Slanted Door

09/22/2008 Posted by capricorn2008

WORST SERVICE I'VE EVER HAD from the minute I made the reservation to the minute I walked out the door. Staff is slow, arrogrant and inefficient!!!!! The food was adequate but nothing special. Not only do I NOT recommend it, I wouldn't go back if you paid me to eat there! When I go out for a "nice" lunch or dinner I expect to be treated as a guest, not as if they are doing me a favor by letting me eat there!!!!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful

02/29/2008 Posted by syp

It was the BEST meal we had during our trip in SFO. I made an earliest reservation but the restaurant was already packed! Ribs/ Ribs/ Ribs... every table I can see. we ordered 2 appetizers, ribs and dungeness crab. portions were almost like a meal for 2. ribs was so tender and juicy but the sauce a bit on salty side, crab was cook perfect, still a bit translucent. drink was fantastic too... Real friendly services, food comes quick. This is a keeper, I would love to come back and try everything!!!!

12/31/2007 Posted by gefre808

We have heard so much great reviews about Slanted Door and we were very excited to try this restaurant, however this restaurant did not live up to the hype. To preface this review, our home base is in Honolulu and Boston- 2 cities with excellent Asian cuisine. Slanted door is supposedly "fine Vietnamese food", however at best, the food tasted like your average Chinese fare. Nothing spectacular, no wow factor, just mediocre. I have eaten Chinese food from stands off the side of the road that were tastier than the food served here. On a positive note, however, the interior is beautiful- sleek and modern. Plus, there is a great view of the waterfront as well. The service was slow, but our waitress was very friendly and helpful.The bill was overpriced in my opinion for lunch- 2 people for 3 dishes at $70. I am glad that we got to try this place since we have heard so many great things about it, but we will not be returning here again or recommending it to friends.

Pros: Beautiful waterfront/bridge view

Cons: Average tasting "chinese-type" food although it is supposed to be Vietnamese fine-dining, overpriced

12/23/2007 Posted by kodani

everything was fine as far as the food and service goes. the drinks were good. the patrons were rude, as we left the bar a women was practically sitting on my lap to get my seat not to mention the 2 people behind us breathing down our necks. very noisy. if you have had vietnamese that is authentic, this place lacks the flavor but if you haven't you won't know the difference and will probably be impressed.

11/19/2007 Posted by boy73sf

Their day is over, once a great product and service now is an assembly line of attitude, get um in and out food and waits for a reservation longer that calling the airline. Your not a guest, your a number with a pager waiting for your table at 9pm that you had a reservation for at 8..so over it...great food and service is Bong Su!

Cons: service

11/07/2007 Posted by naotake

Since the first time I went to this restaurant, it has been my favorite restaurant in the city. Some dishes are a a little too strong flavor for me, like the chicken claypot, but my personal top pick is "Cellophane noodles with fresh dungeness crab meat." It probably isn't the most well known, but to me it is the gem in this menu. THe delicate flavor of the dungeness crab works very well with the cellophane noodles, and the broth they use is amazing. It is a MUST dish for me. We like starting with the "grapefruit and jicama salad." The food is great, but what makes it better is the staff. Every staff is friendly and approaches you like they knew you for a long time. If you want to people watch, I would recommend sitting at the bar. You get to chat with the bartender but also see the people in their casual but dress-to-impress outfits.

Pros: The food, the friendly staff and the live people.

Cons: If you got at certain hours, your wait might be LONG.

10/25/2007 Posted by eatinny

Went here while on vacation in San Francisco. We heard that it was supposed to be really authentic Vietnamese, so we wanted to try it out. Authentic? Not so much. It tasted like a corner pan-asian restaurant. Spring rolls and cod dumplings for apps - they were alright, but surprisingly bland. We stuck with the beef for the main courses, which were ok, but nothing to write home about. Speaking of beef, we had a couple of them. Our server was horrible. Horrible. We asked for recommendations, to which he responded, "It depends on what you feel like eating." We gave him some guidelines (no seafood for the gentleman, no mushrooms for the lady), and sure enough he recommended a dish with mushrooms for the lady. So we asked for a bit more time, and picked the beef entrees with glass noodles to share. They were bringing plates out as they were ready so my husband got his food about 5 minutes before I got mine (one of my biggest pet peeves next to taking plates off the table before everyone is finished), and we got rice which we didn't ask for but assumed it came with the entrees. Lo and behold, we got the bill and were charged for rice we didn't order. It was only $2, and we didn't complain because it was more effort than it was worth, but it ticked us both off. And the entire time I was eating, I was sitting there watching our waiter stretched out in a booth across from us, yakking away, which in most circumstances wouldn't have bothered me. If it wasn't for the nice guys that were running food back and forth, this guy would definitely not have gotten a tip. I may be a spolied New Yorker when it comes to restaurants, but this was neither trendy nor authentic.

Pros: The guys at the bar were so nice, as were the runners

Cons: Our waiter.

10/02/2007 Posted by cagirl2

First off you cant get through on the phone lines in the morning hours. I hardly see how the place can be so swamped with reservations but apparently they are. Took our chances and walked in for lunch. Just like I'd seen on tv there were plenty of seats at the bar area but to our surprise we were able to be seated at a table. Food was lacking the WOW factor that I'd anticipated! Ordered the green papaya salad (no flavor) Slanted Door spring rolls (ehh) (You can have tastier peanut sauce out of a jar) and the Vietnamese Crepe which was my favorite (I think because of the oil the crepe was fried in) The dipping sauce for the creep was ok but still not packing that Zing I was looking for. Dessert time came and of course we each had to have one. Reasonably priced I thought (at 7.00 each) the Dark chocolate Marquise was darn good! I was a little scared about the fennel cream that accompanied it (cause I'm not a fan of fennel) but heck, you couldn't taste anything but cream. The Warm Fig-goat cheese tart was Yummy. The tart part especially. Whats not to like about butter and flour? Over all it was fine. Less than fifty bucks (we drank water) and a nice experience that we can say we've done. As far as returning as a tastey hot spot? I dont think so. As far as being a been there done that bought the T-shirt experience Yes!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

08/19/2007 Posted by gwenjc2000

We were very excited to try out this hot spot. I liked the decor & our server was wonderful but believe the reviews when it says it is not romantic. The atmosphere is nice don't get me wrong but it is a hectic, bustling place with the ferry & awesome market being there. The spring rolls as well as the squash rice cakes we had were fabulous. The crab corn soup was light & fresh but nothing special but it is only $5 so I would say worth it to try. We ordered the chicken stir fry & the lamb stir fry. Both were nice but we liked the lamb better. The side of green beans I thought would just be grean beans but they were so crisp & flavorful & given to us for free for our chicken entree taking extra time which neither one of us noticed b/c we were having a nice time & had plenty of other food to savor. We ended with the creme brulee. Delicious but noting special except that it was served with mini pistachio muffins which I would have ordered 2 dozen to take home if they would have let me.

Pros: Service, wine list, cleanliness

Cons: Hectic

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

08/02/2007 Posted by phields

I've been to the one in the Mission years ago and thought it was so so. I am Vietnamese and brought my family there and we all thought it was not authentic and just average. My friends asked me to go again recently and I thought I would give it another shot since they moved to the Ferry Building. Mistake! I will never go to this restaurant again. The food was OVERPRICED, HYPED UP and just BORING and very AVERAGE at best. I know it's a place to be see and be seen but it's certainly not a place for foodies who really know what Vietnamese food is all about. The Vietnamese part of this restaurant is just a big GIMMICK! Believe me, you can get a fantastic Vietnamese meal for a fraction of what it would cost you at this restaurant so save your $ and just go to a genuine Vietnamese restaurant - unless of course you don't care about how good the food is and just want to be part of the trendy scene! This restaurant pretends to be gourmet but they must be competing in the projects of Vietnam wanna-be gourmet food olympics.

Pros: View, location

Cons: Food is poor, not authentic, boring and it is VERY NOISY! Can't have conversation. OVERPRICED!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful