05/18/09

A SF institution whose days are over

by rakeshtondon

I think it is time that this SF institution kicks the bucket because I think its day are over. I don't believe there is enough soul, passion or life left in this restaurant. There is nothing good about the place other than the decor and the space. The food is OK at best, and tasteless and completely unmemorable. Being in a city like SF, one has no reason or excuse to pick this restaurant when you have excellent options like Fringale or Bacar and many others like it all over the city. Now that I've been there a couple of times and tried to like it, I have no idea what possessed me to waste my moolah. Needless to say I'd never do it again (and will try not let others waste their money either).

• Pros: Excellent decor
• Cons: Tasteless food

01/26/08

First visit - great dining experience!

by ebayfoodie

A friend and I came here for Dine-About-Town on a Friday night and enjoyed a wonderful meal accompanied by superb service. I don't know if the owner has been reading all the bad reviews regarding service and decided to implement changes or what, but all of the staff from the hostess to the busboys were courteous, pleasant, and professional. Our water glasses never had a chance to near half empty, all plates arrived in a timely fashion, the table was cleared efficiently after each course, and not once did we feel rushed. In fact on several occasions, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed our server quickly return to the kitchen with our next dish when he observed that we still had some remaining food on our current plates. Additionally, the chef even sent out complimentary samples of a cauliflower panna cotta topped with a red chile powder and watercress which I found innovative and flavorful. All of the servers seemed well-informed about the food (we ordered additional items outside the DAT menu) and provided details regarding the ingredients as they set the dishes before us - very nice touch. Overall the food was good. A few items such as the potato leek soup and chocolate ganache cake w/sundae were not memorable, but the black truffle & ricotta pasta, maple chicken, and sorbets were stand outs. And I don't even like sorbets! The beet salad was a nice mix of flavors, but the burrata was definitely not up to par with others I've tried, e.g. Mozza in LA, and the Cheeseboard in Berkeley. Definitely a restaurant worth trying at least once.

• Pros: service, patio seating for sunny days

08/08/07

The long, handsome arm of the PlumpJack empire extends to this softly slick, ultrasuede dining room with stylish cache near AT&T Park.

by Joanna Currier

The Scene
A modern sage and black dining room features a low ceiling, white tablecloths and brushed steel seating set against padded, ultrasuede walls. In front, a heated concrete patio provides an urbane setting for cocktails or al fresco group dining. Within, soft booths for two can be curtained off for privacy. A petite metallic bar flanks the entrance. Accomplished black-clad servers deliver the goods, but pacing is a problem here; the flavors of one plate may be long forgotten by the time the next arrives.

The Food
Chef Jonnatan Leiva plays with pedigreed seasonal ingredients, and some dishes are quite memorable. Charcuterie includes a light, flavorful guinea hen terrine paired with young, pickled vegetables and teardrop dollops of mustard and cherry marmalade. Dungeness crab and Maine lobster salad is made innovative with paprika-doused summer beans and baby plums. Leiva nails complex fish dishes but his meats, such as the angus beef duet, are less stunning. Desserts can be outstanding. Case in point: the intricate, winning deconstructed banana split.

Hits: Playful, expressive desserts and a fabulous wine list are reason alone to come here.

Misses: Inconsistent service with an overwhelmed air can leave diners feeling shunned, even when the place is sparsely filled.

04/16/07

Food and Service Underwhelm, Wine List Very Good

by mc_sfo2004

Setting: quiet and comfortable, lighting pleasant

Service: weak - inattentive server, bread arrives halfway through dinner, then butter only after requested. Waitstaff attempted to clear table before courses were finished

Food: Salad of vegetables and Greens was attractive except for odd choice of muscatel vinegar for the dressing. Tasted more or funky wine than vinegar. Vegetable composition could have been helped with more color variety for visual appeal; Steak tartare: tasty but plain.. offer some capers or minced onion on the side and fresh cracked pepper

Dinner: Guinea Hen was moist but the accompanying side of tabbouleh, tomatoes and cippolini onions was bad - very odd seasoning and too salty.

Wine list was very good. A lot of nice choices at appealing price points.

Overall, I would not go back. For the price, there is much better in town.

• Pros: Pleasant and quiet seating area
• Cons: Indifferent table service; badly seasoned sides ruin entrees

04/13/07

Great experience - concise menu covered a lot of excellent flavors

by mercjfr

I've twice gone here with big goups and had a great experience each time. To a T, everyone thought the menu was very interesting and the food was tasty. As a group, we tried most everything. I was surprised to read all the reviewers criticizing the service; I don't remember much about ours, but that's usually a good sign, right? I think it compares especially favorably to other spots in that neighborhood for a place to go before a night at the ballpark or concert.

• Pros: simple menu of tasty food
• Cons: slightly stuffy ambience

02/17/07

Not so great

by shawnleslie

We went to Jack Falstaff last night and the experience was, overall, disappointing. We had a reservation but still had to wait 20 minutes to be seated. The food was average, at best - and definitely overpriced. For $20 I had a market vegetable plate which consisted of about 2 tablespoons of oily risotta, a few pieces of super greasy swiss chard, and 2 or 3 pieces of fennel (all in all, about 5 bites). Definitely the most disappointing "vegetable plate" I've ever had. My friend's dinner was not much better. There are so many great restaurants in San Francisco. If you're going to spend $100+ on dinner, do yourself a favor and go somewhere else.

• Pros: nice wine list
• Cons: average, overpriced food

09/03/06

Not sure what all the hype is about

by aml888

I've eaten at Jack Fallstaff twice in the past year (once for lunch, once for dinner) and, although the food is good and the service OK, it's clearly not in the same company as other notable Financial District restaurants (Boulevard, Aqua, etc) that I would, without question, highly recommend. On my last time there (for dinner), I dined with a group and the service was spotty - our entrees took a long time to come out and the restaurant seemed, overall, to be understaffed. Our server did not check in when the entrees were served to see if we'd like another bottle of wine and we had to ask for the check twice. The food was good - especially some creative pairings like scallops with a pork shoulder ravioli - but not in the same league as the restaurants mentioned above. After hearing so many great things about this restaurant, we were disappointed.

• Pros: Decor, great salads, good food
• Cons: Service, food good but not amazing

08/23/06

incredible food, great service

by metapede

I took my girlfriend to Jack Falstaff on her birthday, and we definitely had a 4+ star experience. I booked a reservation online, through OpenTable, and I mentioned in my comments that it was a birthday date. Perhaps this influenced the service we got, which was incredible - as another user mentioned, attentive but not overbearing.

They started us off with some very nice rustic bread, accompanied by an array of interesting and tasty dips/spreads - including a surprising and delightful vanilla-infused olive oil.

Next, we shared a simple charcuterie and cheese plate as a starter. At this point we told our server what we planned to eat for our entrees and asked him to recommend a bottle of wine. Incidentally, I appreciated the breakout of "30 great wines in their prime for under 40 dollars" in the wine list.

I chose steak for my entree, while my girlfriend chose scallops, so we wanted a wine that would stand up to the steak without overpowering the scallops - a challenge for any sommelier. After a short back-and-forth, our waiter recommended a burgundy, which turned out to be perfect.

My steak was one of the best I've ever had. The scallops were seared to perfection and served with a braised pork shank ravioli. Both (scallops and ravioli) were tasty but didn't quite click as an ensemble.

Finally, desert. I ordered the peach and blueberry cobler, served with an incredible sweet corn ice cream. My girlfriend had the flourless hazelnut chocolate cake, which was out of this world.

• Pros: incredible food, great service, great wine list

08/21/06

Pleasant Dining Out

by astarrett

Went here the other night with my boyfriend. We were impressed by the cozy ambience and we loved the food. Our waiter was professional and courteous, but he fell just short of that great service that makes a meal great. We would definitely go here again.

06/27/06

Best birthday dinner I've ever had!

by valmm

I've heard rave reviews about this restaurant, so I had came into this dinner with very high expectations. My experience here has far exceeded my expectations! The meal was the best that I've had since I was at Gary Danko's about a year and half ago. My friend and I had ordered and shared an intro dinner and two main courses. They were extremely nice enough to make this into a 3-course meal for us, split the dishes and bring them to our table one at a time. You have to try the salt-baked snapper! I was not a big fan of snapper until I had this dish. If you're a chocolate lover - I highly recommend the chocolate hazelnut flourless cake. Everyone at Jack Falstaff was extremely friendly and glad to help out. The chef, Jonnatan Leiva, was also nice to visit with us and explain the dishes he had prepared for us. If you want a great meal and superb service - make your next dining experience at Jack Falstaff!

• Pros: Food, Great Service and Ambience
• Cons: None