The Caprice

Groupon is what brought us here… as well as our 26^th anniversary… and I’m glad for the opportunity!
We were super early because of our evening’s time frame so dinner was at 5pm (as though we were two 90 year olds. :) However, that allowed us the pleasure of watching sunset at our fabulous window table. As the night continued, I think I enjoyed the view more and more! The lights on the water, the horizon filled with the Golden Gate Bridge… romantic yet relaxed, unpretentious.
Our waiter/​bartender was efficient and friendly and we enjoyed his service quite a bit. We talked about pre-​teen children and Globetrotters. Just nice.
Drinks — proseco was perfect way to start and the follow-​up cocktails were tasty as well!
Food —
lobster ravioli …I wont rate down but I didn’t like the filling one bit. :) I did make the most of the pasta and the lovely sauce it was in so all was not lost.
steak and lobster (we added lobster) … flavorful! Fabulous lobster tail with perfect butter, both flavor and execution!
dessert … crème brûlée was enjoyed later in the evening because we were too full to eat it there. A bit sweet for my taste but hubby enjoyed it!
Great spot. Good food. Yay!
Adding my first impression — I thought the place had a very musty smell to it. Carpet can make a place «warmer» and help with noise but old carpet can be a problem. Not sure if it’s that or old pipes or what… or maybe it’s just my overly-​sensitive nose. :)

Small, yet very elegant restaurant above the waters of Tiburon. You’re in time to take photos of the sunset, because this restaurant opens at 5pm for dinner.
Groupon!!! I have read other reviews & was nervous about coming here for dinner, but things went great for me and my boyfriend during our visit! Kevin, our waiter was very professional and helpful. Nice guy too!
Looks like Caprice is reading the reviews? You’ve got to guys, because you have such an elegant restaurant! Plus, since you have 18% tip requirement, ya please stay nice & professional. To be honest, if I had bad service, I would have refused to pay 18% tip & would call the manager. Thank you to Kevin, our waiter for not having us go through trouble. 18% tip for you! Yay! LOL
It’s true; there’s a separate menu for Groupon, BUT, during our visit, they actually let us look at the general menu too. My boyfriend and I were very much satisfied with the Groupon menu to choose from.
U get 1^st choice entrée (appetizer), then 2^nd choice entrée. Choose your dessert at the the end. Oh ya, one wine each, but Kevin was kind enough to let me have a cocktail, and to just pay the difference at the end. That was cool. Everything we had was delicious!
Let’s face it. Your paying more for a great view too. That sunset is WORTH a photo! It’s worth it, especially if you have a Groupon. More savings for great stuff!
I highly recommend this restaurant, for a special night with your boyfriend/​husband/​gf/​wife for special occasions. Family too? Whatever floats your boat.
I definitely will recommend this place to others & will come back in the future for special occasions. Check this place out. Don’t forget your Groupon!

The 12÷31÷15 New Year’s Eve dinner check for my wife and me had a Cabernet charge $ 17.00 higher than what was shown on the wine list. I had the correction made («We have a new computer» according to the waiter). My 1÷1÷16 email to
, describing the error, received no response. My 1÷8÷16 letter, with a copy of my email, was directed to the attention of the owner, whose name I was given by a Caprice employee. No response. My 1÷17÷16 telephone message, to the specific attention of the owner, included my name, number and reason for the call. No response.
Three attempts at communication. No response.

Update — It appears I was cross eyed and missed the small print about the required 18% tip. Mistake was mine entirely so am updating review to a thumbs up and shall return for lunch with a friend to celebrate her birthday.
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Came using Groupon I received as a gift. Cute location, food and staff were pleasant. Unfortunately what made it disappointing was when the bill arrived they automatically wrote in 18% for tip. This was not a suggestion or recommendation but they actually pre-​filled it in to on our credit card statement.
Let’s be clear about something, I have dined at some of the best places all over the world, I understand how tipping works. In fact, as the meal was coming to a close, I remember asking my dinner companion to help me figure out the full value of the meal (not the discounted value) so that we would make sure to tip on that amount — we also tend to tip over 20% because my baby sister used to work as a server. I did NOT appreciate being treated like I am a cheapo.
To the merchant, if you don’t understand how to use Groupon, then DO NOT use them as an advertising tool. It will only be a loosing proposition for you by PISSING OFF potential NEW customers. If you fear your NEW Groupon clients don’t understand how to tip your staff, I would recommend one of two options:
1. Don’t advertise with Groupon, since you already feel these new customers would be bad tippers to begin with.
Or
2. Put your required 18% tip in the Groupon advert at the start so NO ONE feels slighted
Before this tipping incident, I would have returned with out of town friends to enjoy the pleasant food and nice bay views. However, now, not even a consideration.

Me and hubby came for dinner last night. Had a groupon so tried it. The place is cute, but dated. There is a tiny bar that seats 3. The reception was professional and friendly. The service was perfunctory at best. We added the calamari before our groupon. It was ok. Cooked well but under seasoned. We had the Cesar salad (not bad), lobster ravioli in mushroom broth (mushrooms were the best part) and the sole. Overall good preparation and well seasoned. We were a bit put off by the 18% added gratuity. We usually tip better, so the waiter shorted himself. Bottom line, very old school, like dinner out with your grandparents, and clearly a locals favorite. View was beautiful. Bottom line, while the food tastes pretty good, it’s boring and in need of an update.

Trying to figure out what to do for my boyfriend’s birthday, I stumbled upon this place on Groupon. $ 59 for 2 courses, 1 glass of wine, and 1 dessert per person — amazing deal! The location is everything — you can see Angel island, the city, and Golden Gate Bridge from every seat in the restaurant. The indoor lighting gave the restaurant a pretty ambiance, and food was delicious.
One thing that definitely stood out was the staff’s attentiveness to the fact that we were there via Groupon. Once he realized which type of menu we had (if you’re there through Groupon, you get less choices on a condensed menu), his vibe changed. I wish I were overreacting, but there were distinct differences in his tone and demeanor when conversing with us and the table next to us. Groupon or not, I’d expect a more upscale restaurant to be respectful of all customers.
Also, I understand the idea of tipping from the original price, but writing out exactly how much I should pay for tip is a bit stingy, given that service wasn’t top notch. I would have paid the 18% regardless, but the fact that he wrote it out for us was a bit too pushy and is up to the customers’ discretion…
Nonetheless the lobster ravioli was delicious, as was the New York Steak, fresh bread, and tenderloin. If I were to come back it’d be for the ambiance and food — definitely not the staff/​service.

We had reservations at 6 PM for five people and due to traffic called and let them know we would be about 15 minutes late. We beat that estimate. The table was ready with the proper accommodations. Right off the bat, it seemed the server was not very cordial. He seemed to get less cordial when our drink order was limited to my three children’s nonalcoholic drinks. By not having a drink round were able to order at 6:20 PM but that time advantage soon dissipated
We all had Caesar’s salad which did not arrive until 6:45 PM. My wife is a big Caesar salad fan but would not finish her salad because it had excessive dressing. The rating on this Caesar’s is about six on 10 compared to a great Caesar as you can have at Toscana in San Rafael. We had a very difficult time to find the flag down the busboy to get additional bread and other help. The children quickly drained the nonalcoholic drinks and we were never asked if we wanted to refill. The server was all but absent.
The entrées for the meal did not arrive until 7:20 PM which was about 35 minutes after the salads and 65 minutes after our arrival. The delicious filet mignon was accompanied by tiny portions of au gratin potato and a minor number of string beans. Two in the party had a flat pasta with prawns and a light cream sauce. The pasta seemed like a child’s portion size. Both these individuals typically enjoy pasta a great deal but neither finished their pasta. They both consider the pasta to be less than tasty. I tried it myself and have to agree.
The desserts were okay with crème brûlée of average size in the sorbet scoops reasonable. The desserts arrived a little after 8 PM which was almost 2 hours after our arrival.
In my opinion the level of service by the waiter and busboy was minimal. Because we were party of five they automatically tacked on an 18% gratuity when the service level called for 10%. Altogether, without any kind of alcoholic drinks the dinner was just under $ 300. The filet mignon is excellent, the rest of the food mediocre, and the service slow and subpar.

Ok… my biggest problem with this restaurant was the service. Our waiter was a nice enough guy… BUT he seemed very slammed with tables and said a few words to us the whole night. Perhaps it was because I mentioned having a groupon right off the bat (we ended up not being able to use it as it was a Saturday) or perhaps he was just overloaded on tables. Either way, I’ve been to enough fine dining establishments to expect more than the service we got. My husband and I both ordered Caesar salad as a starter, the scallops and wine. I’m not much of a «scallop person» but they sounded good. My husband gave them an ⁸⁄₁₀ and I thought they were okay. The Caesar was very good and dessert, a hazelnut crime brûlée, was pretty good. No lengthy descriptions of any of these items by our waiter, mind you. I also ordered a lemon drop martini when we arrived and it was decent. I regret we were not there for the beautiful daylight/​sunset views.

Warning: This review is mostly about the service.
I brought a Groupon a while back and thought It’ll be a good idea to take my boyfriend here to celebrate his birthday. We arrived after 6pm on a Tuesday evening so we didn’t get to appreciate the view as much (Come here before 5pm to watch the sunset).
We were promptly seated but waited over 15 minutes to order our drinks. We patiently waited since there was only one server for the whole restaurant (we were both server so we understand the struggle). Eventually he came by and got our drink orders and things were going well. That is until I mentioned we are redeeming a Groupon, the server totally changed his demeanor. Service was extremely slow the rest of the night, The busser came over more than our server did. When it was time to pay, he deliberately added 18% tip on the original price after running my credit card. I didn’t feel he deserved the tip but signed it anyway (didn’t want to give Groupon user a bad name for under tipping) but had he his attitude and treated us as any other paying customer (which we are) I’d be more than happy to tip 25% on the original tab.
Other than the service, everything else was great. I’m hesitant to come back after being treated so poorly but will probably give the restaurant one more shot because the Food was so good. I’m Hoping service will be different next time because I really want to like this place.

This was the worst experience we ever had. We made a reservation almost a week in advance, I had mentioned on the call while making the appointment that I wanted to celebrate my husbands birthday as we missed celebrating the previous week due to some reason and wanted to make up to him. The person on the phone also confirmed the occasion and confirmed a table next to the window. We got there before time on sat, nov 14 2015 (around 7.15pm), When we got there, the lady at the reception saw us and left the area without acknowledging the customer, she came back almost 5 – 7 min later and finally acknowledged (without a smile on her face) I told her my name, she confirmed the reservation and took us to the table.
The table was not next to the window as confirmed on the phone, we waited to find out, she saw us not sitting and started waving from the other end of the room indicating that there was no other table available (very rude). We sat and when she walked closer I had to find out about the table that was confirmed over the phone, when I started speaking she wouldn’t even let me finish and started saying ‘no no there are no more tables’, just waving and nodding her head. I was shocked not by the fact that we did not get the desired table, but the way the reception lady treated us, if she would have just been polite and said the same thing we could live with that but her behavior was completely unacceptable and not how someone at the reception, who is sort of like the face of the restaurant and who welcomes customers in, should behave. I am pretty sure she must be driving away a lot of people. We had to leave, wasn’t worth spending even a dollar at such a place. Do not know whether the food is good or not but service (reception) is horrible and they need to fix that if they need more customers.

My friend and I went here because I purchased a Groupon. I made a reservation immediately after purchasing it and made a reservation about a week and a half ahead.
Living in San Francisco, coming here was kind of a drag because there were so many accidents along the way and people didn’t know how to drive on hills…
Anyway, we found the restaurant and it was great that they offered free valet parking. We went inside and told the female employee that we had a reservation under my name and escorted us to the side and let us chose a table for two. We chose one next to the window with a beautiful view.
About a minute later, our waiter greeted us and presented us a two-​course menu. I ordered the lobster ravioli and the New York steak. Both our food came in about 5 minutes later (first course). I would say the lobster ravioli was all right. It didn’t taste anything special. In fact, the ravioli from Maggiano’s was better. Although, I was impressed with the steak. It came with potatoes and veggies. It was definitely one of the best steaks I’ve ever had.
It was a three-​course meal so we also had dessert. I ordered the Caprice coffee and I didn’t know it was an actual drink with alcohol in it because I would’ve expected an actual food. I took a sip and oh my gosh it was strong! I ended up chugging it because I wanted to go.
Would I come back here? Eh… Maybe. It wasn’t as great as the Grandview Restaurant in San Jose. Would I recommend this to a friend? Sure.

The view is amazing here. I don’t think it can get much better. I was looking for a place to take my wife on our 5 year anniversary. I have always seen this place when walking around Tiburon, but have never stopped. We arrived at 6 PM and the shades were still down to block the sun, as soon as the sun started to set, the shades went up and the breathtaking view appeared.
My wife and I split the Butter lettuce salad, the dressing was perfect and the fried goat cheese was a perfect addition. We also split the crab cakes and were impressed with amount of crab that they contained. For our main dishes we ordered the Filet Mignon and the Saffron risotto, my wife and I decided to share with each other, I don’t know if that comes with being married 5 years or if it is more that I wanted her food and she wanted mine. The fillet was tender and was a perfect portion. The risotto was great, but I felt the potion was small. The seafood was fresh and the prawns, scallops were cooked to perfection.
The service was great but not excellent. Nothing to write home about. This is a place I would come back to. The views alone are worth it. A place with charm and views.

Delicious. This chef understands well crafted food. Plenty of places with a view that don’t care about food. We hadn’t been here in years. A LivingSocial coupon brought us back. It’s changed over the years and now they have a winner.
New York steak done to perfection with sides that are fresh. Poperadelli with large shrimp so fresh. Dessert: go for the Trio. Very good wine list too.

LOOOOVE! And you can’t beat the view. Really.
I came here for a romantic labor day weekend with my boyfriend and it was perfect. Sat right by the water and got the perfect view. Dirty martinis were SO good and my boyfriend is still dreaming of the scallops. I had the lobster ravioli which was so incredibly creamy and delicious… I tried eating in small bits to savor it.
This is the perfect date night. Friendly and quick service, live music, beautiful views overlooking the water and sunsets, and delicious food. Definitely coming back.

I was The Caprice for a wedding rehearsal dinner, and for large events, I was somewhat disappointed.
When we walked in, the ground-​floor level has big picture windows and had a very nice view. But downstairs in the event space, they only had small portholes and you’re basically just looking at the overhang from upstairs. It’s not as much of a picturesque view as you would get upstairs.
It’s kind of a cramped place downstairs, so 30 people would be maximum for comfort.
The food was OK. The mushroom soup is fine, and the bread was generic. My steak fillet was definitely overcooked, which is probably a function of it just sitting under the heating lamps waiting to be served.
The chocolate flourless cake was actually pretty tasty. That was the best thing they had.
Overall, The Caprice is fine. But if the rehearsal dinner is a preview of what the main dishes upstairs would be, I won’t be back.

My first job was serving people at a retirement community dining room. This brought back some of those memories — good food, eaten by septa– and octogenarians. My wife was 35 years old and the youngest person dining there, no doubt.
I have run past the Caprice so many times in my jogs down Tiburon Blvd up to the Lyford Tower. I always said — Man! I need to eat there someday. Well this night was the night. It didn’t disappoint.
AMBIANCE
==========
Small, cozy and nautical themed. Lots of pictures and references to sailing in the pictures and other decorations. Makes sense since its on the far end of the Tiburon peninsula jutting out into the Bay (literally on stilts).
Old school, too. White tablecloths, glassware, silverware set out for you along with folded cloth napkins. Definitely seemed a little stuffy though.
⁴⁄₅
FOOD
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HALIBUT
Perfectly cooked. Seared and crispy in just the right spots. Loved it.
Nice big portion, too.
RATING: ⁵⁄₅
BEVERAGE
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PELEGRINO
Delicious and refreshing.
RATING: ⁵⁄₅
PRICE /​VALUE
=======
Be prepared to pay up. It ain’t no cheap place. Expect dishes to start around $ 25 and go up from there.
⁴⁄₅
SERVICE
==========
Excellent serice. Love our waiter.
Car valet was very helpful too.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

FANCY AF! You can’t beat this view. Great place for a love fest or a special occasion. I was treated out here with my family. The place felt like a cabin on the sea. The food was insanely good. They look like small portions but the dish goes deep. We had a waiter name Sean and I’m glad he had humor because my family got a little Filipino on him. The manager chick was a little on the tough side. No smiles and felt like she was looking at us like we didn’t belong there till she saw us drop the hundreds then she was like «thank you!» … Tsk tsk tsk.
Anyway, I got a mixed seafood dish and it was filling! The shrimps were so fat, as if it was a fresh catch right from the ocean.
But mostly come here for the view!

It’s really a nice surprise to me! Due to last minute schedule change, we cancel the steakhouse reservation in downtown SF but I totally have no idea about the restaurant in Tiburon.
Thanks to google, I found A Caprice. Once I arrived, the fantastic bay view astonished me. Seated by the windows, there is nothing better having ocean underneath and Golden Gate Bridge on the side. This place is a gem in Tiburon.
Lobster and steak are awesome and the mushroom risotto is really delicate! Will definitely come back!

We found this place on Unilocal and we are so glad we did! We called and made reservations about an hour before arriving. The staff was so kind, the atmosphere was friendly and the food was excellent! Every dish was cooked to perfection, had wonderful flavors and our waiter was very attentive. The views were to die for (and this was on a cloudy night!).
I would definitely suggest checking this place out!

There are a lot of trendy restaurants. There aren’t that many classic ones.
The Caprice is a classic.
It’s intimate, perched on the cliffs of Tiburon with a stunning view of the Golden Gate bridge and the city.
The lighting is low, the table cloths are spotless. The valet parking is complimentary!
The service is personal, professional, yet friendly.
Now, a lot of «upscale» restaurants can rest on their laurels of location, ambience and view – but The Caprice’s food delivers.
The menu has delicious choices at prices which make it slightly «special occasion» but not «take out a second,» and there are weekday specials for locals.
A friend was visiting from Denver and rather than go to a restaurant that could be anywhere, I suggested we go here – which could only be here.
For appetizers, we enjoyed the Caesar salad (pretty much perfect), mac’n cheese with ham (a bit al dente but delicious), and crab cakes (mmm).
My entrée was the filet, which they thoughtfully butterflied because I am a biped and prefer my meat cooked. It was one of the most tender and flavorful steaks in recent memory, in a delicious wine sauce, with potatoes au gratin and absolutely fresh green beans and carrots. My friends had salmon (he raved), scallops (he was too busy devouring to rave but later did), and the rack of lamb which we all had to taste.
Dessert: crème brûlée (perfect), meyer lemon tart (not too sweet, not too tart), and I ordered the apple crisp, which they were out of, and the waiter suggested that I’d prefer the chocolate trio, and he was right!
I eat a lot of choclate but this was special. There was a chocolate ice cream so creamy it hardly felt frozen. There was a chocolate mousse cake which was all mousse, light, yet flavorful. Then there was a small chocolate mousse cake – now, this has become cliché in many restaurants, but here it was as it should be – super dark, rich, strong. YUM.
We closed the place, there was no rush to get us to leave our table, and the valet was leaving, so he moved our cars out front and handed us our keys – very nice.
There was never any attitude, never anything trendy, just good, old-​fashioned, classic elegance.
So – beautiful, welcoming, professional, friendly, delicious. Just exactly what a «special» restaurant should be.