Pierre Coste Room

Lunch today at the Pierre Coste room at CCSF, while visiting from Philadelphia.
This is a working classroom restaurant specializing in fine dining, and the students and faculty do a wonderful job.
While the dining room itself is a little dated, all the tables had beautiful spring flowers and linens. We were seated quickly and offered a choice of artesan breads — the black pepper Parmesan was very good.
The menu offered salads, sandwiches, and entrees.
An amuse bouche of goat cheese and artichoke was well proportioned and intriguing.
I ordered the risotto and it was creamy and flavorful, with the rice done to just the correct tenderness. But my husband won lunch with the grilled salmon and pappardelle, which was a very generous portion of salmon in a tomato and roasted vegetables sauce. His comment was that the salmon was obviously freshly grilled to order, and had excellent grill char.
The dessert cart was beautifully presented and we chose the crème brûlée and blueberry tart. I won dessert with the crème brûlée, and it is easily as good as the version served at Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia. With a nice tink-​tink-​tink when you tap your spoon on the sugar top, which was flamed to order by the dessert chef.
The blueberry tart was lovely as well.
Foodies in San Francisco are very lucky to have this restaurant to support. I love seeing a college putting so much into preparing their students for a worthwhile career, our compliments to the department chair and staff.

Today’s Fall Buffet was fabulous! So many mouth watering offerings. The flavors and of the seafood salad, chicken in a wild mushroom sauce and roasted asparagus are etched in my taste bud memories.
I couldn’t decide if I liked the apple tart or pumpkin cheesecake best. The chocolate pots de crème was so chocolatety and not too sweet. A passion fruit macaron rounded out my selection. Wish I had room for the Buche de Noël, maybe next year!
Today was my fourth dining experience in 2 years. It is a charming dining room. The staff (of students) serve up good food and pleasant service.
Support the students and the program. Make a reservation soon!

Mangifique! I am so pleased that the former ‘Statler Wing’ for faculty dining has been opened up democratically for all. Every time I have been there it really has been a very pleasant experience. It is student run and as students, I feel they are really trying their best and succeeding!
I am ‘poor boy’ student on fixed income. Despite this as it is more pricy than other places on campus, I shall on all equinoxes and solstices or other special occasions go out of my way and make my portmonae suffer, I want to enjoy this experience!
Gambetta! Keep up the excellent work!
Thanks!

A lunch off the beaten path…@ CCSF (City College of San Francisco) Ocean Ave. campus.
I had the delight of dining @ Pierre Coste for lunch, the service (while not polished) is very accommodating. At our table chicken w/​spatzle & baby carrots, grilled pork chops w/​spatzle, and duck over Pappardelle.
Each dish good & tasty. The pork was particularly flavorful, combined with spatzle it was the best dish. Spatzle (also spelled Spaetzle) is proof positive that German’s do like pasta, or perhaps dislike the Italian’s enough to have created their own version of Italy’s national dish.
The Pappardelle was undercooked (as in way undercooked) which was likely to do with the common perception that all pasta must be cooked «al dente’, or the chef’s fear of overcooking the thin delicate Pappardelle strips. Cooking it properly requires experience, but it doesn’t hurt to sample it as it cooks to ensure the sweet spot is hit… between undercooked and mushy. When we pointed out the pappardelle phopaa, the server & floor manager quickly replaced the dish with another Pork/​Spatzle. Not so much as flinching or asking more detail, they delivered superior customer service.
Didn’t try one of the beautiful deserts, but they were tempting.
4 Stars, not because of Gary Danko or French Laundry experience, but because it is the students from the culinary & hospitality departments who put the restaurant together and run it as a project. The students are doing their best at running a full service restaurant from preparing the food, set up, and serving.
Please support CCSF & Pierre Coste at this time of transition & change related to the quest to reinstate accreditation. While not sure when they take place but a dinner at the CCSF’s Educated Palette (5^th Street & Mission St) in downtown San Francisco is worth trying as well.

As a student of CCSF for almost half a decade now, I support and value all the little things this campus has offered me.
Granted, I’m not pursuing a career in the culinary field but the students and teachers that tend and operate the whole campus culinary system has been my main source of food throughout my many semesters. Also, you guys have steered me clear off McDonald’s too!
Off the bat, I just want to say:
If you’ve never had a fine dining experience or never went to a fancy shmancy $$$$ restaurant before, (were all college students here, remember?) then you should consider grabbing some buddies and try this place out. Yes, you’ll be pocketing out a few more hard earned bucks for your meal, but the experience itself is of it’s own.
Now duly note that this will NOT be a Michelin starred service, but actual students still learning the ropes. But because of this, all of these future Iron and Master-chef’s in-​training are very kind, courteous, and will produce a dining experience out of your daily norm, compared to grabbing a usual bite from the Campus Cafeteria. You’ll leave with the sense of how a real fine dining restaurant is suppose to run and set your expectations higher.
My hats off to you, current and future culinary students, for more than just bringing the fine dining experience onto a community campus, but for pursuing such a difficult field and becoming the future of food and service as we know it.

I freakin’ love this place! They always have a nice little amuse bouche for you to try and the food is great.
I also like that it’s never very crowded in here. I guess the thought of paying an extra buck or two over the regular cafeteria keeps the riff raff out.
The only downside: Service can be a little overbearing. You will be peppered with questions throughout the meal. They keep coming up and asking «More bread?» «More water?» «Can I take this plate?» Please, only ask me about the bread once. Yes, if the water glass is empty go ahead and fill it. And an empty, used plate that has not even a speck of food left? Please don’t ask permission to take it, just take it.
Of course, since they’re students I’m cutting them some slack on this point. Probably the professor or whoever runs the show makes then ask. Anyways, I’ll keep coming back for more delicious!

I had another fab lunch here today (a bowl of seafood chowder and a falafel wrap.) I was happy to see they now take Visa and Mastercard. Way more convenient!
And, they had live music, which is apparently a regular thing they do on Fridays.

I was thinking of giving this place three stars, but a.) Coming from me that’s a really low rating, and b.) I think they deserve an extra star for effort and on account of them being students.
The atmosphere is lovely, and the staff is really friendly. I love their bread (get the focaccia if they have it), but the main course… needs a little work.
I went on Wednesday, September 29^th and got the seasonal special, grilled flank steak with mashed potatoes and deep fried mushrooms. I don’t know if the students read these reviews, but if they do, this is for them.
Guys:
The steak was cooked pretty well, but it desperately needs either a marinade or a much more potent rub.
Good call on putting truffle oil in the potatoes. They’re quite tasty! You need to mash them more, though.
The mushrooms… Interesting idea, definitely worth a try, but… No. Seriously, no. Sauteed, maybe, but not deep fried.
Other than that, you did a great job!
To the pastry chefs: I got the strawberry creampuffs for dessert. Between them and the focaccia bread, I have no complaints whatsoever. You’re a credit to your chosen profession, guys. Keep up the good work!

Student run, both the cooking and the service, and I totally support that passion. I wish I could Unilocal them higher.
The service was great. Very warm and friendly. No complaints there. But the food was a fortunate miss. I had the turkey sandwich for takeout, and felt this sneaking suspicion to check my box before leaving. I didn’t, and when I got home, discovered they left off the cranberry relish (what I wanted) and left on the gravy (what I didn’t want). Also included was a soggy piece of lettuce (which just might be part of the deal for getting takeout), and a few pieces of fruit, not exactly what I’d call a side. I was very disappointed.
I hope others have a better experience. I support what they do, but if you offer food for takeout, my expectation is you are making the food as the customer requests, and that is part of the learning curve. The heart is certainly there, but the execution has some work to be done.