratings of various platforms pointing towards an overall pleasant culinary experience, my encounter, unfortunately, demonstrated a lack of customer service and flexibility.

On the positive note, the restaurant boasts a comforting ambiance, ideally set up for family outings, get-together, or a casual dine-out. However, it was the service that left a dent in our evening.

Our visit was on a typical weekend at 1pm. The restaurant seemed half-empty, with plenty of tables available both from a real-time observation and an earlier online check, making it an enticing spot for a quick, stress-free dinner with my family, including a ravenous 9-year-old.

The disappointment set in when we were refused service for a table of three despite the clearly apparent table availability. It was puzzling to neither the requests for accommodation nor the empty tables's conspicuousness that should have signaled an opportunity to welcome more patrons.

While every restaurant indeed has its rules and regulations, a certain degree of flexibility and accommodation is expected, especially when it is accompanied by observable facts. This instance reflected poorly on the customer service at Farley's, changing the anticipated pleasant dining experience to a frustrating scenario that I believe could have been easily avoided.

I can't comment on the food, but the lack of hospitality will regrettably impact my decision to return to Farley's, simply due to the principle of good service being a pillar of the hospitality industry. In future, I hope management takes note and ensures that customers are not turned away, particularly with so much seating availability.

While I believe in second chances and understand that this could have been an isolated incident, more efforts are needed to ensure customer service is not compromised in favor of rigid...

I am writing this to share the horrible experience we had today. We were staying at the lodge and dined at this place. We had dinner the previous night and it was mediocre food. We went back for breakfast and the light over the table had a heavy glass decorative covering, which all of a sudden just dropped and shattered on our breakfast plates and we were left with broken glass pieces on three of us sitting around the table. Luckily my 2 yr old was standing a little farther and nothing happened to her. The other people dining around us were also concerned and asked us if we were ok as the noise the glass caused when it crashed was loud as it was heavy. We got away from the table and the manager said “sorry, I am going to send breakfast to your room and it is on me”. We ordered breakfast to our room and while checking out at noon, they gave us the bill for breakfast. We told the receptionist at the cavallo point lodge about what happened and called the manager who simply said that “ I didn’t tell them I would send breakfast to their room and cover it, the glass shattered on their plates and I apologized to them” Firstly what happened to us was dangerous. And we didn’t say a word after what happened as there were other people dining there and we didn’t want to make it unpleasant for them. The manager tried to behave like she was trying to make it up to us for the bad experience but it just ended being false statements. This is far from hospitable and definitely the most unpleasant experience I had at any...