San Fran - Aqua Restaurant
 

Anyone eaten at Aqua in San Francisco??? I would like recommendations on a nice restaurant with great food and good service. Thanks!

Aqua is among the best in SF. Also consider Jardiniere, Boulevard and Gary Danko. SF restaurants are reviewed at www.sfgate.com.

I hate to disagree, but I will...Aqua was also recommended to us as one of the best restaurants in SF. I have to say, it depends what you're looking for. We love seafood - and Aqua is a seafood place. And don't get me wrong, I love eating in fancy restaurants - but Aqua does stuff to the seafood with sauces and presentations that, in my opinion, take away from the taste of the seafood. For example, they don't serve just "lobster" - it's "lobster pot pie". People love Aqua, and it was definitely good - but not the best seafood in SF, I'm quite sure. P.S. I was just in Vegas and they now have an Aqua in the Bellagio if you're ever out that way.

I am actually not a big seafood fan and I loved Aqua. My husband and I went a couple of years ago and thought it very much lived up to the hype we had heard.

Aqua is good food but the noise level is deafening! Certainly recommend it over Farallon though. A nice place for seafood, very comfortable and with great french fries is Hayes Street Grill. It's over by the opera/symphony and so not frequented by as many tourists. Mc Cormick and Kuleto's is part of the west coast chain, but has a pretty restaurant in Ghirardelli with good views and a pretty decent weekend brunch.

I have been lucky enough to eat Aqua several times and each time I go I am disappointed. I find the noise level deafening in the service to be very slow and snobby. With that said, the food is very, very good. Neverthless, I think there are many restaurants that are better than Aqua--I agree with the recommendations of Gary Dankos, Boulevard and Jardiniere. I also think Cafe Kati is very good as are Silks (in the Mandarin Oriental), the Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton and Masa's. Good luck!