St. Vincent

I’m only giving this place 3 stars because compared to the OLD SV, it’s not as good.
That being said, the wine selection is outstanding. The snacks (while there aren’t many) are tasty and cooked to perfection. :)
My friend and I do miss the old SV, though, as we used to go there for dinner 1/​wk (she lives behind it!)
They don’t have enough food there to really satisfy a dinner craving, but it’s an awesome place to hang out before dinner or to kill time in the area.

Fantastic small plates paired with outstandingly curated wine. I’m not usually so bowled over by wine but tonight’s suggestions were delicious and affordable. I’ve never had farrotto before (a farro version of risotto), but Giovanni’s was delicious. The roasted veggie salad and cannelini bean soup were also outstanding. Attentive service and a lovely room.

Very good (5 star) décor, service and overall ambience, but the food is not impressive. Not bad, for sure. But not impressive either. A passing grade but not wow… 3.5 stars

Looking for a place that was walkable and would take a res made at 6 for later that night at 8, I was super happy to get a spot at St Vincent.
We were lucky enough to get seats at the Chef’s Counter, and loom in as dishes like Tartine Bread smeared with delicious Foie Gras and rich Gnocchi with Asparagus and Steak Tartare served with crisp toast points. My favorite dish were the chicken wings that had a citrus flavor combined with the menagerie of dried peppers atop each piece.
The wine accompanying was another standout element of the meal. I’ll definitely be back to St Vincent! See you there!

What a gem. I hate big complicated menus that confuse me and take too much time away from the experience. We snuck in on a night when the mission was easy to deal with cause burning man was in and the hipsters were out of town. Found a couple great bar seats with a fantastic view of the kitchen magicians. Watching them prepare their masterpieces was like a trip to the theater. I loved when the oven would open and magical meat materialized for main dishes. The owner a wonderful conduct I spent time with is sharing some of the wisely chosen libations that make up the backbone of the establishment. Being a beer fan I couldn’t be happier with the variety of highly sought after and fairly priced brews that I have hooked many of my novice friends on. Traditionally, my husband and I share dishes to better cover any great experience without using up all the room in our bellies. We shared 3 dishes and each was as good if not better than the last. You could use the menu as a dart board and find delight in any mark hit. The pâté was Devine, even the bread accompanying it was detailed and delectable. I honestly fell into a food and beverage coma at this time and will have to refresh my memory to accurately tell you more about the outing but not to fear I’ll update and in the mean time find a way to get there and see for yourself the masterpiece of the ambiance the team and the provisions provided for your enjoyment. Bravo to my new favorite spot in the city!

This was our second time here and again we had fantastic service and amazing food. Our server’s wine suggestions were spot on and paired perfectly with our food.
We started with the oysters, the beef tartare, and the duck terrine. The tartare and terrine were excellent — the mix of flavors was wonderful (the tartare was so good that we practically licked the plate clean). We really wanted to try the Boquerones, too, but felt that maybe four small plates combined with entrees would be too much for us… so our server gave us an order on the house! They were yummy.
The Game Hen was moist and delicious, and the corn tasted like it had just come from the garden. The Rockfish was served with a lovely peppery/​tomato sauce that required a bit of extra bread to soak up all the goodness.

I went with a large group a few weeks ago, at the recommendation of my cousin. As I walked by Arizmendi next door, I wondered whether I would have enjoyed grabbing something from there more. (Spoiler alert: I would have.) The food at St. Vincent was fine, but nothing special at all. I found the portion sizes to vary based on the dish, despite their placement in the same categories. In general, though, I found the food to flavorful but not memorable, and generally too small for the price point. Not a place I need to return to.

This is my hubby and my favorite date night place. First off the food is glorious and genius! David the awesome owner is always around doing odd jobs and supporting his staff. This guy was the sommelier for Mario Battali in NYC. The wine list is just superb. I fact the food experience is build around the wine! If you know wine this will be a rather lovely experience.
You must go and check out the menu this season as everything thing is seasonal. The beef tartar to die for!

Nice atmosphere. Service is great.
Great list of wines.
The dick saussages are awesome. Nevertheless some other dishers were just OK and a bit boring for the price.

I give this place two stars, thanks to the good wine I found: Domaine de l’Ecu Muscadet ($ 12). It was super crisp and light, exactly what I was looking for.
The food on the other hand is another story. There’s aren’t many entrée options, the only completely vegetarian/​pescetarian/​non red meat entrée was the gnocchi. C’mon SF restaurants, the gnocchi is kind of getting boring. It’s every restaurant’s default non-​meat dish.
So I ended up getting two appetizers:
Tuna Crudo — delicious. The tuna was paired with sweet beets and tangy bergamot oranges.
Aromatic Spiced Chicken Wings — the flavoring was great, the cooking was terrible. My chicken was bloody, and not just one piece, multiple pieces. I called this out to the server, who showed no emotion and didn’t apologize. I guess it’s routine for them.
Dessert — we only had two choices, this hazelnut semifreddo and strawberry shortcake. With a table for 5, we decided to get one of each. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Maybe they should switch to a wine and app bar, versus a restaurant.
Also this is my 2^nd reservation here. The first time, I made a reservation a month in advance, and they called me a week before to cancel since they were shutting down for the night. This time, they just forgot to call us to confirm. But thankfully they did have a table for us. Like I said, it doesn’t really seem like a restaurant, more like a wine bar.

Given that I had previously been to a great pop up experience from @theotherguys, I was eager to give St. Vincent another try (my first dining experience fell short to what I was expecting) knowing that they have taken over the kitchen.
I absolutely love the atmosphere in the restaurant. If you are looking for a place to take a date, this is a great spot. Dimly lit and cozy setting. I had not noticed the chef’s counter on my previous visit, but on my next visit, I plan to call ahead and see if we can get a spot there, as I love watching the chef’s prepare the food.
I cannot say anything negative about the service. It was superb.
As for the wine, we shared a bottle of the Lo-​Fi Gamay/​Pinot. Very inexpensive, yet amazing bottle of wine. Highly recommend.
As for the dishes, everything was a hit. We shared the following:
The Chicken Wings. Get them. Tangy with just the right amount of spice. I’d come back just for the wings, they were that good.
The Charred Broccoli. Had to have some greens, and with the mustard jus, a great flavor combination.
The Duck Breast. Cooked perfectly.
The Potato Gnocchi. The highlight for us. Hot damn the asparagus on the dish was amazing.
Chocolate Semifreddo for dessert.
…oh, and thank you for the Oyster starter as a ‘gift’ for me. Not sure what I did to deserve it, but it was lovely.

Fantastic experience. Called for a late reservation on a Saturday night. They were able to accommodate us at the Chef’s bar which I highly recommend doing if it’s just two of you. My husband and I walked in and from that moment on we were treated like royalty. Fantastic service from the serving staff and the head chef! The rose wine was fantastic. The starters were heavenly– oysters, clams, and crab in a luxurious brown butter hollandaise sauce. The aromatic fried chicken was AMAZING! The citrusy herb flavor was intoxicating. The pork belly was tender and the cod was perfectly cooked & so fresh. We finished off the night with the semi-​freddo with the paired wine. Wasn’t a huge fan of the dessert wine as it had a brandy flavor/​kick to it. Overall so glad we found this neighborhood gem. My husband & I had a great time and will definitely be coming back.

I’m all about second chances. I’ve been trying to convince my husband to give St. Vincent another go for a while now. This past weekend he finally caved, and man am I glad he did!
Our second experience was AMAZING! Night and day from our past experience. Each and every dish we received was so fresh and full of flavor. The service was also exceptional. The waitress was very attentive and friendly, and more than happy to offer her advice on which wines to order.
Aromatic Spiced Chicken Wings with sansho pepper, dried lemon ($ 15) — 4 stars. Perfectly seasoned, with a pleasant tang of citrus. My husband was in love with these (they are similar to those served at Hog & Rocks if you’re familiar; but I think my husband would choose these over those).
Pork Belly with wilted spinach, maitake, warm sherry vinaigrette ($ 16) — 4.5 stars. Wow, this dish was fantastic. SO good and well balanced.
Duck Breast with poppy seed spaetzle, kale, sauerkraut, persimmon, cracklings ($ 28) — 5 stars. So we intended to order the duck sausage, but the waitress said they were out. However, in its place, they were serving the dish with duck breast. I’m almost glad they ran out of sausage, as I can’t imagine this dish any other way. It was so wonderful; loved every bite.
Tartine Bread and Cultured Butter ($ 4) — 3.5 stars. I thought the bread was good, but not as great as other Tartine bread I’ve had. Would still order again, as it’s a nice accompaniment to the meal
For wine, we had the waitress bring us both a glass of red and a glass of white to share between the two of us. I don’t recall the names of either, but both were Italian and both were very quality wines. Loved the white so much we ended up ordering a second (which surprised us, as we tend to lean red over white).
Overall, I’m so glad that we gave this place another go and that it blew us out of the water the second time. We will definitely be back for a second time. I’m thinking our first disappointment may have been due to the fact we went on a Monday or a Tuesday, and it could have also been between season or something like that. My third time around, I’ll make sure to be cognizant to make a reservation on a Fri or Sat, as well as take a peak of the menu beforehand.

I recently dined at St. Vincent and had a great experience. The menu is definitely modern american «fancy» pub fare, which I loved. I tried the tuna, the kohlrabi salad, the beef tartare, the pork belly, chicken wings, and the duck sausage. With the exception of the chicken wings, that I didn’t particularly care for, everything was phenomenal. The dishes took traditional concepts and added a few innovative twists to them. The beef tartare and the duck sausage specifically, were fabulous.
The service at St. Vincent was on par as well. We ordered a bunch of small plates throughout the meal, and the timing on delivery was spot on. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a fun place to enjoy a delicious meal.

We made an 8pm reservation on a Thursday for two with just a few hours’ notice. They were running a little behind and we got sat around 8:15pm.
I’ve always loved this spot – a hidden little romantic gem – but haven’t come back since their chef changed. I wasn’t blown away and didn’t notice any huge changes, but then again I didn’t get a very large sample size of the menu.
STARTERS
* Charred Broccoli (crispy wild rice, potato, grain mustard cider jus. $ 14) — 3.5 stars
pic:
I tried a couple bites of this with mixed results. The first was a piece of broccoli, which was soggy and tasted quite sour (it was quite drenched in what must have been the mustard cider jus). The second was cauliflower, which was much more crisped and seasoned with a savory flavor that balanced the mustard cider jus nicely. I guess overall a good mix of flavors, but make sure you get a good mix of them all!
ENTREES
* Duck Breast (spaetzle, kale, sauerkraut, persimmon, cracklings. $ 28) — 4 stars
pic:
Each piece of duck breast was delicious – tough yet tender meat, with a strip of crisp skin. A red sauce was drizzled on top, which I think was the persimmon, and this was very sweet, almost too much so! The mixture of spaetzle, kale, sauerkraut, and cracklings gave it a hint of German flavorings with a modern twist. You had the chewy pasta, crispy pieces, and a mix of sour and savory flavors. There’s a lot going on in this dish, but the best part was truly the quality of the duck breast!
DESSERTS:
* Persimmon Bread (cardamom anglaise, sour cream, black sesame. $ 7) — 3 stars
pic:
Very underwhelming! This reminded us of a fruit cake. It was essentially a brownie-​sized piece of cake sitting in sweet liquid with some colors and pieces swirling around. I couldn’t taste the cardamom, and there were a few specks of black sesame drizzled on top. The bread was dense and would have been quite dry if it weren’t sitting in the anglaise liquid. The sour cream on top was a bit of a savior, adding a nice coating on top of the bread to give it some substance and bit of texture.
Dinner menu:

I’ve been to St Vincent a couple of times, and it’s a great, cozy spot for dinner, bites and/​or drinks. I’ve been for all! A run-​down on my thoughts:
Pros:
— Veggie starters like the chicories and charred broccoli were the dishes I liked the most; they had a lot of flavor and depth
— Good wine list with less common Italian options
— Attentive service
— Generally easy to get a reservation so a good choice if you’re looking for a place on short notice
Other things of note:
— Didn’t love my black cod entrée. One of the challenges may be that there are so many great black cod entrees out there, this one didn’t stack up.
Would definitely go again!

I’m vegetarian.
Charred Broccoli, $ 14 — 5 stars
–SUPER Yummy
–Loved the variety in vegetables (there was cauliflower in there too)
–Loved the crispy wild rice
–Loved the yummy «grain mustard cider jus»
Butter Bean Stew, $ 23 (½ order = $ 12) — 3.5 stars
–REALLY big portion
–the waiter let me get a half order and it still was enough to fill me up (along w/​the broccoli) with a little bit leftover
–The butter beans are red, not white (which is more common)
–Texture of beans was great
–The fried egg (whole egg is fried) with the oozing yolk was done just right
…I think I personally feel that butter beans go better w/​lighter flavors than sauerkraut, though… glad I didn’t get the full order!
Persimmon Bread: cardamom anglaise, sour cream, black sesame, $ 7 — 3 stars
–was a bit nervous about sour cream being on my dessert but went fairly well
–neither me nor my friend liked this dish upon first bite but it did grow on me
–do yourself a favor and try the other option as a higher priority though, as neither of us felt it was a great end to the meal…
Service was fairly good, liked our first waiter better than our 2^nd (shifts must have switched half way.)
Wait for food was slightly longer than I had hoped.

The food had a couple misses but most of them were creative and delicious. The highlights were the prawn salad, grilled squid, vinegar pork and the ham chop. The misses were the sea bass and pickled eggs.
Service was good, not great. I had to flag down someone for things here and there but they did check in with us a few times in between.
Get the milk and honey for dessert. It’s ice cream served with a honey cookie. The honey cookie was awesome. Skip the waffle. The panna cotta was good but I had better.
I wish they would have a few more non-​alcoholic drink options and perhaps make a few in-​house sodas.
If you like beer, wine and good food, this place is for you.

The wine at St. Vincent stood out more than the food. I’d give the food 3.5 stars.
* Pickled eggs — $ 3 each, available in either curry or beet + horseradish.
Just okay. I liked the curry better, but I didn’t like either that much.
* Homemade pretzel, spicy mustard, butter — $ 5
Very fluffy. The mustard was quite spicy. I would order this again.
* Sunchokes confit in beef fat, soft cooked egg, gulf bottarga — $ 13
The sunchokes were deliciously crispy. The soft cooked egg was very good but unfortunately below room temperature rather than warm or hot. I didn’t think the bottarga added much. I found the dish too salty overall, and the bottarga added to the saltiness.
* «Hot chicken #1,» bread + bitter pickles, buttermilk biscuit — $ 23
The chicken was very moist. The biscuit was soft and delicious. I didn’t like how the chicken was served in a shallow pool of chili oil though.
* Grilled ham chop, apple, collard greens, spoonbread — $ 28
The ham was delicious, but the accompaniments were only okay.
The wine selection is large. A few wines are available by the glass, but any wine under $ 100 is available by the half bottle. I appreciated how knowledgeable our server was about wine. My bf described the types of reds we like to the server, and she coincidentally brought out a wine that the two of us had tried and liked on a recent Healdsburg trip. We opted to try something new instead, and we ended up liking both of the wines she recommended to us that night.

2.5 STARS
I’ve been wanting to try St. Vincent since they opened last year. However, the fact that it shares the name as «the ex» who’s as far as bring a saint as Miley Cyrus doing her gawd awful twerk kept me at bay. Miley Hunny, it ain’t cute when you got no booty to pop.
I know I shouldn’t trust Michael Bauer but his recent upgrade to 3 stars for St. Vincent and a glance of the menu to see uni on there was rather enticing. The chef comes from Bar Tartine which I love so I thought we give St. Vincent a shot since it was on the way home from work.
Walking into St. Vincent, it immediately reminded me of SPQR. The space is long and narrow with regular tables against the wall, a communal table in the center, a bar area, and a chef’s counter in the back. The space is rustic and dark. The older I get, the more intolerant I get with loud restaurants; this was not the case at St. Vincent was it was easy to maintain a convo and the R&B background music was at a perfect volume.
The menu changes regularly according to seasonal ingredients with bar bites, salads, appetizers, five entrees, and several sides. Portion sizes were generous for a restaurant in this $$$ category. I’m not a wine connoisseur but if you are, then you will love St. Vincent’s «100 bottles under $ 100» wine list.
While everyone has different tastes, I’m a little baffled by all the 5 star reviews. Umm, did I go to the right restaurant? Some dishes were unremarkable whereas others had funky ingredient combinations that didn’t work, and one-​dimensional flavored dishes: salt! I wish more people posted pictures of their dishes on Unilocal because I otherwise wouldn’t have ordered what I did.
We started with the Housemade Pretzel w/​Spicy Mustard & Butter ($ 5):
which I liked better than Monk Kettle’s rendition. The sesame seeds and the cultured butter really made this pretzel simply delicious. What got me in the door was the Uni Toast w/​Ozark Apple, Cultured Butter & Horseradish ($ 14):
which was a huge disappointment. The uni was pristine quality but it got lost in the myriad of other ingredients, including the bread that was just way too carb heavy for something so delicate. The Shrimps «In Saor», Taylor’s Gold Pears & Celery Leaves ($ 13):
fared a little better but needed citrus to brighten up the app.
Then, came the entrees which brought our meal way downhill (for me at least). I’m trying to eat less meat so I ordered the Ling Cod w/​Roasted Beets ($ 24):
. I was a bit surprised to see the fish drenched in a wine reduction-​like gravy (very salty) better suited for a steak. The ling cod (not a true cod) was cooked well with a nice, firm flakiness but the sauce completely ruined the lightness of this dish. The accompanying beets were incredibly salty making them nearly inedible.
Mr. NSS’ Hot Chicken #1 w/​B+B Pickles & Buttermilk Biscuit ($ 23) seem to be St. Vincent’s take on Korean Fried Chicken (KFC):
. Just like the fish, the chicken was cooked well and very moist but there was just too much heavy batter and the sauce had no flavor other than salty heat. I didn’t like his dish but he gobbled it up. He loves fast food and loves eating Colonel Sander’s KFC cold the next day so it’s just a matter of preference I suppose.
I read several reviews raving about the Milk & Honey: Malted Ice Cream, Honeycomb ($ 7) so we ordered that for dessert:
. Sorry, I wasn’t keen on this either. I couldn’t put my finger on it but it had a weird taste to it and the «honeycomb» reminded me of a Butterfinger candy bar. Not in a good way either.
Thankfully, service was great. The hostess was super sweet and the rest of the staff was very attentive.
2.5 stars for the food but rounding up because of the great staff and ambiance.
On the upside, St. Vincent is located next door to Arizmendi Bakery (best pizza ever!) and Anthony’s Cookies (best cookies ever!) is just 1 ½ blocks away. Except I got neither. Not that my badonkadonk needs it…*Le Sigh*