09/17/08

Good food but really strange service

by citydavid

We used to love Cafe Kati but haven't eaten there in a few years but we decided to give it a try. At 6:15 on a Tuesday it was empty-at least we were seated promptly. The service was so odd that it seemed as if it was their first day in business. We had to wait for the menus to be printed, complimentary biscuts were "in the oven" until after 7pm-and then they were served lukewarm. The server kept coming over to see if everything was okay at our table in a not-so-discrete way. However, the food was quite good and the dishes well composed so who knows what's going on. We had the vietnamese spring rolls whcih were light and flavorful. The peach salad was fine and we ordered the steak that was cooked to our liking and was very tasty. There are many other restaurants with the same level of food and better service so I don't think we'd go out of our way to eat there again - but if we're in the hood again and looking for a place to eat we might stop in again.

• Pros: Good food, easy to get a table
• Cons: Erratic service

03/11/08

Slow but worth it

by jamesbeswick

Cafe Kati hopelessly disorganized but the food is awesome when it eventually arrives. I've come to the conclusion that as long as you're not starving or in a rush, it's a pretty good experience. If you're on a schedule or need to be fed, I can see that you won't be enamored with the place. The pricing is reasonable and the servers kind of know that the timing is screwed up - and they're very nice about it. I can see both sides of all the reviews I've read, so my conclusion is DON'T eat here if slowness bothers you and DO eat here if you want some really authentic and cool cuisine.

• Pros: Great food, good service, cute place
• Cons: SLOW as watching paint dry

02/14/08

Worst dining experience ever! Offensive chef/owner!

by jojo517

Safe to say the WORST dining experience I have ever had, and that is saying something because we go out to eat quite often. This restaurant has gone downhill fast. Between the RAW chicken and the wrong vegetables served with both entrees, the poor service (one waitress for the entire restaurant), the lack of heat in the restaurant, a constantly skipping CD on the stereo, and the completely offensive and inappropriate behavior by the chef/owner (which included using the "F" word and giving us the finger), I will never go back again. The steak (a $30 item, mind you), was ordered medium, but was served black on the outside and raw on the inside. The raw chicken was covered in goat cheese, even though no mention of goat cheese was on the menu description. The chef/owner was completely out of line and could have diffused a bad dining experience, but only made it even worse than it already was. Spend your money elsewhere!!

• Cons: Service, food, owner's offensive & rude behavior

05/05/07

Sad but true!

by dimpletgeorge

Its true!

I had read some 'not so great reviews' for Cafe Kati. I couldn't believe it, or rather didn't want to believe it ! Have some great memories of eating out here. And at one point it was my favorite restaurant in San Francisco. But its with a heavy heart, I have to agree with a lot of the critics on the deterioration of this place. The food just didn't have the magic, it once had. I was going back here after 4 years. The bathroom was stinking, the rooms looked dingy. The food lacked that certain something. Didn't quite hitt the spot. Was rather expensive too. At this rate, its not going to be able to sustain on its old glory for too long.

Too bad and too sad!

• Pros: Validated parking, decent service
• Cons: Not quite what it used to be, expensive

12/06/06

This hidden hideaway's culinary artistry and wonderful East-meets-West cuisine are an unbeatable combination.

by Contributor

The Scene
Cafe Kati is tucked away on a residential block off Fillmore Street with a slightly Mediterranean feel and plenty of color in the dining area. While the kitchen is known for taking time to prepare lovely objets d'art, the inviting surroundings, featuring soft lighting and warm wood textures, are cozy enough to forget about the wait.

The Food
The menu changes monthly, but dishes typically blend flavors from around the world. On the appetizer menu, diners might find goat cheese and grilled portobello mushrooms wrapped in phyllo and served with a plum wine and bing-cherry vinaigrette. Entrees feature dishes such as salmon tartare in wonton cones, avocado, wasabi and tagarashi; and miso glazed crispy skin wild salmon, udon noodles and tempura green beans. For dessert, try the butterscotch pudding, topped with a fashionable sugar spray.

11/20/06

Bring back the old Cafe Kati!!

by franklin77

What has happened to this place?! This used to be one of my favorite restaurants in the city! The last 2 times I've made reservations on a SATURDAY NIGHT I was called only hours before the reservation and told the restaurant would be CLOSED - on a Saturday night!! Seems like something is going on there. And, the last time I actually dined at Cafe Kati the chef got into a screaming match with a customer and continued to rant and rave around the restaurant with the other customers about how he was in the right and his customer was wrong. It's sad to say but after reading all of the other reviews, it sounds like things are really going downhill. Please bring the old Cafe Kati back - it's such a San Francisco treasure!

• Pros: The food is delicious and well priced
• Cons: Service went from what used to be flawless to messy and unreliable

11/02/06

A Good Experience - They May Be Turning Things Around

by kg555

I was worried about this place after reading the unfavorable reviews on citysearch, but my experience was very positive. The service was excellent, a 10/10 I would say. Several people helped us and were friendly, funny, and engaged. The food was inventive & flavorful (esp. loved the prawn rangoon). The owner/chef actually came out to check on us and see how things were going. Seems to me that this place may be turning things around for the better.

09/23/06

Completely downhill, don't go

by ssmith97

This place used to be great. Used to be one of SF's hidden gems. Now it's a train wreck. Food take 3 hours to come out. Service was literally non-existent. Our waitress showed up 45 minutes after we were seated, then never showed up again until the bill came. Bus boys handled the rest. It appeared there were two waiters/waitresses serving the whole place. Food has even declined - everything we ordered was mediocre. We were embarrassed to take our friends here. We used to say this was our favorite place in SF - best combo of food, service, price. Now, we'll never go back.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Terrible service, food has declined

09/21/06

some of the worst food in the city!

by supergirlpw1

after showing up with no reservation and being sweetly greeted and accommodated to a wonderful table in the back room, we thought we were in for a treat. our server was playful and involved and made lots of suggestions so it seemed like the right choice for dinner.

it started with the cornbread brought with a little honey and butter. the texture is incredibly moist with little pieces of jalapeno, except from the first taste, it seemed like it had gone bad....? i was trying to think of any ingredient that would give it this bizarre foul stink but all i could compare it to was old meat or bread. the server apologized and told us it was just made today but i am still worried i've eaten something bad. i can still taste it hours later.

the salads weren't the biggest issue, although one pictures a tomato carpaccio being much different from thick slices of tomato laying on radiccio, underwhelming and nothing special drenched in olive oil and balsamic reduction.

i took one bite of my tilapia dinner and wanted to leave. flavorless fish atop a pile of gooey oyster mushroom risotto that completely missed whatever they were trying to achieve. they were kind enough to comp it and the server apologized abundantly. they actually really seemed willing to allow some dialogue about our displeasure and i have no complaints about the service whatsoever.

once again i was trying to figure out why this place was full of people and why it is one of the top 50 restaurants in the city. i hope no tourists go here because it hardly represents what is so great about this city!

• Pros: pleasant service
• Cons: inedible food, expensive

09/18/06

Should be closed down

by beegreen

This was the worst dining experience i've actually ever had. I've lived in SF for 9 years and always heard about this wonderful neighborhood restaurant, Cafe Kati. We were not served for almost an hour, and only 2 of the 6 dinner entrees came out. The 3 steaks were cold with cold potatoes, and my girlfriends risotto looked like rice stir fry. The most amazing thing was that the waitress (supposed manager) took the steaks back and promised us they would get new entreees - they took over 45 minutes to bring them out! The ribeyes were laughable, almost half fat.

They barely apologized, comped us for the steaks, and the head cook literally walked out the front door 4 times during our meal. He would occasionally stop at a table and tell awkward stories or complain about "training" his staff.

I would expect this place to go out of business by the end of the year, it was a joke and i'm sorry that we had to pay at all.

• Pros: NONE
• Cons: Service and Food