The Slanted Door, San Francisco CA

The BEST Vietnamese food I have ever had! An elegant setting overlooking the bay. The crispy imperial rolls, the clay pot chicken, and the fresh spring rolls are the BEST! Also highly recommend the confection for dessert!

It’s a nice place and the food was fine, but I’ve had better Vietnamese food at many other places. It’s a bit expensive considering that the most entrees are somewhat small and that the quality could be better.

The food was quite good, but I’m not sure I can justify the prices. I highly recommend the shrimp and chive dumplings. The dumpling was crispy and just thick enough and the filling was nicely chopped creating an excellent texture

Slanted door came highly recommended. We decided to try the early seating with our 9 and 11 year old. Despite the reviews for exceptional service, we found the wait staff to be indifferent and borderline rude. It took forever to place our drink order and first starters arrived a good 5 minutes before drinks were served. The food was exceptional. However, it was greatly overshadowed by the service. Plates were continually taken away without asking if we were finished and refreshing drinks was never offered but had to be requested. We dine out at similar style restaurants in our home town of Boston, and never have a problem taking our children and getting exceptional service. Not so in San Francisco.

Excellent Vietnamese fusion food that is usually quite crowded. Friendly service. Ambiance is great. Only issue is temperature. The restaurant keeps it too cold. Otherwise you'll have a lovely date night.

Seafood was amazing (especially the Uni). Good wine selection. Seating and view was great. Business lunch or casual date lunch for the atmosphere (noise level).

Excellent dishes. We tried the spring rolls, green papaya salad, shrimp wonton and pork soup and the cellophane noodles with Dungeness crab. All very well tasty. Great portions for sharing. Service was great and dishes came out very timely. Cocktails were very good. Also took their advice and tried the Riesling flight with dinner.

Came here new year’s eve, draw dropping price! 45 dollars for shaking beef with exactly five bites of beef. All meat dishes we ordered are on the sweet side, service is ok. If this is the regular price, i would say, eat here with caution. You pay for the location!

Pro: good was really good, especially the duck and the dumplings.

Con: the hot towel were insanely hot. They made a mistake and we got charged a little more. But it was fixed obviously.

Excellent and authentic food, solid portions, a bit pricey - but that is because you are paying for the location and the view!

Nestled in the Ferry Building next to the Bay, The Slanted Door sets the bar high for Vietnamese cuisine. I've been multiple times, and can't visit San Fransciso without dining here. All of the ingredients are fresh and vibrant. If you want incredible pho, you'll have to go for lunch as they don't serve pho for dinner service. I've loved everything I've ordered here, without a miss. On my first visit, I brought my dad as he had never had Vietnamese. He absolutely loved it, so much so that instead of going to a recommended Greek restaurant, we went back to The Slanted Door for lunch the next day. They have a wonderful cocktail program. Great clean and modern space. It's an all around amazing culinary experience.

The only problem I had with this place was the fact that they closed too early, 10 pm to be precise. This place oozes positive energy and vibrations. Everyone was just kind and helpful. The food was exquisite and so were the services. I really loved the food choices they had, Vietnamese done the right way. Offers a great view of the undying hero of San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, especially at night. I'd recommend this place any day to anyone out there seeking a place to dine and grab some few drinks. It's especially better with a friend or group of friends. It's clean and well maintained. Very easily accessible.

Very disappointing first experience at Slanted Door. Overall, good Westernized Asian food with mediocre service and terrible cocktails at premium prices. I've lived in SF 13 years, so was happy to finally try this "famous" place, but now I see why none of my friends have ever proposed it in the past.

I don't understand why anyone would go here when there are so many amazing restaurants in San Francisco, especially fancy Asian fusion restaurants, like The House, Kin Khao, Spice Jar, Dumpling Time, Koo, Nihon Whisky Lounge, Benu, Nari, etc.

This is not fine dining - unromantic ambience with average food, terrible drinks, and mediocre service. If you want a nice night out for a special occasion, look elsewhere. This is a tourist trap.

FOOD - 3/5 - All of the food we had was quite good, nothing to complain about here, except the price/value. And that is because nothing was special, unique, or exceptional. It was all just regular Asian food. I expected some unique spins on these classic dishes, or beautiful presentations, or some spike of excellence, but nothing. To be clear, we enjoyed everything we ate, but it should have been 20-40% of the price. We had:
- Kumamoto oysters, half-dozen ($28) - Fine, but less plump than usual and very standard presentation
- Santa Barbara Uni, 3 spoons with paddlefish caviar and shiso ($26) - Delicious, but very simple preparation. Doesn't even compare with the Spoonful of Happiness at Koo or the Uni on the Spoon at Nihon.
- Crispy Imperial Rolls with Gulf Shrimp and Pork Shoulder ($15) - Pretty good, but nothing special, can't go wrong with fried spring rolls.
- Gau Choy Gow (Shrimp and Chive Dumplings) ($16) - Delicious, but no different than any dim sum place in the city, except 4x the price.
- Spicy Monterey Squid with Pineapple and Jalapeno ($30) - Probably my favorite dish, but still underwhelming. Try the Plah Pla Muek (Charred Monterey Bay squid in tangy/spicy sauce) at Kin Khao to see what this dish could have been.

COCKTAILS - 1/5 - I'm a huge fan of cocktails, especially original cocktails inspired from the region of the cuisine. The cocktails were a huge let down. There was nothing inventive or original - just very boring, standard cocktails that you'd find at any hotel bar. They didn't even try to name them. I had the "Whiskey Cocktail, " ($15) which is just an old fashioned. It was average at best. They also have a Singapore Sling, Mai Tai, French 75, Ginger Limeade, Pina Colada, and a Manhattan. Literally nothing interesting. Again, go to any of the other restaurants I mentioned and you'll find clever takes on cocktails with fusion ingredients and local spices that pair delightfully with the food. You can see their cocktail menu on the website to confirm I'm not exaggerating.

SERVICE - 3/5 - Terrible first impression. We arrived with reservations and were excited for a birthday celebration, but the hostess immediately ruined the mood. Our server was more friendly, but we certainly didn't receive the sort of service to justify $40-50 dishes. The gentleman at the front as we were leaving was very nice and friendly, though, which was a pleasant surprise and at least ended on a good note. I also think it's terrible to have bathroom attendants who hand you towels. I only see that at nightclubs trying to give people a false sense of self-importance, so no surprise it's here at Slanted Door. The bathroom wasn't even any cleaner because of it - just using a human being as decoration to make people feel better about spending so much money on mediocre food. Disgusting.

AMBIENCE - 2/5 - You'd think this would be the selling point, with a perfect location right on the Bay with beautiful views of the Bay Bridge. But no, because they cramp people in to the venue, it's loud and uncomfortable. We were at a 2-person table by the window, which was nice, except the servers kept bumping into us when talking to the tables to either side. And in front of us were two 4-person tables, one fitting 6 people and the other with 8, so there was no room to walk around.

The location is great with a nice view on the bay. The service was excellent but the food was mediocre and very expensive. We ate here years ago and this time were disappointed with food.

We will not return! Positive: beautiful view and that was it. The Caramelized Shrimp was not good, too much onions, too sweet and especially not fresh. The Ahi Tuna was bland. I used to come here quite often before this place gets popular and ever since it got popular, the food becomes less authentic. I am Vietnamese and do not mind to pay for good ambience but the food has to be top notch. I even bought the cook book from the chef and I do know that he knows his stuff. I haven’t been this disappointed in a restaurant in a long time. The service is also slow.

Worst Vietnamese food I have ever eaten, the pork ribs were chewy and awful - the pineapple spritz tasted like it was straight sugar and the beef fillet stir fry was a few pieces of beef on a plate of onions (for the cost of an arm and a leg) The bok choy was a plate of the end scraps of the vegetable basically sitting in water. To top it off it was SO expensive for a barely edible meal for 2 people. We were so disappointed, and went with such high expectations. Hate leaving bad reviews but honestly don’t know how people can eat here!

Couldn’t fault the business lunch I had here on a sunny day in San Francisco. The location on the Embarcadero in the Ferry Building is awesome, right on the water with magical views of the Bay Bridge. The restaurant was upmarket but not pretentious, businesslike but relaxed which made for an easy going and enjoyable atmosphere. We had multiple appetizers and a couple of entrees, too many dishes to review here in detail. I’ll just say that all of them were excellent and I don’t think you can really go wrong with anything on the menu.

Always an amazing experience in terms of the quality of service, the variety and deliciousness of the food, and the incredible view of the Bay. We can't wait to go back!

Amazing culinary experience. Our whole group enjoyed everything offered. Tried the clay Pot chicken, steak, and shrimp. All were delicious. The appetizers stole the show though and would honestly return just for the spring rolls.

Great food. Ambiance. The servers are some of the most informed and passionate about good in all of SF. One of my favorite spots in the city. Spot on, every time. Exec chef Josua Perez runs a tight ship!