Little Gem

Super cute place, very open space which is what I like. I tried the cauliflower rice bowl and it wasn’t really what I expected. It was a curry dish with potatoes and cauliflower. It was a big bland… but willing to come back and try something else.

I was ready to snub this trendy-​looking place for at least a few months until I saw it make the cut for Michael Bauer’s Top 100 this year. Snubbing aborted. The location is attractive as it’s on the corner of Grove and Gough in Hayes Valley opposite the Cajun-​style Boxing Room. It has the Thomas Keller pedigree since the co-​owners are Eric Lilavois, the former COO of Keller’s restaurant group, and Dave Cruz, the longtime chef of Ad Hoc (review:
). The menu reflects all the right buzzwords for the culinary effete… gluten-​free, dairy-​free, sugar-​free. At the same time, the food isn’t free of flavor. The reality is that the food is nicely prepared but at a price that belies its counter service orientation. I would expect waiters performing back flips.
Jamie W. and I came here after a hefty dinner at Tsubasa Sushi just down the block, so all we had room for was a shared $ 5.50 Lemon Custard which came in a baby-​food jar topped with glazed blackberries and toasted oat crumble (photo:
). It was tasty without being too sweet but hardly the basis of a full review. A couple of weeks later, I decided to come back solo after work for dinner since Jamie was busy. Having already perused the menu, I wanted to give the $ 19.50 Tuscan Pork a try. It turned out to be three good-​size slices of slow-​roasted pork shoulder with quite a pile of marble potatoes halved with watermelon radish shavings added for texture and a stream of beet marmalade on the side (photo:
).
The pork was genuinely delicious, moist and tender with a crust of gristle which I have to admit I like a lot. The potatoes were good though the portion could have easily been cut in half and still be more than satisfying. I ordered a $ 6 side of the Delta Asparagus, which was lovely in its fresh crispness as it was very lightly sauteed in oil (photo:
). A $ 4 mini-​pitcher of the Golden Needle Iced Tea just hit the spot (photo:
), while the $ 4.50 Quinoa & Raspberry Date Cake proved to be a most suitable right meal ender, not too overwhelming with the topping of sliced almonds providing the right texture (photo:
). If you don’t mind the price point, give it a try as the quality speaks for itself.
FOOD — 4 stars… fine-​tasting pork with very good fixings although it does get pricey
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… reasonably spacious though tables for two are a bit crowded together in the middle of the dining room
SERVICE — 4 stars… cheery and reasonably attentive
TOTAL — 4 stars… the name fits for the most part

Stopped in to get coffee. Nice to sit by the bar against the window and people watch. They have almond milk! Very clean and friendly staff. I didn’t order any food but everything I saw looked really good. I would come back to try their food.

A great Plan B place for the Civic Center evening rush. We walked in at 5:30 on a Saturday when there were 5 events going and got a seat. It was full by 6:30, however, so don’t push your luck.
A 3 course dinner with a glass of wine and tip will set you back about $ 65. It is casual, not cheap.
The food is tasty for the most part. Portions are fine.
A few minor quibbles.
You order at a counter and then they bring everything to the table at once so your entre gets cold while you are eating your salad. I guess you could go back to the counter and order/​pay for each course individually, but that is not good either.
The butter salad dressing could have used a bit more flavor.
No salt and pepper on the tables, but they will bring HUGE grinders if you ask.
Very limited menu, like 4 entres.
The space is very sort of industrial/​Ikea. No soft surfaces anywhere, but the noise level is surprisingly low. It is easy to carry on a conversation.

I always thought Gwyneth Paltrow was a prude until I recently read she was recommending a $ 15k, 24 carat gold plated vibrator and a $ 500 whip.
You go, girl! Let your 50 Shades of Freakiness shine… in 24 karat gold!
The rest of us peons will just have to make due with our $ 100 B.O.B (battery operated boyfriend) from Good Vibrations.
I don’t follow Gwyneth and I only recently learned about her ridiculously expensive pop-​up stores (Goop) that sell her «lifestyle» picks for everyday women like a $ 150 spoon, $ 1,000 toilet paper, and $ 5,000 home juicer. Sadly, the only thing I can afford is the $ 40 nipple balm. Whoomp.
I’ve been wanting to visit Little Gem as I’m a huge fan of Thomas Keller (loved The French Laundry, Bouchon, Ad Hoc, Addendum, etc.) and I read that the owner is the former CEO of Keller’s restaurant group and the chef is from Ad Hoc (fantastic, simple comfort food using high quality ingredients at reasonable prices).
Needed an escape from the office, I visited Little Gem this week for a solo lunch. The space is large, gorgeous with lots of natural light, and has ample seating inside and out (dog-​friendly).
Unfortunately, I share the same sentiments of Little Gem as many other Unilocalers (tl;dr): small portions, exorbitant prices for a fast casual eatery, and just so-​so food. Not sure who can afford to eat here regularly. Maybe it’s catered to those who shop at Goop and/​or new tech money?
Props for a menu for the health-​conscious that’s free of gluten, dairy, and refined sugars. On their lunch menu they have soups ($ 5.50-$ 6.50), salads ($ 10.50-$ 11.50), bowls ($ 10-​$ 12.50), and flatbreads ($ 9-​$ 13). At first glance, the prices seem reasonable but the portions are very meager and if you want to add protein, it’s an additional $ 3.50 — $ 8. Expect to spend at least $ 25 for a simple lunch (without drinks and before tip) and possibly needing a second lunch.
As a fast casual eatery, you order at the counter, take a number, and your food will be delivered by a food runner. As an observation, I found their ordering process to be inefficient. There’s no posted menu. When it’s your turn to order at the register, you have to grab a menu to the right, and have to flip through multiple pages before deciding what to order…
For an indecisive customer that also has a million questions, it creates a huge bottleneck and makes it frustrating for both the cashier and other customers waiting behind him/​her. Obviously, you can’t control having indecisive customers but having a posted menu so people can decide what to order while waiting in line may help.
I adore pea soup for its savory sweetness so I ordered the Chilled Pea Soup w/​puffed amaranth, mint oil ($ 5.50) to start:
. It was really salty and didn’t taste like peas. It tasted more like a thick celery smoothie. I thought maybe it would taste better the next day after diluting it some but it was still unpalatable. I hate wasting food but I ended up tossing it.
For my main, I ordered what seemed to be the most substantial thing on the menu, the Bibimbap w/​brown rice, winter vegetables, chili garlic sauce, fried egg ($ 12.50 + $ 3.50 salmon tartare):
. I have no qualms about paying 50% more for an elevated bibimbap made with top-​notch ingredients that tastes great. This however, looked a lot better than it tasted; and «brown rice bowl with vegetable garnishes» is more of an appropriate name. The best part was the perfectly fried sunny side up egg with a runny yolk. The rest of the bowl was 85% rice garnished with two mushrooms quartered, one slice of cucumber, a tablespoon of cabbage & carrot slaw, some julienned veggies, microgreens, and furikake.
The bibimbap in its entirety was lacking in flavor. It was bland and needed more heat (even though there was chili sauce). Not sure if this was intentional but the salmon tartare was sour and very salty alone. When mixed with the rice, it was better, however, it was minced so small that it just got muddled with the rice.
I know rent is crazy expensive and I don’t mind paying premium prices for good food but please, at least make the food taste good.
Service was just ok; didn’t think it was warm and friendly like some did. I went during off-​peak lunch time and received my food within 10 minutes which was a plus. The biggest gripe: the owner or manager was walking around and checked in with the table next to me twice but never once stopped to check in with me. Just a pet peeve but I dislike when management only checks-​in with a select few especially when it’s not busy. I would have gladly given my feedback, if asked.
Disappointing lunch aside, Little Gem is an absolutely gorgeous space as mentioned… worthy of a visit for just a morning cup of coffee or afternoon tea; if you don’t want to make your wallet cry. Hey, maybe you’ll even see Gwyneth here!

Overall a disappointing experience.
We ordered and paid at the counter, including gratuity, and found our way to a table.
All of our food was brought out at once — the salad, the soup and the main courses.
By the time we were done with our salad and soup, our main courses were cold.
I felt bad about asking the staff to reheat our food, but I really prefer to have my hot dishes served at the right temperature.
The food ended up being just okay – perhaps reheating the dishes took away some of the flavors, but the overall experience wasn’t worth the menu prices.

Sweet little eatery catering for the healthy minded.
Had a glorious bowl of trumpet mushrooms, rancho Gordo beans and rice .
They are fully gluten free and yummy .
Had their Chocolate chip cookie made of quinoa flour and almond flour — delicious !
Great place !

Good place to go to if you are on a diet. Because the portions are small and the prices are too high to justify buying two meals. Food tastes alright but nothing was spectacular (we split a breakfast salad and a simple scramble). Left hungry and got a second breakfast.

Outstanding restaurant among the sea of foodie options in San Francisco. I dined here upon the first month of being open. I wanted to have everything on their menu, but settled for a wonderful plate of hearty carrots and steak. My guest had a bowl of soup. The quality and flavor of everything we ate was exceptional. There is nothing like this place. They really take the time and effort to create the best tasting food. I will definitely re-​visit this restaurant on my next visit to San Francisco. Bonus: there are many gluten-​free options on their menu!

No reservations for brunch always petrifies me, but amazingly, it was all clear at 1PM on Saturday.
So easy to order at the registers, but make sure you order everything to your hearts desire, or you will have to get back into the line to add on. They give you a wooden number, bring to a table of your choice and put into the holder.
Service, so warm and attentive.
Large portions. Ordered two salads and the bibimbap and had plenty left over. I would probably skip the asparagus and potato salad next time, was missing a textural element, the potatoes also needed seasoning and a different execution, a bit gummy. Added salmon, asked for medium rare and it was fantastic.
Use the hot sauce at the table, perfect heat.
Wines were just okay, not my favorite. Ordered the all natural gamay and the pinot noir. For the space, it would be nice to have an additional loo. Much of our meal, there was a line.
Clean food, modern space, so easy, fresh and casually cool. Great healthy brunch, especially if you have food sensitivities!

Cute little coffee or breakfast/​lunch spot. Very spacious indoor and outdoor seating available. Ordered the pancakes and the salmon potato pancakes. The pancakes were super light and fluffy but didn’t feel heavy in my belly. The potato pancakes were crispy but oily. Ordered an iced coffee and they give you a mini pitcher — it was almost 4 cups! Only negative was they don’t offer soy milk. I personally hate almond milk in coffee and the regular milk upsets my stomach.
Tldr; great food, great ambiance, will come back

Three of us went there for a quick dinner and left I think $ 200 (we had wine)
My thought of this place is that it is overpriced and portions are small.
I had salmon that was terribly over salted.

I tried the Bim Bim bop which was tasty but seemed a little skimpy on the toppings/​ingredients and was more like a rice bowl.
I do look forward to trying their other items like the flat breads.

Pros of little gem: great looking menu, and the small amount of food I got was delicious. Cons: incredibly expensive.
We came here one morning to meet some friends for brunch. Even though it was 11:30, they had stopped serving breakfast. I grabbed a coffee (good, not amazing) and a steak wrap.
One of the big things that sets Little Gem apart from other restaurants is that they don’t use any gluten (nor dairy, I think) in any of their menu. As a nut allergy sufferer, I had to be careful, since many things are made with almond milk! Luckily the steak wrap was made with tapioca flour, which ended up being incredibly tasty, but after everything I paid 25 – 30 dollars. For brunch!
And that’s the main qualm I have with Little Gem: it’s very, very expensive, even for SF. I understand they have to cover costs, but for example, charging 9 dollars for a smoothie which is really only 4 – 5 pieces of fruit seems unnecessary. Multiple people in our party left hungry! I can understand how this place would appeal to those with specific diet needs, but I can’t recommend it because of the price point.

I stopped in for some late morning breakfast before my pedicure at LUX SF up the street and decided to go with their Almond Quinoa Pancakes that were topped with blueberries and maple syrup. First off, their space is gorgeous. I love all of the natural light that comes through, and the seating area is spacious and very clean. The pancakes came out really fast, and for $ 7 these were definitely delicious and made me feel so happy. What left a lot to be desired was the super loud/​rude girl sitting on her laptop having back to back Skype calls and was literally shouting at her computer. I know that isn’t the restaurant’s fault, but it was highly disturbing to the rest of the guests in the vicinity. In any case, I will definitely be back here when I’m in the neighborhood again!

Very cute little spot for an afternoon snack, lunch or tea. I came in here with a friend on a quiet Sunday afternoon and ordered the bibimpap (spelling?) bowl with a fried egg on top. You go up to the cashiers to order and they were super helpful and friendly and helped me substitute out the rice for greens which worked perfectly with the bowl. My friend had the cute and dainty lemon tart. The ambiance of the place is great, with big windows, lots of seating, and great décor. A few other items on the menu also looked pretty tasty so I’ll be back to check them out!

I was excited to try this spot because I pass by it all the time and it just looks so cute inside! Sadly, I don’t have a lot of motivation to come back.
The place itself is gorgeous. Very clean, and modern but rustic style. The high ceilings and huge windows make it feel very open and refreshing. You order at the counter, and then your food is brought to you.
For whatever reason, the line to order was moving SO slow. Even the people standing in front of us were becoming impatient. There was only one girl taking orders up front, but how long does it take to punch in some orders? It seemed ridiculously long to be standing in line, so that people could order a few items on their simple menu. Maybe it was her first day, but I don’t think it should have taken that long for all of us to give her our order and pay.
The food is overpriced in my opinion. I ordered the Bibimbap and added steak. The portion size was good, but I only ate about ¹⁄₃ of it because it tasted so bland. There was a chili-​garlic sauce that came with the bowl, but it was more like a chili-​garlic paste. So the dish seemed very dry. I had to ask for more chili-​garlic «sauce» to make the dish taste better, but it didn’t really help. And the steak was the weirdest steak I have ever had. The texture was kind of rubbery and mushy. Didn’t have that meat texture at all! I almost wondered if they microwaved it because there is no way that it could have been grilled. Kind of gross. My husband ordered the Grilled Trumpet Mushrooms on Beans & Rice bowl which I had a taste of, and that was also very bland. He was constantly drenching it in hot sauce to make it taste better. It probably tastes simple and bland because Little Gem wants to be healthy, which I can appreciate. But the dishes didn’t have a lot of flavor, at all.
I love their concept and absolutely loved the atmosphere, but the food was just okay. I like The Plant and Blue Barn a lot better.

I wanted to like Little Gem because it’s healthy and cute and I just wanted to like it — do you ever have that feeling where something feels so promising?
But, I did not have the best first time experience. Here’s why:
The soup is a liquid broth with a couple of odd little pieces of meat and something else — it’s like sipping on beef broth…
Next, Little Gem forgot to add chicken to my husband’s salad. We paid for the chicken because you pay up front — this is a cafeteria style spot. At the end of the meal, the waiter asks how everything was and my husband points out the chicken was missing. The waiter says sorry and leaves… not good service, however, I cannot hold the restaurant accountable based on a bad waiter.
The food was healthy, but so-​so generally. Do take into account that I could have ordered «the wrong things» possibly. Last, this place is expensive. Haha, right?! BUT, with all the little dishes and add-​ons (think chicken that we never received), the bill can get hefty — think $ 55 for two at a cafeteria-​style spot.

I’m fairly excited about this place. The mood is way lowkey, jazz music, a steady stream of patrons but no real line at the register. The food comes quickly and there is absolutely no pretension coming out of this place. That’s about as awesome a combination you could ever hope to achieve in San Francisco, especially in this current climate, the words I’ve yet to find to describe the changes.
No refined sugars, no dairy, just one of the things that make this place awesome. Got an opportunity to talk to one of the founders, super informative and exceptionally kind.
The atmosphere, the workers and the customers are all great. The food is absolutely delicious, be it simple and straight forward. The flavors are balanced and they dance. I really hope this place stays just the way it is. I feel more comfortable here than most places, it has an excellent vibe.

The open space here is GORGEOUS and the food is sourced from high quality ingredients, however, the price to food ratio is definitely not right.
I was happy to pay $ 18 for my Endives Salad + pot of tea, and thought that I would be satisfied for lunch. When the salad came, it was so small. I know it’s not the same, but I pay $ 14 for salads at blue barn and they are four times the size, generally leaving me unable to finish them.
The teas are delicious and are made to order. They are $ 4 – 5 — which I think is reasonable as they give you your own personal pot– which fills about 2 – 3 small personal cups.
Unfortunately, in regards to the food alone, If I’m going to spend good money, I’m expecting a satisfying salad. A handful of leaves, 5 tangerine slices, and a couple of blueberries isn’t going to cut it.
My girlfriend got the same thing– tea, endives salad with chicken on top, and paid $ 25.
Together we paid almost $ 50 and walked out HUNGRY.
I do like Little Gem a lot but at this rate I will probably only come here for tea or a snack. The price of the dishes are far too high for a casual spot of this nature. Granted, it’s a beautiful space, in a hot neighborhood, and the food is good — but either they decrease prices 15−20% or increase portions 15−20%.