Cafe Kati [SF]

[Carolyn Tillie]

Despite it being mere steps from where I live, I had not dined at Cafe Kate before. It was not because I hadn't *tried* though! A year or two ago, I sat down on two different occasions and ultimately walked out due to poor service (on one occasion, I sat alone for a full 20 minutes waiting to give my order while waiters buzzed around me).

On this night (last Friday evening), I had two friends who had locked themselves out of their apartment and were looking to kill some time and get some food. Being very hungry, we agreed we would sit down and eat at the first restaurant that could seat us. At 7:30, Cafe Kati surprisingly had backroom tables available and the three of us entered.

To their credit, the service was considerably better than my previous two visits. However, the food we got was far from memorable and was garnished with so much shredded beets and carrots to become a joke. We started with ginger potstickers. Had this been the only example of the bounty of shred, the rest of the evening might have been

The dinners ordered were the pork belly, the cod with miso broth, and the chicken skewers. The pork belly actually tasted good, once you scraped aside whatever bizarre doughy coating surrounded it. We honestly weren't sure what it was. The grilled cod itself was flavorful, but the broth, noodles, and massive amount of shredded greens did little to complement the cod. The broth was insipid and the noodles rather gummy. I didn't taste the chicken skewers, but the gentleman who ordered them only ate one and didn't want to bring the others home with him. And the huge tangle of red beets was prevalent as an unnecessary garnish on EVERY PLATE. Variety, people!

We didn't bother staying for dessert. For entrees north of $25, this place is a joke and I won't bother returning.