The San Franciscan

Reviews 4

KE

Kevin Page

I find it very hard to understand why this place has gotten good reviews and has won the "Best Steak" Daily Breeze Readers Choice award. On this Saturday night my wife and I decided to give the San Franciscan a try after reading some positive reviews. Upon entry we liked the old school vibe of the restaurant. The clientele was exactly what the online reviews said it would be and it seemed to be the kind of place we normally would enjoy. After hearing it would be a 20 minute wait, we decided to wait at the bar and enjoy a glass of wine. At $10/glass it seemed a bit steep for a house wine but the glasses were filled to the top. After being seated at a table in the bar area we placed our order. My wife ordered the $30 Fillet and I decided to get the $35 Porterhouse after some persuasion from our server. We both asked for our steaks to be cooked medium. The salads with the home made thousand island dressing came out first and were pretty good. All signs were leading us to believe the main course would be great, but that is when it all started to go downhill. My wifes fillet come out cooked medium, was nice and thick, and I would say it was a decent steak. Certainly not the best steak I have had in our area, but nothing to complain about. My Porterhouse however was very thin and cooked well done. I showed the server who acknowledged how over cooked it was and then took my plate away promising me a correctly cooked steak would arrive soon. She also mentioned that she normally orders medium rare for her customers who want it medium because the cooks often overcook steaks. This was the first red flag. My second porterhouse steak came, apparently ordered medium rare by the server, but not much different. Cooked all the way through, brown (no pink at all) on the Fillet side and barely pink in the very middle of the NY side. Knowing I couldnt eat that expensive steak cooked so poorly I ask her to take it back and bring me a fillet just like my wifes, who has now long finished her meal by the way. I expressed my disappointment to our server not only in the failure to cook a steak after 2 attempts but that a manager had not stopped by the table to offer an apology. Several minutes passes and the 3rd steak arrives. This one was supposed to be just like my wifes, a medium cooked fillet, it was clearly medium rare. This was becoming comical if not aggravating. At this point a man walks up to our table visually frustrated and slightly aggressive says "Is there something I can do for you?". Im thinking, yeah, learn how to cook a steak correctly. We tried to nicely explain our disappointment but this guy thought it was more important to shrug his shoulders, interrupt us, and say "Its human error, they made a mistake". We tried to explain to him that they made 3 mistakes, to which it was clear our feedback was falling on deaf ears. He goes on and on about how it is his loss as if we should somehow feel bad for sending the much over cooked steaks back. My wife tried to explain to this guy how we were really not interested in his loss and that it was our loss of time together and money that we were most concerned with. I asked his name and if he really was the manager because I couldnt believe his aggressive dismissive demeanor. He replied that he was the owner Merrill. Wow, I was shocked. In the midst of the argument, and possibly him just wanting to get us out of there, he finally and reluctantly offered to comp the meal. I told him we would pay for my wifes steak just so he knew we werent trying to get anything for free. We certainly did not expect them to cook 3 out of 4 steaks terribly and then be aggressive with us because they lost the value of 3 steaks. So in the end they charged us for the one steak my wife ate and our two glasses of wine and we left feeling very disappointed and frustrated while dodging the unfriendly stares of the staff as we left the restaurant. How this guy keeps this business running with his aggressive attitude toward customers, while serving $35 steaks cooked incorrectly, bewilders me.

EM

Emberlynn Tarhan

VERY RUDE SERVICE. I had been to this place before and had found other staff members to be friendly. BUT...the tall woman with a limp and long black hair is EXTREMELY RUDE. If you walk in and see this woman waitressing...RUN. She came up to our table and mentioned that there was a two drink minimum. Thats fine, we are perfectly willing to comply even though no one had EVER mentioned a two drink minimum to us before, on multiple occasions of visiting this place. She did not even give us two seconds to decide on what we wanted before storming off to let the KJ know that we were not allowed to sing any kararoke songs until we had purchased two drinks each. I went up to her to try to explain that we didnt have any problem ordering the drink minimum (and I was very very nice about it, even with her attitude). She proceeded to basically yell at me, even though I was telling her that we would purchase the drinks. So instead of letting them have our business we decided to leave. Usually its a good idea to let management know why you are leaving, so I waited patiently at the end of the bar for the bartender to let him know what happened and why we were leaving. Before he came down to talk to me, she flagged him over and gave him some bs story about how I f-bombed her and called her a B. So of course he comes over to me like Im the bad guy. TERRIBLE, RUDE SERVICE. TERRIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES. I would NEVER go here again.

MA

Marybeth Lorenzo

My boyfriend and I came here on a whim this past weekend and were both blown away!! The first thing that attracted me to this place while looking online at the menu were the prices. They were overly reasonable prices for what you were going to get. We decided to check it out.Walking into the establishment, the ambiance made a statement. Very chic, country-style decoration throughout. And just when you thought youve seen the whole restaurant, it keeps going from room to room. I loved it!!We both shared the triple fried duck fat fries...very good to get us started! Then we got two entrees to share. First was the slow braised beef. This was probably one of the most amazing mixes of flavor I have had EVER...The mashed potatoes were silky smooth and mixed so well with the falling apart beef. And to keep things interesting, they top it off with a fried egg, which made it that much more amazing. The second entree we shared was the duck with an orange "sauce". Also absolutely amazing. It was paired with candied turnips which was such a good mix of flavor.Please definitely check this place out!! To top everything off, the service was outstanding. Not overly intrusive but also very attentive!! 2 drinks, one app, 2 entrees and the total was ...cant beat that

LE

Leo Ortega

Good prime rib here. Be ready for a blast to the past as this place looks like something out of the sixties. You enter from the rear parking lot and immediately are greeted by the hostess near the bar. Watch out for traffic in and out of the kitchen and take off your sunglasses as its nice and dark in here, that is unless you are super cool. I have been here several times and each time there seems to be a senior gathering at the bar. Only thing missing is the cloud of smoke, but dont fear, there is an out door smoking area near the entrance. The place is larger than one might think upon entering, as there are two other large rooms. Always room for you. We always go for the prime rib. No veggies with your prime rib, just potatoes or rice. You do get a salad however. And the bread is to die for, has to be baked in-house. I could fill up on just the bread. I usually get the house cut of prime rib. It is a plenty big chunk of prime rib, no need to get the super large cut. For the price, it will be hard to find a better deal. Service is pretty good, but dont mess with the veteran waitresses, they have been around since this place went up. I really like this place.