Restaurant Gary Danko, San Francisco

This is a late review but better late than never. Simply awesome food. Awesome service. And awesome experience. When food is perfectly executed, it is like great music. I had the 6 course meal and it was just right. In fact they were generous in portions. By the end of the meal, I wish I was wearing elastic pants. They were giving us some complimentary dessert which put me over the top in fullness. My stomach was actually yelling at me to stop eating. I started with the Lobster risotto, and I kid you not, it nearly put me on the floor it was that great. If this risotto was poetry, it would make the girls cry like babies. If they offered the whole pot of this risotto to me, I would not hesitate to say, Heck yeah!!! I also had the sea bass (branzino), beautiful crispy skin with the succulent flesh of the sea bass. Blew me away. And then I had pork dish with of course the new wave popularity pork belly. Everyone seems to be putting pork belly in every menu. Including Gary Danko s. It was crispy skin and tender meat. Next came was my desserts. I had the French Ice Cream Macaroons, and it was sinfully delicious. And on top of that, they gave several complimentary desserts. Like I really needed it. But I wasn t going to say NO . They gave me an ice cream cake and also some chocolate mousse. I couldn t barely finish and I literally had to force myself to finish it because it would be a sin to leave anything behind. You can t doggy bag an ice cream cake. The service, of man...it was like a well orchestrated concert. They servers were in sync. It was like witnessing a well rehearsed play. The servers weren t obtrusive. They were also very helpful and not over the top attentive. Just right. But what capped it off was my server who was so nice and professional, gave us a tour of the kitchen after all the service was done. I was able to go inside the heart of Gary Danko s and meet the chefs. And in the end I got an autographed menu for that day. Simply to say....Gary Danko s is clearly the best restaurant in San Francisco.

Although it has a lot of good qualities, it seems to have grown old. The service is slow, and then extremely fast. Some of the dishes were remarkably bad--the lobster in the lobster salad was not cooked properly, or it was cooked from poorly unfrozen lobster. The bison was tough. On the other hand, the duck was superb, as were the desserts (we ordered 7 of 9). I doubt I would go back again.

Just celebrated 44th wedding anniversary with dinner at Gary Danko's. I must agree with a previous review complaining of the predatory welcoming process of offering a glass of champagne, predatory because of the $39 charge for it on the bill at the end of the meal. Since it was our first visit and highly recommended I did not think a reading of reviews was a mandatory requirement. I expected better treatment than this less than honest and deceptive practice. On a positive note, the meal was outstanding and the service was great. We would go again but not accept anything offered without a menu or pricing.

This is not just food. it is an expirience of flavor and luxury. Excellent service. very nice people. we went in wearing tie-dye t-shirts and jeans, and yet they treated us like everyone else. this is a one of a kind place. best meal you will ever have!

WE HAD DINNER AT GARY DANKO W/ A GROUP OF 6. WE STARTED W/ A COUPLE OF COCKTAILS AT THE BAR AND WERE SEATED AT A COMFORTABLE BOOTH. WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT AN ADVENTURE WE WERE ABOUT TO GO ON. THE FOOD WAS EXCELLENT!!!(ALTHOUGH WE EXPECTED THAT), THE PORTIONS WERE ENOUGH FOR US TO GET A TASTE OF EVERYTHING ( WE ALL HAD 4 COURSES ) WHAT WILL BRING US BACK IS THE SERVICE. OUR WAITSTAFF WAS PHENOMENAL!!! GARY DANKO IS THE BEST RESTAURANT WE'VE EVERY BEEN TO!!! WE WILL BE BACK!!!!

We went to Gary Danko at 9:30 on a Wed. night. We did not go with the Winter Tasting, since it was mid-March, and instead each tried three courses, one of which was a desert. Everything was excellent, including the service, except the desert, which was pitful. It was a Meyer lemon soufle. The server nicely opened the soufle, and then poured way to much rasberry sauce, and then way too much chocolate (or some other sauce--in the resulting hot mix it was hard to tel what it was). The result was gross and barely edible. After laughing that off, we ordered tea and an espresso. The espresso definitely was made from a pod, and lacked all character. It was a strangely weak ending to an otherwise great meal. One final note: My partner had a champagne drink with an illuminated stirrer. She wanted to take it home, and so cleaned it off and started to put it in her purse. One of the servers stopped her, saying they would give us Gary Danko brand gifts on our way out--which they did. When we got home, we searched on the Internet to see how much the stirrers cost that Gary Danko was so protective about-- they were $1.75 each. Talk about chinsy!

The food & service was good, but I got food poisoning from the oysters. I told the mgmt and they apologized, but that was it. My date and I were sick for 2 days....