SSAL

My husband and I live in the neighborhood and decided to treat ourselves to a nice Sunday dinner. This place is amazing - it has a Michelin star for a reason! Every single thing we ate was delicious and explained in painstaking detail by our knowledgeable waiters. They even brought out the live eel we would be eating that night for us to see! The space is minimalist and cozy with just a few wooden tables. This means you can actually speak with your table and hear them! Hooray for good acoustics. The restaurant ended the meal by taking a photo of us in front of the kitchen, which we got to take home - what a lovely touch! This was a long meal (almost 4 hours) and expensive but it really felt worth it! It was so special and memorable, really unlike any other restaurants we've been to.

Decided the return and try SSAL again after they transitioned from ala carte menu to a tasting menuWe decide to reserve a table here for our anniversary celebration. It was a very intimate restaurant with only about 8 or so tables. I love the sleek and minimalistic decor. Some of the highlights from dinner:oyster eel wrapped in seaweedDungeness crab porridge with uni and truffle ariscault croissant with injeolmi butter Overall, I like this modern take on Korean food, but compared to other Michelin places I've been I don't think the price was justified.

I got here for a surprise dinner mid November to celebrate my birthday. TLDR: some dishes were good, but many were salty or felt a bit clumsy for the price. Service also felt a bit clumsy. Food:For a restaurant named SSAL (which means rice in Korean), I wasn't too impressed with the Rice dish. The rice tasted a bit bland like it needed. Some kind of salt or need just a tiny bit. More time in a rice cooker. The eel that came with it seemed overcooked and had a big fish bone that shouldve been removed before it got to my dish if executed well.. but overall, the flavors felt too one dimensional and a bit boring.I was most happy with their Bingsoo (Korean shaved ice). in terms of books, it's not that remarkable, but the flavor and texture was so on point. I wish I could've had more. Service:One of the other reasons I wasn't happy with the rice course was because the server dropped (wasted) a bunch of the rice onto the tray while mixing and portioning it out from the stone(?) pot it came in. See photos attached. Given that they emphasize that this is some special rice from Korea I was disappointed that they wouldn't take care to not waste a single grain. also, in general, all the servers seemed either nervous or less experienced. They didn't seem to know much about the menu or the ingredients. For a place serving Korean food I wish the service would be able to speak to each of the ingredients and dishes overall, and tell a story about each dish. Said in a different way, if I just wanted to know the name of the dishes, I might as well just be handed the menu at the beginning of the meal rather than at the end so that I could read along. Ambiance: When we walked in, we realized it was a pretty intimate space with only a few tables. Decor was pretty minimal, but I don't mind that. However, what caught me off guard was how stern/tense sounding the chefs were, when they announced a dish was ready for serving. Might be just a preference, so this still wasn't a biggieOverall:i'm not sure if I would want to visit again . I've been to my fair share of one star Michelin restaurants, and some have been better than others. This was a solid average, but for the price, it wasn't that satisfying.

We decided to try SSAL when we were in San Francisco recently, and it was an absolutely fantastic dinner. It's hard to find Korean fine dining executed well, but SSAL has got it down.The tasting menu at SSAL draws inspiration from a wide range of Korean cuisine, and there's really good variety of flavors and textures. Every course was a delightful surprise, and everything was absolutely exquisite. The amount of food and the time between courses courses is perfect.The service was exceptional and they do a really excellent job of presenting and explaining each dish. The servers were super friendly and welcoming, but professional at the same time. We were also the last table to start and leave, but at no point did we ever feel rushed. Overall it was an amazing dinner, and SSAL's tasting menu is an exceptional example of elevated Korean fine dining. Every course was delicious, aesthetically pleasing, and presented well. We'll definitely be back again soon!

I reserved a table for two on Saturday night for a special occasion via Tock which required a $300 deposit. The whole experience was about 2.5 hours, and I felt that each dish was nicely timed from one another. The restaurant had a very intimate vibe with tables spread out nicely from other guests and 2000s R&B music playing the night we dined.The tasting menu was about $340 in total per person which included a 20% service charge. They offered an optional galbi add-on which we passed on - the tasting menu itself was definitely enough food to make us full. Photos of all dishes from our tasting menu are included except for the bingsu.They give you a list of the dishes at the end of the experience, so you'll be surprised and taught about each dish as they come out. My favorite dishes were the "Wagyu Tartare, Asian Pear, Father's Sesame Oil" and the "Striped Jack, Sungold, Sweet 100, Tomato Kombucha". They give you hand towels when required and switch out your utensils for almost every course. Each of the courses were beautifully presented. I was a bit disappointed with the "Smoked Sablefish, Sea Scallop, Kimpo Yeaju" as there were multiple fish roe that had a hard texture and wasn't able to be bit into and popped, as well as the "Sweet Potato Pancake, Kaluga Caviar" as the filling overtook the caviar taste and texture completely for me. There were a few other dishes that I thought were fine, but nothing spectacular about them besides that they were presented well. They gave us a polaroid souvenir at the end of the night which was super cute and offered my partner two small sandwich cookies with a candle for his birthday. Overall, I personally felt that the cost was too expensive for the experience especially since there were only a handful of the dishes that I truly liked on the tasting menu. Unfortunately, we both got slight stomach aches which woke us up in the middle of the night and rather ruined the overall experience for us. TLDR; we got a stomach ache and didn't personally think the cost was worth the menu we received but the overall service and presentation was good otherwise.

Came here for a birthday dinner and boy is it a delight! It's a Michelin star restaurant and I can really see why. Every dish had such interesting flavors or textures that really made me wanting more. Highly recommend for a special meal! I think the only negative is that it's quite expensive for a one Michelin star meal. Roughly $400 per person with the extra $50 galbi supplement and we didn't order any drinks. Parking is also difficult around here and they don't have valet so I'd recommend arriving at least 15 minutes earlier.

I'm not trying to be over dramatic but the day I ate here was the best day of my life. You truly get what you pay for here and it is nothing short of perfection. The service is first class as the staff takes time to greet you, check in on you and even inquire on how you've been or any recent life changes as if you were an old friend. Each dish was a 10/10 knock out of the park with a blend of flavor and texture. They have a meticulous process for crafting each dish and we were both stuffed at the end! Exactly what you'd want from a meal like this, would love to come back and bring everyone I know. The space has limited seating per night so guests have enough room to eat comfortably without overhearing noise from other guests. The mood lighting keeps the atmosphere pleasant and relaxed as well. Would recommend!

We came here for a birthday celebration. Hidden in plain sight on Polk street, SSAL presents a balanced, delicious tasting menu highlighting traditionally Asian ingredients and flavors. While some tasting menus feel too rich or sometimes more of a creative experiment than a delicious meal, I felt like every dish at ssal stayed consistently delicious. The interior is clean and minimalist and bright, and it was a wonderful place to enjoy a delicious meal and still have good conversations!

Made a reservation online for my partner's birthday. It was a very intimate session, only about 8 or so tables. The typical Michelin restaurant experience with the servers explaining all the dishes and inspiration as well as clearing plates every meal. some food comments: hay smoked oyster - yum oysterscaviar hand pressed sesame oil - they like using peas a lot sweet corn and black truffle - this was my partners favorite, a nice pastry and truffle not too strong shima achi fish tomato kombucha and shishido flowers - probably my favorite dish, the fish was so soft and butterydungeness crab porridge with sea urchin hakaido and truffle - i liked this dish a lot too, lots of flavors going onscallop with a cabbage outside layered croissant with honey butter - batter from arsicalt bakery and it was honestly really yummy, the honey butter was quite sweet as welllquail white nectarine bingsoo and mochi yuzu creamsicle with strawberries assorted desserts Overall, I really liked the concept and the food was delicious, but compared to other Michelin places I've been I don't think the price was justified for this place because I wasn't as WOW-d, it was more in line with other fine dining places we've been to. It's around 350pp which is higher than average other restaurants when I think the types of dishes were similar in content and quality to places like Bird Song (most notable bc they had quail here and squab at Bird Song)

Ssal!! The food, atmosphere, and staff made for such a warm evening. Rather than explaining what Ssal is, I'd recommend that if you get the chance--no, if you can make the opportunity--definitely visit and experience it for yourself!