Saison

My first 3 Michelin star dining experience did not disappoint. As I am under 21, I couldn’t have any alcoholic beverages, but I was served a sweet mix of juices with a light foam at the top. The layout of the restaurant is what captivated me the moment I walked in. You leave satisfied, but not overly stuffed. Great service, great food, and a great atmosphere.

This is my first time at a 3-​star michelin restaurant in the city. I have been to other 3-​star places, French Laundry, several times, and Meadowood, once, in Napa so I have those to compare however perhaps the city is different.
The service is great — very attentive though as one reviewer mentioned, not quite as polished. They are friendly and helpful but there were little spills here and there that were not a big deal but just not the same as my other experiences.
Without going into length in my review (please PM me for more info), I felt that food was all similar in flavors. Granted, dinner was in late February but nearly ever dish was smoked and was quite salty in nature. The daikon was smoked as was the fish and duck breast. Caramel also made an appearance a few times in the trout and ice cream. I just didn’t experience a breadth of flavors or cooking techniques. Also, daikon (and other radishes) made a few appearances and as much as I like it (and I do), the multiple uses of it was not exciting.
Dishes to note:
The caviar and leek pudding was excellent albeit on the salty side. However, using the bread as the vehicle was amazing.
Dishes not so great:
Fish was undercooked where it was ‘sticking’ to each flake.
Duck broth could have been served warmer. Since it was cooler, it started to taste and feel really greasy.
Wine was good although I’m not very experienced in it. I just know what I like and I think the sommelier did a good job.
I also felt like the amount of food for the price was very little. Fine dining is expensive and given my past experiences, I did not feel like the food at Saison was a par as the other ones.

My first 3-​star Michelin restaurant… Auberge being my only comparison, which is incomparable.
Went for Vday weekend (thanks to hubby who made reservations months in advance!)
The food, service, and ambiance were top-​notch! The food was simple yet layered, with Asian and French overtones. There was fish masquerading as vegetables and veggies disguised as fish, thereby maintaining an element of surprise with each dish. The uni with liquid toast was the highlight, but so was the lobster sashimi two ways, the trout, and the duck pâté with coffee which comes paired with beer that matches the foam on top of the duck pâté! The celery root with BBQ and herbs was ingenious, and the duck two ways was perfectly seasoned. The dessert included two types of sorbet, with smoked caramel on one of them. They also served mini strawberries with buttercream, which was delicious!
The timing of the dishes was spot on, which is important when you are serving a 10 course meal!
Thatcher was one of our servers, who was very informative and professional. We had to skip out on the wine pairing, as we had just spent the day wine tasting in Napa. But, the cocktails looked delicious and the bartender had a serious shake when mixing those drinks.
We even got a second serving of the uni, compliments of the chef. I could eat that all day long.
All in all, an experience to be had!

First, let me note that this review is for the Salon a la carte menu, not the tasting menu.
We’ve really wanted to try Saison, but my husband is a super picky eater. He does not eat any seafood, cheese, mushrooms, eggs… the list goes on. This makes these multi-​course tasting menus really difficult for him, since he ends up eating a LOT of vegetable substitutes (which he will eat but doesn’t really like). Saison is especially difficult since there’s no published menu in advance, and usually has a lot of seafood courses.
On a whim, we decided to try the salon after reading about it. It was really easy to make a reservation on a weekday. We got a 7:30 reservation a couple of days ahead with no problem.
Menu:
We learned that the Salon menu is pretty much a subset of that day’s tasting menu. On this day, I think there were about 8 – 9 selections. Only one was a meat dish (duck). There were two vegetable (beets, celeriac), one dessert (ice cream), one cheese course, and the rest all seafood (lobster, trout, sea urchin, a caviar, and maybe one other?).
Food:
My husband had the beets and bone marrow as a first course ($ 28). The service of this dish was incredible as they took out a huge beef bone and spooned the marrow table side. He only had 2 little pieces, so I didn’t try any. He liked it but it wasn’t overwhelming.
My first course was the lobster ($ 28). This was barely cooked, more like a lobster sashimi with a dipping sauce, some smoked salt, and tiny bits of greens. I was initially a little disappointed that the prep was so simple, but after a bite, it’s the most delicious lobster I’ve ever had. It was incredibly sweet and fresh. Fairly substantial portion also.
We both had the duck ($ 48). This was 2 pieces of grilled duck breast, with a «cabbage roll» of radicchio stuffed with roasted duck offal, and something called duck liver mousse savory toffee. OMG this thing was orgasmic. Best duck I’ve ever eaten.
He then had the dessert ($ 16). This was a tiny bit of ice cream with caramel sauce. Meh.
I had the cheese course ($ 28), which was a huge cup of a cheesy mousse, served with honey and beignets. This was good, and ironically, super filling. I only ate about ¹⁄₃ of it and shared most of the beignets. As an aside, they do not have boxes for you to take left overs home. Too bad b/​c this cheese mousse thing would have been awesome on toast the next morning.
The portions are small, but what they do is give you twice the amount that you would get on the tasting menu, so you’re getting 2 bites instead of one :). We thought 3 courses was just right.
Wine:
The wine list is not just one but two books, one for white and one for red. As expected it skews very high end. We really had to focus to find something in the $ 100-​$ 150 range for reds. We focused mostly on pinots given the menu, and found a really delicious Peay for $ 98 way at the back of the book (it was misspelled, so you can find it easily by looking for Peavy :). This was actually a good value!
Service:
Service was good. You get the same fancy table-​side service you would get in the dining room, but in the much more casual bar setting. This felt a bit weird but still enjoyable.
Summary
Overall, the bill for the night was around $ 350 including tip. We felt like we got to try the best elements of the tasting menu for a much lesser $$/​time commitment. Food was amazing, but I’m still docking it 1 star for the price/​value (for example, I’d rather go to Gary Danko for the same $$).
I do very much want to try the whole menu, but just have to ditch him and go with someone else :). If you are not a seafood lover (or just a very picky eater, or don’t want to spend $ 500−600/pps, or don’t have 3 – 4 hours…), I would highly recommend Saison Salon as a place for the unique experience of eating true Michelin 3* food in a bar :)

My wonderful family treated me to Saison for my birthday. It’s been on my list of places to go for the longest time, but I never ended up making it for whatever reason. In any case, yesterday was a great first experience.
We’d accidentally made reservations for the bar (7:30 pm reservations via OpenTable are exclusively for the bar… oops) but the woman I spoke with over the phone was very accommodating and managed to schedule us for a 9 pm seating in the regular dining area.
The menu was a refreshing change of pace from most fine dining restaurants I’d been to. Saison focuses their menu on seafood and seasonal vegetables, and I can attest that they do vegetables VERY well.
Our menu:
— herbal tea infusion
— osetra caviar served over charred leeks with bread glazed with clarified pork fat
— broth with grilled radish
— lightly grilled lobster with clarified butter
— battle creek trout with a layer of roe and crispy skin
— sea urchin liquid toast
— dried tomatoes with smoked and aged octopus, shaved
— radishes cooked multiple ways with a drizzle of clarified butter
— barbecued celery root and house hot sauce
— fire in the sky beet served with a bone marrow sauce
— duck liver mousse savory toffee
— grilled duck breast
— bouillon made of grilled duck bones
— buttermilk tangerine ice cream
— smoked milk ice cream with cocoa nibs and salted caramel sauce
— wild strawberries and cream
— salted caramel birthday bar
— roasted and dried pears with a bourbon honey butter sauce
— buckwheat tea
…Wow. It looks pretty ridiculous now that I’ve written it all out.
My favorites were the osetra caviar, duck liver mousse savory toffee, radishes, and buttermilk tangerine ice cream. Every course was excellent though, and the service was impeccably friendly and professional.
My longstanding favorite restaurant has been Benu, but Saison is definitely making me reconsider. This was a fantastic dining experience and I hope to be back soon!

The manager has proposed a solution and I will update my review after my next experience here. I hope that their pricing practices will have improved in order to treat their patrons fairly.

Best restaurant I’ve ever been to, bar none. I’ve been to a number of Michelins both domestically and internationally, and three-​star Saison wins in all aspects. I took my mom here for Mother’s Day last year. The bill was more than my month’s rent in San Francisco for the two of us (tasting menu and wine pairings), but I would do it again in a heartbeat. When people talk about food as a language and as a communicative medium, the sort of holy and divine journey that Saison takes you on is what comes to my mind. There is nothing that even comes close.
Book as far in advance as possible if you want prime seating; I think they take reservations 2 months out from your desired date. Book a table facing the open chef’s kitchen if you want to really heighten the experience. My mom and I sat next to each other so we could both watch in fascination as the kitchen went about their work.
The ambiance? Gorgeous. Classy, natural, understated, without trying too hard. A lot of high-​end restaurants have décor that is either too minimalistic or too opulent; Saison’s plays perfectly with their food philosophy of enhancing natural beauty. From the wooden tables to the open kitchen and the beautiful silverware and wine glasses made especially for Saison, the setting is laid-​back enough that you feel very comfortable during your meal, but classy enough for you to know that you know you’re dining at the finest restaurant in SF. No dress code – rare for a restaurant of this caliber and again reinforces the focus on the meal, not the patrons.
I won’t get too in depth regarding each course because the menu changes to reflect whatever produce is in season, but some of my favorites from that night were the reserve caviar, which was served with the most mindblowing brioche (I could honestly eat this every day if I had the funds to), the sea urchin on «liquid toast», the fire in the sky beet & bone marrow, the asparagus, and the amazing, amazing desserts. If you’re looking for spicy, strong, pungent – Saison isn’t your place. The flavors are subtle undertones and overtones that complement each other to enhance the natural flavors of the ingredients used. They use several parts of an ingredient, all prepared in different ways, to bring out the truest essence of the flavor. For example, brassica leaves were served in broth of the cultured vegetables themselves, and asparagus was grilled with a sauce made from the peels. The battle creek trout was served with its skin on and its own roe. There’s a very strong focus on seafood and vegetables (especially roots). Everything is prepared via fire and smoke with a grill that is constantly burning almond wood – almond wood is «clean» and won’t leave a smoky taste on food.
Beverage pairings were spot on, spanning champagne, wine, sake. It is a LOT of alcohol, and the two of us little Asian ladies simply couldn’t keep up with the pacing of the pours. If I went back, I’d opt to split a pairing with my dining partner. Each wine was wonderfully explained by our sommelier and never, ever overpowered the food (a difficult feat, as the flavors are so delicate). They begin your meal with a wonderful tea and give you some tea as a gift when your meal is over. The herbs of the tea come from their own garden, of course.
Service was – unsurprisingly – the best I’ve ever received at a Michelin. Our servers were personable, charismatic, great at answering a ton of questions we had regarding the food, the sourcing, the wines, the preparation. This must have carried over well, because we received a quick tour of the open kitchen as well as the back kitchen later. Fascinating to see how meticulous preparation needs to be in order to guarantee such an unforgettable experience.
All in all, had a mesmerizing and wonderful experience at Saison. Every detail was looked after, every unspoken request instinctively recognized and accommodated. Our meal took a little over 3 hours and we left feeling satiated but not uncomfortably bloated. Saison definitely warrants a return trip in my book – can’t wait to go again and am excited to see how they’ll evolve moving forward!

This place is delicious. The reason I’m giving a 3-​star is because I’m comparing this to Alinea. If not, 4 stars hands down.
Alinea in my opinion is still my favorite. More adventurous on how each dish is prepared. I love when I get to use all 5 sensory ‘experience’: smell, taste, touch, sound and sight. I only got to use 3 of 5 at Saison (smell, taste, sight).
I did a full wine pairing and I’m not too impressed. Some was a hit and some was a miss. Then I ordered some wines that were recommended, I was not … too happy by the recommendation. I think I ordered a total of 3 distinct wines after the wine pairing, and I did not like all 3.
The wine I asked them to find similar taste to was a 2010 Pinot noir Marcassin.
Service was top notch.
Food was delicious.
I will come back and I’m hoping it gets better with each visit.

I first heard of Saison from my cousin’s wife, who is a serious foodie. She recommended Saison years ago as her favorite SF restaurant, back when it was a 2-​Michelin Star. Now its a 3-​Michelin restaurant (Benu the other in SF). I booked a special dinner here for my wife’s upcoming birthday.
SUMMARY
We had an outstanding dinner — food, service, ambiance were top notch. They feature fish and veggies (radish and root veggies are prominent) in many creative preparations, employ their wood grill to smoke everything — from duck to desserts, and have awesome desserts. The food here is playful — does tricks on your mind and will satisfy your appetite. Very laid back ambiance. Compared to other 3-​Michelin restaurants we’ve been to, I rank Saison higher than French Laundry and Le Bernardin but below Joel Robuchon (Las Vegas). Still, solid 5 stars and will definitely recommend! Dinner is just about right portion-​wise — you won’t leave the meal super-​full, but you’ll be satisfied for sure!
LOCATION
The restaurant is on Townsend St a few blocks from AT&T park. Its a nondescript brick building surrounded by fast food chain restaurants and sports bars. Parking is valet, or you can find street metered parking pretty easily.
AMBIANCE
One of the best aspects — no dress code! It has a bit of a warehouse feel but its really trendy with wood and brick. They play 80’s and 90’s pop music which sets the festive, mood — music I grew up with! We were seated on a huge decorative wood table with full view of their open kitchen! All the chefs looked so young and happy throughout the service. One chef had the hardest job of manually fanning the smoke from the wood grill all night.
SERVICE
Wow — the men and women in suits are friendly and super attentive! They take time to explain each dish and how to best enjoy it. Get up to freshen up in the restroom? The waiter swoops in and covers your tea cup so it won’t get cold. I dropped my scissors (I will explain later) into the bowl and a waiter stealthily went across the room and brought me a new pair. One other cool thing is that one of the waiters looked like Robin Lord Taylor! (Penguin on Gotham).
DRINKS
The meal starts and ends with tea! The first was a simple infusion of garden herbs (I taste mint and lavender) in Meyer Lemon water. The final tea after dessert was roasted buckwheat tea that was excellent — sort of like roasted rice teas. Then you get some more tea to go as a gift! For adult beverages my wife ordered a Riesling that was sweet and went down smoothly. I got the Saison Milk Punch cocktail — nice coconut-​flavored rum cocktail.
FOOD HIGHLIGHTS
— Battle Creek Trout: Shaped like nigiri, with crispy skin, a layer of roe, and then the smoked trout itself. The vinegar broth cleans the palate with the sweet, citrusy flavor.
— Black Cod: Grilled over embers with a nice light coconut-​curry broth.
— Uni on Liquid Toast: One of their signature dishes — rich creamy uni on a piece of porous crispy bread saturated with butter and soy sauce.
— Radish: The whole plant was used and provided good contrast of color and flavor. Some parts were sweet like beets! Drizzled with clarified butter from Vibrance the cow. (The restaurant has a cow!)
— Whole Duck: Main course — smoked duck breast, followed by veggie-​wrapped roasted duck offal (ground liver and kidneys), and the duck soup!
— BBQ Celeriac: Interesting, playful dish. Crispy celeriac skin on top of a roasted celeriac root. You’re given some scissors to cut some fresh herbs to the dish. When it came out I thought we were being served phở!
DESSERTS
— The standard dessert was this Orange Sorbet served inside an orange with fruit at the bottom. Then there’s this smoked ice cream with salted caramel, followed by tiny strawberries in cream. The ultimate was the special birthday cake — salted caramel, hazelnut cream on top of a crunch chocolate-​nutty candy bar. Wow!

Birthday dinner at Saison! Expensive but worth it for a special occasion. Immediately served champagne upon being seated. Every course was gorgeous and succulent. Loved every bite!
There isn’t a wine pairing, so my husband and I told our server we trusted «dealer’s choice.» He did a nice job selecting drinks based on our preferences. We ended up having a pairing for every couple courses or so. Very happy with the service.

Context: I’m rating against other 3-​star restaurants. I’m giving this two stars because it isn’t as bad as Meadowood. Meadowood really made me question the Michelin guide for the Bay Area, and whether this organization isn’t influenced by politics.
Design: Open kitchen cool. The attention to detail, plates, glassware, service, attention to detail, is very solid.
Food, generally:
In general, most of the dishes are knock offs of other 3 star michelin restaurants. This was surprising and very disappointing. If this were graduate school, well, even a boarding school, Saison would have been expelled for plagiarism. That’s right. Not original. That’s fine to make the same dish (kind of), but not at a 3 michelin star restaurant and not if you are a 3-​star charging the most ridiculous price. Unless you’re going to make it better, you shouldn’t copy someone’s innovation and make it worse. It is poor form and just unethical.
If i see one more restaurant that brings a whole bird to the table stuffed with herbs, then goes back to the kitchen to «cut it for us» and comes back with ONE tiny sliver, I will throw it at the chef’s face. If your name is 11 Madison, Meadowood, or Saison, please stop copying each other’s stupidity.
A lot of the dishes were confusing, or bitter because the vegetables were roasted too long. Or the bitterness wasn’t balanced with something else.
A LOT of problems in dishes:
a. didn’t highlight the center.
b. fish. great skin. mine was lukewarm. I tried the other fish, it was actually cold, yes cold in the center.
c. I can’t believe they used cheap abalone. On top of that, the rice was just ok. I also tasted a lot of vinegar (sauerkraut??) which overpowers the already delicate flavor of the abalone.
d. The Uni on toast dish was the worst. It looks like it’s going to taste good, but all you can taste is sourdough.
e. slightly grilled Maine lobster. You can barely taste the lobster. There’s nothing to intensify the flavor of that ingredient.
*Use spiny lobsters for fucks sake. California has the best. For someone that touts himself as an ingredient connoisseur, he used terrible ingredients. This either tells me he doesn’t know what he is talking about or took short cuts. This is absolutely unacceptable at a restaurant of this caliber.
There was a lot of table-​side service, like pouring the soup table side, but the one thing they should do table side (carve the duck) they didn’t. Instead, they chose to showcase a whole duck only to return with a little sliver.
Rating:
I’d give the service a 5 and the food a 1. there were way too many unpleasant tastes or lack of taste. the seafood was actually quite bad (except the caviar).
Even the plates and concepts were copycats of a Brooklyn 3-​star Michelin restaurant, but not executed nearly as well.
Conclusion:
Now that I just taught you to cook give me my $ 4000 back, and send Chef Cesar Ramirez an apology for copying his dishes.
Bay Area 3-​Michelin:
Meadowood= fail
Saison= fail
3 more to go.

Saison is the truth. It is the only three-​star Michelin I have been to and it was an amazing experience. It is also the only eatery I’ve been to that does not even give you a menu, so don’t be surprised – you get seated and your dinner just starts. If you didn’t already know, expect to spend $ 500+ just on yourself. I believe the base price is $ 400 for dinner and the drink pairing is $ 300. I went with some good friends for a holiday dinner and we had a splendid time. You’re probably asking if it’s worth it and the answer is complex. Put as simply as I can, for this meal to be worth your time/​money, you must appreciate the following:
1) Well-​prepared food
2) Culinary art
3) Adventures in eating
4) Stimulating umami taste buds
5) Elegant plate-​ware and silverware
6) Interior design and furniture
7) Open kitchens with skillful chefs
8) Knowledgeable sommeliers
If you can’t swallow the price, think of it as purchasing an expensive art piece that you can eat. Joshua Skenes is a genius chef with innovative ideas who took years to perfect his art. You’re getting a piece of it by visiting Saison. I haven’t been to The French Laundry (the standard of fine dining) but I am sure Saison is up to par.
The food – amazing. The liquid toast with uni on top, the meat-​tasting beets that were cooked for 72 hours, the whole hoshigaki, the lobster sashimi, etc. make you feel like your mouth is in another dimension simulating taste buds you never knew you had.
For one of the best (but most expensive) meals of your life, Saison is the place to be in the best city in the world, San Francisco. This will be my gateway to all the other three-​star Michelins.

Oh Saison. I have some mixed feels about you.
Ambience
The restaurant has a very strict timing policy where the meal will «start without you», so I was surprised to realize that there is probably only enough time for one seating a night. The tables are VERY spread out, and there can’t be more than maybe 20 people in the restaurant. Its nice and dim so would be perfect for a fancy date, but I noticed most parties were actually business-​related.
Wine
The wine book here is literally a book. It’s dense like the textbooks that gave you hell in college except its contents actually bring inexplicable joy. We settled on three half bottles, which was a good amount for our group of three and we liked every wine the somm recommended. My favorite was probably the Storybook Cab. The stemware is also gorgeous.
Food
Favorites were the caviar pudding, lobster, uni toast and duck bone consommé. The caviar pudding is AMAZING, and you smear its buttery goodness on to this incredibly soft hot bread and it’s like a calorie bomb heaven in your mouth. The uni toast is really interesting as well, you don’t eat a lot of food in which the uni is actually the *lighter* component. Other dishes I didn’t care for as much and I grew a bit tired of the smokey flavor profiles. I also loved many of the desserts, especially the adorable orange sorbet served in its own shell AND the tiny micro strawberries. Those things look underwhelming but they are INCREDIBLY delicious and pack a ton of flavor.
Service
Service was very nice and I liked how they weren’t too stuffy or formal, but it didn’t feel as «polished» as Benu. One thing I do like is that often the chef created the plate often comes and presents it– its so much fun learning about the «story» of the food you’re about to eat. Also, a fly flew in to my friend’s wine (UGH) and they were pretty good sports about giving her a new one.
Bathroom
Normally I don’t write about bathrooms but theirs is gorgeous. Also love how they use cotton towels instead of paper towels, and the toiletries smell divine. Also weird– the toilet liners were out. Again not a big deal but surprising for a restaurant of their caliber.
I don’t know… for a place where the bill is $ 1800 for three people I just expected more. I think what did it for me was the fly + not liking a good amount of the dishes. I think ultimately food needs to TASTE good and I think Saison started strong and ended a little weak. It was one of those dining establishments that gets so lost in their zealous technique. I do think everyone should try it once, but it’s not a restaurant I would probably return to. Benu still wins for me!

Simply the best. We don’t even live in SF or travel there for business yet somehow we’ve found ourselves at Saison 3x and will probably return. What else can be said? Innovative ways of cooking unique ingredients. Service that welcomes you like an old friend.
Our latest visit was for our baby moon and they handled my preggo dietary restrictions with ease (no sad cucumbers instead of sushi like at other tastings we experienced). I had major food envy of hubbys caviar and uni toast though. And of course the pairing looked phenomenal.
We’ve put them on alert– our next visit they will need to have a purée baby food tasting. Let’s see how they do ;)

Saison, Three Michelin Star restaurant in San Fransisco. The overall vibe and atmosphere was intoxicating and had this old America feel to it. Like urban American city, SF vibe with a french twist with bit of Japanese influenced cuisine.
The meal came out to close to $ 600 per person. It was one of the worst valued meal I have dined in my life. Normally I feel justified paying $ 500 – 600 for a meal if the ingredients are level of skills are fully justified.
Most of the dishes looked absolutely gorgeous and that was about it. The taste was no where near the look of each dish. When I come to michelin starred restaurant, I’m looking for the, feel, uniqueness, locality, flow, beauty, chef’s interpretation of the nature’s freshest ingredients. I can tell you looking back at the pictures, the dishes look absolutely beautiful like a piece of painting.
There was nothing extraordinary about most of the dishes other than its awesome representation and passion from the chef. No ingredients were special or unique in any sense. I did not find anything amusing nor fascinating.
The food tasted great but thats it. Just great and nothing too more or less. I feel like this was waste of my time and money. I believe they are also well known for the Caviar dish but they have recently replaced them with a Tomato Gelatin dish.
Main dish was river goat from Oregon. I was not given a option whether I wanted this gamey type of a meat nor knew their was alternative option for a duck.
This is the biggest waste of time and money for my meals ate. It was a great maybe one michelin star restaurant experience for me.
This is the reason why I prefer not to dine any Michelin starred restaurant in the States. Just gives me a disappointment. I would not return and dine here anytime in the future.

Recently had the pleasure to dine here for a very special dinner. We had the 22-​course discovery menu with wine pairings. All I can say is WOW. This place serves up a dining experience like no other in SF. or in most of the country for that matter. I won’t overly gush here. but I will say that you need to at least try Saison once in your lifetime. It’s truly a bucket list spot where everything comes together just right… décor, ambiance, service, drinks, food, creativity, etc.
I really only have 2 warnings:
1) Make sure your credit card is good to go since dinner for 2 will cost over $ 1K
2) If you’re getting the wine pairing, plan to Über/​Taxi home afterwards since the pours here are generous… maybe too generous since we were pretty much wasted ²⁄₃ of the way through the meal.
Heed these couple warnings and you should be good to go for having your mind blown away. Cheers.

If you’ve never experienced a true prix fixe experience, this is not where you go to learn. Not everyone can walk in and trust the chefs to provide their very best — find out if that style of dining is for you before coming in to the top of the line. The expectations that come with such a meal will only detract from the experience if you can’t trust in the professionalism of the team.
On to the heart of my review: The very best meal I have ever had. Period. Bar none.
This is one of the few luxury dining experiences that is truly worth every penny. I honestly didn’t think twice when time came to pay the piper (and it was a truly magical sum of money — just get over that now).
The food was superlative. The only true culinary ‘miss’ in my opinion was the raw shrimp. The flavor was enjoyable, but the texture was challenging at best. The beet dish was one of the most singular dishes I’ve ever had — and I utterly despise beets. The goat, dessert, abalone, tea, tomato (TOMATO!?), urchin … all incredible. Beautiful.
The wine was on point. If you don’t know what you’re doing with a wine list, follow the somm’s advice. They know what’s best — they really do. That leads in to the absolute best part of the dinner: The team. The quality of service is world beating. They’re nearly telepathic in their ability to provide exemplary service before the diner even knows what they’re hoping for.

I had a great meal recently at Saison and would highly recommend this place for connoisseurs of seafood-​forward tasting menus. I’ll post a photo of the tasting menu & wine pairings in this review.
First, for an SF three star Michelin restaurant, Saison has a very laid-​back and casual atmosphere. The entire staff are extremely professional and competent but they also have a bit of personality. The Somm is also the curator of the music playlist from the 80’s that is playing at a moderate level in the background. Refined but casual; I like.
Second, many of the courses were amazing. The Uni on Tartine sourdough toast is one of the best sea urchin dishes that I’ve had outside of Japan. The lobster and abalone courses were also delicious. I’ll come back in the future for more.
The wine pairings were elegant, delicious and paired extremely nicely with the foods. The sole red was a fantastic aged burgundy that was oh-​so delicate, as it should be. The seemingly endless pairings of wonderful white wines ranged from white burgundy to gruner veltliner to a libero that was aged under the Mediterranean Sea.
Thank you to Saison’s entire staff for giving me a birthday dinner to remember!

Below is what I got out of a $ 1200 experience at Saison:
1. Fifteen small courses for two, comes with the likes of
— the best stingy piece of lobster I’ve tasted in my life
— a bowl of turnip soup my mom used to make a bucket of for $ 2
— some burnt cabbage leaves that goes by «brassica», like telling people your middle name is thelma eleanor bernice makes you any less basic
2. Very strong cocktails that change colors but do not waver in strength
3. Formal service in a re-​gentrified warehouse where you’re welcome to «come as (you) are» with morning cereal still stuck to your shirt, just know that every time you return from the restroom the newly military-​folded napkin sur la table will silently ask you to get it together
4. Consolation from the boeuf after he got me straight up plain socks for our anniversary
Overall, the food tasted good and the dining experience was pleasantly expected of the 3-​Michelin-​star. You pay for importing developing countries farms to first world table.

One would wonder what kind of the food would be served and the price one would have to pay when dinning at a 3 Michelin Stars restaurant like Saison. A lot of times, these wonders would be resolved by checking the restaurant’s website; however the Saison website only tells you «the price of the menu is determined daily by the price of the ingredients.» Hmm… good thing I wasn’t the one that made that reservation, and I was the person to be celebrated!
My fiancé took me to Saison for my birthday this year. The ambiance, service and food were all pretty darn good. The bill, however, was kind of ugly. Don’t get me wrong – I love fine-​dinning, I used to fine-​dined a lot. I understand a lot of preparation goes into each tiny dish and lots of ingredients are supposed to be exotic, but despite the many courses, many of them just didn’t look like they require that much preparation (like the caviars, or fried seaweed, or uni, or micro strawberries). Moreover, I am guessing it was the ingredients that cost a lot, but many of the things that was served to me that night were not that exotic… they all just didn’t seem to be worth the $ 398 per person (on food only).
Anyhow, some of the more creative and memorable dishes: caviars, housemade bread, the trout with roe, and the micro organic strawberries.
The service was awesome. Each chefs took turns to take out their dish and the bartender was super helpful when I asked them about certain liquor and cocktails. So in the end, everything was exceptionally nice and delicious.
So yeah, why four stars? Well, I really can’t think of anything bad about it besides the bill. Bummer!

Coming here with a group by a friend’s invitation was a nice gesture to see and experience all that is Saison. I will immediately get on with reporting our custom printed menu:
–infusion of some herbs from our garden
–saison reserve caviar, cured with our smoked salt
–broth of grilled roots, sea cucumber crackling (chicharron)
–live diamond turbot
–battle creek trout, its skin & roe
–sea urchin, liquid toast
–abalone, grilled over the embers, sauce of the livers and capers
–black gill rock cod & burdock, in its skin
–pickles
–custard (parmesan flan)
–brassica leaves, blistered in the fire, broth of the cultured vegetables
–fire in the sky beet, bone marrow, roasted over coals
–whole duck:
–grilled near the fire
–toffee
–a bouillon of the grilled duck bones
–ice cream & caramel, cooked in the fire
–tea & citrus
–wild strawberries
As you can see, we were fed a great deal of dishes. I must point out, though, that at such locations as this, many servings are perhaps a few bites each — not very large. Makes for entertaining (and even educational) consistent servings, as the plates kept coming!
My favorite two dishes were the Parmesan Flan and the Saison Reserve Caviar. Those dishes stood high above the rest! The grilled duck was fantastic as well. Sea cucumber chicharron was also memorable. Seeing any broth get poured in front of you is always a spectacle, too. Beautiful dishes and cutlery.
Accordingly, our service was outstanding. The bottle of Littorai Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2013 our group shared that night — crisp and full body — was not our focus, anyway — we were celebrating!
By the end, though, after consuming that ginormous menu, you would think I would be stuffed. Almost… But again, I must stress that several of these dishes were tiny, and none were large. It was a fanciful delight, surely, though I did not interpret any single dish as «meal» in and of itself. That may go against the concept of locations like Saison, perhaps, where the entire experience could be consumed in whole as your meal. I still enjoyed it much, but I also know my stomach. Maybe a small bowl of grapes to top it off would suffice? I simply eat too much…
Pricey, but the friendly, many-​membered, knowledgeable staff were worth every dollar and then some. Give me another special occasion and I’d consider returning.
SERVICE: 5
FOOD: 4
OVERALL: 4.5

A solid and fairly exceptional dining experience. Worth the full $ 500 post tip and tax? eh. I can’t deny that it was a pretty flawless experience, but not one that was wow worthy enough that I’d want to go back to in the future.
My friend and I came in for a Wednesday night reservation at 7:30. I had read super late online that 7:30 reservations aren’t for the dining room, oops, but luckily, we got seated on this super comfy couch near the bar which I actually preferred a bit more than some of the table dining options. The restaurant is fairly small and has a beautiful open kitchen where you can actually see the chefs who are creating your meal. Even though it was more or less full, I was impressed that the noise level was pretty quiet throughout the meal. Waiters were never intrusive, very attentive to our needs, and it was honestly just a great atmosphere.
When you get in and check your stuff (also I love that this is SF fine dining, dress code is come as you are!), you get seated and you’re greeted with a glass of champagne that my friend informed me was «the champagne they serve you on first class flights.» Nice. I believe it was Krug Champagne? I don’t even like champagne but this one was pretty delicious. The waitress comes over and checks over your dietary restrictions and then the sommelier comes over and gives you all the wine stuff, etc, and the meal more or less begins. They have an interesting pairing method where while there is a full on pairing for each dish, you can also just order glasses as you go so that way it’s a bit more natural and self-​paced — this was what our waiter actually recommended, but my friend decided to go for the full on pairing.
I feel like there’s never much point in talking about your thoughts on the food to a specific detail since the menu constantly changes, but here’s the menu we had, and I’ll highlight the wins for me:
1. Infusion of herbs from garden — tea to open the palette
2. Saison reserve caviar, cured with smoked salt — BOMB probably my favorite. most generous caviar portion I’ve ever had — extremely delicious bread roll too!
3. Broth of grilled roots
4. Live diamond turbot
5. Battle creek trout, its skin and roe
6. Sea urchin, liquid toast — urchin game was on point, liquid toast was kinda weird
7. Abalone, grilled over the embers, sauce of the liver and capere
8. Pickles
9. Custard
10. Brassica leaves, blistered in the fire, broth of cultured vegetables — the most expensive and delicious salad of my life
11. Fire in the sky beet, bone marrow
12. Whole duck grilled near fire with ragu
13. Duck toffee
14. Duck soup — everyone hates it, but I thought it was amazingly delicious
15. Ice cream and caramel
16. Citrus and tea, wild berries
Wine highlights from the pairing — an outstanding Stephan Ehlen Riesling from Germany 1991
Anyways, overall, I’d say that all the dishes were very tasty, but some were definitely stronger than the others. I didn’t find myself mindblown or particularly surprised or impressed by any of the dishes — it was more like perfect execution of the natural flavor of ingredients, which is what Saison strives for, the whole concept of seasonality. I felt generally full after this set — not super full though, and I don’t eat a ton, so I could see why some people might be hungry afterwards.
Service was spectacular throughout the night — they were super classy and professional despite my friend getting very drunk and spilling things, when a waiter accidentally poured me too much broth, he immediately apologized to my friend and got us some more to even it out, it’s those little things that I find particularly elegant and elements that make the holistic experience very much a wonderful dining adventure.
It feels like a 4 to me relative to other Michelin restaurants that I’ve been too. It pains me a bit to give it a 4 when it was honestly holistically a wonderful experience, but I think for the sake of if you’re trying to compare this to other great Michelin stars in the city (e.g. Atelier Crenn, Keiko a Nob Hill) I don’t think Saison is much better, and with this high of a price point, it’s definitely not better. So take this as a yes, this will be a hell of a lot better than what you’re eating every day, but if you’re looking to blow money and splurge, you’re better off going to a different Michelin place in SF.
tldr; great food, don’t get me wrong, but mindblowing? eh. I don’t regret going because I like experiences, but I’d much rather spend much less money for equally delicious food

Saison is a new addition to the Michelin 3 star elite group of restaurants. It’s run by Joshua Skenes who has worked with famous chefs like Chef Jean-​Georges Vongerichten and Chef Michael Mina. Saison started as a pop up restaurant and eventually evolved to what it is today. It’s currently holds the following significant accolades:
1) 2015 Michelin 3 stars,
2) #56 on the San Pellegrino 2015 World’s Best Restaurants and
3) #69 on the San Pellegrino 2014 World’s Best Restaurants.
Saison has a great ambiance and an open kitchen. There’s a bar area and the main dining room. They play 80/​90s music. The playlist includes anything from Journey to Air Supply to Tears for Fear. It reminded me of my childhood when my parents used to listen to KOST 103.5 in Los Angeles.
There are three tables along the kitchen where you get the whole experience of dining at a Chef’s counter. I was lucky enough to score reservations at one of those tables. It was well worth it and it makes it a totally different dining experience. To be honest, I would choose dining at the chef’s counter or in the kitchen over the main dining room any day of the week.
Now, la comida. Ok. As of June 2015, I’ve dine at 10 of the 12 current Michelin 3 star restaurants in the past 4 months and that’s excluding other former Michelin rated restaurants. Furthermore, I’m dined at other Michelin rated restaurants in Japan. Lastly, all those restaurants equate to a total of 14 – 16 out of the 100 on the 2015 Sam Pellegrino Best Restaurants if you include restaurants in Taipei, Seoul and Japan.
What’s my point? The point is the level of service becomes very similar and the defining difference is the food. They’re all good in their own way, but it’s pretty hard for me to get blown away from the food now. In other words, I’ve became the ultimate snooty food snob. However, Saison definitely blew me away. Everything on the menu was spectacular.
1) Caviar & Pork Fat Bread — This was a bowl of caviar accompanied by a sweet bread brushed with pork fat. The caviar was cured with smoked salt. The bread was fresh and warm right out of the oven. The brush of pork fat was a nice touch. There wasn’t a certain way to eat it but I decided to make myself a caviar slider. Who eats a caviar slider?! This guy right here, son!
2) Uni with Liquid Sesame Bread — Uni on top of liquidized sesame bread. The dish melted in your mouth and as it dissolved you get a last crunch on your last bite from the sesame bread. The texture was pretty amazing and totally blew me away. The uni was well prepared but it wasn’t silky in texture as usual. It’s a different feeling like switching from briefs to boxers.
3) Cod Coconut Curry — Cod with coconut curry had a nice kick to it but the flavors of the dish was amazing. As you tipped the dish, you could see the coconut layer separate from the 2^nd layer of the curry. It was a very interesting to the two separate from each other. The cod skin gave it a slight crunch but the meat melted away as you chew passed the skin. It’s kind of like when you kiss a woman on her forehead. Dawwww…
4) Duck — This dish included a slice of Duck Breast and Foie Gras. The breast was perfectly cooked and had the right amount of moisture. It was juicy, succulent and slightly strong fatty flavor. The Foie Gras was wrapped in a lettuce. The texture was nice and soft but it didn’t have a buttery feel to it like a grilled foie gras. It was good none the less like make up s*x. That’s six to be clear.
5) Duck Broth — This doesn’t sound like anything special but it was the best dish on the menu. The broth is cooked in grilled duck bones for 6 – 8 hours and the flavors from the broth was extremely umami. There was a right amount of fat and I have to say it was one of the best things I’ve eaten in my life. The fragrance of the broth was extremely comforting and memorable like when I used to come home from elementary and I smell my mom cooking phở as I walked up the driveway.
The service is expected from a restaurant with Saison’s accolades. The waiters/​chefs were on top of their game and explained everything great. I had great conversations with the multiple waiters regarding different U.S. Michelin restaurants, food and experiences. They definitely knew their stuff and they weren’t stuffy at all. However, I was stuff and 10 pounds heavier. Well, not really. Ok. 5 pounds.
Overall, I would have to say Saison would be in my top three Michelin 3 Star dining experience in the United States. The level of service is on par with the rest. The food and the view of the kitchen puts it above the rest. I’m totally willing to bet money Saison will break the top 40 in the World’s 50 Best next year.
US 2015 Michelin 3 Stars Count: 9 down. 3 more.
2015 Michelin Rated Restaurant Count: 17
San Pellegrino 2014 World’s 100 Best Restaurants Count: 8
San Pellegrino 2015 World’s 100 Best Restaurants Count: 10