231 Ellsworth

How does one’s perception of service and food change when dining on someone else’s tab?
Food was decent, especially considering the prices.
Things that were good: truffle fries.
Things that were not so good: the coffee and the noodles. While my small slab of sea bass was tasty, the noodles beneath it didn’t complement the fish. I regretted getting the espresso the moment it came to my table. It looked like coffee sludge.
Service was good, not obsequious. The staff were good about taking helping us with our orders, taking down what we wanted, getting the food to us, and allowing us to enjoy our meal in peace. They did get confused about who ordered what and the pickier folks in our group returned an item or two for adjustments. However, the adjustments were handled quickly and professionally, which is what one expects of a good staff.
231 Ellsworth is an expensive place and given that, expectations ought to be higher.

Hosted a dinner for 10. Let me start with the standout positive — the server. He was a kind and attentive guy. Maybe the best personality on a server I have ever had. Actually, the entire team seemed interested and good.
Unfortunately, whomever was in the kitchen didn’t get the memo. Our meal took literally 3.5 hours and we were rushing through the 3^rd and 4^th course to try to push it along. Hey, I have been to French Laundry, Danko, Per Se, etc and had long meals, but they were different. Every course was an experience not replicated elsewhere. The cadence was planned to be long — more courses, more intermezzos, different approach. Here we got 1 decent, 2 very good and 1 great course.
Unfortunately, while the food was very good overall, the duration of the meal will overwhelm anything short of excellent food.
Also, wish the aesthetic was more updated. Can only give 3 stars.

Sadly this fine restaurant is closing after 28 years. So many great places leaving downtown San Mateo. Very sad.

Great food, great drinks — and now with wonderful happy hour and bar specials.
Lamb tenderloin, truffle fries, amazing salads — you have to try this place!

I’m now realizing that the Michelin rating system is unreliable. Let me backtrack – here’s what we had: the mushrooms (excellent), the truffle fries (average), the poke (good), the short rib (good), a #4 cocktail (good), and a small dessert sampler plate of macarons (not macaroons) and other tasty things (great). Now, I’m no math expert, but that doesn’t seem to add up to a Michelin star.
The service was mostly great, great until we finished our meal and suddenly our server disappeared for what seemed like forever as we waited for our check. Also, we had some other dude tell us at the beginning that he was going to be our server, and then he was never to be seen again (impostor?). Lastly, I’m not a fan of the décor/​atmosphere at all, and I am always wary of carpeted restaurants.
So, not bad, but not amazing either.

They are a solid 3.5 in my book… Not sure if I should rate them a 3 or a 4 officially.
We’ve been here a few times, once for a formal dinner, once for right before foie gras went away, then once more just to eat at the bar.
We’ve enjoyed all 3 trips, but the space is a bit dated and the food is not extremely memorable… In fact I think the pastas are premade and frozen.
Anyway, we like it, and will return for more bar bites — the burger was delicious and so were the fried prawns.

We had dinner here recently. The ambiance inside is very nice and elegant, you really feel when you walk in that you’ve gone into a very high-​end restaurant. They have chef’s tasting menus, which are pricey (the 3-​course was $ 65 and doesn’t include dessert and then there were more expensive ones with more courses). They also have a la carte dining, which is much more reasonably priced (entrees all in the $ 20s). My husband had the kobe burger ($ 18) with bacon and house fries, which were truffle-​y. He really enjoyed it. I had some of the fries and they were good but nothing to write home about. I had the halibut ($ 24), which was supposed to come with fava, chestnut and green beans, marsala wine, toasted hazelnuts, and fresh herbs. I find halibut is a difficult fish to cook and a lot of places don’t do it very well. Unfortunately 231 Ellsworth is one of them. The fish wasn’t the worst I’ve had in a restaurant, but it was on the dry and chewy side and the accompaniments did nothing for it (the promised beans were all there but I didn’t see or taste any Marsala wine sauce).
I did find it nice that even though we were not doing a tasting menu we still received an amuse bouche (Gruyère cheese puffs, which were average) and sweets with the bill (a really good almond cookie covered in powdered sugar, a coconut macaron that I didn’t have, and an excellent salted caramel). This is the only place I know of where you get little treats like that at this price point. Overall, the service was fine although when they brought out my husband’s burger they said it was a «bison burger», which they don’t even have, so that was weird.
I wouldn’t be opposed to going back and trying something else, but given how far this place is from us and how many other restaurants there are in the area, I think it will be awhile.

Came highly recommend by a business client so we went for dinner. There were nine of us total and the night started out at the bar. People were very friendly and accomodating… and then we were seated for dinner. Wine list came and we asked for a sommelier which never showed up. Took another 45 minutes for the waiter to take our dinner order and another 45 minutes for the food to show up. However during the wait the waiters were nice enough to bring us other peoples food and abruptly take the food away without any reason or apology. Our food finally showed up and it was decent. Too gourmet in serving size for me… aka very expensive for what you get.
Overall, the dinner took three and a half hours. The food was mediocre. The service was horrible and the wait staff was not only non-​apologetic but they were just rude.
I would not recommend you take a date here unless you have lots to say to each other… A LOT!

I’ve been here for dinner and decided to try it out for a business lunch.
Liked
— attentive service
— good menu options
— fresh fish options
— crab cakes
— presentation of entrees
Overall it was a great lunch with attentive service but do not expect large portion sizes since this is fine dining.

3.5 private dining. not in the league of village pub
Mushroom Agnolotti — Wild Mushrooms, Mushroom Cream Sauce, Parmesan — truffle aroma, firm pasta
Striped Sea Bass — Grilled Butter Lettuce, Beech Mushrooms, Guanciale, Risotto, Sauce Ravigote — chewy guanciale, didn’t belong. hard risotto
would be hungry if you chose the diver scallops
Apple Huckleberry «Pie» — Vanilla Ice Cream, Apple Butter — nice but the pie concept didn’t work well.

I’m really hoping this review only applies to the Thanksgiving prixe fixe experience and is not the norm for a weeknight/​weekend. Otherwise, come on … how can a «Michelin recommended» restaurant be this bad? This place has the worst value offering I’ve ever had to deal with and I don’t see how they have any repeat customers if they have to keep coming back to the 1−2−3 punch of mediocre/​bad food, bad service, and high prices.
Okay, rant aside, I’ll be more objective explaining …
Problem 1:
The OpenTable menu listed $ 65 for the 4-​course meal, and $ 20 for the wine pairings. Since it had great reviews and several people had mentioned the turkey dinner, we decided to go there.
When we got there, there was no price for the wine pairing listed. They didn’t provide a wine menu for us either, so I just assumed OpenTable was right and ordered the wine pairing. Big mistake; the wine pairing was $ 45/​person and the wines were poorly paired with the food. I’m not sure if this is the fault of OpenTable or the restaurant, but I was misled. I also take some blame for not clarifying.
Problem 2:
The food was just bad. There was one course, the truffle pasta dish, that was actually tasty. Unfortunately the restaurant was inconsistent there too; my pasta was overdone and my wife’s mushrooms were underdone. Beyond that, every other course was bad … not mediocre and edible … bad. I got the steak, but the waitress rushed off without asking me how I’d like it done. What? How is that even possible in any restaurant. The meat came out well seared on the outside (which I ended up carving off and eating), but was almost medium-​rare in the center and lukewarm. My wife had the turkey and she didn’t care for it since it wasn’t moist and had a bad aftertaste.
Problem 3:
The service. The whole place had maybe 10 tables and it looked like our waitress was waiting on 2 of the total 10 … and yet our service was bad. My wife actually mentioned that people were running around unorganized «like chickens with their heads cut off». These people need to go work at Chili’s or something to understand the meaning of being busy. Then they need to come back and learn to act like their hair isn’t on fire even if it is. Several times during the meal, we got the wrong wine or plate delivered to our table … and I had to tell them it was wrong. At a place with 10 tables? The worst part was that we waited 20+ minutes in between each course. How is that possible for a prixe fixe menu?
Now that I’ve had this bad experience, I’m seeing a lot of similarities with the other bad reviews. So, I guess those of you who had a good time there, thank your lucky stars you didn’t get our experience. I can’t believe I ended up paying $ 200+ for a lousy meal and lousy service. We should have just gone to The Sizzler to get the same quality and service, and it would have only been $ 20 there.

I came here for my birthday, and it was disappointing! I didn’t realize it during the dinner (or didn’t want to believe it) since I was having a great time with my bf, but the food for that price is NOT worth it (even with the 30% from Savored!)
I forget what I had (that’s how unmemorable the dishes were), but nothing stood out to me. I just remember their attempt in building layers of flavors, but I don’t think it was successful. *Sigh*
Go to Gary Danko in SF instead!

Return visit gets 4 stars still for food but 1 star for service which ruined our overall experience.
Service was atrocious and I expect a lot more from a fine dining establishment:
— Waited 20 min to get a menu
— Waited an hour for bread
— Waited an hour and 15 minutes for our 1^st course
— Friend who ordered sparkling to go with the first course was flat by the time it arrived
— He seemed like a nice guy, but there was no check in by our waiter to see how we were doing and if we needed anything
— No explanation, apologies, or anything offered to make the situation better or show they even cared after we politely expressed our frustration to two different staff members
I understand things happen in a restaurant but the lack of communication or respect given to us during this what turned out to be a 4 hour meal of a few courses was inexcusable. In the bay area we have a large amount of great restaurants to choose to spend our time and money on and I would not chose to return here after tonight.
UPDATE: To add to my dissatisfaction, I contacted the restaurant directly that night and did not receive a response at all which I still cannot believe. I expect much more for an establishment where you easily spend $ 100+/person

Came here with 2 of my girlfriends to get the last bit of foie gras before it’s banned in CA! The foie gras and the meyer lemon 3-​way dessert made our meal. The foie gras alone was worth it so go if you’re looking to get your foie gras fix! The rest of our meal (short ribs, crab canneloni, beet salad, steak, shark, etc) were all fairly good but not as special as the foie gras & dessert. Shark, btw, tastes just like white fish.
We each selected 4 dishes from the Spring menu (for $ 75/​person). We should’ve just gotten the 3-​course meal because although the waitress warned us that the portions are generally small, we each ended up taking one of our dishes home. especially since they also provided various amuses throughout the meal (which were great). 231 IS an expensive restaurant, but it’s a very nice restaurant with great service and great food in the Peninsula. It’s worth the experience if you have the extra cash to splurge. I will come back one day. after I try all the other fine dining restaurants in the Bay Area.

Nobody (and Nothing) is Perfect.
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m far from being perfect and I’m sure some would say I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum aka «Hot Mess» especially when I come stumbling home at 4 AM missing a shoe and an earring with one of my whore lashes clinging on for dear life.
231 Ellsworth is not perfect but for Peninsula standards it comes close. It’s like the Gary Danko of the Peninsula. Same concept. Same stellar service. The execution needs a bit of refinement but nothing is perfect right?
F O O D
Build your own tasting menu: 3-​course ($ 59), 4-​course ($ 75) or 5-​course ($ 89) with complimentary amuse bouche (s), intermezzo, and ayce pickings from the candy cart. Just like Gary Danko, you can choose 1 app, 1 seafood, 1 meat, 1 dessert and etc., all apps, all seafood, all meat, or all desserts.
*Pre-​Amuse Bouche:
*Amuse Bouche:
*PAN SEARED FOIE GRAS w/​Toasted Walnuts & Raspberries (+$ 10 supplement) — 3 STARS
Although the foie gras was lusciously thick, it was burnt atop and overcooked which ruined the luxuriously rich integrity of the foie and left a slight lingering burnt taste in my mouth (still edible).
*AUSTRALIAN FROG LEGS w/​Potatoes Confit, Green Garlic Chive & Maltaise Sauce — 4.5 STARS
Horribly unappetizing presentation aside (see pic), the seared frog legs were nicely crisp outside with a succulently moist center. The maltaise sauce (hollandaise w/​orange zest) gave the frog legs a citrus creaminess that was incredibly mouth-​watering. *licks lips*
*COCAO SPICED SHORT RIBS w/​Polenta, Maitake Mushrooms & Swiss Chard — 4.5 STARS
The slight bitterness of the cacao melded perfectly with the richness of the beefy fork tender short-​ribs. Together with the crisp polenta cake, each bite was sublime with a delightful textural contrast.
*Intermezzo:
*RASPBERRY & CHOCOLATE MOUSSE w/​Crème Fraiche Sorbet — 4 STARS
I’m not a sweet tooth but no dinner is complete without dessert. For chocolate lovers, the mousse was rich, velvety smooth with just the right amount of raspberry compote to set off the chocolately richness.
*TAKE ME to the Candy Shop:
S E R V I C E
Service at 231 Ellsworth IS everything you would expect from a fine dining establishment: professional, polished, and attentive. No pretentiousness here as all the staff was genuinely friendly. All was well at the back of the house too as our dishes were all well-​timed.
A M B I A N C E /​D E C O R
Romantic and «90s» classy, 231 Ellsworth is perfect for celebrating those special occasions or in our case, every day is a «special» occasion because we’re young, fabulous, and broke as Suze Orman would say.
My major gripe was the lighting. It was SO dim, I almost had to feel my way through to our table. Fellas, BE thankful you were not at 231 Ellsworth the same time I was.
P A R K I N G
Easy street parking.
If you can tolerate some imperfections, 231 Ellsworth is a good alternative to Gary Danko (2-​month wait for reservations). But what do I know? I’m a «hot mess». Just please don’t tell my dad… he thinks I’m a «good» girl that comes home every weekend by 8 PM. Seriously!!!
Dad, if you happen to be reading this, «Hi!» =X

I came here with a group of friends on a Halloween a while back. Sitting at the table next to me was Andris Biedrins of the Warriors. I’ve seen him at the Sharks games too but never this close. Damn dude is tall. You think maybe he’s stalking me? heh
Anyways, if Biedrins is here, they must be doing something right as a Baller that makes millions you can dine anywhere the hell you want. He chose 231. They have a lot of classic fine dining options. Duck breast, short ribs, NY Steak. All solid choices and well executed. My friends had started with cocktails at the bar before we arrived and they enjoyed the fact that they can mix good drinks here too.
I think it’s worth coming back to try the tasting menu and see what the chef can really do when he can stretch his wings. Maybe Ill catch Andrew Bogut in the process.

Came here a couple of weeks ago to celebrate my boyfriend and I’s one year anniversary. We were greeted and seated almost immediately.
Inside 231 is a gorgeous, refined and dimly lit interior. The menu is pretty much to the point pick any item you want etc. I ordered the foie gras, seared scallops, the New York steak and the soufflé. Boyfriend got the foie gras, seared scallops, venison and the salmon. I love how you can pick the items you want, you can go all dessert, all appetizers, all entrees, etc. Whatever you like.
Foie gras — good but kind of lukewarm at the beginning, then cold
Seared scallops — not nearly as delicious as the seared scallops from Masa’s
New York steak — was pretty good, potatoes were my favorite.
Soufflé — our waiter had to teach me how to break open the soufflé and pour in the sauce, we also got a plate of cookies with it, not sure if it was included
Venison — kind of tasted like chicken to me
Salmon — had a hefty seafood like taste
Because my boyfriend ordered two different entrees, I had to wait for my course after he was finished, so they were nice enough to give me a little something to snack on while I waited. Talk about awesome! I had to wait for my course at Masa’s as well but never received a small plate to snack on. My boyfriend and I also were offered complimentary nomz like the small parmesan balls and the soup filled balls. The parmesan balls tasted like the delicious bread I had from Masa’s and the soup filled balls had a cute little pop when bitten into. Another comparison to Masa’s was that 231 also had a wheeling cart full of goodies. Nougats, brownies, lollipops, etc. Everything was homemade! We got a plate of goody desserts and boxed the ones we didn’t finish.
Service at 231 was exceptionally great. Our waiter offered to take pictures for us without us having to ask. And he was a great photographer at that! Also made conversation with me about my instant camera.
Thanks again 231!

Came here twice and tried different stuff each time. The food is pretty good and pretty. I chose the 3 courses the first time, and 4 courses the second time… and both time I left with a super full but happy belly.
I recommend the scallop, braised beef short ribs and the foie gras. I had the foie gras twice, once with peanuts and one without (due to friend’s allergy). I actually prefer the one without the peanuts because the foie gras is heavy enough already. The wine pairing was pretty worth it for the pre-​fixe menu, you get to try a different half glass of wine for each course of the meal.
The service was very nice. I really like the amuse bouche they bring out in between some of the courses, and of course, the candy cart in the end.

Since my last visit to 231 Ellsworth I have been raving about the food and recommended this place to numerous people. It really hurts me to have to drop 2 stars after my most recent visit. Unfortunately the food just really aren’t what it used to be.
The dining room was only half full on a Sat night. I remember dining here on a Wednesday night and the restaurant was completely packed. I have learned that they have changed the chef but I still have high hope for my favorite restaurant.
There is a slight change to the format of the menu. The chef tasting menu now started at minimum 5 courses instead of the previous 3 courses. The price also hiked up a bit. No worries. I thought to myself. The food will be worth it. I am not the kind who would hesitate to splurge on fine cuisine.
There were so many things that went wrong I didn’t even know where to begin. The hors d’oeuvr were similar to what I had before. I liked the cheese ball but I found the eel on rice rather ridiculous. The idea was clearly ‘inspired’ by unagi nigiri but using plain rice just seem silly to me.
First entrée was a squid salad. The sauce is fusion style and complimented the ingredients well. It was probably the best dish out of the entire dinner.
The second entire is pork belly. The sauce really resembles the Japanese Buta no kakuni dish. I found it too salty and oily. The pork was also slightly burnt on the outside for mine.
Third entrée was the lobster dish our server raved about. I was underwhelmed. One out of the two pieces of my lobster meat was overcooked. I do like the subtle and refreshing taste of the sauce but the texture of it just seemed strange. It was runny almost a clear soup. Perhaps something slightly thicker would make a better dipping sauce?
The lamb chop was a disaster. I almost laughed when I tried cutting my lamb chop. It was clearly burnt on the outside but still perfectly rare on the inside. It was so tough and chewy it was almost funny. The sauce aren’t too horrible but that didn’t savage the poor doneness. Too much olive oil! I have had much better lamb chop at much cheaper restaurants. Not my usual practice but I have contemplated sending the dish back.
I do like the passion fruit soufflé but it is still a few notch below many of my favorite special occasion restaurants. If you have tried the soufflé at Le Papillon you would know what I mean.
The entire chef tasting menu tasted too much like some cheesy Asian Fusion food. I know the new chef has an Asian background but seriously… is this really the best he has to show? I was rather disappointed.
My favorite part of my dinner was the cookies at the end. They were really delicious.

Ok