Sons & Daughters

Enjoyable dining experience.
The atmosphere is intimate and romantic. The team of staff are welcoming, attentive and can confidently explain about the dishes if questions are asked.
Dietary restrictions can be provided beforehand in order for the menu to be adjusted. Small portions but beautifully plated and lots of creativity. Seasonable influences are evident in the dishes as well. Enjoyed reading through booklet at the table which provided details about their farm in Santa Cruz as well as some of the products from the farm we got to enjoy.
Compared to similar dining experiences in the bay area, the tasting menu price is fair and overall a wonderful experience for all occasions. Not too difficult to get reservation even for few days out.

Sons and Daughters. This restaurant has been on my list of places to try for quite some time. And I finally went, with my three cousins, this past weekend. I can say that it was definitely worth the wait. Reservations are pretty much required, and I made ours about two months in advance. We did arrive a little early, but our table was ready and we were seated near the fireplace. At first it was a little warm, but quickly became the perfect temp in there. The ambience and the décor of the restaurant is perfect for a place that grows its own food on a farm and then brings it into the city to cook up. It just fits. The menu is a pre-​set tasting menu, with the option of a wine pairing. I did not get the wine pairing, since I was driving, and I always get pretty liquored up with wine pairings, but my three cousins did. They all commented throughout the meal that the various wines were tasty and perfect with the plate. The highlights of the meal were the Sunchoke, Scallop, Rock Cod, and the Blood Orange. All of these had such unique ingredients that created amazing flavors, and were just flat out delicious. Each dish was a pleasant surprise from how it was beautifully, but simply, plated to the flavors all mixed together. Also, the breads and butters. There was three servings of bread, that they bake at the restaurant, and they were delicious. With the second serving of bread, they brought a bone marrow spread — it was nothing like I had ever tasted and I loved it. Lastly, I need to mention the service, which was very good but not overbearing. The perfect balance. When the plates were brought out, there was always a succinct but descriptive explanation. It made for a very good experience. Overall, Sons and Daughters deserves 5 stars.

Food was awesome but the price was ridiculous! Hence the 3 stars. Im glad I experienced it but I will not be returning simply because of the cost. Not to mention I wanted a greasy cheeseburger after dinner was over.
Overall great experience, great service, and great vibe. You gotta check it out at least once.

I agree with many of the other reviewers, the décor was fabulous. The service was really great without being too stuffy however the food was not great. Don’t get me wrong, presentation was good and the food was good but it wasn’t great. I guess it’s all in what you are looking for but both me and my husband found the flavors to be very muted. Nothing other than the bread and the trout really stood out. We prefer stronger flavors in general and unfortunately nothing was great or excellent. For the price I would prefer LaFolie, Jardeniere or Commonwealth.
Ps. I would give this place 3.5 stars but there is no option. Service was really good.

Sons & Daughters — Thank you for making my brother’s birthday dinner special. We have an annual tradition of taking each other out for dinner to someplace nice and this was one of my favorites. I appreciate how your team went above and beyond to make the night special from the many happy birthday wishes from the staff, the over the top service and innovative food and lovely wine list to the birthday dessert that finished off the evening.

Excellent!!! Atmosphere, food, service, interior– simply magnificent. Thank you for an amazing evening. You made my husband’s birthday dreamy. We look forward to returning in the future!

Right away I was welcomed with a glass of champagne and sitted right in front of the tiny 6×8, well-​oiled 4 manned kitchen.
Having a personalized menu with your name and date was a nice touch. Only tasting menus are available; ala cartes are no longer being offered. However you can inform the chef to revise the menu according to your dietary restrictions.
Normally I would get the matching tasting wine, this time I opted-​in for a glass of my favorite Riesling — Kabinett 2012. Full credit to the sommelier for the outstanding selection of wine.
With an 8 person staff, to perform through out the night and fulfill everyone’s highest expectations, everyone must go above and beyond. And they did. The details that they put on each plate was outstanding.
I’m a big fan of uni. The first dish on the tasting menu was a combination of scrambled egg and fresh uni. I’ve never had it together before. After tasting this dish, it’s a beautiful combo, well thought about dish.
Although the servings are about 2 tablespoons sizes, by the time I got to the the heaviest part of the meal, I was completely stuffed and couldn’t finish my final entrée.
The competition in San Francisco is very high. In order to be the best, you’ve got to take it to the next level. I would give this restaurant 3.9 out of 5 stars for trying their very best. I see great potential for this restaurant. They’re just not their yet.

Beautiful décor, super friendly staff, disappointing food and portions.
The overall concept of the restaurant is pretty cool. They use vegetables from their own farm and menu chances according to what is in season. You don’t get to choose your food, which is okay with me if they would provide premium food for the price they charge.
Food tasted very average to me and until course #5 I was feeling hungry!!! Portions are ridiculously small.
For details on the food, take a look at the pics I posted.

Had an early dinner before a show and arrived 30 minutes late because of bridge traffic, but they still got us out 20 minutes before show time. Total meal time was 1hr 40 min and, frankly, it was the perfect pace for us. Often times, gaps between courses are just too long and we ache for a quicker pace.
We had 6 courses plus amuse bouche and three breads. The breads are amazing — all three of them!!! Definitely the highlight of the meal.
If I had to describe the experience in one work, I would classify this meal as «earthy». Very pure, exposed greens that are minimally dressed to impart that fresh, farm to table, picked-​from-​the-​garden essence. That is, of course, a good thing but maybe I was just expecting more robust flavors.
I’m glad we gave SD a try but don’t think I would return as there are a multitude of other similar restaurants to experience.

We were utterly delighted by this lovely restaurant. Excellent, healthful meal in a quiet, cozy, and friendly setting. I highly recommend the reasonably priced wine pairing which matches perfectly with their deliciously creative cuisine.

This was my first Michelin starred dining experience and it did live up to expectations. Came here with about five friends and we made reservations for the tasting menu. Reservations weren’t hard to make because we barely committed to this place about a week before. We arrived a couple minutes earlier than our reservation time and our hostess was quick to make us comfortable by showing us to the waiting room and offering us water as we waited. This was my also my first complete farm to table cuisine so I was excited fight as well. Our tasting menu was courses and my favorites were definitely the vegetables. I’ve been eating vegetables my whole life but this was the one of the few times that I enjoyed vegetables more than the meat. All the veggies had a unique fresh and crispness to them that is hard to be described by words. This definitely opened my eyes about tasting menus and Michelin starred restaurants.

From their private farm in Santa Cruz to your plate in a quaint restaurant in the city, Sons and Daughters executes their dishes extremely well.
Top to bottom, everything was really tasty. Even their breads and butter which are made in house.
Their amouse bouche of a steamed egg in an egg shell was pretty awesome. I don’t know what tool they used, but they were able to top off an egg shell with perfect precision. The whole tasting menu was good, but the vegetables really shined. Sometimes even outperforming the protein on the dish.
Great place to have a nice dinner out. Friendly service and a really nice pace. I think we were there for about 2.5 hours.

Excellent meal and one of the best wine pairings that I’ve had.
Sons and daughters is right there in the financial district. Parking is a pain so über it over or use spothero app to find a parking spot before you even leave the house.
Seats are nice and cushy but tables can be awkward. They first sat the two of us at a big table in the window and felt like we had to shout to hear each other. Fortunately it was early and they switched us to a smaller and far more comfortable table in the back. It was also away from the speakers which was playing some loud music making it hard to hear.
Anyway. They started us off with champagne and prosecco and some little potato things. Then came the items on the menu. I’ll add pictures as that will better tell you what we are.
Bottom line is all the tastes were out of this world, wine pairing was amazing and included an occasional refill. Yes it’s pricy but don’t do it every day.

One of the best meals I ever had. All the dishes were beautifully presented and have a lot of depth in flavors, with fresh organic ingredients from their local farm in Santa Cruz, Dark Hill Farm. This is a seven-​course meal that also starts with an amuse bouche as well as some delicious breads for $ 115, with an optional $ 79 for beverage pairing. The restaurant was small and intimate — we were seated close to their open kitchen, which looked like a home kitchen. It was great to watch the kitchen work and plate the beautiful dishes.
Amuse Bouche — Soft boiled egg yolk on the bottom, over some whipped frothy egg whites. Definitely one of my favorite bites of the night. I wanted another one!
Course 1 — Tomato with avocado and preserved lemon… DELICIOUS…it was a very interesting dish. I paired this dish with a rose (Mas de Cadenet 2014)
Course 2 — Heirloom Peppers with Prawns and togarashi
Course 3 — Black Cod with Japanese eggplant and summer beans. Fish cooked so perfectly and so soft. Garnished with edible flowers and micro greens. Paired this dish with a Vermentino (Cantine Lunae Bosoni 2014)
Course 4 — Squash with pink lady apple and onion. I want to say the onions made this dish everything! Paired this dish with a Pinot Noir (Jacques Tissot 2009)
Course 5 — Turnip with carrot and walnut. My least favorite dish since I’m not a huge turnip fan… taste bitter to me. My boyfriend’s dish had bavette (flap steak) on it (I’m pescetarian) …looks super good.
Course 6 — Concord Grape with lemon verbena and honey
Course 7 — Barlett Pear with buckwheat and ground cherry
They brought over some chocolate bites at the end and some tea bags with loose leaves as a souvenirs. Overall wonderful experience with top notch customer service! They even made my boyfriend a special order of sangria! Will come back here again when I’m in the bay area next time.

I took my aunt here for her birthday and it was an amazing meal. They serve a 7-​course tasting menu, but also included a few other Amuse-​bouches & bread plates in between.
The restaurant itself was small and cozy. There weren’t that many people on a Wed. evening so the atmosphere was comfortable and quiet.
I finished with two favorite dishes: Black Cod with japanese eggplant & summer bean and Pork Belly with baby corn and nectarine. Both were executed well and the flavor profile was great.
Overall thoughts: While this place is a bit out of the average price range it is definitely worth it for a special event. It is great that they source all their food from their local farm, which drives their changing seasonal menu. The food was great and the service attentive without being pretentious. I will have to say that I… hope…to visit again (as my wallet would be angry if I said otherwise).

My wife and I wanted to go to a Michelin starred restaurant for our wedding anniversary, and after reading about Sons & Daughters farm to table approach, we decided to book with them. The reservation was made easily on Open Table, and I added some notes, that my wife had celiacs and required gluten free options. The staff went well above and beyond to address our request. Everything that was made had a gluten free alternative for her.
We started with a pallet cleanser pickled meyer lemon/​kumquat hybrid, then an amuse bouche of goat milk foam with buckwheat berries. Our first course was then salmon and cucumber with trout roe. Second we had beets with almonds. Third halibut with green tomatoes. Fourth, Pork three ways (pork belly, pork cheek, and pâté campagne style) with porcini and morel mushrooms, and fava beans. Fifth was a duck course with fiddleheads. Sixth and Seventh dishes were both deserts, geranium ice cream and then a strawberry shortcake type plate. Sprinkled in were three bread amuse bouches, including the salted toast, a pretzel, and a sourdough slice.
The meal was amazing.
The service staff were equally amazing, from our host, to our servers, and of course to our sommelier, whom helped us pick the right bottle against our preferred flavor profiles. In addition, the music being played was as if I plugged in my phone and streamed my pandora playlist. The Pixies, The Talking Heads, My Morning Jacket and the like played over the course of our 2.5 hour experience.
The employees and the music coupled with the food and wine made our whole experience amazing.

For mothers day, and to celebrate a new job, I took my parents here for dinner and boy let me tell you, those farm fresh ingredients and high concept dishes don’t come cheap. But you already knew that so it’s what it is. I assume the menu changes quite often but I can say with certainty that your meal will likely feature the same creativity and balance as ours.
Whatever the differences, hopefully the bread course remains remains the same. There were three separate breads served at certain intervals and all were extraordinary.

Great food, absolutely seamless & perfect service. This place is small, intimate, & everyone seems to come here for a special occasion. Beautiful table settings. Incredibly pricey. It was worth coming here once, but I’d find it hard to justify such a pricey meal again.
THE SERVICE: Amazing! When they called to confirm my reservation, they asked if this was a special occasion (my birthday) & asked how to spell my name. Upon arrival, they brought us straight to our table, told me happy birthday, & gave us menus with «Happy Birthday Ziyan!» printed on top. We also got complimentary glasses of Prosecco right away. Everyone who served us was friendly & professional.
Note that the whole tasting meal is supposed to take over 2 hours. We needed to be out of there in 1 hour 45 minutes & told them when we got there. They immediately notified the kitchen of this & got our 2 desserts out at the same time at the end of our meal. We went about 5 minutes over but it was fine.
THE COST: ~$ 350 total for two 7-​course tastings at $ 115 each, a bottle of pinot (Amalie Roberts, 2009, Willamette Valley), tax, a 15% automatic gratuity, & our additional gratuity (much deserved)
* Pre-​amouse-​bouche: Fruits — 3 stars
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The blackberries and strawberries weren’t quite ripe. A little longer and they would’ve been more juicy/​sweet!
* Amuse-​bouche: Buttermilk — 4 stars
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Savory, frothy, nutty. A very nice bite.
* Course 1: Hamachi (Asparatus & asian pear) — 4 stars
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Wonderful, light. The fish was fantastic. The sauce was great.
* Pre-​Course 2: Toast — 4 stars
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This was toasted pretty dark, but just enough so there was still soft white bread in the very middle. The sprinkles of sea salt on top were just right.
* Course 2: Beet (Celtic & almond) — 3 stars
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The most visually pleasing & palate-​disappointing dish of the night. The beets were too hard & there wasn’t a good range of flavors.
* Course 3: Clam (Green tomato & smoked butter) — 4 stars
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There’s nothing so great as a light broth that’s flavored perfectly. Loved this, & the fish was buttery & tender.
* Pre-​Course 4: Sourdough — 4 stars
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Nice, spongy, thick.
* Course 4a: Pork — 3 stars
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I didn’t love this. Something about the texture (soft & mushy) & flavor (cherry glaze + savory sausage) just feel right to me. I ate half of my piece & had my bf eat the rest. He was fine with this dish.
* Course 4b: Pork Loin & Belly (Morel mushroom & fava bean) — 4 stars
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Fantastic. The fava beans were lightly charred, the sauce was unique, the fresh components were great. The meat was so tender! Dense & moist for the loin, fatty & soft for the belly.
* Pre-​Course 5: Pretzel roll — 4.5 stars
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Loved this. My faves of the bread. As perfect as a pretzel roll can get!
* Course 5: Duck (Fiddlehead fern & coriander) — 4.5 stars
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Loved this! The breast had a lightly crisped skin. The peas were a little crunchy. The slice of meat on the left the photo had a sweet glaze. The only slight complaint I have is the farro (or possibly brown rice) was quite hard.
* Course 6: Fromage Blanc (Meyer lemon & calendula) — 4 stars
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A perfect bite. The cheese was light. The crisp was very, very hard in contrast. It all went together into one last bite.
* Course 7: Apline Strawberry (Mint & salad burnet) — 3.5 stars
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This was good, but I found the green mint cheesecake slice a little jelly-​like in texture. Also, mine was missing the graham crust at the bottom! These strawberries, once again, weren’t ripe & not quite sweet enough.
* Final complimentary dessert — 4 stars
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The chocolate truffle & ginger candies were great. The caramel bark was too crunchy.

BIRTHDAY DINNER 2015 @ SONS & DAUGHTERS!
I’ll keep it short this time.
1. Tasting menu only. I believe there is a vegetarian option if you can’t consume meat.
2. Small portions of high quality food. My favorite dish was the little quail drumstick. So cute.
2. Also small is the restaurant itself. It can get a little stuffy…
3. There are 3 bread courses. They come with the BEST BUTTER I’VE EVER HAD THE PLEASURE OF SHOVING DOWN MY THROAT. I literally spooned the butter into my mouth after there was no more bread to spread it on.
4. Get the wine pairing if you want to pass out right after dinner.
5. Service was great. Our server was super cool and not pretentious whatsoever.
Thanks, Mike C. Eating here made me feel like a better person as well.

Having driven down Bush St. towards Downtown on many of occasions, this quaint little restaurant with a unique name of Sons & Daughters has always peaked my curiosity. After determining that it was Michelin one-​star rated and listed as one of Michael Bauer’s Top 100 Bay Area restaurants, I had it down as a place «to try».
The day to try Sons and Daughter came this past weekend for my birthday celebration. To ensure its customers have a great dining experience, the restaurant called the day before to ensure there were no food allergies and our waitress also asked us upon our seating as we looked over the evening’s menu and wished me a happy birthday. A nice touch was that our souvenir menus were personalized with a birthday greeting. The wine captain came by and gave her birthday greeting and poured us a glass of complementary champagne to celebrate.
We ordered a wine pairing with our menu and each wine from Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Portugal complemented each course so well. The menu consisted of:
Amuse-​bouche: Trout roe with smoked avocado on a rustic cracker. A nice starter with the slight saltiness of the roe. (
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Diver Scallop, uni cream, quinoa, limequat, Monterey sea grapes and watermelon radish. Served raw and went well with the uni cream. (
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Roasted baby beets with Vandovian spices and mustard seeds. Several types of beets were utilized and complemented by the spices and seeds. (
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Buttermilk bread topped with sea salt served with Strauss Creamery butter. Bread was so good, it tasted fine without the butter. (
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Sweetbread and chanterelle mushrooms cauliflower soup. The soup was tasty and was a nice complement. (
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Buckwheat sourdough — the second bread serving. Good, but enjoyed the first and third offerings better. (
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Pork pastrami, pork belly, and pork cheek meat with fennel and Satsuma mandarin. The three-​way preparation of the pork was amazingly delicious. (
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Pretzel roll — the third bread offering was a warm pretzel roll. (
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Squab with chestnut purée, quince and sunflower root. Squab was prepared medium-​rare and was very moist. (
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Palate cleanser: Meyer lemon curd, persimmon and cranberry. That small piece of curd was very refreshing. (
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Chocolate cake ganache with chocolate sorbet and pistachio. Chocolate, who doesn’t like chocolate? (
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Pumpkin jelly, chocolate mint, and vanilla spice sugar cookie. Nice plate of desserts served with a candle as a nice Bday gesture. The jelly was delicious. Could have had a plate of it. (
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The food was artfully prepared, plated and was delicious. The service staff was friendly and even the chef wished me a Happy Birthday as we left. Sons and Daughters might be small, quaint and only seats 28, but it makes a big statement in food and service.