State Bird Provisions

It’s now been over 4 years since SBP opened and they still manage to generate a line and reservations are still a rarity. Demand still going strong. They’ve removed any distinguishing signage and now the front of the restaurant is just a nondescript black wall. It seems like a pretentious move to remove the sign, but I was curious to see what the hype was all about.
You can make a reservation on Opentable, but not through the Opentable website, only through the Opentable portal on SBP’s website. Your best bet is to hop on the website around midnight and book a date 2 months in advance.
We had some free time one weekday around 4:30pm while hanging out in the neighborhood. We saw a couple of people waiting outside. I wondered if they were waiting for SBP to open. Turns out they were. We thought what the heck, why not wait too? Since we don’t hang around the area very often, we might as well give it a try. An hour went by pretty quickly while we chatted with other people in line and watched the chefs prep food through the window. When 5:30pm rolled around, a healthy line formed behind us. Once the doors opened, we were seated within minutes.
Our waiter was very friendly and explained the dim sum style of ordering, where you order staples from the menu, and say yes/​no to the off-​menu items that are carted around from table to table. The dishes are about the size of tasting menu’s dishes. Each plate has 1 – 2 servings at the most.
We’ve tried…
Toast & Pancakes…
Sourdough, Sauerkraut, Pecorino & Ricotta Pancake ($ 3):
chewy with lots of flavor. good to try, but wouldn’t order it again.
Green Garlic-​Steak Tartare Caesar Toast ($ 4):
As a steak tartare lover, I had to try this. Great flavor & texture.
Mendocino Uni ‘Taco’ Pancake ($ 8):
crispy, flat pancake with a piece of seaweed, shiso leaf, a small piece of uni, and sesame seeds. Tasty and interesting, though you can get better uni elsewhere.
Provisions…
Hog Island Oyster, Spicy Kohlrabi Kraut & Sesame ($ 3):
I am an oyster lover as well. These are well seasoned — spicy, salty, and tart. The sesame seeds add a little texture. They’re very good, but unnecessary to order if you’ve had Hog Island oysters before.
Smoked Trout-​Avocado ‘Chip & Dip’ ($ 6):
The dip is very tasty and one of the more interesting items on the menu. I tried to get a little bit of each ingredient on the chip all at once. I was lazy to use the spoon and tried to use the chip to scoop the dip and the chip broke. Definitely use the spoon. If you don’t like creamy whipped fish, this is not for you.
Duck Liver Mousse with Almond Biscuits ($ 6):
This was one of our favorites. We ordered it twice. The little biscuits are light, fluffy, buttery, and rather oily. Combined with the mousse, this is one very rich dish.
Pork Belly Citrus Salad ($ 7):
Pork belly was delicious. The jalapeño slices were too much for me to handle. I definitely enjoyed the light citrus flavor and the mini orange slices. But this was pretty expensive for a couple pieces of fried pork belly.
Garlic Bread with Burrata ($ 9):
I was surprised that this wasn’t on the pancake menu. It’s rather expensive for a small serving of bread and cheese, but it was delicious. The garlic bread is puffy and the burrata was creamy, a little stringy, and seasoned well with lots of flavor.
Snacking Pork with Apple Mostarda ($ 9):
This was a little spicy to me. It’s very crunchy and chewy. It kind of made me think of jerky.
Commandables…
CA State Bird with Provisions ($ 9):
I wasn’t very interested in the Commandables, because I was having too much fun trying all the smaller dishes. I didn’t really care for quail either, because it tends to be dry, but I always feel compelled to order a restaurant’s namesake. It was pretty good quail though. I like shaved parmesan and it made a nice garnish, but it wasn’t very cohesive with the fried quail.
Dessert…
Olive Oil Cake, Birdseed, Roasted Strawberries & Mascarpone ($ 9):
We were very full already, but I wanted to try the olive oil cake. I don’t see olive oil cake on menus very often and when I do, a lot of them come out too oily. This one was slightly oily and more like a sponge cake. The strawberries and mascarpone make a nice topping. I’m not sure about the birdseeds, but they tasted like pumpkin seeds.
Is it worth the wait? I don’t mind waiting for an experience I haven’t tried before, but I typically don’t think it’s worth waiting more than an hour for any meal. Most of the dishes were rather expensive for a couple of bites. I may not sound very impressed with the food, but this was a very tasty and enjoyable dining experience. I prefer trying small bites with lots of variety compared to a one-​note meal. I would be interested in returning to try other dishes on their changing menu. They are really on top of their service too. But given the wait time and the lack of reservations, I don’t feel the need to come back. I’m glad to have tried it once.

4.5 Overall
— Food is solid.
— Can choose dim sum style off the hard menu.
— 20+ items off menu introduced as servers walk by… You say yes or no. Also dim sum style.
— Very impressive caliber and quality that flys outta the kitchen.
Stand out: Octopus, Fish Tail opener, Macaroon Ice Cream sandwich, Duck liver mouse with incredible bread bites, everything else was at par. Only pass was the toast with fish but was stuffed by that point.
— Arrival: Monday No reservation so arrived around 4:15, opened at 5:30.
— Seating: Passed on communal table, opted for the bar seating and lucked out to be in front of stove area.
* Advantage over communal table is can see what leaves the kitchen. The Octopus was not offered to us (oversight) but we saw based on our seat. Asked and they fired up a serving STAT.
* Two other bar seating, oddly positioned.

Lucky number 1600. Ill just say, its nice to have friends in high places. No wait. Great table.
I might, however, stand in line for the fried quail. We has multiple orders on this night, recently.
I could write a few paragraphs, but why, this is the 1600^th review.
We had a great experience, and look forward to many returns.

I’ve been here multiple times now and it is still one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco.
I can’t say the ambiance is all that– so don’t come here expecting Gary Danko or Quince for ambiance. It’s more rustic, chill, and low key.
However, the food is far more innovative than most. Everything is served dim-​sum style — meaning, you don’t have a traditional menu nor a pre-​fix set menu. You essentially pick what you want to eat throughout the course of your meal. The staff comes around in little carts with whatever they make fresh that day and you pull it off the cart — they add the dish to your tab.
I’ve dined here solo and with my bf — enjoyed both experiences. The dishes rotate frequently and I haven’t had a single bad dish!
You can eat as much or as little as you’d like. Came here once and spent $ 50/​person, other time was about $ 100 per person. Each dish varies from $ 10-​$ 25 each.
Best to come as a pair or small group. Hard to make reservations (taken up to 60 days in advanced online) and walk-​ins never guarantee seating, especially on weekends. Better chance to get a walk-​in during a week night!

I’m glad to say that I finally had the opportunity to try this place and I had a wonderful experience, from the food to the customer service!
First of all, we had reservations from 2 months in advanced so the wait was not bad at all for us (or no wait at all to be honest). We had a group of 4 and 3 of us were running late, yet they still seated my one friend who got there on time. Literally the best (as other restaurants will refuse to seat us until all parties are there).
As for the food, I can honestly say that I love most of the dishes but some were a miss for me (though my other friends enjoyed it). I guess it depends on your preferences but the great thing about coming to this place with a group of 4 is that you can share everything in equal quantities. Some of my favorites during the nights are:
(+) CA state bird with provisions. Possibly my favorite dish of the night. Don’t pass up on this one (since this is what the restaurant is named, you definitely need to try it!) The quail was perfect and the onions was a nice contrast in flavor (gave it a nice zesty taste!)
(+ Red trout. A second favorite of mine from the main entrée selections. The trout was grilled perfectly! The vinaigrette didn’t overpower the fish at all and the whole dish was on the light side. It left us wanting more.
(+) My third favorite for the night was the Lap Cheong with Pepper Yogurt. We were actually skeptical about getting this one because I mean, we’re all from Asian backgrounds and how special/​different can these sausages be from the ones we’ve had before. I actually really enjoyed it (and everyone else did too!) I wouldn’t think to pair it with yogurt but hey, it works!
My other favorites are: Hog Island Oysters, Garlic Bread with Burrata, Duck liver mousse with almond biscuit (the almond biscuits are amazing), Pork belly citrus salad (a Vietnamese twist! I liked this one a lot too), Hedgehog mushroom toast (sorry I might be biased because I love everything with mushroom in it but do not pass on this one!), Dashi Potato Porridge with Marinated Shellfish and Nori.
The only dishes that I didn’t entirely enjoyed are the Buckwheat-​beef tongue pastrami pancake and the Don Watson’s lamb with cumin, squid & dates. My friends liked the beef-​tongue pancakes but it wasn’t my favorite (probably because I didn’t enjoy the beef-​tongue). The lamb dish was too much for me. There was too much going on with the bokchoy, the broccoli, the squid, dates, etc. that I didn’t really know what to focus on. I would pass on this dish.
TIP: Leave room for dessert! :) We got the 1. Yuzu ‘ice cream’ sandwich, sesame macaron, kiwi, fennel and 2. Seasoned fruits turnover and both were delicious! Both dessert items were super light and not heavy at all. I would definitely recommend the ice cram sandwich if you dont know what to order off of the dessert menu!
Overall, this place is perfect for a date night or a group dinner with your friends. For popular restaurants, I feel that half of the ratings is for the food and the other half is for the experience. Dining at State Bird is definitely 50% for the experience. I love the «dimsum» style service and how I can see my food before I order. It’s good for preparing yourself on how much you can eat and you can always order more if you’re still hungry. Lovely restaurant + service. Will come back for more items that I didn’t get to try this!

I’ve had my eye on SBP for quite some time now but I wanted to surprise the bf for our anniversary. Reservations are hard to snag, they open up at MIDNIGHT 60 days in advance. Even though I stayed up until midnight for reservations, the earliest time I was able to get was 8:30PM! We were told that 2 person parties are really limited & looking around the restaurant we could see it was mainly parties of 4. Tip: have your credit card by your side when making reservations because they’ll take down your info & charge $ 25 for cancelling.
We arrived here maybe 20 mins before our time and were told we could either have a drink at the check in area (super tiny) or go next door to The Progress (their sister restaurant) which has a full bar. Being that it was the first day of the new year being open, The Progress was also full! We ordered a couple of drinks before heading back.
When we were seated, we were explained that the dining experience was like dim sum. There was one cart that circulated with their seafood options and the rest were brought out in trays. You could also order some items on their menu with a waiter/​waitress. Pricing is clearly visible so you’re not shocked when your bill comes out. The portion size is very small, mostly individual. If you have a food allergy, make sure you tell them so they can let you know if the items contain your allergen.
Items we ordered included:
— Soup: Smoked trout, black rice & shiitake mushroom w/​pork belly dashi. Yum! Smokey soup with good flavor.
— Seafood salsa: clams, mussels & squid topped with quinoa crunch. We really enjoyed this but it was pretty salty.
— Pork loin with apple sauce? The dark color threw us off and the apple sauce was kinda tart but it was good.
— Pork belly w/​VN vinaigrette. Strong fish sauce flavor, I didn’t really like this.
— Garlic bread w/​burrata. Mmm, I liked the bread but wasn’t a fan of burrata.
— State bird w/​provisions. My favorite dish! The quail was tender inside but super crispy outside.
–Guinea hen dumplings. Meh I would skip. It wasn’t very interesting.
— Kimchi & maitake fried rice. Omg our jaws hurt after eating only half this! The rice is crunchy– like they’re going for burnt rice in a sizzling stone texture.
Overall I enjoyed my meal and was glad we were able to finally give SBP a try. It was a total trip for the bf because there’s no sign that explicitly said «State Bird Provisions». It was only stated on the menu. Needless to say it was a successful surprise :) Another tip: If you have a dairy allergy and lactose pills aren’t your thing, SBP won’t be worthwhile because most things have dairy/​cheese!

Great for the experience and mediocre for the food. I think many people get enamored by the cool idea that they psychologically think the food is better than it actually tastes. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is mighty creative to serve non-​Chinese food in high class dim sum style. However, if I really only look at the food, it’s nothing spectacular.
My friends and I got lucky and we got reservations. We ordered the following: kimchi fried rice, pork belly, onion bread with cheese, dumpling, duck paste with little muffins, beef tartare, oysters, ice cream sandwich, and chocolate cake.
I know it sounds like A LOT of food but all of their portions are super small. We also had a variety of food from all cultures and types. My favorite was definitely the beef tartare and the kimchi fried rice. Must try! Also, since we had so many types of food, even though we didn’t eat much it kind of made us very bloated afterwards.
Great and cool ambiance. Awesome experience. Attentive service.

Outstanding meal!
The dim sum style of this restaurant is brilliant and we had a great time with friends picking and choosing what we wanted to eat. The star is definitely the quail though, we all agreed that we could of eaten that 10 times over. The best bites were the Hog Island Oyster with Spicy Kohlrabi Kraut, Guinea Hen Dumpling, Duck Liver Mousse, and Garlic Bread with Burrata. Those stood out but everything else was amazing as well.
Great experience trying all sorts of delicious food. Bring some friends that are adventurous and try everything to get the most out of the meal.
We were lucky to have a reservation (highly recommended) but if you don’t come prepared to wait because it’s definitely worth it.

What an incredible dining experience! We were lucky enough to get a 5:30 reservations (months in advance, of course) and I could hardly contain my excitement when the door opened promptly at 5:30. We were sat in the middle of the restaurant which allowed me to see all of the food being brought through the restaurant. The décor is simple but beautiful; it has a personality of its own, which is refreshingly different than the stark, modern, industrial new restaurants that have been popping up lately.
Our server was friendly and very helpful when it came to recommendations. She explained the dining process, which I loved (HUGE dim sum fan over here). I liked that you could order some items from the menu, while the other dishes were a surprise. Our friends who had dined here before told us to just go big and say yes to almost everything that got brought around, which thankfully we did. My ONLY complaint about the entire experience was that the dishes were not brought around enough. Most of the items we saw at the beginning of the meal were never brought out again. Their wine/​beer list is pretty extensive and our server was once again very knowledgable about all of the items on the list.
We had so many dishes, it’s hard to remember them all, but these are my favorites/​the highlights of the meal:
— Squash Mochi: BEST thing we ate, it was like butternut squash gnocchi turned mochi. Loved the flavor and the texture. Could have eaten ten plates of them.
— Snapper Collar: don’t let the looks of it frighten you, it will be the most moist and delicious fish meat you will ever eat. The sweet teriyaki-​esque glaze was a perfect addition.
— Duck Liver Mousse with almond biscuits: incredibly creamy and delicious, and the almond cakes perfectly complimented the mousse.
— Grilled Octopus: it was in a tomato sauce/​salsa. The octopus was cooked well, not chewy at all.
— «World peace»: peanut muscovado milk aka heaven in a glass.
I can’t wait to go back — this restaurant is certainly one of those places you could dine at over and over again and never get bored. I loved the entire experience and it was truly the most 5-​star worthy dining experience yet!

State Bird Provisions is good. They have interesting and innovative food, things and flavor that sound so random but taste good together.
We tried a lot of stuff this time, but there were only a couple of items that we would order again.
–pork belly w/​dashi
–duck liver mousse — it was fine. but there are so many restaurants that have a better mousse. (SPQR)
–state bird
–mushroom hedgehog toast (one of the items we would order again)
–guinea hen dumpling (it was not a dumpling, it was a ravioli and the skin was too chewy)
–croque madam
–octopus (it was in a tomato sauce/​salsa, but we couldn’t taste it. the octopus itself was fine)
–fried rice
–kung pao beef cheeks (?) w/​sweetbread (pretty tasty, especially with the fried rice)
–trout and potato croquette
–glazed trout (another item we would order again)
However, my issue with this place is being able to eat here. i just don’t think they’re worth the work of eating here. I’ve been here twice when this restaurant first opened in 2011 and everything they served was interesting, we got our reservations and went. Five years later in 2016, the only way to get a reservation at a «normal» dinner time (not at 5pm, or 9:30pm) is to sit by the computer at midnight, 60 days out to secure a table. I understand they’re popular and michelin rated, but there are other restaurants that are similar and it’s not as difficult!

This place lives up to every hype on tv, magazine, Instagram, Facebook, etc etc!
Come early! Before the resturant opens (5 pm), there is already a hugggeeee line outside for people waiting for open tables! I would suggest getting a reservation! Parking is a little difficult (we had trouble at 1030 pm), so plan for that.
The menu is set up into two parts– the regular menu, where you can order with your server and will be brought to you (like regular restaurants). The other part of the menu is dim sum style, where servers bring different dishes to your table and you can choose what you’d want!
All of the food that I tried was amazing, but my top suggestions are:
— Frois goi and chow & mooshi (something like that)
— Chanterelle mushroom toast
— Beef tongue pancake
— State bird provisions — my fav!
— Lamb with cumin, squid, and dates — second fav!
— Pecan tart
Food that I would avoid (–1 star):
— Chinese sausage — honestly, it’s no different than anything I haven’t had in Chinatown before
— Seafood with dashi potato — it was a weird combination & was a little too salty

On our first evening as tourists in San Francisco, we arrived here at around 7:30 PM, and were told the wait would be around 1.5 hours (we had attempted to book reservations for about 3 months prior to visiting, but were unable to after numerous attempts — online and emailing the restaurant). Not to be deterred, and seeing the lineup of people waiting for a table, we put our name down and left our phone number with the hostess, and went to wander the neighbourhood (i.e. if you’re tourists and need to buy some daily necessities, Walgreens is just down the street).
The hostess was pleasant and wonderful, knowing we were tourists hoping to get a table that night. She called us at around 8:40 PM and informed us that a table was ready for us.
What a wonderful dining experience. Service was wonderful and informative, the atmosphere was casual, trendy, bustling, and the food was so evidently carefully prepared and made of the highest quality ingredients. Our favourite was red trout with hazelnuts and the pork belly citrus salad — absolutely delicious.
If it wasn’t so hard to get a table, I would have given this place 5 stars. But don’t let that deter you — this will be one of the best dining experiences you’ll have, as a local or a tourist.
For about 7 dim sum dishes, for two people, our total was $ 93.24.

This is definitely worth the experience to try out! Like many other Unilocalers have stated, State Bird serves their food dim sum style. So they are mini dishes and not on a big plate like going to Gary Dankos or The Progress. The prices are across the board and our server let us know which dishes were most popular and gave us great recommendations. Unfortunately, I can’t remember ever single dish my friends and I ordered but out of the 9 – 12 dishes that we did order, there were only 2 that we felt were a-​okay and the rest were Y-​U-​M!
My favorite is definitely the ice cream sandwich! I saw so many pictures of that and when I actually tried it, the dessert did not disappoint. It is a must to make reservations for State Bird and be sure to show up on time because for those who didn’t make a reservation, the line is lonnnnng! I believe my friends made our reservation 2months in advance from the date that we wanted to go, so be sure to set reminders for yourself on your calendar to know when to make reservations.

Everyone talks about this place and lucky enough I was able to snag a reservation for a saturday night for 10pm. it was also two months in advance. Only other way to get into this place is to go before they open and put your name on the list… well worth it! Make sure you come hungry because you’ll be ordering everything! They have the regular menu and also have dim sum style items that comes around the tables.
From the menu
–Beef tongue and ricotta toast: A must! Both were amazing
–Albacore toast: very good too
–Kabocha squash mochi and truffle: Tastes as amazing as it sounds
–Kung pal beef sweetbreads: very filling and full of flavor
Dim Sum Style
–Hog Island Oysters: fresh and refreshing
–Guinea dumpling: soup was good but could of passed on this
–Pork belly salad: so good we got it twice
–Grilled octopus: sadly was just ok. not much flavor
–Uni beef tartar: Just ok. really wanted to like this dish
At this point I was stuffed… luckily they can do a half order of the ice cream sandwich

Western dim sum experience!
My boyfriends’ friend made a reservation 3 months ago and we went for dinner for a Saturday night. There were already people lining up around an hour before it opened to get the counter seating. The table seatings are reservations only.
Environment was nice, a lot of interesting decorations and details. If you ever been to dim sum, it is the similar experience here. They come round with a few dishes and explain what it is and whatever dish you pick they mark it on your sheet. Each dish is a different price, you can also order other bigger dishes that is on the sheet.
We ordered over ten dishes. My favorite and recommended dishes would be the steak tartare, local uni & umeboshi-​rosemary vinaigrette, beef tongue & horseradish-​buckwheat pancake, and pork belly grape salad. Great flavors in all dishes.
All in all, I think this was a great experience, the food in my honest opinion was ok. It didn’t tingle my taste buds, it wasn’t like AMAZING, but it wasn’t bad. I would recommend coming here for the experience and it’s worth the try. However the whole time I wanted to ask the waiter where my har gaw and siu mai at?! LOL

Did you know that the California State Bird is the California Valley Quail? Here at State Bird Provisions, I had the honor to eat one! I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, but it sure was tasty!
State Bird Provisions is a contemporary American restaurant that serves tapas style dishes which I felt had a lot of Asian influenced elements to it. I came with a party of 13, and in order to accommodate all of us, we had to be spit up in two tables. No biggie! It felt more intimate with a smaller group. We came hungry so we ordered every single item off their menu (all 17 items, one serving per person) and started the night off with a bottle of Quice Apple cider from West Valley Oregon to share — a refreshing palate cleanser to start to feast! Ordering every item on the menu was really exciting. There were many dishes to look forward to, it worked out like a tasting menu. They change their menu daily so there will always be surprises every time you come back.
My favorites dishes are with pictures included:
Hog Island Oyster in Spicy Kohlrabi Kraut and sesame — The oysters were extra biney. I normally don’t eat my oysters with so much dressing, but this one is kind of like a shooter, pour the whole thing in your mouth and all the flavors blend together well. Yum.
Persimmon with Kinako and Black Sesame — my mind was blown with this super simple dish. I consists of cubed persimmons tossed in this sauce that made it take like vegetarian tuna poke! It was interesting because the sauce was savory and the persimmons were sweet and juicy.
Pork Belly Citrus Salad — Fatty delicous pork belly mixed with the acid from the oranges broke down the fatty oily taste of the pork belly. Well paired!
CA State Bird with Provisions — battered and deep fried, the poor little California Valley Quail was fried into a perfectly crispy outside and a juicy tender inside, on top of this sauerkraut-​like bed of
Red Trout with Toasted Hazelnut-​Mandarin-​Garum Vinaigrette — fresh trout pan seared into perfection. Simple yet delicious.
We were celebrating a friend’s birthday so we gotta have some bubbly in order to call it a celebration! We went with a bottle of Nerello Mascalese Sparkling Rose and also a bottle of the Andrea Calek Syrah for the red meats. The wine was wonderful and went well with everything we had. Dessert was uneventful to me.
The service was great, we were never neglected considering we were a big party. They have an open style kitchen which was kept bright and clean. I had a wonderful time!

If you don’t have a reservation, be sure to get there 4 – 4:30 to wait in line for standby seating! You are pretty much guaranteed in first-​round seating if you get there between 4 – 4:30; any later… you will probably get the 7 pm-​close seating times.
The food here is amazing. I love that it is a ‘fancy’ place but at the same time casual and affordable. Yes, ‘fancy’ in terms of food prep. I love they have an actual menu, as well as 10 – 15 small a la carte items that you order as they pass by (just like dim sum carts!). Surprisingly, these small dishes fill you up.
PS. The oh-​so-​simple-​concept of kimchi fried rice… is amazing here!

I finally made it to this foodie Mecca on a Monday and paid the price of not having a reservation: standing in the cold for almost an hour prior to the 5:30 opening. Luckily I was able to score a metered spot right outside, since its not the best street in town (though a stones throw away from my old SAT prep class!). While waiting, I was able to peer through the glass and see all the careful prep work including an extremely slow peeling of persimmons. There was no signage, but I knew this had to be the right place. The other clue was the 8+ diners ahead of me already in line.
When we finally queued in after the lucky ducks with reservations, my pal and I were asked if we wanted to sit at a communal table or at the chef’s table (basically the bar). We opted for the chef’s table which was fabulous because we got to see everything going on in the kitchen.
In terms of fare we had:
Stand-​out:
–Lamb tartare — my favorite dish! I couldn’t resist the novelty and it was so fresh (not gamey at all like you’d imagine), perfectly seasoned. so divine
–Seafood stew — not much to look at, but a shocking delight as it came with crunchy quinoa and had a great cold broth that tasted like the sea
–Mushroom toast — AMAZING and chanterelles were so flavorful
Good:
–Rabbit Croquettes on a bed of pureed daikon — Delicious and meaty
–State bird with provisions — for non-​social studies buffs, the state bird is the California quail. It was heavily breaded, though still tasty. It just got to be too heavy since a lot of the meal was so heavy
–Guinea hen pot sticker in broth — comforting, but not mindblowing
–Grilled octopus with tomato sauce — hard to mess up grilled octopus, but the tomato sauce didn’t jive well
–Mushroom medley — good variety of mushrooms, very fresh, though unremarkable otherwise
Meh:
— Winter veggies Crudités on bed of lentil/​sunflower seed/​other seed «hummus» — fresh veggies, but hummus was too Earthy and underwhelming
–Sauerkraut/​sourdough/​ricotta pancake — forgettable
–Single oyster — nothing to write home about, but at $ 3, something to complain about.
Service was fantastic, and we even ran into a fellow Lowellite who was nice enough to inform us of how the restaurant works and provided us with the rabbit croquettes on the house. I asked our server multiple times about the ingredients in our dishes and they were happy to oblige each time. Because it was just two of us and 10 dishes, we were unable to try any dessert! I would definitely return to try the sweets and also to try the raved about duck mousse.
Value wise, I will admit its a little poor, especially given that I only experienced a few stand out dishes. At under $ 100 for 2, its a little pricey for the kind of food they serve ($ 9 for half a quail?!). But it is definitely a culinary adventure and I am happy to support the dynamic menu they have going as well as the idea of fresh, creative food.

Where to begin… State Bird Provisions was pretty mind-​boggling delicious.
Standouts:
– Squash ‘mochi’: this dish just takes mochi to another level. It was softer than gnocchi, warm and melts in your mouth
– Duck liver mousse with almond corn bread: spreadable goodness that is creamy and delicious
– seafood with furikakae topping over round rice noodles: crunchy, savory and moist
– Smoked trout avocado dip with chips: this was a beautiful marriage of crunchy and soft/​and savory
– Guinea Hen dumpling in broth: tender, fragrant broth and each small serving makes you want to have more
– Blackberry granita with viognier gelee and crème fraîche with honey underneath:
this tasted better than it sounds, refreshing granita with cream underneath was surprisingly comforting and satisfying
– Crusted Pork Belly with jalapeño and potatoes and plum: delicious pairing of different textures and the potatoes had a nice lemon flavored sauce
Not as notable but still good
— State bird (crunchy small karaage-​like quail) which was small, cute but not as original or creative
— lamb with cumin (very tender lamb pieces but too large of a dish imo for 2 ppl)
— mirin soy marinated cod tail: large serving size and good flavor on the outside
– Raw oyster: Because who doesn’t love raw oysters
This is a place for exploring new things and State Bird definitely delivered with the taste. The chefs really know how to pair things and balance flavors and it shows because you could taste each of the ingredients separately.
The price is steep if you want to try many things, so I would save this place for special occasions. We were expecting more carts to be rolled around dim-​sum style but it was mostly trays and sometimes the food wouldn’t be enough to make the rounds so we missed out on the garlic bread burrata. However, you can also request or order the dim-​sum dishes straight from your waiter which helps.
Overall, my rating is so high because of the food quality and taste. Price wise and service wise it may not have been 5 stars, but I still think it’s worth it to come experience what this place has to offer.

So glad I finally got to try this place! Because of the unending popularity that this one restaurant in San Francisco’s Fillmore District has generated ever since they’ve opened, I have always wanted to stand in line with the huddled masses to see what the fuss is all about. But luckily, I didn’t have to because a dear friend of mine just suddenly called out of the blue to see if myself and a plus one wanted to go with her and her boyfriend for an evening. Just like that me and my plus one were in. I couldn’t believe it after all of this time we were finally in to the hallowed grounds of the one and only State Bird Provisions! And that of course meant we didn’t have to wait in line just to get into the darn place. In fact once the doors blew open, we were the first group to walk right on in since we had a reservation. It was as easy as that.
My friend said he got the reservation through of all places Zagat. But his best recommendation is that you have a better chance scoring a last minute reservation for four instead of two. The more the merrier I say right? And it certainly benefited us. At State Bird, it’s all about serving small portions like tapas or dim sum in a fully realized and conceptualized way. But here, they list half of the menu on a clipboard from which you can order directly from the kitchen and the other half on comes out on either carts or trays as brought to you by the servers, they call them all provisions. Get it? See just like a Sunday morning with dim sum with the folks!
Particular highlights were the duck flavored mousse-​like pâté with toasted bread, the pork belly, the octopus served with squash on a tomato purée, the handmade Kennebec potato chips with a dipping sauce topped with fish eggs, and of course the main dish the deep fried quail served with the so called provisions. My personal favorite of all the dishes was perhaps not so ironically the desserts we ordered what everyone suggested on Unilocal to order, the Oolong «Ice Cream» Sandwich with Cocoa Nib Pepita Macaroon, Hazelnut and Chocolate Coulis along with the Milk Chocolate Crunch served with Yogurt Torte, Pistachio Butter, Candied Ginger and Pluots. Everything was cooked to perfection and served with interest and deep knowledge from the staff.
All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. With glasses of wine, good food and good company, this was definitely an experience to savor over. I just wish the prices weren’t so steep. It will hurt your wallet when you get there and then when you leave you realize you’re still hungry which is never a good thing when paying that much money for food. (Hence only the three stars) Would I go back again? I would never stand in line and wait hours on end for a meal at State Bird but that’s just me. Would I go with friends who happen to make reservations at the last minute and I become a seat filler? Then I say yes to that. I’m glad I got to try out State Bird Provisions, which is rapidly becoming the go-​to place for all foodie lovers in San Francisco and beyond.