Over the weekend, I went out to dinner at Aqua in San Francisco, on California and Battery. It is a two-star Michelin restaurant, which makes it supposedly one of the best restaurants in the Bay Area (only one Bay Area restaurant made three stars, which is considered good enough to travel to San Francisco just to eat there). I ordered the special seven course meal and two extra appetizers, and forgive me but I will have to rave about this place. It was sort of like watching a mile race – the food was excellent but not enough to blow me away, just like most runners in the pack stay roughly together for the first three and a half laps. Then like a miler in the last 200 meters, Aqua picked up the pace at dessert and ran away with it, leaping it from a pretty good restaurant to one of the best ever. I was half outraged that Aqua could have had it won at the very outset but half in admiration that it could just pick it up at any point and leave everyone else in the dust when it decided it was the right time. But be warned, this was the most expensive dinner I have ever paid for, so you’re paying for quality.
Decor: 10
Like most Bay Area restaurants, Aqua has that yuppie mix of weird fancy furniture. It’s not really my style, but some of the glasswork was impressive enough for me to overlook it. I hate restaurants that try to mix in Ikea style with awkward shapes to make itself seem more important than it is, but there are two 18-foot square mirrors. That’s not something you see every day, especially in earthquake country. I’m impressed by the sheer waste that everyone in the restaurant will be killed by flying shards of broken mirror when that big earthquake hits San Francisco. If that doesn’t deserve a perfect score for decor, I don’t know what does. In all seriousness, I love the giant mirrors and consider it a minor engineering feat to build and install something like that. Bonus for the padded seats as well.
Service: 8
The service is typical of an upscale French restaurant, which I found delightful. One guy walked around carrying a platter of warmed bread, another guy with a platter of utensils to replace them for every course. We had presentations of every dish with some extra service to add sauces. However, a few mistakes were made. The waiter reached across the table to put silverware down. You may also want to note that if you get the seven course meal, dinner will not be a simple affair. I was there for three hours.
Food: 10
As I noted, the appetizers and savory courses were excellent but not significantly better than other “great” restaurants, until I hit the desserts which were magnificent. It’s a seafood restaurant, so expect some of the best ingredients you’ll see in the Bay Area, like lobster and varieties of sashimi. If you are a Japanese purist, you may be offended by the addition of spices and citrus flavors which distract from the taste of the fish. It’s a French restaurant, so it’s all about the sauces and the mix of textures, not accentuating the taste of the core food. Do not miss the dessert under any circumstances, that’s the final sprint which has you swooning as you walk out the door. It is creative and everything is hand made. To note how high quality the restaurant is and how it misses no details, the coffee is also excellent. That’s not something you see at other restaurants, even fancy ones.
Ambience: 8
This is definitely one of the best and most expensive restaurants in the Bay Area but you’ll see the crowd that comes with that. Not so many yuppies, but a lot of salt and pepper hair and self-important people. The tables were hilariously stereotypical – the wealthy Chinese family (one son, one daughter), the four Japanese businessmen, the old Jewish mothers, a rich black couple. But the atmosphere is warm and semi-intimate, sort of the way you imagine the ideal rich Western family – everyone fits in their place and never gets too close to each other. Good times.
Score: 36/40
Price: $170 per person (appetizer, drinks, seven course meal. Could be $90 per person if you get the three-course meal)
Verdict: Fully deserves its two-star rating. Keeps strong pace until dessert, where it runs away from the competition.
I will start including pictures of food and me at the restaurant from now on.