03/30/09

Highly Recommended

by vintagew

The food here is excellent. I recommend the ahi tuna starter. The wild mushroom bisque they offered before the meal and the pastry tray they offered after the meal were excellent too. I ate at One Market on the same trip and while the food there was very good, Gary Danko was much better. I think it deserves more than one Michelin star.

• Pros: Excellent food

03/23/09

A wonderful fine dining experience!

by 10ECStud

Beginning to end this was the best meal that I've had in San Francisco. Too many great items to cover all of them but I can say that the Foie Gras and Cheese Carts were the standouts. I recommend a conservative wine choice as price is not always reflective of quality. Next time you're looking for a superior fine dining experience in the Wharf area, I highly recommend givng Gary Danko's a call!

• Pros: Imaginative menu, extraordinary service
• Cons: Pricey

12/28/08

an outstanding experience

by oliviaastein

Absolutely outstanding! The food, the wine but especially the people that are so intent on you having a wonderful evening. Excellent in every way.

06/29/08

The Nordstrom of Restaurants

by foodielover

Hands down one of the best dining experiences in SF. Prior reviewers proclaim there's "snooty" staff. We've been here 2x and have experienced nothing but the best of service. You have at least 5 staff members servicing you, including the maitre d' and wine stewart. I don't know of many places where the maitre d' comes by to chat with the guests at each table. The food is very, very good. Some more memorable than others like the asparagus soup, seared ahi tuna, choc souffle, foie gras and cheese. The cheese cart is amazing if you're a cheese connoisseur. There's almost 20 varieties to select from including Bay Area, US and international choices. You can pick 3-4 types presented with thin bagette slices and grapes. The menu consists of 3, 4 and 5 courses and you can interchange between the appetizer, entree or dessert. If you don't like dessert, you can have 2 appetizers + entree or 1 appetizer or 2 entrees instead. Or, 3 entrees! At $65 for a 3 course meal, you are quite full. They automatically add on the valet parking fee to your bill if you parked with them for $11 (the local garage charges $2.20 for 20 mins). And, they offer you the unfinished bottle of wine to take home and will leave doggie boxes at the door and hand it to you on your way out w/o you even needing to ask. The bathrooms are gorgeous. Food is a very important part of the dining experience but you can have great food and have it all spoiled by poor service and staff. At Gary Danko's the experience is whole and well worth a visit. They understand that food and service are intergral to a satisfying dining experience. The wine list is an extensive book, very few bottles under $100.

• Pros: Excellent service and food for a complete dining experience
• Cons: Parking limited in area, valet is available and recommended, reservations 2 mos advance

04/15/08

yummy

by jmlee1001

i ate at gary danko's with a group of 6.. we were seated in a private dining area to celebrate a special occasion. i had never been served "courses".. normally i do the whole appetizer, entree, & dessert thing... but this restaurant you must order by courses. The staff was EXTREMELY professional and knowledgeable on everything from the wine, to the food, to the chef [gary danko].. The food was great. Everything i had was absolutely delicious and had no complaints on the flavor. The only problem was that every course was too tiny for me =( Its almost like they tease you because its so delicious yet so small! My overall experience was definately something new, the service was perfect, food was delish, courses were tiny, and it is the most expensive resaurant i'll probably ever go to. A check for 6 came out to over $1,000 but we each got 4 or 5 course meals and bottles of wine as well.. I would reccomend this place if you really are trying to impress someone.

• Pros: staff is great, food is delicious.
• Cons: too pricey. small portions.

04/02/08

Nice. But not THAT nice

by doingwell

The staff is a little on the "snooty" side, but it was overall a good experience. However, my husband and I did get sick the next day.. and we figured it was the oysters. We wrote to them and warned them, and they wrote back and apologized, but that was it. It was kind of hard to have paid $400 for dinner and then end up deathly ill for 2 days afterwards... :-(

03/30/08

Foie Gras Lover's Heaven

by jss22557

Visited Gary Danko for a special evening - a 50th friendship anniversary - and loved every second of it. The service was impeccable, the food amazing, the wine list superb (if pricey), and the room lovely and inviting.

The 4-course menu and the ability to select more than one item from any of the courses made it a tasting menu beyond anything we have experienced. Well worth the cost and perhaps the most memorable meal of our trip.

• Pros: Everything
• Cons: Needs a sister restaurant in New York

01/19/08

great luxury experience, but food was average

by monkies

for what it's aiming for, it's a good luxury restaurant. i wasn't really blown away by the originality of the food, but the dishes were all excellent. no doubt a place of this caliber won't screw up a dish, or be poor on service or atmosphere. what you're paying for is Michelin starred quality, service, wine, and atmosphere...any establishment of this caliber will always meet or exceed the service, wine and atmosphere levels. but compared to restaurants i've eaten at around the world, i would rate the food as average (note: the food is phenomenal if you're comparing to your average place to eat, but average if comparing to restaurants that are trying to stay at this type of level). i'd go again because it's a stable place for san francisco and i live here now.

• Pros: great service, wine list, super deserts, luxury hotspot that will impress
• Cons: originality of main courses was average

11/17/07

Best Cheese Course in San Francisco

by sfcitygal6

While I've dined at Gary Danko's several times, the best part of the experience for me has always been the cheese and dessert. The food is really good but too salty for my tastes and not as original as Michael Mina, Jardiniere or Fleur de Lys though the prices are comparable to those restaurants. Nonetheless, I do keep going back for the cheese! NOTE: While reservations are very hard to come by, walk-ins can select the full dinner menu and sit in the bar area anytime.

• Pros: Cheese course, dessert, walk-in seating in the bar area
• Cons: Food is often too salty

08/23/07

Didn't live up to the hype

by osgood

Maybe my expectations were just too high, but this place didn't live up to any of the hype I'd heard about Gary Danko. The neighborhood is way too touristy, you'll probably climb a hill at some point to get there. The entryway is cramped and disorganized, and it was being managed by a young woman who looked and talked like a teenager.

But worst of all, the place smelled bad! I mean, it really didn't smell good at all. There was the aroma of something spoiled that pervaded the place, which was crowded and noisy.

I lost my appetite and after that, nothing tasted good.

I'd been looking forward to dining at Danko, but wouldn't recommend it at all.