Gary Danko

What a GREAT experience!
This will be a LONG review as this was such a positive experience.
1 of 2 (2nd review will be an update as I hit the maximum word count)

This is now one of our favorite Michelin Star restaurants, in terms of both food, drinks, and service. Very generous quantities and everyone is allowed to have different tasting menus!!

Quality/Quantity -
Complimentary Bread and Butter - So good that I had to STOP my daughter after her 3rd slice. We/she always fills up on bread.

Soup - No comment. Did not get a description. They called this soup, or was it a palate cleanser? I just can't even describe this, not good or bad. My daughter liked it.

Tasting Menu 1st course - Glazed Oysters with Osetra Caviar, Leek Fondue, Zucchini Pearls, and Lettuce Cream - What a great way to start! We even finished all the lettuce cream! After my daughter tried one, she tried to take it all... I had to remind her/teach her to share, just joking.
Wine Pairing Tasting Menu, complimented the Glazed Oysters with Osetra Caviar - 2022 Clos De La Geraudrie, Muscadet. Domaine De La Geraudrie.

Tasting Menu 2nd Course - Horseradish Crusted Salmon Medallion with Dilled Cucumbers, and Grain Mustard Sauce. My daughter enjoyed this the most. I also liked it, but it was probably my least favorite of my 5 courses.
Wine Pairing - Rose, not too sweet.

Tasting Menu 3rd Course - Filet of Beef with Potato Gratin, Romanesco, Cippolini Onion, Chimichurri, and Mushroom Essence - Steak cooked perfectly for both my wife and I. Hers medium and mine medium rare. Melts in your mouth. The side dishes were good also, but the steak was definitely the highlight of this dish.
Wine Pairing - Tempranillo, one of my favorite Spanish wines. Another perfect compliment to my course.

Tasting menu 4th Course - A Selection of Farmhouse and Artisanal Cheeses - So many choices, see picture. Similar to the tasting menu, I let Gary's team make the selection for us. I shared what cheeses we typically eat at home. See pictures of their choices for us. Oh, they even gave us an extra slice to try as the Epoisses Berthaut intrigued us.
Wine Pairing - Krug champagne.

Tasting Menu 5th Course - Baked Chocolate Souffle with Two Sauces - My choice, the tasting menu suggestion. My daughter really likes this. I agree it is one of the best souffles that I have had. Last year I ate almost 100 souffles, not joking!

Family's tasting menu, not in any order:
Beef Tartare with Egg Mousse, Pickled Onions, and Lavash Crackers - What a great way for my daughter to start her meal. #1, generous portions, more than enough for all to share. On top of that, even though I really enjoy carpaccio, I am typically not a beef tartare person, but I could eat this all day.
Coriander and Rosemary Crusted Tuna with Summer Beans, Castelvetrano Olives, Pistachios, and Quail Egg - My daughter really liked it. It was just okay for me, but if you are following, you already know I eat a lot of poke, tuna, and raw fish. We spend 2 months a year in Hawaii (well sadly not this year).
Seared Scallops with Japanese Sweet Potato, Rosemary, and Yuzu - The Japanese sweet potato was so fluffy and the skin of the potato was crispy. I normally do not eat the skin, but this was so good that I devoured it. Oh, and of course and as expected, the seared scallops were cooked to perfection. Thick and juicy.
Roast Lobster with Potato Puree, Corn, Chanterelle Mushrooms, and Tarragon - Actually one of my favorite dishes of all the 15 courses. And generous portions of lobster on top of that!
Thai Shellfish Curry with Shiitake Mushrooms, Scallions, Mint and Cilantro - So flavorful and with generous portions. Even the rice had a good strong fragrance. Three types of seafood; mussels, shrimp, and squid.
Lemon Pepper Duck Breast with Hash Cake, Celery Root, Bacon Braised Endive, Poached Cherry, and Kumquat Chutney - Wow, the duck medium rare was cooked perfectly. Melts in your mouth. Not sure if I have ever had duck so tender???
Pork Tenderloin Wrapped in Savoy Cabbage with Kohlrabi, Shaved Brussels Sprouts, Farro, and Pork Belly - Wow, the pork was cooked to perfection. Medium rare, so juicy. The savoy cabbage was so thin that I did NOT even know it was wrapped. My daughter also loved the pork belly! I liked it least because it was 100% fat. My wife was not even willing to try, lol.

Citrus Tart Lemon Curd, with Mandarin Mousse, and Goat Milk Sorbet - This was pretty good. Amazing lemon flavor. We did not enjoy the goat milk sorbet as much though.
Hazelnut Mille-Feuille, Caramelized Puff Pastry, Hazelnut Cream, and Vanilla Ice Cream - My favorite of the 3+ desserts (see below or pictures for other desserts). The vanilla ice cream was nothing special.
B-Day cake, and 7 small cookie tray.

Complimentary "Tomorrow's" Breakfast Cake - This was really good. It paired perfectly with my Starbucks coffee in the morning.


To be continued as I hit the maximum word count... Told you this review will be LONG!

To sum up this review: Me and my date both said "we see why they lost their Michelin star" many times in unison. Also, racist and overall not great staff. They made me and my date feel like idiots for wanting our food boxed up. Pushy with alcohol, HARD. If you're sober, black, or just want decent food and treatment, elsewhere is better, only maybe 3 out of the 8 items we got were good.

Now to make it quick, since I tend to ramble:

The good: The branzino dish is incredible; extremely delectable. Salmon was good, lobster quinoa salad was......... skippable but at least looked nice, the quail was a skippable meal but at least their spicy risotto with it with the beets was incredible. And my date's filet mignon with latered potatoes was palatable but not awe-inspiring.

The bad, starting with the worst:
Some diner called me a slur when I didn't notice them on the way to the bathroom; (I didn't hold the bathroom door open super wide because I have bad vision, sorry but a slur???) every staff member in the area seemed to notice, no one said anything.
And the waiter, who I guess is friends with said diner (diner was sus in many ways, but must've been a high spender) went from being friendly albeit pushy with alcohol sales, to sneering and snickering with him at my table's direction and being cold and actually rude with me and my date, after one small chat with the guy.

And then little things that seemed intentional. Like being openly condescending when my date and I asked for boxes for our leftover desserts. Purposely putting all the creme brulees of varying flavors (the passionfruit one tasted disgusting like a Victoria's Secret perfume, the other two were godsent with how fantastic they were but worlds apart in flavor,) and just...

Why would you slop and mix them all together in the same box? And even if they were stingy with boxes, despite 400+ dollars per table bare minimum, why not even try to at least dollop the creme brulees into different corners so they don't touch? A shame, since they were the best thing I had that evening.

I even asked and mentioned I can just box them myself, since the guy was acting like it was the dumbest ask in the world/silliest request/hardest thing to do in the world, and would not stop repeating "You want ALL of it boxed up? ALL of it? ALL of it? Like, THIS too?" and somehow made me feel even dumber for just daring to ask to just be brought a box or two so I can do it myself, no problem. But I guess it was a mix of pride and whatever else, since suddenly he was acting like that ask was even worse.

Like if anything, you're making the service worse by being crappy and acting like you've never heard of someone wanting to take home the little tarts and decently solidified creme brulee and souffle, and that it's 9/11. And then acting like me boxing something myself, at a "high end" place, is the Pentagon attack. All that obnoxious multi-layered fuss just to box them as poorly as possible; they THREW the tarts into a box haphazardly, when they could've fit all gently and organized with room to spare. Hypocritical.

And then purposely trying to not give me the quail I had boxed up, and huffing when I politely mentioned "Oh excuse me, I had one more box of food that I think didn't get packed?", before bringing it to me without eye contact and walking off.... What's up with him?

Also noticed that the souffle, when it was carried over by a man and a woman, the woman was friendly to my table. The man that came with her gave me an up-down snarl, then gruffly handed her the sauces, damn near shoving it into her hands before she even sat down the souffle, and threw up his hands in a 'you take care of this, I can't be bothered' way and walked off.... Mind you, zero interactions with this man. He just wanted to act like sitting the souffle sauces on the table, or doing any decency or tableside show, was too much, especially for an interracial couple being seated.

They served all meats medium rare to our table though, without explaining that *every dish* was gonna be medium rare. My date and I assumed it would only be my date's steak, not the salmon, the quail, etc... But with that said, the quail tasted like a multi-layered undercooked meatball, if you're into that. Salmon was good, but would've been better cooked fully.

The lobster quinoa meal was beautiful but aside from one piece of lobster claw and the bits of citrus, everything else was..... actually plain. Never knew they could have worse quality quinoa and avocado than Trader Joe's.

And the cheese cart was a lot of fun, highly recommend. Actually amazing flavors, I tasted one piece and thought I tasted meat in the rind, my date said the same piece tasted like chocolate cake. Would've savoured it more if not for the weird staff.

So yeah, racism and weirdness. The male waiters I had issues with were one that was a maybe 30 to 40 year old latino male with slicked back hair, and an asian male who looked to be in his 50s or so.

This is the worst food I have had in a long time. First, our table was not ready: they tried to make it up to us by serving a salmon and caviar potato treat which ended up tasting like a hash brown from McDonald's. The beef tartare heavily tasted like mustard -please avoid that dish if you can. The fillet with beef was poorly seasoned and I had to salt it. The lobster dish was flavorless and mostly tasted like butter. The crème brûlée was all over the place. The ratios for the fruit and flavor were all off.

On top of that, for the price and quality of flavor-this was not it. This used to be a Michelin star and it does not show it. The service was horrid, our waiter was changed three times, and they seemed forgetful about the wine / menu descriptions.

Avoid this place and go somewhere else.

Some very lovely food here. Service was attentive. We found some courses less interesting than others and at that very pricey. Wine pairings were appropriate, not always mind blowing. We appreciated the information the sommelier provided around each selection.

We did not appreciate having an ill-mannered 12 year old in gym clothes with his parents seated next to us. We got to witness eating with his hands and dad yelling "not with your hands!" Sorry dad but not the place to teach your kid manners much less ruin our $500 dinner. Maybe time for management to consider an age limit.

My cousin and I celebrated my birthday here back in April, and it was absolutely delightful! The entire experience at Gary Danko exceeded our expectations. The staff was incredibly friendly and attentive, patiently answering all our questions and ensuring we had a fantastic evening.

We made reservations for 5:30 PM on a Monday evening at this restaurant. Upon arrival, the atmosphere was quite relaxed as it wasn't too crowded. The restaurant had a cozy, dimly lit ambiance, which set a nice tone for our dining experience.

We decided on the 3-course menu priced at $122 per person. Let me tell you, every bite was worth it! One of the standout dishes for me was the appetizer, risotto with lobster. I've had risotto before, but none compared to the rich flavors and perfect texture of what Gary Danko served. Another favorite of mine was the Branzini with fennel puree, nicoise olives, pepper chermoula, and saffron orange emulsion--a mouthwatering combination that left a lasting impression.

Since it was my birthday, they surprised us with a decadent chocolate cake and a selection of small pastries. We enjoyed them thoroughly at the restaurant and even took some pastries home. When we opened the box later that night, they had thoughtfully replaced the pastries with fresh ones--a lovely gesture that truly made the occasion special.

Overall, Gary Danko delivered not just a meal, but a memorable culinary experience. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to celebrate a special occasion or simply indulge in exceptional food and service. Can't wait to return!

One of the best dining experiences we've had this year. It's always been on our list and we finally made it here. We love everything, from the food, wine pairing, cheese tasting and desserts. You can choose either 3 or 5 courses, with or without wine pairing. There's no limit on the course being chosen and it's really customized, you can even go up to 5 entrees if you feel so. Can't forget their excellent service with such a thoughtful gesture of bringing me a hook for my purse when it fell on the ground or taking out coats back right when we get to the door. Nice ambiance for a date night or even when you have a group of friends.

Started off with the Glazed Oysters, which were pretty good. They tasted like those Chinese buffet oysters but with a softer texture. The risotto with lobster and rock shrimp was superb and was some of the softest lobster I ever had; the portion was quite sizable considering that it was an appetizer.

The Roast Lobster with potato purée was also pretty tasty and kept consistent with the soft texture. However, the Coriander and rosemary crusted tuna was goofily plated (is this an asparagus compass? why do i have 5 egg halves? Who took the other half of that egg??) and overall was quite bland.

The herb crusted lamb loin needed some more seasoning . The polenta was nice, but the eggplant thing was too mushy. The filet of beef was a pretty standard steak dish and was enjoyable.

Things ended on a good note with the desserts. The citrus lemon curd was very tart and was balanced out by the excellent sorbet that came with it. The cheesecake with poached rhubarb was surprisingly soft and fluffy so it didn't feel too heavy.

Overall, had a good time and would come back again and just swap out some the dishes for something different.

One of the best fine dining establishments in San Francisco, Gary Danko never fails to deliver memorable special occasions.

Celebrating nuptials, we came here to toast friendships and milestones . What a place to do it!

Bar Manager Michael- with an impressive resume of venues he worked at, this guy knows his stuff and incredibly creative. He has keen eyes and hands on what his bar staff delivers. Only the best drinks -- 5 stars

Food- there is a set 5 course tasting menu but what's so awesome is diners can also create their own tasting menu by selecting dishes from a list from each section !

You cannot wrong with anything! Each dish was perfectly executed ! 5 stars

For special occasions, check Gary Danko's out! Two thumbs up, Five Stars!

We went for Father's Day and it lived up to all the hype. Perfect service, exquisitely displayed food. Outstanding wine.

Let's be clear, it's a special occasion place. Our dinner including bev and two was $450 for two.

Celebrated my birthday The prix-fixe menu we opted for was a masterpiece of flavors, each dish thoughtfully curated and perfectly executed. The wine pairing elevated the experience, with each glass complementing the food in a symphony of taste.

The service was impeccable, attentive without being intrusive.

The ambiance, while elegant, was a bit tighter than anticipated. The close proximity of tables meant conversations from neighboring diners were easily overheard, creating a level of background noise that didn't quite match the sophisticated exterior of the restaurant.

If you're seeking a culinary adventure that tantalizes the taste buds and leaves a lasting impression, Gary Danko is a must-visit.