Plouf

I started coming here maybe 15 – 20 years ago — a long time. They used to be great!!!, but sadly, both the food and service have gone downhill. Their mussels are still tasty but the size of the mussels are mostly smaller than average. They say the portion is by weight, but about 20% of them were not open. :(I was a bit embarrassed because I brought out-​of-​town guests and had talked it up so much prior. People who did not order mussels were disappointed with their food — said it was mediocre. So I think the safe bet is to order mussels and frites — the mussels with bacon is very good. Service was spotty — waitress was good, but person who served the food was abrupt and brusk.
I also had a hard time reading the bill — it was way too dark.

Its mine and my husbands favorite french restaurant in sf. We always get the mussels and clam chowder. So good!

I was advised by the concierge at the Ritz Carlton that this restaurant is a good place to come if you like mussels and they «didn’t’ disappoint.
I had the Curry Mussels bathed in a broth of white wine, chili flakes, garlic, shallots, heavy cream, lemon juice and cilantro. It was exquisite.
The meal was pricey ($ 20) for a medium sized bowl of mussels but it was worth the experience.
Happy eating!

Review only for happy hour at bar
Health Score — 96 —
Food —
4 stars — $ 1 oysters at the bar all night? DONE! Coconut mussels were delicious!
2 stars for crab cakes — not very interesting and a bit on the dry side.
Service — 4 stars — bar folks were friendly and attentive.
Ambiance — 4 stars — Adorable location down charming little SF alley. Chatted with some nice folks.
Overall Guide
5 Stars — have already made next RSVP
4 Stars — definitely returning
3 stars — would return but not first choice
2 stars — would only return if friends insisted
1 star — nope

Really not great food. Questionable preparation of the escolar (butterfish) as it tasted sour and brought out the funky notes of the fish. Wish they would replace it with another fish! Also WAY too big of a portion of the fish– it has a reputation for the SHET fish for a reason lol. I hardly touched my fish when it came out, because I was wary of the prep, etc. Otherwise, the redeeming factor of this restaurant = the mussels. The only thing I trust lol. Plouf, honestly, could be better. It is a bit expensive, but I understand due to its prime location on Belden Place. If I were to come back here, I probably wouldn’t order the escolar, because honestly, I don’t think it was prepared properly and was overcooked (way too sour tasting.) Service was hit or miss– we waited for awhile before someone ended up taking our order, but I think from then on, it was smooth sailing.
Bottom line: I’m not sure how fresh their seafood actually is, or if they just prepared it really badly. Either way, I probably won’t come here again.

I came here with my coworkers and we had a great time!
Ambiance: LOVE the outdoor covered seating with heat lamps. That is my favorite way to eat. Plouf is down this cute alley with lots of other little restaurants. I felt like I was in Italy
Drinks: We brought a bottle of wine and the corkage fee was kind of expensive ($ 20). They did have $ 6/​$ 7 glasses for happy hour which we made it in time for. We got another bottle of French red that was good, but I don’t remember the name.
Food: For appetizers we tried the truffle fries and the corn salad thing, both which were good (⁴⁄₅). The corn salad was surprisingly warm, but very similar to one I make at home so I liked it a lot. I also got 3 oysters which were simple but good (3.5÷5). They also brought us french bread which was really soft and flaky (⁴⁄₅). For my main course I got the butterfish with mushroom risotto (⁴⁄₅). It was super good and I wish I wasn’t as full when it came so I could have eaten the whole thing. I tried my friend’s steak and it was delicious– rare on the inside and crispy on the outside (⁴⁄₅)
Dessert– We tried 3: the pêche melba peach, the west coast style cheesecake and the
house baked profiteroles. I’m not a huge dessert person, but I tried them all and they were good. My favorite was the pêche melba peach, because it was light and refreshing (⁴⁄₅). My coworker really liked the profiteroles and would definitely order them again.
Overall– Really cute place and I would love to come here again!

Great Mussels. Intimate, rather 80’s décor, but great menu and even better wine list. Did I mention the moules and frites?

Service — kind of questionable. The server tried very hard but he not good at being a server. He sung happy birthday to my boyfriend and accommodated our reservation request for a booth, but was not very attentive.
The Duck was amazing. Steak was tough. Oysters were fresh. The Ambiance was cute. Good place to go with friends.

What an awesome dinner I had here the other day.
I was up in northern Cal for work and decided to take a side trip up to San Fran to visit a good friend of mine. She said she was going to surprise me regarding the place and leave it to her, she always has great taste and this is proof of that.
It’s a place tucked in an alley as an extension of a brick and mortar place and covered by a tent. You have a choice of dining in doors or under the tent where the floor was the actual alley with the asphalt and gutter drain down the middle and all. There were a couple of other restaurants on both sides of it and it reminded me of some of the restaurants in Madrid, Spain when we’d go out and dine at 10:00 at night and one place was just like this, in an alley that served an amazing paella. But I digress. Back to Plouf.
We started out in the bar where they were advertising an all night happy hour with $ 7 cocktails and $ 5 appetizer plates. My friend had made reservations on Open Table but we were a little bit early so we decided to have a cocktail as we waited. Unfortunately however, the bartender seemed very busy and we never got around to ordering before we were seated at our table in the tent area by the hostess. She was gracious though and said we could order our drinks at the happy hour price and she’d bring it to us at our table. That was sweet of her!
I had a mojito and my friend ordered the Plouf which was a lychee martini. It tasted pretty good as I tried a little of it and the mojito was pretty decent. I thought it should have been a little sweeter though.
We started the nights with an order of mussels and decided on the curry sauce. OMG, this was so delicious! If you come here, definitely order the mussels like everyone raves about because they are right. So good and I loved the curry sauce and was actually eating spoonfuls of it because it was too good to waste. I also dipped our bread in the sauce to sop up more of it too. The flavor was awesome! The mussels were exquisite too and I don’t normally eat mussels but these, I really enjoyed.
We also munched on a small caldron of pomme frites which were just okay. I think these are the ones you can get on the happy hour menu for $ 5. They weren’t very crispy but still, fries are fries and I love ‘em.
I order the Rack of Lamb, full size and my friend ordered the Coq au Vin. In hindsight she regretted her order and said she should have ordered the Steak and Lobster but I had a taste of her dish and thought it was pretty good.
The lamb was delicious. Although I prefer lamb shanks in general due to the tenderness, for a rack of lamb this was good too. It wasn’t very tender but that’s the way it is. It was very flavorful and I enjoyed my meal nonetheless.
We really enjoyed ourselves and were completely stuffed afterwards that we couldn’t even think about dessert.
If you’re looking for a place to eat in this area, try out this place. It’s a little pricey however and you might be able to find something similar at a lower price but I still would say if that’s not a concern, you’d enjoy your meal here.

This place is basically to the «T» hole in the wall restaurant. The staff was great and the atmosphere of the restaurant was spot on. I can’t give it 5 stars because I felt the price was to high for mediocre main course food. However the mussels and sides were amazing. Also the chairs were very uncomfortable. The wine was very good.

Not only is this location in awesome alley, but the food and drink is awesome as well. We really enjoyed our lunch, including a bunch of appetizers and well suggested wines. No surprise, we all got mussels, and no one was disappointed, some of the best!

My company go to place for team lunches and one of my CEO’s favorites. This is located inside a cute alley way of Belden.
You have seating outside and inside, staff is pretty friendly and gets to seated and ordered pretty quick. They are known for their delicious pots of clams/​mussels soaked in different kinds of broth! I have tried their mussels in garlic brother and their smoked salmon pancake. Super delicious and portions are generous! Their menu only have a few items, so not that much to choose from. I had their cesar salad before, don’t recommend, too salty and its honestly a few pieces of lettuce, not worth your dollaaaaa bills.
This is great place to get togethers and a cute little lunch date! Coming here again soon!

Great food. Friendly staff. Highly recommended. A big shout out to Loretta– she’s great!

I personally thought the poulette was kinda dry. The only two dishes I really enjoyed were the salmon and beef tartare. Although the salmon was very fresh I thought they could have sliced it a bit thinner. Just a personal opinion. But my favorite was the beef tartare. The beef was thinly sliced and on top was sprinkled with arugula. It came four pieces of bread (wished there was more). It was soooo light and appetizing.
The service was a bit off that day. Not quite sure why… It was a slow day too, but I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt that something was going on in the kitchen.
Overall, nice experience here. Would I come back again? Ehh. It’s coo.

Discovering the Belden restaurants is going to be fun. I really enjoyed Plouf. My companion and I sat outside, and we were next to a French father and son: good omen. I overheard the father ask the son in French if he liked his food, and the son said yes, and the father — who ordered the bouillabaisse also said he liked his. Now THAT is an excellent sign!
I started with 6 oysters on the half shell, and they were very fresh and delicious. the menu doesn’t say it, but you get a pair of 3 types, I recognized Kumamotos, another Pacific oyster I forget the name, and a third type I have no clue what it’s called. Would have been nice to know.
I proceeded with the cod, in a wonderful buttery sauce, with sauteed mushrooms and asparagus. Delish.
I helped wash down the oysters with a vodka lychee martini ($ 10.50) and the main dish with a fume blanc ($ 9).
Prices are in line with other restaurants in the area.
Service was OK, but it was extremely hard to get the waistaff attention in between courses for mid meal request (more lemon wedges, or the wine menu for example. It seems that they could use another server during the business lunch crush.

Mussels are not so great, I can cook better mussels with white wine/​garlic/​parsley at home in 15 minutes (disclaimer: I’m french and I’m cooking for a long time) …
Too pricey (50 $/​person + tips) for average food.

Cute alleyway patio reminiscent of European cafes. Thank goodness for the heavy duty heaters though.
Mussels seemed to be their speciality. The Poulette (bacon, shallot, white wine, cream) was delicious, I was drinking the broth with a spoon. The Coconut one was rich and comforting. Crab cakes were moist and had a nice kick. My stomach was happy when we left.
I felt a little tricked when they asked us if we wanted fries and garlic bread, it seemed implied that it was free, but it wasn’t. Probably would not have gotten them if not as they offer complimentary regular bread.

J’ai du mal à comprendre les commentaires élogieux.
Bouillabaisse qui n’avait d’une bouillabaisse que le nom, fadasse, sans rouille, avec des grains de je né sais pas quoi au fond, et n’importe quoi dedans (du saumon dans la bouillabaisse !!). Et du canard mal cuit et sans goût.
Ajoutez à ça des prix élevés et un service tout juste OK… il n’y a vraiment que l’atmosphère sympathique de la ruelle pour sauver Plouf de l’infamant 1 étoile. Mauvaise pioche ! J’espère qu’il y a mieux dans Belden Place.

I would place the Poulette Mussels amongst the best meals I’ve had in my life. The atmosphere is very sweet, being an alley street secluded from heavy traffic yet loud with chatter.
I also ordered sea bass with mushroom risotto. The sea bass was a little dry and maybe overcooked for my taste, but just remembering the risotto is making my mouth water. I do not have enough good things to say about that rice.
Get the mussels. Do it.
I would say that you should only come to a spot like this if you have time to sit back and relax (it is busy so the service can be on the slower side).

Went here for lunch with a friend the other day. The atmosphere is cute and has a european feel but for some reason I was not a huge fan of the place as a whole.
We each ordered a beer and then split tomato heirloom salad as an appetizer which was actually incredibly yummy. I ordered a lox sandwich with avocado, tomato, and some type of spread. I did not really care for it. There were 3 stacked pieces of bread on that sandwich… idk about you but i don’t think anyone needs that much bread. The flavor was also a little strange. The french fries were great though! My friend got beef tartare which she actually really liked.
The service wasn’t that great either. We had to search for our server after our food arrived for awhile to ask for some condiments. Overall this place is just unnecessarily expensive. I paid $ 40 for my meal (drink + app + meal + tip) which i would normally be okay spending but this place just wasn’t worth it in my opinion — there is much better food in the city.

Plouf is a french style café located on Belden Street (East Side of the San Francisco’s French Quarter). The café provides an indoor and outdoor dinning experience. They have an indoor bar and a happy hour menu.
Based on my previous visits, I had a nice time sitting in the outdoor dinning area. I enjoyed their Happy Hour menu. The Baked Oysters Rockefeller were amazing. It was cooked perfectly. The oysters were fresh. The oysters were breaded on the outside, and juicy and tender on the inside. It was not overcooked. The Prince Edward Island Mussels with Coconut Broth was wonderful. The Mussels were steamed perfectly. They were meaty and tender. They also came with an ample amount of creamy broth. The Poire Belle Helene (poached pear, ice cream, whipped cream, and nuts) was also good. Customer service was good and friendly.
This is a good place to go to if you want an european outdoor patio dinning experience. During Happy Hour, it is not too crowded. It is a nice place to relax.

cute outdoor seating, semi-​romantic, not too loud and the food was good. We shared the mussels in white wine and steak n shrimp entrée, both were tasty and nice size portions. Just skip the order of garlic bread since it’s drenched in what seemed like pesto oil. The table bread is perfectly fine for dipping into the mussels sauce.
The «alley» experience is definitely worth a visit and we plan to try more restaurants on Belden and Claude lane nearby!

We were returning to the FiDi from North Beach after Christmas shopping and we were starved. We tried to stop in Hops & Hominy, but they gave us a wait list quote of 2 hours (?!!, although I will note that it is worth the wait for those French Fries with chorizo gravy-​delicious) and then we tried B44, but they were also all booked up.
We settled on Plouf, because they were able to seat us immediately, and I had already been there once for lunch. Right out of the gates, you should know this is a mussels restaurant, although I have yet to have mussels.
We started with cocktails from their cocktail menu, and they were STRONG. That’s always a good sign.
We started with the cornmeal crusted fried oysters, served with tarragon aioli and Tabasco butter, and the French onion soup. I had the Fish ‘n’ Chips, served with French Fries, tartar sauce and malt vinegar, and for him, a shrimp entrée that doesn’t appear to be on the menu anymore.
We loved the fried oysters and the French onion soup. Highly recommend — how could Tabasco butter be bad? Answer: it can’t. I have been on a bit of a French onion soup kick as of late, and Plouf’s was great — rich, cheesy, decadent — and perfect to share.
Our entrees were likewise delicious. The Fish ‘n’ Chips was a little small for $ 18, as you only get one large piece of fish, but it was battered and fried to perfection and served smoking hot, and I couldn’t eat very much after the soup and oysters anyway, so I ended up taking it home. My boyfriend’s shrimp dish was delicious, although I can’t remember too much about it now — maybe it was the cocktails. Whoops.
The ambiance was interesting — the giant fish mounted on the wall, which you’d expect to see at a resort restaurant in Cape Cod or Maine, is sort of fun in the middle of the city. It’s definitely noticeable.
The service is good — our bread and water remained full throughout the meal. I liked that we weren’t sat on top of other patrons and Plouf did not seat the tables next to us until the restaurant began to fill up much later. It was much appreciated.
When I stopped by Plouf for lunch a few months earlier, I wasn’t overly impressed with their Caesar chicken salad or clam chowder, but I decided it wasn’t enough to warrant writing a review, bad or good. I was right. I’m glad I tried Plouf again-can’t wait to come back and try the mussels!

Resto sympa, accueil et service agreable
Les moules plouf sont delicieuces

La cuisine est excellente. Le propriétaire est francais, et le service a la francaise.
Beaucoup de choix de poisson et de vins francais, on peut aussi dejeuner sur la terrasse