I had a very satisfying meal at In Situ.
First, I could get a reservation on a week’s notice. The room is fairly large, the bar-area was entirely empty, and it’s a very decent michelin one-star. That alone should put it on a certain list ( last minute one-stars! ).
Second, there’s a lot of room between tables, and the room is a bit hushed. Maybe that’s partially the pecular few days before christmas, but I credit the relative lack of excitement ( a restuarant in a museum? ).
I took my parents here ( I’ve taken them to saison 2.0 and 3.0, manresa, sushi zo in La ( epic ), crenn, and a few others), they’re not neophyites to SF style high end dining.
My mother loved it… but she loved the room. Lots of space, moderate interruptions from servers. The only negative was they were making a special dish for a special table near us, and I could see she was itching for that kind of treatment.
Two weeks later, what was memorable ( none of the dishes reported were on offer ) was the smoked fish appetizer, which was brought to the table with a lump of charcoal, so was delivered fragrantly but you ate… more with the taste. And a “cheesecake” made with a Jasper Hill cheese. It was served like a bloomy rind, but was… cheesecake. In retrospect, the “grape” desert, which involved some amount of liquid nitrogen, would have been a better addition.
Overall, I think this is a great addition to “sheeeet, I’ve got to make a reservation for a last minute for a guest”. The food is very solidly one-star, it’s a la carte, the alcohol program is decent, you can talk because the noise level is low. While the. food isn’t of the FIRST rank, it’s maybe in the top-50 or better, and that’s saying something
