French Laundry Restaurant

03/01/09

Surpassed my expectations

by dmenkes

I made reservations two months ago and dined tonight. During that time, I had spent several weekends researching all I could about Thomas Keller, his restaurants, his philosophy, studied the 100+ page wine menu, etc. I've read more reviews than I can remember, both good and bad. I tried going in with reasonable expectations: this is considered the best restaurant in the Americas by Restaurant Magazine. What does the "best" restaurant taste like? I think what makes The French Laundry different is that you're not just having a meal; you're having an experience. I'd heard from several people who explained it as such, but now I really get it. Your dining experience starts, in my opinion, once you get out of your car and walk up to the building. 4 hours later, when I left the restaurant to return to my car, I felt I got my money's worth. Not just with the food, but, well, everything. Alot of people complain about the portions at high-end restaurants. I cannot possibly imagine anyone complaining about how much food you get here. I literally couldn't eat another bite of dessert by the time we were done with the 9 courses. One thing I tried and was very happy with was doing a wine pairing; you get to try many different wines by the glass and each one compliments each course perfectly--a credit to our sommelier. The service was exceptional--every time either one of us would get up, we'd come back to the table to refilled water glasses, a clean table, and fresh napkin. I know that sounds trite, but every little nicety adds up to an unbeatable experience. Before ordering, our server asked us if there were any foods we were allergic to or didn't like. How cool is that? What could be your excuse for having a bad time here? I'd wholeheartedly go again, maybe in the Fall when they have white truffles. Unfortunately it was raining tonight so we didn't get a chance to enjoy the garden or the outside seating...someday!

• Pros: Fantastic food, service, wine
• Cons: Extremely expensive--be prepared for it!

12/08/08

Wishing for the wow factor!

by epicuriousinsf

I dined at the French Laundry & was a bit disappointed. Started w/ oysters with a sabayon sauce, which I would have preferred chilled, I guess I wasn?t expecting the oysters to be poached, however the caviar was briny & delicious. Foie gras was the best dish of all, served with 3 different salts and the most delicious brioche, the salt cut the fat perfectly. If your brioche gets a bit cold, warm brioche is ready to replace it! However, I was disappointed that the foie gras was an additional charge to the prix fixe menu. The urchin dish was a true disappointment, again I guess I was expecting a cold dish, instead it came on top of a gratin of warm cabbage, with some kind of cream sauce; not good. Next course was seared scallop; it didn't stand out. The braised pork belly was very good, but how can you go wrong with pork belly and it's on everyone's menu. Lamb was delicious, with the cutest carrots I've ever seen and the dates were just sweet enough to go with the sauce. Had the sheep's cheese, served along side a green apple relish, which was really good, but it was a less than a thimble size with a drop of excellent honey. Palate cleanser was refreshing guavasteen sorbet. Finally the finish was pumpkin sherbet (which was delicious) pumpkin croutons which were light and fluffy and pillowy chocolate dentelle. Of course, the alcohol bill was gigantic, but I guess it has to match the food. The food presentations were immaculate and beautiful (except the uni dish), over all I felt the environment while stately, was bland. While I appreciate the quality and dedication to the art of this culinary experience, I would not make the effort to go again. I must be a philistine.

09/21/08

French Laundry SO Not Worth The Price.

by aanraku

We dined with a party of ten in Sept. 2006 and 2007. At our 2007 seating they forgot the promised birthday cake and 5 of the 9 dishes were the same as the previous year. When we emailed and asked them to vary the menu for our 2008 seating, Thomas Keller called us personally and said, "If you don't like what I serve, don't come. I'll even help you find another restaurant to eat at." We canceled and will now dine at Gary Danko's in S.F., a much better restaurant. French Laundry is SO not worth what they charge you. For $6,000.00 for dinner for 10 people Keller should kiss the foot of his customers and remember his roots and where he belongs, sweating over a hot stove to earn his keep. There is no longer room in his restaurant for customers along with his ego.

08/25/08

"Discriminating" Service

by DaveMSanFrancisco

Due to character limitations, I can't show my full review, but it can also be found on the Yelp website. Look up user "Dave M" under the French Laundry reviews.

Simply put, the food was incredible. A culinary masterpiece, sadly tainted by a clear example of discrimination.

Disregarding the above issue (albeit a difficult thing to do), from a service perspective, I was much more impressed with local San Francisco gems such as Chapeau! and Gary Danko. French Laundry's service was structured and formal, but far from personalized during our meal.

In summary, he did provide an apology for the "embarrassing and unfortunate experience", stating this action did not reflect the establishments customer service "ideals" and "that the situation was addressed with all those involved that night."

What was missing was any attempt to address my personnel satisfaction or any effort to make up for the experience.

• Pros: Incredible Food
• Cons: Discrimination with guests

07/01/08

The service ruined the entire experience...

by FoodieJr5

We went here for our 5th anniversay, after a wait of nearly 4 months. The dishes was okay, but far from spectacular. I am a pretty nice guy and maybe my expectations were higher, but this is truly a classic example of a restuarant with rave reviews that has become lazy and now is run solely on the reputation of it's former glory.

It's a shame as I see this a lot. A restaurant gets divine praises and then the wait list becomes neverending, the prices increase, the head chef is never there, and the quality of food and service declines rapidly. We did a tasting menu (and paid out the wazoo for it, believe me), and the dishes were decent and good, but no better than a meal I could of gotten at my local french restaurant, only except it would have been only about 10% of the price...

The main complaint (ant utter surprise really) I had was how poor the staff and waiters were. 4 of the courses came out disassembled, meaning that the food "stack" clearly had fallen over (again, attention to detail- it seemed like a 15 yr old mop boy plated our food), but what was over the top was our waitor who, on TWO occasions, used his hands to fix the food once it was on our table!! I almost had a heart attack!

The staff here is extremely pompous and has a higher than thou attitude that makes me think they are thinking "I am working at the FRENCH LAUNDRY and therefore I am BETTER than you!". My wife asked alot of questions and the answers were given very harshly and in a condescending way. Basically, they made us feel like idiots.

I can forgive alot of things because I understand things happen and we have off nights, but poor and RUDE service I will not tolerate, and because of the service we recieved, not only is the French Laundry andsuppar experience, but it has joined my list of one of the worst dining experiences I ever had, and I will be sure to tell as many of my colleagues as I can.

• Pros: The aura of eating at a Top Place
• Cons: Service

04/05/08

Such a disappointment

by Likestotravel1954

After waiting the apparently "required" 2 months to get a reservation at The French Laundry, my husband and I were extremely excited to experience this "world class" restaurant. The wait staff, though attentive, was stiff and pompous, the food was a disappointment, and the final bill for the evening over $800.00. The next day we enjoyed a picnic on the grounds of a beautiful winery, with lovely bread, cheese, olives, and wine, that beat The French Laundry by a mile. Don't believe the hype.

04/02/08

Go to Auberge instead!

by Hansell

I like to be offered a drink before dinner when I'm about to sit down for 10 courses. I had to ask twice and they would not serve our champagne until everyone had arrived at the table. 2/10 courses were truly magic. The others fell way short of the quality you get at Per Se.

I highly recommend the tasting menu at Auberge over the FL. The tasting menu has many similar items to the FL and the executive chef is actually there. There is a massive wine list comparable to Cru and the wine pairings (which we rarely choose) were excellent.

The view is beautiful and you can sit inside our outside. I was expecting Per Se in a California setting and it just didn't happen.

04/02/07

Simply the BEST Customer Service

by 310valleygirl

Get ready to close your eyes, open your wallet, and sign a blank check. This is not your average restaurant. The service can be compared to no other. (Not that you would, but intentionally bump into a waiter and they blame themselves.) The winelist is filled with the finest wines imaginable. (But, if you bring your own, there is a bottling charge.) The tables are quaint and dressed with heavy linen and superior silver. The meal is prix-fixe ($240), differentiated by vegetarian or non with few options. In all, it was an endless journey of food and wine, continually peaking your sense of smell and taste. (Oh, don't pass on the foie gras. It is absolutely yummy!)

• Pros: SERVICE, parking
• Cons: very expensive

10/23/06

Nice, but not worth the price!

by binkbink

The French Laundry served up very good food. We had some clear favorites - tuna tartar and the oysters with tapioca and caviar. Food was pretty flavorful. But felt we have had better food elsewhere. Service was very good throughout the 3-hour lunch. They did forget to acknowledge my wife's birthday even though the hostess asked about it and said she would tell the server. So that was a little disappointing -- when you drop a few hundred dollars you expect them to remember details! Overall, a nice experience, however, you can get an equally nice meal elsewhere for less.

• Pros: Good food, ease of parking, very good service.
• Cons: Expensive, difficult to make reservations.

09/15/06

For the price we paid, I'd rather buy plane tickets to NY and do Babbo again

by hezmodo

The food is everything it's said to be; Innovative. Interesting. Delicious. Noteworthy. Discussion inducing. Unfortunately, the menu has already "been there, done that". Everyone knows the salmon tartar in cones; the "oysters and pearls", the kobe beef, lobster poached in butter... Not everyone has tried it. But, if you have a few hundred bucks per person to spend, excluding wine, then by all means, have this experience. I can't call it romantic (too many lags between dishes; awkward!), but it is exhaustive. Four hours (two of which spent sitting next to a Japanese couple playing video games; our waitron kindly told them to put it away, after we complained), and a sommelier who just would NOT listen (thus giving us wines we didn't like and costing us $750 en total), we marvelled at some of the amazing dishes we were served. Go with the chef's tasting menu, and pay the extra for fois gras -- it is truly devine (until you go to France and realize that it's not so amazing at FL). The food goes on and on and on, and until you spend a simple evening at Babbo (not French, but then neither really, is FL, but truly amazing and entertaining), or a couple weeks travelling through france, you cannot know how (and I wince) pedestrian chef Keller really is at this point. Go because it's famous; go because you *must*, go because it's the French Laundry, but really, find yourself someplace quiet and exclusive in France, someplace exceptional in NY, like Babbo, or go to Japan and try a traditional Kaiseki-riori, and spend the same $1500 for 4 people, and you'll quietly remove yourself from Chef Keller's fan list. Not that it isn't good; it's just not all that when you compare it so many unbelievably excellent restaurants around the world. Now, if Keller would just come back to FL and come up with something new... then I might be impressed.

• Pros: Innovative, exceptional food
• Cons: Reservations nearly impossible, sommelier was an expensive dissappointment