Top Hatters Kitchen & Bar

Review summary

1. N

   Nancy

   VIP

   San Francisco

   36 reviews

   5.0

   36 reviews

   Dined today

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   I loved the gluten-free, caraway crackers, which are very crisp and thin with great flavor. We were impressed with the mushroom and hemp seed paté with rice crackers. The short ribs were the best part of the meal for me. I don’t remember last time, but this time the galangal pork strips seemed a bit dry. Maybe too lean. I only had a little bit of the pork belly, the leaner part. It seemed overdone this time around, or maybe I should’ve had a fattier piece. I remember loving the pork belly last time, so I would try those again. The small plates are really unique and fun. I’ll come back to keep trying things! This was our 3rd visit.
   

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2. B

   Bonita

   San Francisco

   8 reviews

   5.0

   8 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Our party of eleven, including toddler twins, enjoyed a lovely birthday celebration dinner! Our servers were attentive, the food was amazing as always, and we were in and out quickly enough for the kids to avoid a meltdown. A win win!
   

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3. E

   Eloisa

   Vancouver

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined on December 21, 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Food was delicious and the service was excellent.
   

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4. D

   Donna

   San Francisco

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined on December 21, 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 5

   The food is phenomenal. The atmosphere is lovely. Each dish has its own flavor profile, the flavors are amazing, the quality and presentation is amazing. A meal I dream about until the next time we go back. Love the Oxtail Stew, the meat platters are fantastic. The tissue bread, the artichokes, the mussels are all fantastic. And desserts are out of this world.
   

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5. T

   Tara

   San Francisco

   3 reviews

   4.0

   3 reviews

   Dined on December 15, 2024

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   I find ordering thru my phone rude. I’m in a nicer restaurant I don’t want my phone out. Also gives you less interaction for waitstaff to see things like we needed spoons or for me to ask for ice for my water. I love the food and cocktails are fabulous but if I could change one thing stop making me use my phone!
   

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6. s

   shihchao

   VIP

   San Francisco

   4 reviews

   4.0

   4 reviews

   Dined on December 10, 2024

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   Good restaurant We have oysters,tissue bread and chicken and pork with rice noodles which all delicious
   

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7. D

   Deborah

   VIP

   San Francisco

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined on December 8, 2024

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 4

   Food and drinks were very good. I’d go back except for the QR ordering system. It was annoying and hard with a group of 7. No fun to be looking at a menu on a phone. They automatically charged us a 20% gratuity which I thought was over reaching considering we took our own order. If they changed their model I’d go back for sure.
   

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8. M

   Mia

   San Francisco

   1 review

   4.0

   1 review

   Dined on December 6, 2024

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   I love the food and ambience and service. I do NOT like ordering using a QR code; I bring clients who are older and don't use cell phones and certainly don't know how to use QR codes, but the staff pushes the online ordering ... I really do not like that.
   

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9. L

   Leslie

   San Francisco

   19 reviews

   5.0

   19 reviews

   Dined on December 4, 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Fresh farm to table flavors! California/Vietnamese fusion, but not fussy -- just straightforward, exciting flavors, lovely cocktails and an upscale/casual atmosphere -- more laid back than you'd think for a restaurant with a Michelin star. Lovely patio. It's becoming a regular rotation of ours!
   

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10. J

    Jason

    San Francisco

    2 reviews

    4.0

    2 reviews

    Dined on November 24, 2024

    1. Overall 4
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 3

    I'll try to keep this short but I'll probably fail. First, the food and ambiance were great. We primarily come to Top Hatters for these and we were not disappointed one bit. But here's the deal: Top Hatters does not have traditional serve-staff anymore. When we arrived for our reservation, the host pointed towards our table across the restaurant and said, "That's your table over there," and we walked there alone. No server came to tell us about specials or take our order... everything by on the QR code. When we ordered, food came out promptly but by different people the entire night. And each person was very friendly. The explanation for this on the menu was that there is a labor shortage and that QR code ordering makes everything better because then tips get shared and the serving responsibility is shared by all. That being said, my opinion is that when I go out for a nice meal and drop $$$, I doing for the food AND the service experience. I want to talk to someone who can tell me about specials. I want someone to engage in conversation with me. I want to meet people who work there who live interesting lives and are real people. It's all a part of the dining experience. To remove a personal server from the table does a few things: 1. It lessens the human interaction in the dining experience. 2. It cheapens the experience. Our service at Top Hatters was no more involved than at a Red Robin. 3. It decreases my desire to tip. If the service I'm actually receiving is less than a chain restaurant and bordering on McDonald's, then why should I tip at all? And that means fewer tips for the entire staff to share...the opposite intention that was printed on the menu. I understand that this might not matter to a lot of people but it does to me, especially if I'm looking for an in-depth dining experience. That being said, we'll still go back to Top Hatters. But now we know it'll be less of the experience that we're looking for. And I've failed at keeping it short.
    

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