postrio, kuleto's, farallon, ?

Barbara N. wrote:
>
>  We are planning to be in SF next week and are thinking about trying The
> Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton.  Have you dined there?  If so, how does
> it compare with Fleur de Lys?

Although I have not been to The Dining Room since Gary Danko left, it is apparently as good under Chef Portay's control. I'm sure the cuisine leans a bit more to the French than Danko's; I will point out that the original "mission" of the Ritz-Carlton flagship restaurant was to provide French cuisine (hence the hiring of Frenchmen Yves Garnier and Gerard Ferri before the appearance of American Gary Danko).

I find the service of The Dining Room to be slightly less stuffy than that of Fleur de Lys. Combined with the fabulous cheese cart, the excellent sommelier staff, and the very reasonable pricing, The Dining Room competes very well with the very best. The pricing of meals by the number of courses is very, very diner-friendly.

As a flagship hotel restaurant that can rely on a banquet kitchen to generate additional revenue, it is not surprising that The Dining Room offers pretty big portions since it itself probably doesn't need to generate an operating profit.

I recommend The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton; I look forward to the opportunity to return myself when I should be able to agree with Mobil, Zagat, AAA, the local rags, etc. on the Ritz's premier status.

Bon appetit!

S.

LLGD5000 wrote in message ...
>>From: Barbara R. Nevens
>
>>We are planning to be in SF next week and are thinking about trying The
>>Dining Room at the Ritz
>>Carlton.  Have you dined there?  If so, how does it compare with Fleur de
>>Lys?
>
>I noted other posters complained of haughty service at Fleur de Lys.  I
find
>that amazing .  Service is marvelous, traditional, unobtrusive.  But it's
not
>for those who insist on wearing pants suits or athletic shoes.    It is a
>wonderful, elegant, incredibly romantic restaurant with consistently
marvelous
>food.
>
I'm definitely with the complainers on this one.  Last time we ate there the waiter was extremely rude and inattentive.  That is not just a matter of style.  My partner, who lived in France for many years and has dined in many of the best restaurants of Europe, was even more offended than I was. On the visit before that, the service was perfectly acceptable.  If the food at Fleur de Lys was head and shoulders above the food elsewhere, I suppose we would go.  Since it isn't, we choose to patronize other establishments.  La Folie, especially.

Mark Alan Miller

 Barbara N. wrote:

>  We have been the recipients of both kinds of service at Fleur de Lys: haughty and friendly.  I
> suppose it is like any other restaurant in that service varies with individual servers.  Only once
> did we have a haughty server there.  He only warmed up when he realized that we knew our way
> around a wine list, a REALLY snooty attitude in my opinion.  Service there other times has been
> outstanding.  The only reason that we are considering the Ritz Carlton is that we thought it might
> be nice to try something new (to us).  Any other suggestions for a restaurant appropriate for an
> anniversary dinner?
>
> Barbara

My wife & I have dined at La Folie for anniversaries & birthdays on about 6 occasions, Ritz Carlton (Gary Danko at the helm) 3 times, & Fleur de Lys once. On our next "occasion" we will probably go back to La Folie.	I think it has more inovative food than the others, and I feel a little more comfortable there (whatever that means) than I do at the other places.  La Folie seems to draw more of a San Francisco crowd.	We recently persuaded some good friends of ours to try La Folie for their anniversary - they had always gone to Fleur de Lys. They called us back the next day and had high praises for the place.

Stu Dudley