Frances

Consistently perfect and delicious in the coziest, tiniest little space. Nourishing, warm, and featuring unique seasonal flavors that you won't find anywhere else in the city. Dining at Frances always puts me in a good mood, Chef Perello makes artful, happy food that is always super satisfying and interesting. Perfect for a cozy date night or treating your Mum or a bff catch up meal -- eat here with someone you love or who feels like family. I adore Frances.

Tl;Dr - Ingredient forward French-inspired dining with a noir-ish flair. Service is top notch, and the menu is fairly well executed. Unfortunately the food is too uneven and unseasoned to recommend.This one hurts a little, because it's the first time I've been out in awhile when the *only* thing missing was salt, in essence. Came out with my wife for Valentine's day, which automatically and ironically, you should take this review with a grain of salt. V-day is always a make or break for many intimate spots like this. It was a special prix fixe, so when we come back eventually I'll update this when I experience the full menu. Respectfully though, a menu is a menu, and I expect many folks to be far less forgiving here. We ordered not only the wine pairing but also all the accompaniments (caviar financier, guava oyster, but no bread course). In short, we did the whole shebang, no holds barred.The caviar was first to arrive, and was decent. A little dense but the flavor was there, albeit a tad light. The oysters came next, unfortunately tasteless, dying for some flavor. My wife tasted the guava but I was begging for some vinegar or salt of some sort, a little sandy on the shucking. Again, v-day is a nonstop rush, so I can forgive a little rushed work. It was some of the least flavorful oysters id had in awhile though, full stop. I want to pause though before I continue and state just how immensely on point service was at the beginning and throughout the entire night. You'd never of thought they'd of been working their ass off, everyone was calm, informative, and nothing was delayed. There are two side tables (best tables in the place) I asked for, and they delivered. Strongly recommend as everywhere else is too close for comfort. I hate dense 2-tops and that's 80% of the place, be forewarned.But I digress, once we moved to the appetizer course, we were presented with the fruts salad and a variety of other dishes, something with mochi and I believe sesame, and another dish. Again, none were memerable, mostly because it just lacked seasoning. The mochi was decent enough on texture alone, but a running theme is that every dish lacked a quintessential element of flavor it absolutely needed. The next course had a fantastic salad that I think personally was 1 of 2 quality dishes that evening. The soft breaded bites (Parmesan? Cheese of some sort?) lacked flavor and I found myself biting those with the salad to enjoy some of that fantastic smokey flavor. Great salad course, a little cousin to the version they do at Angler. Absolutely delicious. The biggest lull in the wine pairing was also at this point as the Hungarian wine served was either over aerated or just not of good vintage. Tasteless, I enjoyed the champagne but was not a fan at all of this. Sit down at the modest Paprika a short 10 minutes away for an idea of a good Hungarian wine to pair here. The entree for me was dish 2 of 2 I fully enjoyed. Perfectly medium rare wagyu with a flavorful sauce and an absolutely delicious puree. Carrots also perfectly done. My wife's sole was unfortunately lacking in flavor again, only truly enjoyable when paired with a bite of the roe, but again, everything could have been elevated from a 6 to a 10 with a pinch of seasoning, which leaves me confused at the basic lack of flavor that permeated the menu.For desert, the panna cotta, which unfortunately is one of my absolute favorite desserts so I eat a metric ton of these and always have a high bar. The flavors just did not mesh, it was bad on many levels. My wife liked it but I couldn't eat the creamy top with huckleberry and chocolate underbelly together without tasting a mish mash of competing flavors that cancelled themselves out. Only when I separated them did it barely work. Again I want to underscore that everything here was fantastic, they treated us amazingly, I think they just need either a better chef or a better expo. Fundamental issues with flavor I just cannot overlook at this price point. They work too damn hard to put food out like this. I think it could just be the day to be honest, so I would strongly reserve a final judgement until I've tried the full menu and I fully intend to do so, but it might take awhile. SF is tough and first impressions are weighty. One last shout out would go to the final wine pairing that I think was the absolute gem of the evening. They wrote it down for me as a kind gesture, an amazingly well balanced desert wine that had more flavor and balance than anything I had the entire evening. For this, I am truly thankful for the experience and I wish them the best. Thank you for a lovely evening and we truly appreciated it.

Uncomfortable dining experience. Tables are crammed together and you can hear absolutely everything being discussed around you. It's distracting, difficult to not be rude, and it partially ruined the experience.The food itself was underwhelming, and to be honest, I can't understand why this restaurant is so revered.

Modern and buzzy space that felt warm and inviting. Service was prompt and professional. The food was tasty and fresh. The serving sizes are pretty small. Our server provided that guidance so we felt satisfied with our portions splitting amongst three people.

Neighborhood, Service and ambiance excellent but the portion size is out of control. I can eat whole entrees in 3 bites. We got the beef and salmon entrees and both you could eat in 2-3 bites. Every bite delicious, but 3 bites nonetheless. So not a return for me cuz I don't want to be still be hungry

Came on a Friday night with reservation at 6 and got seated right away. The tables are definitely close together, but I expected this after seeing some reviews and photos on yelp. Got a gift card from my boss here because it's her favorite restaurant, and the food looked good so I was happy to try it. I had never heard of Frances until then.My boyfriend and I did the chef's tasting menu, $95/person. The only reason I'm giving this place 4 stars is because the cold/raw seafood first course was such a miss for me. The oysters had too much going on, and it didn't taste as fresh as I've had before. The mussel was just ok. The cold shrimp was not very flavorful.However, the scallop crudo tasted super fresh, and I liked the sauce it was in and the shaved turnip gave it a good crunch. The salmon collar we got was also SO good! It had some type of anchovy sauce on top I believe.The second course was a wedge Caesar and fettuccine bolognese (off menu). The Caesar was delicious, and the pasta was so yummy and you could tell it was homemade. The meat in the sauce was so good too. The king Ora salmon entree came with a small side of potatoes, green beans, and salmon roe. It was all delicious. It also came with a side of corn riblets which were yummy too.Since we were celebrating my birthday, they gave us 2 free chocolate cookies with sea salt. So yummy! And the dessert with the tasting menu was a chocolate mochi cake with strawberry ice cream. I loved the ice cream and the cookies more than the mochi cake. But it was still ok. The ambiance between 6-8 was not too loud and not too dark since it was still light outside, but I read some reviews that it does get loud the later it gets. It didn't seem too loud when we were there though.The service is excellent. Everyone is super attentive, super friendly, and super knowledgeable of the menu. The only other thing about dinner that surprised me was when our server asked if we wanted bread, I said yes. She said it was a sourdough levain, which is always a good choice. It was tasty and so soft. And the butter they serve with it has fleur de sel which is always good. However, when the bill came, I realized that it wasn't complimentary. It was $8. Just something to be aware of!

Read about the new renovation of Frances in a news article and went on a Sunday night. They did a great job renovating this small place in the Castro with very small tables for two and is super vibrant, and the meal was fantastic, service was good. We had a great meal and everything was just outstanding. The best things were probably the vegetables, the Little Gem salad was just outstanding, the pole bean appetizer was wonderful. The chickpea frites and the bacon beignets were great. The halibut was perfect and the steak was great. Love the duck it was perfectly medium rare. We had an amazing time!

WoW. This is true SF dining. Incredible dishes with simplistic flavors. The soup blew me away. And the vibration is high in this quaint little spot. Would go back any day of the week. Oh! Get the bacon balls. Trust and believe.

We've been coming here for 15 years and it's gone downhill. Both the food quality and the service, which is a shame because it used to be the go to place in the neighborhood. The worst part is the nickel and diming. We sat at the bar and saw the waitress pour our wine, which ended up being just above the standard pour. So what did she do? Instead of giving a little extra she poured it out (and then some) and drank it herself -- in front of us!! Then what she gave us was well below 5 ounces. And there's a 7% surcharge for this service... the food quality and the service used to be the draw but no more.

My wife and I attended a Harvey Milk memorial vigil right in the Castro and were hungry and filled with love. We searched Yelp for mere sustenance, but found something truly divine and pleasurable in Frances a block away. Innovative dishes made with love and expertise. Warm, bustling, intimate space. Excellent service. Reservations recommended.