The Rotunda

«So cheap.» Our waiter said as soon as he turned around after taking our order. He said it loud and clear that two of my other friends heard him. It was because a friend just had a big lunch so the two of us decided to share one Signature Tea (the other friends in our party ordered their own servings). His comment was not only rude but also made us uncomfortable. However, we were there to celebrate so we decided not to let him get to us.
The sandwiches were a little dry and I’ve had better ones.
The second star was for the room and settings and the nice lady who came around to check on us and refilled hot water for our tea.

For the love of tea, I did revisit and will probably revisit this place. I love my high tea with my friend Els, but truthfully this place is pretty pricey so glad I don’t do this thing every week. At least $ 45 for a tea service but it worth-​it.
Book ahead!

This was super fun. Hubby and I came for a lunch treat on our first days as residents in San Francisco. We walked the few blocks from our new SoMa pad to this open, bright and naturally lit dining room in Union Square.
I got the very expensive but totally worth it Lobster BLT and destroyed the whole thing! It was so, so good.
I loved watching the mommy groups with their kids enjoying a fun afternoon tea, the rotunda is beautiful and the popovers, OMG. Everything here elegance but I didn’t feel out of place in my dressed down clothes.

I’m currently 39 weeks pregnant and wanted to show my mom my appreciation for all she has done to help me prepare and today’s experience having afternoon tea did the trick. The ambiance is perfect for the occasion, feeling fancy and pampered. Unfortunately, the view of Union Square was mainly of construction, but The Rotunda alone is grand enough. I opted for the signature tea and mom got the grand tea that came with champagne. Mom expressed that everything was a taste sensation and we were both stuffed by the time we got to our last few desserts, which we ended up taking to go. I really enjoyed the consommé with cheese puff pastry, the salmon tea sandwich, the scones with jam, lemon curd and Devon cream and the raspberry almond dessert. Nothing was life-​changing, but it was just a wonderfully pleasant way to spend the afternoon with my mom!

I got a message from my friend who basically said «Afternoon tea, dress nice, we’re going to Neiman Marcus.» Now I had known that there was a place to eat in NM (though by all means, it’s easy to assume that there is one given the location) but I was glad to have been in attendance. The Rotunda is located on the fourth floor (so don’t go all the way upstairs) and when we were all there, they seated us in one of the private rooms.
The table was huge, the place settings were great, but the room was a tad bit cold (wear a sweater and you’ll be fine). We all ordered the signature tea and while each person got their own tea, I had the Breakfast blend.
They served us these wonderful popovers that look huge to start but served up with their strawberry butter, it was superb. Our little pots of tea arrived and shortly after, we were given an amuse-​bouche of chicken consommé. Then the tea trays came out. Yummy.
The finger sandwiches were great and had the usual contenders like apple & prosciutto, cucumber, salmon, egg salad, etc. Overall, with the scone and fresh fruits, it was enjoyable and such a great experience. I did miss the dessert portion but it looked great (and I heard that it tasted great). The service was wonderful and I definitely look forward to the next afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea for 2. How does one find proper etiquette for a place like this? It was New Years when we went to the view was great, the ice rink was below and outside was the hustle and bustle of city life and inside was pristine and the noise of afternoon brunch. How pretentious does that sound tho? Well, we are inside Neiman Marcus for lunch soo… anyways, off to the food.
Started off with consumeée, I actually really liked it. It was in a really cute cup and after I scarfed mine down, my boyfriend offered me his. I was trying to enjoy it but the waitress asked if I was finished and under panic, I said yes… it was too late but that was one of my biggest regrets. We also got this really fluffy pastry with strawberry butter. Strawberry butter delish.
The 3 tier tower came out and bottom row-​your conventional sandwiches, ranging from LOX to your classic cucumber, then the one that I remembered was the salmon with goat cheese. I should have asked for a substitution because I literally hate goat cheese, I think it tastes old and gross-​but that was my fault. We scarfed it down and chased it with the delicious tea to follow. Next tier-​it was the sweets, I don’t necessarily have a sweet tooth, but it was good, from thumbprint
cookies to rich brownies, I approve. On the very top layer, our scone with fresh fruits. The scone was pretty dense, so by the time we got to that layer, we were already pretty full, but hey, how do you waste a 100 $ meal amirite?
I would consider coming back for special occasions, maybe to try the lunch and not the afternoon tea.

This place is only ok, but I don’t think it is worth the price. You need to make a reservation for tea time way in advance because it books up fast. I made a reservation about a week or two in advance for a Saturday time slot. We showed up about 15 – 20 minutes early and it was nice that they seated us right away. I appreciated that they didn’t make us wait until our actual reservation time.
We weren’t seated by the window, but to be honest with all of the construction going on right now, I am not sure the window view would have been all that amazing. Also, the seating kind of sucks since only one person gets a nice view of the rotunda, and the other person is left facing the other way. Anyways, I thought the food and tea/​champagne was overpriced. Very easily after tax and tip, you can spend about $ 150 for two people. I can think of much better meals I would prefer to spend $ 150 on for two people.
If the food was extremely good, I wouldn’t have minded. But the little sandwiches seemed dry. It seemed like they pre-​made them hours ago and just left them out. The bread was kinda dry and crusty. The little sweets and scones were very good though but I feel like you can get good quality baked goods at one of the local bakeries for way less. Also, I am not a fan of the popover. The strawberry cream cheese definitely makes the popover way better though. Overall, I don’t see myself coming back here.

I came here for my girlfriend’s birthday and immediately fell in love with the atmosphere!!! We went for the signature afternoon tea, and ordered the Versailles and Jardin Bleu teas.
The Versailles has a green tea base and was light and fruity. The Jardin Bleu was black tea base and seemed like it’d make for great milk tea blend.
The food was good but there was nothing special about it. I was a little disappointed considering how awesome the service and atmosphere were.

CALL TO RSVP! My two friends and I can here for lunch but we didn’t rsvp since we planned last minute. It was a Saturday around noon when we stopped by to reserve a time for 2pm and we were told we could only order off of their lunch menu.
The place is beautiful! The lighting and the atmosphere is great here.
Food: the LOBSTER CLUB was nothing spectacular. It was lacking in flavor. I felt like its was just healthy and not an original flavor of their own. The fries that came with it was already at room temperature, I’ve had better fries at a much cheaper price. They give a great amount though. My friends ordered the New York steak and it was very chewy. Suggesting you don’t get that. They were like fighting to cut a piece! Haha the popovers are superb with the strawberry cream cheese and is served very fresh. They small tiny cup of chicken broth and miniature biscuit was good.
Service: Waiter was extremely nice and the service we got was great from everyone. They are up to par and the waiter even comped a portion of our meal after asking how our meal was. He was disappointed we didn’t like the steak so much. But everyone from the waiter to the front desk was super nice.
Price: our bill came out to $ 109 after a $ 22 deduction! Honestly the taste of the food didn’t match the prices. It is quite expensive here and I was hoping for a better experience with the food.
I would really like to come back for their tea time. That’s probably a better selection than the lunch food :/

Not sure what the hype is about. I’ve had my share of high tea, and this was by far the worst quality I’ve had. The place is beautiful, and the service is wonderful, but the food and tea are mediocre.
The tea sandwiches were dry and bland — not worth eating at all. The tea was okay. The chamomile was really different, not that great. The anji was pretty good but I’ve had better and the tea selection was lacking.
The desserts were awful. I didn’t like a single one. The only item I appreciated were the scones, but otherwise, a complete waste of time and money.

Rotunda used to be one of my favorite Afternoon Tea services but something horrible must have happened. The bread was dry, the lox was old and fishy, not fresh tasting as it used to be. Forget about the tea cakes, what a poor quality «petit four» they’re trying to pass. Until they bring back and the quality, There’s really no point in doing your tea service here at the Rotunda. What a shame.

I come here often for lunch. The service is always top notch, friendly and very detail oriented. Usually I ask to sit in Jay’s section, as he provides a particularly warm level of hospitality.
While I love tea service with my girlfriends, one of my favorite in the city, I also love to come alone for a leisurely lunch while I am shopping. The popover with strawberry butter and chicken consume are a warm, welcoming touch to start the service. I absolutely adore the deviled eggs and lobster club with greens. The cocktail list is always changing and provides great options. I also love to have the perfectly executed, very fresh iced tea.
The atmosphere is very relaxing, joyful and special. I always feel like a princess when I eat here. I love to bring friends when they are visiting from out of town for a memorable experience. This is always a special place to come with my mom for a ladies afternoon of cocktails and shopping.

Didn’t come here for a while. We ordered the following:
–Lobster Roll (Good)
–Lobster Club Sandwich (Very Good)
*Friendly Servers

Jay Cronley was our extraordinary über wonderful and efficient server. Lobster bisque is hard to top. Burger with foie gras was yummmm. And the Rosati Cab Sauv made it all worthwhile. Illy’s cappuccino and Pumpkin cheesecake capped this fine lunch.

Came to celebrate my parents’ anniversary, huge disappointment.
As many other posts have said, tea time is not worth it. I got the grand set and royal set. The bread was dry, nothing spectacular, and the desserts were awful. Two of the desserts such as the mini pecan pie and mini macarons, I’ve seen for sale at Trader joes. There was nothing unique about the desserts and it did not taste good. The sandwiches are nothing special. Two sets are unbelievably overpriced for a small quantity. There wasnt even any effort in presentation, it was all just tossed onto the tier. They have the audacity to charge $ 55/​$ 60 per set for that?! Something I can pick up at any typical market? They are situated in the perfect city for sweets and definitely have the money to hire a baker or purchase wholesale from another baker.
Service, our waiter was nice but again, for the price we’re paying, it was not up to par. You can also see all the other waiters chatting it up near the door. Moreover, my family helped clear the table for this other server and I always thanked him when he set something down, cleared the table, etc. he did not utter a «you’re welcome» or «thank you» in return. Didn’t introduce himself, didn’t look like he wanted to be there. The tea cups are also stained, other settings were scratched up. Rotunda is supposed to be a top notch, classy restaurant but it did not feel like it.
You are essentially paying for the view and interior décor. No doubt the interior and stained glass is beautiful. You get a nice view of the construction across the street.
Of course It is not their fault of that construction is underway but I guess the view was their selling point, not anymore.
For the last time, their food and service definitely killed any fancy ambiance this place was supposed to have.

Came her for lunch and tea time with the hubby. I made reservations beforehand based on all the other Unilocal reviews. As we walked in, we were greeted by the host and brought to our reserved table near the window as requested. It took a while for our server to greet us and when he did, he never introduced himself and went straight to asking us if we were ready to order. None of the servers or busboys ever made eye contact with either of us the whole time, which I thought was odd. It wasn’t busy either since we came in on a Wednesday afternoon. I would expect better customer service at a place like this
Food: had the grand tea for tea time, which came with little finger sandwiches, fruits, dessert bites, a pot of tea, and a glass of champagne, all for $ 55. I felt it wasn’t worth the price. The tea was like any other green tea and the desserts weren’t anything special or tasty. My husband got the pesto chicken sandwich, which was meh. Nothing spectacular.
I do not think I’ll be coming here again. Overpriced. Service and food were not that great. I guess you just pay more for ambience and if you are feeling a little fancy for the day.
Overrated.

Beautiful place to have tea time if you’re ever in the heart of San Francisco! The rotunda itself is lovely and the view is amazing.
My sister and I decided to do the tea time w/​champagne and it was definitely a great choice and worth the price. You get to have your fresh fruit, lovely scones, cute mini sandwiches (all of which were excellent) and the variety of dessert in the end. You each also get to order your own tea which is refilled with hot water at your convenience.
The service was ok, could’ve been better and the only reason why I am not giving it 5 stars is because my champagne glass had a lipstick stain on it and we had to send it back and get a new one. I would expect Neiman Marcus to provide customers with clean champagne glasses, but then again it was the busy holiday season and it might’ve just been an oversight!

Amazing interior!
This place is great for lunch and tea time!
I went here with my BFs because it’s their family tradition since the mid 90s. It was the first time getting introduced to his whole family.
This restaurant is inside Neiman Marcus.
When we got there we immediately got a bottle of champagne! Lol
They give you a tiny cup of broth to clear your palette before we start. This was so delicious! I definitely wanted more of this.
SERVICE:
Our waiter looked like Hugh Jackman. Lol He was really kind and courteous. His helper was also very intensive. When we got seated they gave us this bread that was hallow inside and a strawberry spread that came perfectly with the bread. The service was amazing. They hooked us up with more bread and broth. Lol
We stayed until it was closed and we were the last family there! They didn’t rush us. They automatically knew that we were going to stay longer because his family always stays late.
I thought that was very cool for them to understand and show how great the service was!
FOOD:
1.) lobster club sandwich! Filling and delicious!
2.) New York steak! It was seasoned impeccably!
3.) Bow tie shrimp (seasonal)
All of them were delicious!!!
This place is upscale so expect to be paying a hefty check.
I want to come back there again and eat for tea time!

Definitely worth the experience.
CALL AHEAD TO MAKE A RESERVATION– ask to be seated next to the window. its such a great experience to be at the top of Neiman Marcus San Francisco, sipping champagne or rose followed by tea.
outside you see vera wang and tiffanys and many old historic buildings–
if you reserve tea time, you pick your tea which is accompanied by several small sandwiches. I ordered the Damman Freres Jardin bleu tea with was absolutely delicious to have with small sandwich bites and deserts. the scenery at Christmas time is like no other. :-) I will definitely be back for lunch.

So I would have given this place 5 but the bread on my sandwiches was stale.
First off, this place is beautiful! Wow, absolutely gorgeous. It’s definitely the most beautiful place I’ve had high tea!
We were given a booth for 4, but next time I’d request a seat by the windows.
The high tea starts with a small chicken broth and a pop over with strawberry butter. It’s quite delicious and a nice compliment given by the rotunda. It was a pleasant surprise!
The selection of sandwiches was good. It consisted of salmon, hummus, turkey, egg, ham and cucumber.
They were all yummy except as I mentioned, the bread was stale.
The scone was very good and a decent size. The dessert selection was just Ok. I only really enjoyed two of them. Next time I’d ask to opt out of a few and sub them for others.
The waiter was very pleasant and very attentive. Although we had a reservation, there was a little bit of a wait.
I would recommend this and would come back, but next time, but be more vocal about any stale bread lol.

I came here with family on Sunday for lunch without a reservation. The wait was long but not too awful (I want to say maybe around 30 minutes). Before I start the review of the food, I have to say that the atmosphere of the place is really nice. It was a sunny day when I went, and with all the windows in the restaurant, everything was lit very nicely by the natural sunlight. This definitely added to the ambiance of the room.
I had the tuna carpaccio for the appetizer to share. This was served with some crispy chip, and shishito peppers, which was a delicious combination. I ordered the club sandwich for my main course that came with a side of fries. Portions were perfect, and left me full and satisfied, but not in an overly full way. The service was pretty good, but a slightly higher degree of attention would have been great. I would definitely love to come here, and should probably opt to make a reservation next time since reservations are available (which is not too common for dining options in the city!).

Unilocal is Biased…
I am Biased…
You are Biased…
The Rotunda holds a special place in my heart as I would have an annual Holiday lunch with my dear parents there every year. Now that both of them are gone I still have fond memories of Neiman’s Rotunda and for that I give them four stars.
The consume is still good, the popovers (with strawberry butter) use to taste fresh out of the oven and the butter freshly whipped… the popovers do not taste freshly made and the butter is pretty frozen.
My lobster club was still pretty good and my dates ahi tuna looked nice.
Service is still excellent.
Go to the Rotunda to experience San Francisco… Old San Francisco. Well at least up to the city of Paris (the previous tenant here) days.
The food is still pretty good but very expensive. Get a window seat if possible and watch union square go by as you dine.
Making reservations for lunch is a pretty good idea

I’ve been wanting to try this place. I use to go to the one in Stanford, but they don’t have the tea time there. I came here with my two best friends, we wanted to do a cute girls day together.
We ordered the tea set, lobster sandwich, salmon and chicken. Hands down the individual dishes were SO good. We really enjoyed our meal. Of course, the lobster sandwich is a must order and it is very popular also.
As for the tea set, presentation we expected it to be way better. It seemed like a bunch of crap just bundled together and it didn’t taste that great. So funny, cause we didn’t know we order the small tea set so when it came we were very confused. So when we wanted to take bite of something it was like «I’M GETTING A GRAPE NOW GUYS, YOU GUYS COOL WITH THAT?» hahaha, but it’s okay we just wanted the picture.
Service was great, I mean it is Neiman Marcus, 5 star for service.
I would definitely come here again for lunch, but not for tea time.

I really felt like a British noble enjoying his or her afternoon tea. The restaurant is spot clean and full of elegance. The silverware, tea pot, and even the furniture reflects the high class atmosphere they try to convey. Sitting under the dome (well not literally) will treat you with high windows that peak out to Union Square and San Francisco.
I personally only attended the Afternoon tea sessions thrice but not once for the normal restaurant menu. Anywho, you select from a concise list of about a dozen different tea varieties. I opted for the white tea the last time I was there. The waitress then brought over a complimentary chicken consumme (accent over the e) which is essentially a chicken broth shot to warm up your palette. Next, a popover is served with strawberry butter. You can request for refills since it’s hard to resist eating only one. It goes really well with the tea and the afternoon tea set which is a three tier stand of scones, sweets, and small sandwiches.
If you’re there for a special occasion, they will treat your party to a complimentary box of their Neiman Marcus cookies famous amongst the San Francisco locals.

My cousin and her friends celebrate her birthday here and it’s become an annual «let’s get boujie and spend the afternoon at the rotunda» trip. This year I was able to join them in on the festivities. She booked the reservation via open table a few months in advance (she’s a planner) and requested to be seated near the window.
They were able to accommodate our request and did so in a timely manner. Our servers, Nicholas (and Pam when Nicholas went on break) were friendly and very personable. We started with complimentary popovers with strawberry butter– honestly, your visit to the rotunda isn’t complete with having one (or two) of these bad boys. No celebration is complete without a little bubbly, so we went ahead and ordered the Gloria Ferrer Private Curvee Brut for $ 41/​bottle and each of us had at least a glass or two as opposed to $ 10/​glass. We also had another bottle of Prosecco but the name escapes me.
The birthday celebrant ordered the lobster club ($ 32) and it was one of the best lobsters sandwiches I’ve tasted in life. I prefer it over others because it’s on nice buttery sliced bread as opposed to a big ass roll that takes away from the lobster. They do not skimp on the lobster or avocado. It’s delicious– definitely a must have.
I went ahead and ordered the Pan roasted northern halibut ($ 30) — it had gnocchi, scallops, corn, peas, and saffron broth. It was more like a soup entrée than anything, but regardless of this it was delicious! The scallops were small, but flavorful. The gnocchi was nice and chewy. And the halibut was flaky and had a good bite to them.
Our dining companions ordered the steak and shrimp Vietnamese salad ($ 28) and this was very fresh! The papaya noodles were made perfectly and the shrimp were decent sized. They also had the estancia ranch grass fed NY strip steak, she said she enjoyed it but I wasn’t able to sneak a taste. At this point I’m 1.5 popovers, an 8^th of a club, 4 glasses of bubbly and my own entrée in!
I highly recommend the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus if you’re feeling a little Pancy (yes fancy with a P). Definitely make reservations in advance on open table. There is a separate entrance to the restaurant from Stockton Street, or you can also enter through the department store itself.
I’ll be back for more boujiness and I will be bringing mother here to enjoy their afternoon high tea ($ 45/​person)
Lastly, here’s a link if you’d like to take a look at their menu —
(as of 9÷17÷15)

The Rotunda at Neiman Marcus serves good food in a beautiful setting under the rotunda. The food is expensive like most other things in the building. However, it is tasty. Service is great.
We shared:
* Lobster club — $ 32
The highlight of the meal. The kitchen split this for us when we mentioned we were sharing two entrees. The homemade potato chips were tasty but very greasy.
* Fettuccine with beef meatballs — $ 32
Pretty good though nothing special. The meatballs were a tad dry. I wouldn’t order this again.
Complimentary with your meal:
* Shot of chicken consommé
So tasty!
* Popover with strawberry butter
The popover was very large, very irregularly shaped, and very fluffy. I wasn’t a fan of the strawberry butter though. It reminded me too much of yogurt.
The Bloody Marys ($ 14) were average.

I need to come back for tea time! I’ve been here twice and both time I keep forgetting I was too early to do tea time, since tea time starts at 2:30pm. Aside from that, the service is always great here!
The waiter always starts off my meal by serving us. Small cup of chicken soup, so yum! My friend and I wanted seafood so we ordered deviled eggs (yes I know it’s not seafood, but it’s a top pick on the menu), lobster bisque, lobster club and the salmon.
Honestly, we didn’t feel like we ordered that much for two and turns out we did because after the eggs and soup, we could barely finish half of each entrée and had to take it to go. Even though we didn’t finish the food, it still tasted great, the view was amazing because we asked to get seated next to the windows and the service was amazing.
Always make a reservation me and I feel coming here for two is good, any more, then ask for the booth and not the window seat because it does get a bit cramped.

*** Tea is served after 2:30pm only and you would probably wanna make a reservation for that!
We walked in on Sunday afternoon for some tea only to find out that tea isn’t even served until after 2:30pm and that they were already all booked for the day.
We ended up getting the lunch menu and it was a gorgeous atmosphere. It’s a perfect place to grab food and feel fancy.
Pros
+good lighting, view, all that aesthetic stuff
+decent food/​portion
Cons
–such snobby atmosphere in a way; you’ll run into a lot of rich housewives
–our waitress had a very negative attitude; was not so friendly and she would give us the «you-​are-​young-​and-​asian-​UGH» looks
Although customer service is important, it can be subjective and just because I had this experience does not mean it’ll also happen to everyone since my waitress was only one of many and she could’ve been having a bad day.
Let’s be honest, we just all go there for the nice/​fancy ambience.

Had a lovely re-​do tea lunch here yesterday afternoon. The service was much more attentive, knowledgable and charming this time around. The sandwiches and pastries had more taste this time around. The fruit was also sweeter than when I dined here in March.
I hope everything remains the same when I return for lunch sometime. because, I want more of the strawberry butter with popovers, and their salads sound amazing! Rotunda, thanks for a lovely afternoon.

I started coming here about six years ago when my mom and I were invited to tea service. It was lovely and the view was stunning. My mom and I have since returned several times for lunch and it’s become a tradition of ours to have lunch here during the holidays when the giant Christmas tree is up. We are always pleased with the service and the food.
I brought Marc A. and our newborn daughter here a few months ago and the servers weren’t unfriendly like they can sometimes be when you bring small children/​babies to uppity restaurants. In fact, several of the staff came by to look at our newborn!
Anyway, let’s get into details about the food. The popover and consommé are great! I used to work for Neiman’s (different location) and would often have that for lunch! Heheh. The Chinese chicken salad is always a winner and the pasta of the day never lets me down. The last time I went it was orecchiette (ear shaped pasta) with prawns and a pesto sauce. Another time it was orecchiette again but with lobster and a meyer lemon butter sauce. ABSOLUTELY SCRUMPTIOUS.
I would recommend that you come here for an intimate lunch or lunch/​tea with a couple of friends. It’s definitely not for large parties. If you’re at Neiman’s or in Union Square doing some shopping, take a break at the Rotunda and enjoy the tasty food and ambiance.