Yip on Senses
Senses * 1152 Valencia St @ 22nd * San Francisco, CA 94119 * (415) 648-6000
Cuisines: California, Small Plates
Neighborhood: Mission
The Scene
They have a beautiful long shared table in the center of the restaurant which looks like the kind of place I'd like to go on a date. The music was soothing but strangely the lights were kind of fading in and out, maybe to enhance the "senses" ? The wood tables are beautiful wood and the bench seats were some kind of faux suede, which was soft but unfortunately didn't dust clean after each patron. It was a bit crumby when I sat down.
The Service
Our waiter kind of hovered and kept coming back in an untimely manner, which I didn't care for, but wasn't helpful or "service oriented" at the same time. For example, it reads on the bottom of the menu that menus are reprinted every Monday with their ever-changing offerings (natch, we are eating on a Monday). But somehow they are out of two of the wines we wanted to order by the glass (even though the menu was supposed to be freshly printed that day). And when the waiter offered an alternative option, of course it was $3-4 more per glass than what we originally wanted. And they didn't offer to comp the difference on the higher alternative they had to offer because they were out of the other. Who ever heard of being up-selling on wine before the meal has even started ?!
The Menu
This is a pretty new restaurant and the waiter never explained to us "how it worked." There were like 10 choices of Small Hot Plates, Small Cold Plates and Large Plates.
The Food
Interesting combinations. And when I say interesting, I mean strange. I tasted both the filet and the seabass, both of which passed, but no better than that. I had an appetizer of mozzarella, figs and port. Again, interesting (read: abnormal, astonishing, astounding, atypical, bizarre ... I could go on and on). And I also had a small plate of scallops, that for some reason needed to come from "the left kitchen." And arrived at the table 10 minutes after the filet and seabass for my two dining partners. No room for interesting (read: unusual) desserts.
The Bathroom
I don't mind having to walk by the kitchen to get to the ladies room. Heck, the kitchen in this restaurant is exposed, so hopefully I'm not seeing anything anyone wouldn't want to see while they are eating. Unfortunately, it didn't smell too good back there. And the bathroom was just as "interesting" as the food. Everything was misplaced. The toilet paper was on a table instead of near that toilet. The paper towels were on the other side of the wall from the sink. And I don't know where the heck the trash can was.
************
In a spoonful, I think its pretty missable.
Yip gives it 1.5 spoons.
Cuisines: California, Small Plates
Neighborhood: Mission
The Scene
They have a beautiful long shared table in the center of the restaurant which looks like the kind of place I'd like to go on a date. The music was soothing but strangely the lights were kind of fading in and out, maybe to enhance the "senses" ? The wood tables are beautiful wood and the bench seats were some kind of faux suede, which was soft but unfortunately didn't dust clean after each patron. It was a bit crumby when I sat down.
The Service
Our waiter kind of hovered and kept coming back in an untimely manner, which I didn't care for, but wasn't helpful or "service oriented" at the same time. For example, it reads on the bottom of the menu that menus are reprinted every Monday with their ever-changing offerings (natch, we are eating on a Monday). But somehow they are out of two of the wines we wanted to order by the glass (even though the menu was supposed to be freshly printed that day). And when the waiter offered an alternative option, of course it was $3-4 more per glass than what we originally wanted. And they didn't offer to comp the difference on the higher alternative they had to offer because they were out of the other. Who ever heard of being up-selling on wine before the meal has even started ?!
The Menu
This is a pretty new restaurant and the waiter never explained to us "how it worked." There were like 10 choices of Small Hot Plates, Small Cold Plates and Large Plates.
The Food
Interesting combinations. And when I say interesting, I mean strange. I tasted both the filet and the seabass, both of which passed, but no better than that. I had an appetizer of mozzarella, figs and port. Again, interesting (read: abnormal, astonishing, astounding, atypical, bizarre ... I could go on and on). And I also had a small plate of scallops, that for some reason needed to come from "the left kitchen." And arrived at the table 10 minutes after the filet and seabass for my two dining partners. No room for interesting (read: unusual) desserts.
The Bathroom
I don't mind having to walk by the kitchen to get to the ladies room. Heck, the kitchen in this restaurant is exposed, so hopefully I'm not seeing anything anyone wouldn't want to see while they are eating. Unfortunately, it didn't smell too good back there. And the bathroom was just as "interesting" as the food. Everything was misplaced. The toilet paper was on a table instead of near that toilet. The paper towels were on the other side of the wall from the sink. And I don't know where the heck the trash can was.
************
In a spoonful, I think its pretty missable.
Yip gives it 1.5 spoons.
posted by SoCalATA at 11:47 PM
1 Comments:
We actually wanted to try Senses last weekend, ironically. We drove up to the Mission from Shallow Alto, having made a reservation on Open Table. We show up, and the restaurant is closed. No note on the door, nothing on the restaurant answering machine. Nothing on OpenTable. Emailed to complain, manager wrote back to apologize, said he'd send me a gift certificate, hasn't yet. Their act is squarely not together.
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