One of the long time Michelin staples and Zagat darlings of San Francisco throughout the 90s and early 00s, Gary Danko is a very dated fine dining experience, but I got to admit the food is still very well done. It’s been about 6 years since we last went here and haven’t returned because the menu basically never changes. Now returning post covid, the dining room is still dark dimly lit and noticeably windowless. The menu has primarily been left unchanged and stubbornly refuses to succumb to new food trends like Japanese-inspired or hyper seasonality. The staff still formal and dressed in blue shirts and suits that scream 90s tech uniform.
Restaurants as stubborn as GD should not survive, especially in a post covid SF dining scene where it has claimed victim to old SF classics like Jardiniere, Michael Mina, and (nearly) Boulevard. Yet, GD still survives. One noticeable thing that have not changed is its popularity, Sunday night the restaurant was packed. It still has a huge following and though the menu is boring and unchanged, it’s still well executed and will probably impress more novice and more occasional fine diners. I do admit that the time lapse between visits probably helps in our impression of the food, since we probably have forgotten what our last experience was (not that it was bad, just not incredibly memorable especially with the abundance of fine dining establishments around the world)
by justawineguy
6 Comments
The plating on all the pictures is atrocious. Your description of the place is funny to me because my experience working in the food industry is that old people are the ones who still go out to eat at theses places and they want what they had in the 80’s and 90’s.
Went here last week and while I wouldn’t phrase it the same way as the other dude, I honestly have to concur. The only people in GD appeared to have been long time regulars and the food was extremely disappointing- weird clashes of flavour that seemed doomed from ideation to poor cooking on shellfish and proteins, hard to think this place survives on anything but nostalgia
Name sounds like a dude you’d buy weed off of at the boardwalk
[Is that the same lava cake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIHz3UOgf_g)?
When I visited GD a decade ago I finally understood why America’s GDP is so high. The sommelier barely left the table with our order (some Kongsgaard Chardonnay for a very reasonable markup, so that’s at least one good thing about it!) before the starter was plopped on the table. I’ve never eaten three courses as fast at a Michelin-starred restaurant. They must have had quintuple seatings.
LOL GD was my first fine dining exp over a decade ago when I was a wee lad in my mid 20s (taken there for my bday) and I’m pretty sure my pictures look exactly like the ones you just took!!