Just $200 per person to experience Michael Mina's Food as Theater, including tip & wine: A Culinary Delight. Initially disappointed by the loud talking in the restaurant and the stuffy-looking interior, the food won me over. Halfway through the tasting menu with one dazzling course after another, even the stuffy ambiance took on a softer twilight, with waitstaff dressed as ninjas swooping back and forth in perfect coordination. Our 8 courses included delectable Osetra Caviar, a spectacular Ahi tuna tartare with sesame oil, raw quail egg and hot peppers, a Black Mussel souffle with a succulent Saffron Essence, Michael Mina's signature lobster pot pie, a marvelous Chilean sea bass followed by roast poussin with mac & cheese sauce, a steak rossini with foie gras and finally terminating with a divine chocolate cake and peanut butter milk shake. To be REAL picky, the souffle was a tiny bit dry until you added the "to die for" Saffron sauce, the lobster pot pie sauce was a bit overwhelmed by the lingering aftertaste of the superb Saffron essence presented before it, and the mac & cheese sauce seemed a bit cutesy in the line of preceding rich sauces, but the line of course progression was irresistible and the experience totale unforgettable. A few tiny lapses in service didn't detract from Michael Mina's being San Francisco's ONLY potential comparable Michelin Three-Star Equivalent. Hooray.
