Manresa Restaurant, Los Gatos

[tupac17616]

Tops my list of memorable dining experiences while living in SF.

IMO service is it's weakest point in an otherwise excellent restaurant. Fix this and the third star should come strolling by very shortly...

SG, Just curious what sorts of service issues you've noticed over the course of your visits. Could you elaborate a bit? While the service does lack stiff formality, I personally find this quite refreshing.

[snekse]

IMO service is it's weakest point in an otherwise excellent restaurant. Fix this and the third star should come strolling by very shortly...

SG, Just curious what sorts of service issues you've noticed over the course of your visits. Could you elaborate a bit? While the service does lack stiff formality, I personally find this quite refreshing.

I'm with SG. Great food, but the service I had was very unpolished. I don't need stiff service, in fact I prefer a more relaxed service, but I would like my wait staff to know what they're serving us.

To be completely fair, I've only been once (Jan 2006) and I got the impression that our server was new not only to Manresa, but to fine dining as well.

Beside the lack of knowledge, some additional examples that I would think would prevent a 3rd star would include 1.) having water poured over the table in a manner that allowed condensation from the pitcher to drip onto the food plate 2.) waiting far to long for our coffee and after dinner drinks. By the time they came, we were just plain ready to leave, so they all were barely touched.

We still really enjoyed our meal and the unpolished service really didn't detract from it in any major way. Just agreeing with the point that for Manresa, "service is it's weakest point", which could be argued is actually a good thing

Manresa Photo Set

[SG-]

IMO service is it's weakest point in an otherwise excellent restaurant. Fix this and the third star should come strolling by very shortly...

SG, Just curious what sorts of service issues you've noticed over the course of your visits. Could you elaborate a bit? While the service does lack stiff formality, I personally find this quite refreshing.

I'm with SG. Great food, but the service I had was very unpolished. I don't need stiff service, in fact I prefer a more relaxed service, but I would like my wait staff to know what they're serving us.

To be completely fair, I've only been once (Jan 2006) and I got the impression that our server was new not only to Manresa, but to fine dining as well.

Beside the lack of knowledge, some additional examples that I would think would prevent a 3rd star would include 1.) having water poured over the table in a manner that allowed condensation from the pitcher to drip onto the food plate 2.) waiting far to long for our coffee and after dinner drinks. By the time they came, we were just plain ready to leave, so they all were barely touched.

We still really enjoyed our meal and the unpolished service really didn't detract from it in any major way. Just agreeing with the point that for Manresa, "service is it's weakest point", which could be argued is actually a good thing

Manresa Photo Set

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Echo many of snekse's sentiments, overall for me benchmark for good service is attentive to my needs without having me to ask and service so subtle that it does not interrupt my dining experience or conversations. Service does not have to be stiff to accomplish the above.

[tupac17616]

[...]good service is attentive to my needs without having me to ask and service so subtle that it does not interrupt my dining experience or conversations. Service does not have to be stiff to accomplish the above.

Definitely. And the sort of details that snekse provided were basically all I was after. The notion of "good service" (or "3-star service", etc) is a highly subjective area, and I was just looking to see how your own criteria for such service manifest themselves (or not) at Manresa.

[ulterior epicure]

IMO service is it's weakest point in an otherwise excellent restaurant. Fix this and the third star should come strolling by very shortly...

SG, Just curious what sorts of service issues you've noticed over the course of your visits. Could you elaborate a bit? While the service does lack stiff formality, I personally find this quite refreshing.

I'm with SG. Great food, but the service I had was very unpolished. I don't need stiff service, in fact I prefer a more relaxed service, but I would like my wait staff to know what they're serving us.

To be completely fair, I've only been once (Jan 2006) and I got the impression that our server was new not only to Manresa, but to fine dining as well.

Beside the lack of knowledge, some additional examples that I would think would prevent a 3rd star would include 1.) having water poured over the table in a manner that allowed condensation from the pitcher to drip onto the food plate 2.) waiting far to long for our coffee and after dinner drinks. By the time they came, we were just plain ready to leave, so they all were barely touched.

We still really enjoyed our meal and the unpolished service really didn't detract from it in any major way. Just agreeing with the point that for Manresa, "service is it's weakest point", which could be argued is actually a good thing

Manresa Photo Set

snekse's experience sounds similar to mine. I have only been to Manresa once, as well. However, I experienced some of the same service issues. Our server did not, for the first half of the meal, know what he was serving us. This may not be as problematic at a restaurant where the diner has ordered his/her meal. But, when the chef is cooking for a diner, as was in my case, and the diner has no idea what is coming out of the kitchen, the server should be very well-versed in what is being presented.

I will mention that half-way through my meal, they switched out my server. The later half of my dinner was much more lucid.

[Joe Gerard]

IMO service is it's weakest point in an otherwise excellent restaurant. Fix this and the third star should come strolling by very shortly...

SG, Just curious what sorts of service issues you've noticed over the course of your visits. Could you elaborate a bit? While the service does lack stiff formality, I personally find this quite refreshing.

I'm with SG. Great food, but the service I had was very unpolished. I don't need stiff service, in fact I prefer a more relaxed service, but I would like my wait staff to know what they're serving us.

To be completely fair, I've only been once (Jan 2006) and I got the impression that our server was new not only to Manresa, but to fine dining as well.

Beside the lack of knowledge, some additional examples that I would think would prevent a 3rd star would include 1.) having water poured over the table in a manner that allowed condensation from the pitcher to drip onto the food plate 2.) waiting far to long for our coffee and after dinner drinks. By the time they came, we were just plain ready to leave, so they all were barely touched.

We still really enjoyed our meal and the unpolished service really didn't detract from it in any major way. Just agreeing with the point that for Manresa, "service is it's weakest point", which could be argued is actually a good thing

Manresa Photo Set

snekse's experience sounds similar to mine. I have only been to Manresa once, as well. However, I experienced some of the same service issues. Our server did not, for the first half of the meal, know what he was serving us. This may not be as problematic at a restaurant where the diner has ordered his/her meal. But, when the chef is cooking for a diner, as was in my case, and the diner has no idea what is coming out of the kitchen, the server should be very well-versed in what is being presented.

I will mention that half-way through my meal, they switched out my server. The later half of my dinner was much more lucid.

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I have to concur as well. I dined here solo a few weeks ago followed by Cyrus and TFL on the next two nights. Service here was perfunctory at best and was clearly below the level I experienced on the following evenings. They also seemed thrown off by someone dining solo as if they had never encountered this situation before.

I also think the sweet kitchen needs some help - the mignardise were skimpy and were served well after coffee as if they were an afterthought. When you throw in a rather drab room with those mismatched rugs, my feeling is that they have a long way to go to for a third star. Kinch can be a dazzling chef, of course.

[MaxH]

I don't want to add much here, only some history that I didn't see yet in the exchanges about service.

This restaurant underwent a major change (and upgrade) in front-house management in 2004. If anyone's experience is only before late 2004, be advised that there were changes, so comparing then and now is a little like comparing the Plumed Horse of today with the Plumed Horse of the last decade (apropos another posting). This doesn't, of course, rule out the chance that some individual experiences could be very similar, then and now; or better then than now ...

[tupac17616]

Any eG'ers make it to the citrus modernista dinner on Tuesday? I saw some pictures here, but would love to hear more about it. Don't know whether or not in praise of sardines posts here.

[dharold]

Ok, confession time. We ate there on September 30th, 2007. Clearly that's more than common laziness not to have posted by now. What happened? Well, I guess I was just overwhelmed.

We arrived at 19.45, expecting to enjoy a drink in the restaurant before the meal. No bar, we were told and sent away. We wandered in the night, passed on an empty sports bar, killed time. On our second arrival we were shown to our table for four and given a little time to peruse the menu. No need. We'd decided on the tasting menu before setting out.

We had 19 courses according to the menu. In fact, due to a squeamish guest who wouldn't touch a couple of the more outre ingredients I ended up eating 21.

Petits fours "red pepper-black olive" were served on a stone slab and tasty; very tasty, in fact, which was to prove the theme of the night. Presentation was good through-out but the star quality of each plate was in the tastes, not in visual trickery. At this stage we had no idea how many courses were actually in the tasting menu. We thought it was 12. Oh, so wrong.

A shot glass of Cucumber and shiso cocktail was gone in an instant but lingered on the palate like an exotic kiss. The Oyster in urchin jelly to follow continued to create the false sense that this would be a meal of a dozen bites - delicious but brief. We were being suckered.

The next course - a seaweed-citrus granite with corn and tomato was a fraction more substantial but light, and exquisite.

And then, the dish I'd prayed would be on the menu: Arpege-farm egg. And yes, it's very, very good (and imitable by an amateur cook too!)

At this point we thought we were well into the meal, so we were somewhat shocked when the waitress explained that our amuse were now over and we were moving on to the "real" dishes.

Charcoal grilled foie gras with tomato jam was good, but let down a bit by the quality of the foie. Shellfish in a herbal tisane of melon, golden raspberries followed and was sweet and subtle with intense flavours of the sea. Tomatoes and smoked roe, roast tuna jus, looked dark and unsettlingly unappealing. It tasted good though.

By contrast the next dish, Spot prawns on the plancha with exotic spice, citrus, looked beautiful. And tasted beautiful too. For me, very nearly the high point of the meal; surpassed only by the trinity of cod, pork and lamb yet to come.

Blue hubbard pumpkin, nasturtium ice cream followed. Extremely tasty and I'd happily have had more, though by now we were rather full and still had no idea how many more courses were to come.

And then 'In the Vegetable Garden...' followed by Abalone in its own spice bouillon, with more sub-par foie gras. Oh my lord. I hated both of these courses and left more than half of each. The first was lovely to look at but tasted very much like garden prunings covered in spit. The second was probably fine if you like crunchy, cold, abalone. I don't. Just a bad fit for me.

Now I must admit that at this point I finally gave in and asked how many more courses were to come. Manresa was good I'd decided. In the case of the Arpege egg or the seaweed and tomato, really good, but not great I'd decided and if it was nearly time to go, well... fair enough. Just a few to come: three more mains and some dessert, I was told.

And then it all came together. I'm honestly not sure what to say about the remaining "main" courses. I don't have superlatives fitting. Delicious? Exquisite? Ok, how about perfect?

Black cod with celeriac-lemongrass sauce: perfect.

Suckling pig and boudin noir, pink delite apple: perfect. Probably in God's own cookbook.

Spring lamb and spiced carrots and brown butter: the best lamb I've ever had.

I was straining at the waist. I was dog tired. I was incapable of speech. I was in heaven.

And then they hit us with three desserts: panna cotta with red wine granita; almond croustillant, pears with black licorice ice cream; chocolate cremeaux, raspberries in armagnac, tobacco ice cream (no, it's not easy to describe the taste of tobacco ice cream - suffice to say it's much better than it sounds!)

We thought that was it but, in symmetry with the first amuse we ended with petits fours "strawberry-chocolate" again on a stone slab.

It was like running a marathon. A very moreish marathon. If it hadn't been for the slimy Vegetable Garden dish and the disappointing foie gras this would have been a meal of unquestioning dominance. As it was, well, I'll just have to go back and see if they can improve on "nearly perfect." ; )

One last note: chef David Kinch came out for a chat around midnight as we were finishing our coffee. He looked like he'd run a real marathon but was completely charming and very down to earth.

Overall, Manresa is the best restaurant in California that I've been to. A crescendo

of dining.

[Didi Dishi]

We're headed to Manresa tonight--is the tasting menu the way to go? Has anyone tried a la carte there?

[ulterior epicure]

We're headed to Manresa tonight--is the tasting menu the way to go?  Has anyone tried a la carte there?

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You know, it's telling that you would even have to ask that question.

[tupac17616]

We're headed to Manresa tonight--is the tasting menu the way to go?  Has anyone tried a la carte there?

You're in for a treat. Definitely the tasting is the way to go. And if it's your first visit, I'd recommend the grand tasting. Give Chef Kinch the best chance to blow you away.

[Didi Dishi]

We're headed to Manresa tonight--is the tasting menu the way to go?  Has anyone tried a la carte there?

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You know, it's telling that you would even have to ask that question.

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Telling of what, precisely?

[ulterior epicure]

Sorry if you took my statement the wrong way.

I meant, simply, that to my knowledge, I don't ever recall hearing about anyone ordering a la carte (and I assumed that's what you were hinting at).

I would agree with tupac17616: get the tasting menu. I'm sure the a la carte is great as well. But, if you can afford the extended ride, the adventure will be worth it.

[Didi Dishi]

We're headed to Manresa tonight--is the tasting menu the way to go?  Has anyone tried a la carte there?

You're in for a treat. Definitely the tasting is the way to go. And if it's your first visit, I'd recommend the grand tasting. Give Chef Kinch the best chance to blow you away.

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Thanks Tupac--

Sounds like the way to go--we're really looking forward to it!

[Didi Dishi]

Sorry if you took my statement the wrong way. 

I meant, simply, that to my knowledge, I don't ever recall hearing about anyone ordering a la carte (and I assumed that's what you were hinting at). 

I would agree with tupac17616: get the tasting menu.  I'm sure the a la carte is great as well.  But, if you can afford the extended ride, the adventure will be worth it.

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Gotcha! I think we'll head that way. I've been to a couple places in the SF area and in France where the a la carte dishes were superior--Michael Mina stands out as one (on the night I went). It definitely sounds like tasting is the way to go. Can't wait!

[tupac17616]

Can't wait!

Me either, and I'm not even the one going!

[samgiovese]

Just a tip...if there is something on the a la carte menu that you really want to try, please inform your server, and Chef will make sure it is part of your tasting menu.

Edited June 27, 2008 by samgiovese (log)

[Didi Dishi]

Just a tip...if there is something on the a la carte menu that you really want to try, please inform your server, and Chef will make sure it is part of your tasting menu.

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thanks sam. I'll be sure to post about the dinner! I'm not a big note taker, so my detail might be lacking.

[snekse]

Just a tip...if there is something on the a la carte menu that you really want to try, please inform your server, and Chef will make sure it is part of your tasting menu.

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That's not always true. We requested the Abalone with pig trotters, but was not served that dish.

Manresa photos from GFC

[ulterior epicure]

Gah. That's a shame. That was probably the most memorable course for me from that dinner.

[samgiovese]

Just a tip...if there is something on the a la carte menu that you really want to try, please inform your server, and Chef will make sure it is part of your tasting menu.

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That's not always true. We requested the Abalone with pig trotters, but was not served that dish.

Manresa photos from GFC

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Wow...that's interesting. Were you given a reason when you brought it to their attention? Perhaps they ran out? (just guessing)

[ulterior epicure]

snekse: I believe that California abalone harvest seasons are from April through June and August through November. Might you have been at Manresa in July or one of the hard winter months?

Edited June 29, 2008 by ulterior epicure (log)

[snekse]

We were there in January, but I requested it because I saw it on the regular menu.

[ulterior epicure]

We were there in January, but I requested it because I saw it on the regular menu.

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Yeah, I don't know what to say to that.