Fifth Floor

[ExtraMSG]

A friend and I did a 5 day trip to the bay area this summer and included Fifth Floor. We had a pretty lousy experience. The food was inconsistent and the service was lacking. We were with my grandparents, experienced SF diners, and they said it was the worst high end dining experienced they've had and won't go back. How long did your dinner take? I'd have to go back and look at my report, but I think ours, not a tasting menu, was about 3 hours with some pretty lengthy waits in between courses. And it wasn't even a full house (weekday).

[jeffj]

would you consider going back and ordering off the a la carte menu? care to tell us a little bit more about the menu?

I probably would not opt for a la carte since three dishes would be about the same price as the tasting menu. I'd much rather have smaller portions of more dishes. A somewhat current list can be found on the Fifth Floor website.

How long did your dinner take? I'd have to go back and look at my report, but I think ours, not a tasting menu, was about 3 hours with some pretty lengthy waits in between courses. And it wasn't even a full house (weekday).

Our dinner lasted about 2 hours and 50 minutes. Once we got past the 35 minute wait for a table, the meal ran smoothly and at a good pace. We were never sitting around waiting for the next course.

[Cusina]

Thanks for the excellent review. I liked your attention to detail and the pictures helped tremendously.

I'm adding the 5th floor to my (ever growing) list of places to visit in the Bay area.

[ExtraMSG]

To add to the tasting versus ala carte menu decision, we were definitely thinking afterwards that it was a mistake to order ala carte. The dishes seemed designed for tasting menu portions and seemed awkward at full size.

[JAZ]

Laurent Gras is no longer at Fifth Floor; last night was his last there. Apparently Melissa Perello is taking over the helm.

[tanabutler]

Gulp.

[milla]

where is he going?

[JAZ]

No one I talked to about it seemed to know.

[Jason Perlow]

One of the best meals I have ever had was a late night meal with a group of friends in 2002 at The Fifth Floor. Laurent is a genius and I hope he gets picked up at a really top notch restaurant.

[Hest88]

Oh...my. I wonder what happened?

[Squeat Mungry]

Apparently the official line is that Gras wants to open his own place.

[TexasGal]

Has Laurent Gras set up a restaurant in New York yet? I was a Fifth Floor about a year ago and thought the food and wine pairing was absolutely fabulous. I will be in NY the end of May and would love to try any place where he is cooking.