11/26/08

Excellent food!

by yarivs

I went to Citizen Cake last night with my girlfriend following a friend's recommendation and we weren't disappointed. Everything we ordered was excellent (except for one of the appetizers -- a lettuce salad -- which was good but not remarkable). We got a beats + goat cheese appetizer, I ordered a steak (which came with a scoop of horseradish ice cream -- very interesting flavor) and my girlfriend ordered a vegetarian dish. For desert, we shared a "deconstructed" pumpkin cake. It was delicious. Highly recommended!

• Pros: great food, pleasant atmosphere

08/27/08

over-rated & over-priced desserts

by tl83

The first time I visited Citizen Cake was about a year ago after seeing it featured on Food Network. Plus I'm a cupcake fanatic and always make my friends and family cupcakes for special occasions. I even stuff the centers like a hostess cupcake! Anyways, I was so excited to try their famous cupcakes - one more chocolatey and the other a vanilla and fruit mix. They were dry, not very flavorful, and lacked the fun and fancy allure everyone had raved about. Not one to judge a restaurant based on just one visit, I returned last month. Again, not impressed by the dessert selection. Very limited, tiny, expensive items that just weren't appealing. We decided to try the cupcakes again. Not any better this time around. They weren't moist and didn't have enough frosting - the best part of any cupcake! Plus the service was horrible. We were ignored for about 4 minutes in the store before someone asked if we were ready to order. Then they didn't have any insight to offer when we asked for a recommendation of what to purchase and take home. Totally useless service and desserts that aren't yummy enough for their price tag. Overall, not impressed and I won't be giving Citizen Cake a third opportunity to wow me...at least not any time soon.

07/18/08

Incredible Lunch Spot

by nyfoodie21

My mom and I are vacationing in San Fran, and went to salon Oxenrose (another CitySearch find) for hair styling, and were delighted to see that we were on the same street as Citizen Cake. We saw on CitySearch that it's #1 for desserts, but decided to try it for lunch and dessert. The atmosphere is very minimalist/trendy. The menus are very clever. To start, they brought us some incredible biscuits, they were scallion biscuits, moist, flavorful. My mother wanted to buy them in the bakery afterwards, but they were not available. We each wanted soup and a salad, but didn't want a bowl of soup - they reduced the portion that was on the menu, so don't be afraid to ask. The soup of the day was a carrot puree - full of flavor - fennel and cumin...topped with yogurt, very delicious. My mother ordered the tomato salad, it was 3 types of local tomatoes (a feast for the eyes and the tastebuds), chives and fabulous feta cheese....with a lovely vinagrette. I ordered the spinach salad. The most creative spinach salad I have ever had. The only thing traditional was the warm dressing. The salad had a warm dressing, a finely diced bacon (I'm guessing it was salt pork?) - small cubed potatoes, and (are you ready for this?) a poached egg on top. TO DIE FOR! The dessert menu was pricey and very eclectic. We chose a dessert called 'The Sting'. WOW, WOW, WOW!!! The sting comes with a shot glass of the most fragrant, unusual, amazing spiced pineapple liquid - the dessert itself is a molton chocolate concoction, with a vanilla cream, and a pile of toasted hazelnuts and crunchies. You take a sip of the spicy liquid, and while it's in your mouth, you scoop some molten chocolate, some vanilla sauce and WOW. The most creative dessert we'd ever had.

Really recommend this place., try it for lunch!!