Coi

Quite the extensive tasting menu. “Energetic” environment (people talking loudly) with light 80’s music playing in the background. We ended up playing “guess the song and artist with the table next to us. As the sound level of other patrons grew a little on the louder side, it impeded us from hearing the music enough to play our game. :-) Not a complaint. :-) But, it was part of the experience. Dress code appeared to range from casual (jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts) to business casual (jacket and dresses). The food was plentiful, they called it a 9 course meal, but we had more.  The following (transcribed right from their menu (with ‘*’ denoting the unplanned surprises), they described them slightly differently and with more detail at the restaurant. Great food presentation. 1) Black truffle tartlette with spring onion and bacon, -This was a great starter. Warm, creamy, mushroom-y savory, flavorful. Yummy!! 2) Geoduck: crispy kombu, caramelized duck cream -Crispy crunchy texture, very tasty, but with a bit of an overtone of “fishy”, we couldn't figure out why, but agreed on the unexpected overtone. 3) Oyster: cucumber, tomato water, horseradish -Very unique, fun,  thin ice surface to break through to get to the tasty cream/custard textured surprise underneath along with little flowers. 4) Fluke: shitake mushroom, meyer lemon jelly -This was quite flavorful. Lots of different tastes as you bit in to each piece. Liquid light but flavorful. *) unplanned “bread”, which was more of a sort of savory cake. -Hints of green onion, crumbly, very tasty, accompanied by salted butter, and a savory jam. All very good. 5) Dungeness Crab: pear, black sesame, citrus leaf -Very flavorful accompaniments to the crab terrine. We did not taste much crab in this. 6) Grilled Spanish Octopus: pimenton caramel, crispy artichoke, white bean -This was my favorite. Loved the octopus and the sauce it was in, as well as loved the artichoke (and I'm normally not a fan of artichoke), the white bean was a nice compliment to this plate. 7) Quail: morel mushroom, preserved ramp -My wife loved this plate. She wasn't as much of a fan of the mushroom stuffed with mushrooms, but I was !! She loved both the bone in piece as well as the “meatier” piece of quail. 8) Duck: green olive, potato, caramelized shallot -My wife loved this plate. She loved the duck, the olives and especially loved the caramelized shallot. I liked this plate a lot as well. 9) Yuzu: Lemon poppyseed This was an AWESOME dessert. The one dish that we both loved equally. Light but tasty and not over powering. Delightful. 10) Black Truffle -This was a wonderful unique dessert mixture of sweet and savory mixed together. Break the orange mock-egg and flavorful tastes flow out into the crafted edible holder, turning what looks like an egg in a holder, to an eclectic mixture of tastes. *) Chef surprise chocolate mousse and ice cream -Very rich and delightful ! I think this pushed it over the top for my wife. She was full full after this. 11) Mignardises -4 different tastes. 3 sided on the sour side and 1 on the sweet. It was a nice finish to a nice meal. Some of the sauces were very good and my wife was only disappointed they there was some kind of true bread or something else to try to get to every drop. We discretely scraped the plates as much as possible with the spoons and forks, to get every last drop. We have been celebrating our wedding anniversary for the last month spoiling ourselves with dining at various fine restaurants in San Francisco and surrounding areas. When given the option during the reservation process, or when called and asked, we “admit” to celebrating our anniversary. This was the first place, although it was part of the reservation process to indicate as such, where the restaurant not only didn't make a big deal, they didn't mention it. Other places had nice touches of mentioning it upon arrival, at our table, at the end of the evening, printing menus with our names and wishing us a Happy Anniversary (pics out of order, couldn't re-sort in Google)

TLDR: For the same price, I’d recommend Quince or Saison. Food was great, albeit in my opinion with a little less character than the “art gallery rustic farm table” of Saison. Service was good, but pales in comparison with the nearby truly phenomenal service of Quince (which has a modern European elegance). Was still a wonderful experience, but at this level I think there’s a lot that’s just personal preference. Great seafood dishes, that was a highlight. I will say that I think the music choice was in poor taste. With this kind of ambience you’d expect something more subdued and sophisticated (I was hearing classic rock).

I will leave it to the foodie to get into the details of the food offerings. The service was on point without being to stuffy. The space is simple yet elegant which a lot like each plate of food, cleanly and beautifully presented without clutter. Without an element that’s not contributing to the dish. The parting give, black Truffle pastry, both sweet and salty the same time. So good!!