Boulette's Larder

01/30/09

Staff is great - food is outstanding - I love this place

by lnarachi

I have been here twice and both times I was warmly greeted by the staff as family..I am really saddened by the comments here about the staff, as my experience is that I felt I was in someones home. Every single staff person I have encountered and the owner have been more than warm. The food has been outstanding - celery root and meyer lemon soup is my latest find there...it was a dance in my mouth.. I say give this place a chance - relax and just enjoy the food..If you want someone to "wait on you" - go to Masas...thats not what this place it about.

• Pros: tasty food
• Cons: Not the least expensive food in the city

02/17/08

horrible service- aggressive ploy/scam to get more tip!!!

by LMG321

After waiting 30+ minutes for a table at the tail end of brunch service today my party of 7 sat down and enjoyed a decent (if over-priced) meal with friends visiting from overseas. After a friend paid the bill (which apparently already included a 16% or 18% service charge), we got up to leave. The busboy staff swooped in an took it upon themselves to take the $4 cash change from the cash payment of the bill and without any thought we told them to go ahead (thinking we'd also already paid an additional $20+ in service charge/tip). We began to walk away and were approached by a short-statured man who worked at the restaurant, and at first he asked nicely if the service was OK. We said yes and he then got quite aggresive and waved the $4 we'd just given the busboy in the faces of my overseas guests and said "In this country, our waitstaff has to pay taxes on their tips and you are only giving them THIS? That is all you are paying them to wait on you all this time?"

What the ...? But the member of our pary who had paid the bill had left to use the restroom so the remaining friends didn't realize he'd already tipped via the service charge. So, faced with this aggression they gave an additional $20 cash. Afterward, we compared stories and learned that the waitstaff played us for not only the service charge and change from our cash payment (both totally acceptable) but also by sending someone else out and cornering a different member of our party who hadn't seen/paid the bill, they scored another $20. Now come on! Overpriced food and snooty-ness aside, is swindling your customers necessary? It was rude and embarrasing to hear this recounted from our friends who now will go back home with this experience part of their vacation stories of when they visited San Francisco. I am embarrased I took them to this place and will NOT frequent again.

What a horrible way to treat customers! Pathetic and not worth the over-priced food.

• Pros: tasty food
• Cons: horrible/dishonest service; over-priced; sold out of 50% of menu

06/06/07

Peaceful weekday breakfast and nice lunch

by agentred

This is my favorite place in the morning when I want to zone out, eat a hearty oatmeal with huge plate of topping choices, and sit by the warmth of a kitchen with preparations underway for the busy day.

During lunch, I always request one of the individual tables in the hallway and always have decent service there. Nobody is fawning over you, but you get your bread, water, menus, and meal. I don't recomment coming with a party larger than 2. If no tables are available, I order carryout from the lunch menu. You can walk around while the carryout is prepared (10-15 min). However, the cashiers/front counter staff are really bad at multi-tasking and don't speed up people that are endless undecided browsers.

The food is just plain wonderful and will keep me going back when the crowds are not enormous.

• Pros: Wonderful food
• Cons: Crowds, lots of slow undecided browsers