The Perennial

It felt like I was in a Nightclub restaurant. The music was loud. I Asked the hostess to turn it softer & they did for about 15 mins & it was loud again thereafter. Apparently they turn the music up so you don’t hear the noise from the kitchen. How many restaurants do you think have open kitchens in SF? And do they all turn the music up to a level where you think you are dining at a nightclub? I asked the waiter again to turn the music slightly softer & again it happened for about 30 mins & it was loud thereafter. We couldn’t even hear the waiter explain the menu.
They do not change your plates for the main course. For those prices you eat starters & $ 30 main courses in the same plate.
Service is really slow and some of the staff are quiet arrogant.
The menu itself sounds unusual but when the dishes came out it was nothing special. We ordered the eggplant toast, sausage & onions, beef, gnocchi & chocolate ganache. The eggplant toasted tasted like it had too much vinegar on it. The sausage had lots of cartilage. The hangar steak beef was tasteless. The cauliflower gnocchi was bland too. I also felt the dishes were overpriced. Disappointing… I knew the ratings were down on Unilocal but thought I would try it for myself. The place didn’t impress me.

Not the best experience. A beautiful place though with great potential, from the open kitchen to the nice and spacious bar area. Yet the bar was empty and the restaurant only half full. 2 waiters, some food runners and a manager/​greeter.
We ordered 2 glasses of French Rhone which we totally disliked and sent them back. At first the waiter wanted to charge us !! and said he had to ask the manager. She came over and questioned us. We just wanted a bottle of wine from Sonoma now which we thought was better. It was a Syrah according to the menu but it came refrigerated and was literally ice cold.
Since we were hungry we did not want to make a further fuss. It tasted like better fruit juice at 11.9% alcohol .
On to the food:
Eggplant toast: we thought they were smoked eggplant slices but it was a spread with very acidic, vinegary squash slices on top .
Trout Belly: It came with parsnips and mussels in a very tasty broth –very good dish.
Potato confit with clams: was ok but they were halved small potatoes not a confit. Nothing special though.
We were brought another dish, we did not order before the potatoes, they got the order wrong at first but brought the potato dish out rather quickly. We were allowed to keep it at no charge. It was creamy farro with roasted artichokes. A bit bland and artichokes were not too tender.
Next came the Gnocchi, fried with turnips and some kind of a cream sauce and a bit of pesto. . Again nothing special and a bit bland, it came with mushrooms and. was $ 17.
Saddle of lamp $ 27.00. Several pieces, tender but with some gristle, mashed potato and roasted carrots. Not our favorite especially for that price, we expected more.
We did not feel like dessert after that and the bill came to $ 170.82 without tip .
I hope they will be doing better in the future but I won’t try again.
I don’t always agree with the food critics but Josh Sens got it right.

«Sustainable food?», with all questionable faces on my families when I invited them for dinner yesterday. Turned out it’s a very decent and unique experience with great food.
It definitely worth to try a «zero footprint» restaurant. They use environmental-​friendly produce, vegetables from their greenhouse, sustainable furnitures, and etc. The bonus part, we didn’t taste any msg which is rare in a restaurant. The food and ingredients are definitely fresh and delicious with beautiful presentation.
Though everything comes in a price tag. Their portion is pretty small, including the main course. You definitely need to order at least 2 – 3 dishes per person. 4 maybe enough for one big guy.
Service was excellent and the server is very knowledge and friendly. He could answer all the questions we had, and we learned a lot about the restaurant, the ingredients, and even why they picked the particular brand of a liquor.
I recommend McFarland Springs Trout (the fished was cooked perfect!), rib eye and
Yogurt Semifreddo.

The conversation needed to happen and it takes a restaurant like The Perennial to get people motivated to actually invoke the change that’s needed. Sustainability is the future and The Perennial is definitely leading the charge.
The food here is excellent. If you were to tell me a vegan soup «Pumpkin Seed Bisque» could present such depth of flavor with excellent texture and viscosity, I would have called you a LIAR!
We also loved the Kernza Bread (just as good as Tartine’s btw), Eggplant Toast, and the Chicken with egg yolk and avocado! I always love when a Chef takes a protein like chicken and transforms it to an ethereal level!
Service is great and warm and the bar program kicks ass too! I heard they have a new happy hour that just started… Did someone say Corned Beef Hamburger?! Yassssss please!
5 stars for sure!

From the moment you walk in, the interior design using reclaimed wood with an aquarium set a calm tone for the restaurant, inviting you into the festive atmosphere within… This was my third visit for dinner and a large group was enjoying their meal in the center of the room and the vibe was hip, indulgent. I had already visited three different times for dinner, each at various points in the evening, and always enjoyed the food. Tonight, the tempo of service was ideal for the portion sizes — and a friend and I shared the tasting menu (good value!) — but what stood out most was the outstanding flavor of each dish; delicious! the sound track was just right… and they even has a savory cocktail (one of my particular favorites).
The sustainable concept is something that speaks to my core values, and since the menu is constantly evolving I will definitely be going back.

I have a confession. I am an alcoholic. I like the vibe here. Drinks? Not so good. My egg white drink does not have the right consistency. It is like going for a cappuccino at Starbucks. Milk is not the right
is big miss to not have the right consistency for an. egg white drink.
They charge 2 bucks for your water at the bar. Really weird.

Blown away 3 time in a row so take it from me, it’s a wonderland for foodies and drinkies.
Apps — I wish I could mainline the perennial butter and snort the fava bean toast … really though.
Dinner — Here are the must haves: Pumpkin Seed Bisque, Beef Tartare, Celeriac Gnocchi and Pastured Lamb BOOM! Need a little extra? MORE Fava Bean Toast!
Sweets — Blueberry Sorbet? With honeycomb? YES! Bourbon Chocolate Ganache? More please!
Drinks — Pisco Sherbet is a must even though my typical preference is whiskey and beer. The House sodas are fantastic and I recommend the Meyer Lemon Cream Soda.
Sustainability to the max — Everything is has a story at this place from the furniture to the place settings since they have a zero carbon footprint. I was asking away about where everything came from and it made my night.
Location is great and they can handle large parties. I had my family in town and they seated 16 of us in a private room.

A highly pleasurable experience from start to finish.
A super pleasant space to be in (high ceilings, lots of space, modern and tasteful sculptures/​fixtures)
+ beautiful, *delicious* and creative food
+ super attentive and responsive wait staff
+ a sustainable environmental vision to boot.
What’s not to love?! Their kernza bread, pumpkin seed bisque and yummy cocktails were particular standouts.

There is so much potential here… but the food, why?!
Let’s start off with the ambiance. Interior is super appealing — love the open kitchen and high ceilings as well as the modern touches throughout. The service was great, our server was very attentive and helpful.
But the food… so so disappointing. The menu is strewn with words and names you will never have seen before (we asked the server if they were all English) and then the food itself… very mediocre, extremely tiny portions, and pretty outrageously priced given the first two descriptions.
I’m not sure how this restaurant will survive in SF unless they hire some new chefs and revamp their menu. We were all confused about what this restaurant was trying to be: Asian fusion, New American, or farm to table?
The highlight of the night was learning that some succulents are edible! (There were some in one of our dishes.)

I guess there was supposed to be some sort of concept to the restaurant. No one explained Aquaponics to me. I learned after a disappointing dining experience from a little postcard near the bar.
The food was meh and overpriced. I loved the taste of the asparagus and the aquaponics salad dish. I also ordered some peas with coffee crème fraîche (unusual flavors that sort of worked) and the perennial grains with cheese (hated).
The only thing I enjoyed was the space, it’s so gorgeous.

Beautiful interior, okay cocktails, fairly slow drinks service. The bright side is it’s EASY peasy to get seats even at the 8pm mark. I enjoyed the Honey Whip cocktail with it’s beautiful frothy top, while another friend ordered a salt based drink that ended up being too salty. Stick with the spirits and wines instead of cocktails.
Appetizers were well presented and tasty, just small portions like others have mentioned.

High price, small portions, food too salty.
I was really looking forward to trying this restaurant since its using «sustainable foods». However, I was disappointed in the price to quantity ratio. Every dish was super small and not just the appetizers, entrees too. But I can overlook that if the food is really really good. The cauliflower soup was pretty good but too salty. I really needed some water after the soup.
My favorite dish was probably the beef tartare. I don’t even remember much about the entrees anymore! I guess they were just ok, and not too memorable.
The décor and open kitchen was really enjoyable. Except there’s something strange about th acoustics in the restaurant, it seemed to magnify everyone’s voices and so it definitely felt noisier than it actually was.
Worth it to come and experience and learn what sustainable foods means but I probably wouldn’t be back anytime soon.

We were so thrilled to make it here opening night!
Super excited about this new delicious spot in the weird, Mid-​Market no man’s land. As a single lady I hated walking there after dark, but what can you do? Just put on that RBF and walk with purpose.
The entire space is beautiful — from the outside’s modern, striking art to the interior’s warm but minimalist décor. The food is equally beautiful. Everything we had was presented with an artistic flair that verged on being too pretty to eat — but we managed. I can’t recall all 9 or 10 dishes we had, but the standout was the cauliflower toast. I would come back here just for that. It was crispy, tender, savory, earthy, wonderful. The celeriac gnocchi was also a revelation. Even fluffier than potato gnocchi — just a beautiful texture. The financier and chocolate mont-​blanc were very good, but the nasturtium ice cream was icy and unpleasant.
I would happily come back here as the seasons change to see how they update their menu with new, inventive selections.

I feel like there are very few places where a restaurant like The Perennial can be successful, SF being one of the rare cities. The Perennial’s focus on locally-​sourced, sustainable, environmentally responsible food, in raising their meat to how they raise their produce. As a result, expect the price to be higher than average, even for SF standards, especially if consider the portions.
I thought everything was quite delicious. My favorites were probably the cauliflower toast, crisp and tender grains, which reminded me of a delicious cheesy risotto, and the pastured lamb, which was wonderfully tender.
I do think the restaurant is working through some service kinks but I certainly don’t have any complaints about my dinner. I’m not sure what used to be in the space that The Perennial occupies, but it’s a loft-​like, airy space, and quite enjoyable. It’s a double win that you get to feel good about being responsible about the food you’re enjoying :)

3.5 stars since I’m not quite ‘a fan’ yet, but it’s better than ‘okay’ in my opinion. Dined here for dinner during its first Friday after opening. The restaurant was about 80% filled with people. We were on time for our reservation and was seated right away.
FOOD– overall okay-​good taste and creative, but portions are very small and some dishes were challenging (and I like/​can eat challenging combinations of flavors/​ingredients!). I liked the main entrees the most. KERNZA bread with Perennial butter: recommended by the waitress, crust had a nice crunch, but was very bland. PUMPKIN seed bisque: flavorful but didn’t really taste pumpkin seed, tasted a lot like Chinese roast duck actually! AQUAPONIC lettuces: very fresh and I liked the dressing used. McFarland Springs TROUT: favorite dish of the night, perfectly cooked, delicate flesh, skin flavorful and crispy. Stemple Creek BEEF: blistered broccoli leaves interesting, beef cooked nicely and with beefy flavor. DESSERT: (forgot name, please see photo) tasted like an ice cream sandwich, except the ‘cookie’ was too mushy and I didn’t think the fruit on top went well with it.
DRINKS– ordered two FUN cocktails: Salted Lime Collins and Marmalade Cobbler were both good and tasty.
SERVICE/​STAFF– friendly and attentive, except my drink’s ice was melting too fast so water so my drink overflowed onto the table and no staff noticed. I had to use my napkin to soak up the water so couldn’t quite use my napkin after that.
DECOR/​AMBIENCE– really like! Love the wooden ceiling and tables and chairs. The space is big and restaurant was dimly lit. Kitchen in the back but brightly lit, so you could see the chefs at work.
Overall, I love the restaurant’s focus of sustainable food and that they minimize waste. Ingredients tasted fresh, but some dishes’ flavor profiles were hit/​miss for me (bread, pumpkin seed bisque and dessert) and pricey. We left not feeling quite satiated. I am willing to come back to try other dishes and cocktails, but do hope that the food tastes better or that the menu changes and portions get a bit bigger.

3.5 stars
Unpopular opinion alert: I support sustainability, saving the earth, and all that jazz, but not when it means sacrificing flavor or quality!
As much as I wanted to like The Perennial, the food didn’t meet the hype. It wasn’t bad by any means, but nothing was a clear hit. Each dish had potential but fell short on execution. I can drink the sustainability kool-​aid and all, but I need a satisfying meal. This left me wanting more, and not in the positive sense.
COCKTAILS
Great ideas and great execution. The lowballs have ice pre-​frozen in the glass. Genius. Other cocktails use leftover zest or juices. Many are on tap. I tried the Marmalade Cobbler (sherry, grapefruit marmalade) and the Rust & Char (rye, charred walnut honey). They were balanced and delicious.
FOOD
Potato Confit with Clam Bagna Cauda — I liked the unexpected contrast of the walnuts with the clam sauce. The potatoes were fine. The radishes didn’t add to the dish.
Crisp and Tender Grains — My favorite of the night. A creamy, risotto-​like dish with strong Comté cheese notes. The mushrooms and artichokes were satisfying companions. The dish could be better if the grains had even more texture contrast, like mixing in some fried bits.
McFarland Springs Trout — The trout tasted muddier than most, but I appreciated that the fish was cooked to a nice medium rare with great crispy skin. The mussels broth was bland, and I couldn’t detect any bone marrow. The parsnips were tasty but didn’t feel cohesive with the fish.
Pastured Lamb — The weakest dish. The daily cuts were «short loin and tenderloin.» I’m not sure what we got on the plate, but half our cuts were terrible — excessive fat and stringy, inedible meat. The brussels sprouts were delicious but also a side that didn’t mesh with the protein.
Celeriac Gnocchi — The gnocchi was good but not fluffy enough. I liked the apples and the brightness of the sudachi, but the overall dish felt lacking.
Nasturtium Ice Cream — The nasturtium flavor was on the savory side. Different, but tasty. The icy texture was sad though. The pecans and persimmons were a good topping. I enjoyed this dessert.
SERVICE
Our waitress was awkward and hesitant, but to be fair, we came in the first week of opening. It was hard to hear her as well, which didn’t help. Water glasses were refilled in a timely manner. The timing of the food was poor though. Cocktails took a while to come out, and we waited a full 30 minutes between the apps and the main. The restaurant was about half full, mind you.
AMBIANCE
Beautiful wood everywhere. #thatswhatshesaid. The woven redwood ceiling tiles are awesome. The douglas fir bar is gorgeous. The open kitchen has chef’s table seating for a front row view. The warm lighting was nice for the mood (but terrible for food pics: D). It’s hip, it’s sustainable, it’s sexy!
My only (small) complaint was the tiny bathroom (the handicap ones were probably fine). I had to do the awkward don’t touch the toilet wiggle while trying to open the door. But I digress.
The Perennial has truly amazing ideas and a gorgeous space. I hope their food gets better, because I really want to like this spot.

2.5 STARS
Like a job performance review or initiating a break up, you always start with the positives.
«You’re excellent at meeting tight deadlines but you need to work on softening that RBF.»
«You’re a great girl but I need to see what else is out there.»
Yah, so I once got dumped in public at Olive Garden with the exact same words as above. My ex couldn’t have waited until after I finished my Tour of Italy and endless breadsticks to dump me? Inconsiderate jerk.
There’s been lots of hype around the newly opened restaurant (from the owners of Mission Chinese Food), The Perennial. So starting with some positives, I love the innovative concept of the restaurant trying to reverse climate change. An Eater article does a great job explaining this:
.
The Perennial is a hot date spot. It’s romantic and dim (too dark IMO though). Request to sit at the chef’s table so you can a front row view of the [open] kitchen in action, and have easy «access» to your date sitting beside you. *wink wink*
They play baby making music to preheat your oven. «I don’t see nothing wrong with a little bump and grind…» Not sure if R. Kelly’s Bump N’ Grind is appropriate for a restaurant of this caliber but I noticed the older man next to us making googly eyes at his wife. I hope someone got lucky that night!
The staff was great — hostesses were friendly, our server was knowledgeable and attentive, and my water glass never went empty.
Now, the not go good.
I’m obviously in the minority but the food at The Perennial was underwhelming… to put it nicely. Everything sounded great on paper but greatly under delivered. Additionally, half the dishes we ordered had missing ingredients that would otherwise make it a more well-​balanced dish.
My friend and I shared the following:
A P P E T I Z E R S
*Aquaponic Lettuces w/​sunflower, watercress, poached fennel, buckwheat ($ 11):
I’ve ordered $ 11-​$ 12 salads before with no protein but they were tasty and substantial. This «salad» consisted of three small lettuce stalks with four drops of dressing. WTF? Pretentious and overpriced.
*Pumpkin Seed Bisque w/​crisp sunchoke, cardamom, lemon oil ($ 12):
They were kind enough to split the portions for us to share but we each only got three spoonful worth of semi-​grainy soup that tasted like beans. I like beans but I was expecting, oh you know… pumpkin seeds.
*Cheese Tart w/​preserved lemon, fines herbs, chervil ($ 12):
This was not a cheese tart or a deconstructed one. It was crackers with whipped cheese (not much cheese flavor) for dipping. Where’s the preserved lemon?
E N T R E E S
*McFarland Springs Trout w/​bone marrow, mussels broth, parsnips ($ 23):
The best dish of the night, the fish was cooked medium rare and was moist. However, the skin wasn’t crisp and there was no marrow flavor. Also, needed some acid to brighten things up.
*Stemple Creek Beef w/​blistered broccoli leaves, anise panzanella, cured yolk ($ 23):
I like my meat rare to medium rare but what we received was raw beef. It was so inedibly sinewy with gristle that my friend spit it out. The panzanella was grossly pungent and acidic. There was no cured yolk. We sent this back. Our server was apologetic and kindly removed it from our bill.
*Celeriac Gnocchi w/​fresh cheese, grilled apples, nettles, preserved sudachi ($ 19):
Nutty and sweet — texture was on the denser side since it’s made with a root veggie. Not bad but ordinary and lacked substance.
D E S S E R T S ($ 11 each)
*Nasturtium Ice Cream w/​pecans, persimmons, tarragon
The ice cream was icy and simply, not good.
*Chocolate Mont Blanc w/​pomelo, chestnut cream, puff pastry
Such a fancy description for essentially a chocolate turnover that I can buy at Safeway for $ 2. The puff pastry was incredibly dry and the chestnut cream absent. The chocolate «mont blanc» tasted like Betty Crocker cake frosting.
I like to end on a positive note so let’s talk about them cocktails…
The Perennial has a good cocktail program.
My Salted Lemon Collins ($ 12) was on point — refreshingly tart and nicely stiff:
. My friend ordered the Brave Bull (tapatio tequila & coffee liqueur) and liked it.
So 2 star food aside (granted, it’s opening week but there were far too many missteps)…
The Perennial does have solid cocktails AND play baby making music to get you in the mood.
Can I get a hallelujah for turnt up sex?
*Cue in 112’s Anywhere*

First off, stoked that I’m the 3^rd review of «The Perennial». :)
I had the pleasure of stumbling in opening night and boy was I impressed with what the ownership has done with the space. A modern, organic feel and open kitchen make it warm and inviting. Take note of the thatched wood ceiling, it’s rad.
The cocktail program is silly good. Put together by the renowned Jennifer Colliau (also the Beverage Director @ The Interval at Long Now) there are about a dozen pre batched cocktails that flow via tap from behind the bar. The bottle list (wines) has been nicely curated with a focus on imports, so it spoke to my wine loins nicely.
On to the food… I only had the Gnocchi, but was blown away. Why you ask? Because the Gnocchi was made from the root vegetable Celeriac. Didn’t notice a difference. The person seated next to me (at the bar) ordered the trout which was cooked to perfection and will most def be my next order.
A tip of the hat to The Perennial. I’ll be back.

We had an incredible meal. Everything was delightful, but the Pumpkin seed bisque was really the show stopper. The cauliflower toast was also amazing with unique flavor combinations.
The trout was our favorite of the three mains we ordered. The roasted squash was wonderful as was the beef.
There were three of us and we could have ordered the whole menu. We almost did, and now I wish we had! I suppose leaving few items to discover will draw us back quickly.
I am so happy this restaurant, that is built around not only sustainability, but reversing climate change through food, is here and now in San Francisco.
Three cheers to Perennial! Thank you for what you are setting out to do.

Great atmosphere! Congratulations for the opening night. I love the fully-​sustainable concept.
I was very impressed with the service, food and décor of this restaurant.
We ordered
Cheese tart– watercress, fine herbes, preserved lemon
Pumpkin seed bisque– crisp sunchoke, cardamom, lemon oil
McFarland spring trout — bone marrow, mussels broth, parsnip, horseradish
Lamb roast — Brussels sprouts, romanesco, black garlic
Potato confit with clam bagna cauda — carola and laratte potatoes, walnut, radish
Celeriac gnocchi — fresh cheese, grilled apples, nettles, preserved sudachi
Nasturtium ice cream — pecans, persimmons, tarragon
Whipped hibiscus sorbet — sesame, sorrel
The dishes were all very unique (great combination of flavors) and fresh! My favorite was the trout and cheese tart. They melted in my mouth. We left very satisfied and happy. Will be coming back very soon and often!