Embarcadero California Bistro

I wasn’t at all impressed with the food here, unfortunately. The ambiance is very nice inside and the restaurant décor is very nice and modern. The bar area looks really nice and had sports on tv. I wanted to like this place, but for what we paid the quality was nowhere near the price. It was nearly $ 100 for two people for dinner entrees, one drink each, and one shared appetizer. Everything tasted overly salty and overlooked. I might go back just for drinks at the bar sometime, but I don’t think I would eat here again.

We tried to like this place — we really tried. BUT, when they were out of several items on their menu we started to wonder. OK, we moved on and ordered something else but then they said that they were out of soup spoons. That’s right — soup spoons. It was time to leave and not return and now the correct thing has happened.
THEY ARE OUT OF BUSINESS AND UNFORTUNATELY THEY DESERVE TO BE OUT OF BUSINESS.
PS – THAT BRINGS UP A QUESTION. I BELIEVE THAT EMBARCADERO IS THE 4TH RESTAURANT IN THAT LOCATION. IS THIS A LOSER LOCATION ???

Heard this place FINALLY closed! Not surprised. The lack of good customer service just about done them in. I don’t like seeing small businesses fail but this place lacked the basics of running a decent food establishment. Hopefully the next business at this location will be much better.

Note this place appears to be closed as of 8÷25÷2015. Word on the street is it was also closed 3 days ago. Not surprised… just not my thing.

Not sure why they are in business. food was mediocre or bad. Steak had no flavor, wished I brought A-​1. Service is horrendous and if you have kids they put you in the corner in a separate section and basically ignore you. There was barely anyone there and it took 1 hour to get our food after ordering. Ridiculous. Fries were good but I am not going there for fries, Décor and location is cute but this is not LA where you can be snooty to your customers.

I’ve been here once before, but we came here tonight and I wanted to review this place. It was nearly empty when we walked in this evening, I almost thought it was closed. There was only one small group at the bar and one other pair in the dining area. We were seated at a booth in the dining area. There were only two waiters in the whole restaurant, one of them we assumed was the manager because he was wearing a casual polo shirt. We ordered our drinks and then a little later ordered our food. They had a Unilocal check in offer for free truffle tater tots so of course we started off with those. We also got their sashimi starter with tuna and salmon. The tater tots were amazing. Super crispy with a soft center. They weren’t greasy at all and the truffle taste is very subtle. I liked dipping them in the ketchup, it balanced the richness with a tangy sweetness. We also got the sashimi which was alright. One of the salmon pieces had a sort of gross fishy taste, but the other pieces were alright. With my meal I got their house salad. The dressing was really sour and the menu said that the salad had candied walnuts, but there was just regular walnuts in the salad. What a lie, I was sad because I love candied walnuts and was looking forward to them in my salad.
While we waited for our entrée a couple more parties came into the restaurant. Even with just a couple waiters the service was really good, my water was always being refilled and the manager checked in from time to time. Our entrees came in good time. I got the flat iron steak with pappardelle pasta. The plating was kinda inconvenient. The pasta came in a bowl and the steak was on top. It was difficult to cut the steak into bite size pieces because it was in a bowl so I put my steak on a separate small plate. They also put a ton of parmesan cheese on it, which was a bit much. I now just remembered that they didn’t ask me how I wanted my steak cooked. It was cooked medium when I got it. The steak was good, I just wish it wasn’t covered in parmesan cheese. The pasta was good, but there was a little too much marinara. The sauce was kinda bland, not as flavorful as I would have liked. I also tried a shrimp and a clam from my Aunts Cioppino. Already I could tell her broth was way better than my marinara. Both the shrimp and clam were a little chewy though. I also tried my other Aunts cheesy risotto that came with her Mahi Mahi. It was kinda plain.
When we left the place the manager held the door open for us and thanked us for coming. This place has great service, but the food is subpar. The best thing I had tonight were those truffle tater tots. I’d most likely come back for those, but that’s pretty much it. My parents like this place for the drinks though so I might be back.

3 strikes and you’re out! Will never return. Service was slow and poor. Food was terrible. Party of 4 and no one got a good meal. Chicken was tough, ahi was not fresh, pork loin over seasoned and over cooked. Clam chowder was cold and it took 45 mins to get all of this terrible food. How is this place still in business?
Gave 2 stars but was on the fence at only giving 1. If this place burned to the ground tomorrow… the ashes would taste better than what was prepared in the kitchen!

First of all, the waitress was great– attentive and as prompt as she could be utilizing the poor tools she had to work with. The place is done with a few pictures of San Francisco… we asked about that… I figured the owner must have lived there– –and she said he had visited one time and was captivated… so the issue is that the inside dining was very dark and with the sparse pictures up, it looked stark and depressing, candidly…
Food was at best meh… I ordered a burger and it came out on a stale bun with no onions even though the menu promised «crisp onions»…the fries are overly salted and worst, the iced tea was from a fountain type concentrate vs fresh brewed… not something that you would expect from a restaurant of this price range (moderate)…The food took a lot longer than expected and they were not crowded — will not ever go back.

Can’t complain about the food. The service on the other hand was terrible. Walked in was not greeted walked by the bar nothing. Stood at the vacant front desk for a bit and finally was greeted.
If you want good food with no service then I would recommend this place.

Meh, average food. Not a place that I’ve ever said «oh,“let’s go to Embarcadero tonight.» The bartender that worked here when I dined in, Matt, was great and always friendly, but the food was never a hit and almost always a miss.
Overall, I just wasn’t a fan and likely wouldn’t return.

I had read about this place and I was looking for a great place for lunch when I drove by the sign I remembered how good it sounded, so I went in… I ordered the artichoke with the sweet potato fries. Usually, I get sweet potato fries because they’re healthier than regular ones. Well, did I get surprised when I mostly ignored the artichoke (usually 1 of my favorite items) because the sweet potato fries were so good I couldn’t stop eating them! For the main I got their signature dish the Sea Bass on farro — it was 2 die for! never seen Farro cooked so well and the sea bass was perfectly cooked & delicious… The wine list was awesome and they gave me a taste of something b4 I bought a glass to make sure it was for me, class act! I’ve been back several times for lunch and dinner now had other items like the salads (have allergies/​made substitutions) mussels, all good and my mate «Dies» for their lobster grill cheese (that’s his thing «grill cheese»). We enjoy the live music on the weekend and I or we always eat at the bar or the fire pit table outside. The bar during the day makes an awesome perch for lunch as they open the doors and the natural light and wind makes you feel like your dining in an island joint somewhere with great local fare. FYI — the bar is open for eating and drinking way earlier than their site states?
Love this place and I’m thrilled I found this gem… If I didn’t already have a mate this would be great place to go single or on a date ;)

We made reservations for mother’s day brunch and they called the NIGHT BEFORE to say that they are no longer doing brunch. They canceled last minute and it was difficult to find other plans. Never going here! Worst customer service!

This place «used» to be good! Yuck!
The Philly Cheesesteak sandwich smelled and tasted like rotten boiled ground beef. Nauseating! The Shrimp Linguini was bland and shrimp were undercooked. There was a hair in the Clam Chowder. The bread was stale!
I generously gave them two stars for polite service, timely service, and yummy tater tots which ended up being our dinner. So disappointed!
No wonder it was empty on a Saturday Night at 8pm.

Not at all impressed.
Came here for Valentine’s day, fairly early on in the night (before 6) and got really poor service and blah food.
Service issues first:
Issue #1: Lack of promptness. Our wine came out when our food did. That would be fine if we ordered it that way. But we ordered our wine maybe 25 minutes prior.
Issue #2: Our server was severely spaced out. She had a very blank look on her face and kept asking us questions that we already provided answers to. She also had a very poor understanding of wine. We asked for recommendations for a certain varietal and she brought out a wine from a different varietal. Uh, what? We ordered a bottle of wine that was pretty expensive. You’d think she’d want to prioritize this alcohol sale… to not know what varietal it was what or what paired with it made me embarrassed for her. When we eventually enquired if our wine was coming after waiting for 20 mins, she stared at us blankly again. She didn’t even apologize. She just said «yes.» And scurried off.
Issue #3: «On the side» is a term unfamiliar to our server. «Can I get the risotto on the side?» «You mean like… on the side?» «Uh…yeah.» Again, spaced out.
Issue #4: She kept asking if we were ready for our check. Again, this wouldn’t have been an issue if the wine was brought out when we actually ordered it and not 25 minutes later.
Issue #5: I got the chicken with goat cheese. Blech. Mary’s Chicken is supposed to be really top notch and flavorful. I wouldn’t order it again.
The service was just really poor. And it wasn’t even busy. She had maybe 2 other tables. These tables were also sitting around a long time, waiting to be greeted and waiting to get their drinks and orders as well. That struck me as really not ok for a restaurant of this calibre.
I was also a little put off having to have our reservation so early. Yeah, it’s Valentine’s Day weekend. But when I called to make a reservation, I was told that 5:30 was the only time available. However, I’m not sure about that… we were there well past 7 and the place was still not full.
The positive that I can take away from this situation was that the dessert was good. That aside, I can safely I won’t be returning to this place.

We really like most if the food at Embarcadero. We have gone multiple times and our favorites are the truffled tater tots, burger, crab cakes and my husband enjoys the calamari.
Definitely be on the lookout for Groupons or try happy hour.

We visited Embacadero as part of a Saturday night out. We were not impressed. The service was bizarre. The server did not have enough menus for the restaurant and took away our drink menus despite the half empty dining area. The silverware was dirty (both place settings had food stuck to the forks).
Oddest of all, halfway through our appetizers, the server asked us if she could «box that up for us» as she started piling the dishes on top of one another… we were still in the middle of eating our mostly full plates. Then she left the partially cleaned table and we were faced with the choice of scraping our appetizers off the bottom of the piled plates or waiting for the next course.
And wait we did. It was more than 15-​minutes later that our entrees arrived. Unfortunately, the food was just not that good. For $ 28, I expected more than a dry, overcooked Mahi Mahi filet. The limp «crusted crab» topping seemed like an apology for the general lackluster nature of the food. The «chorizo crust» on the pork reeked of chipotle — I could smell it across the table. Ironically, we couldn’t taste any chorizo at all, thanks to the overwhelming chipotle flavors assualting our taste buds. Even our appetizers were so-​so. (I dont consider frozen tater tots drizzled with cheap truffle oil to be anything special)
There is nothing to recommend about Embacadero — save your money and appetite.

I hate to do this, but you should know if I’m dropping a rating from five stars to two there’s a really good reason.
My gf & I noticed there was a Groupon (or Unilocal,can’t remember) deal going on for this spot — $ 20 for $ 40, I think — and since we like eating here, but don’t like huge food bills, we decided to give it a shot on a weekday night.
We arrived around 8:30pm, about 30 minutes before closing time. The place was nearly deserted inside. After being seated, our waitress walked over. This was the beginning of my increasing frustration, as I have literally no tolerance for idiots. This girl, who must’ve been all of sixteen years old, started off by saying «Hi» in a breathless voice reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe, and that was it. She said «hi» and just stood there. Once the gears in her brain got going again, which took an awkwardly long amount of time, she took our drink orders.
She returned a short while later to discuss the menu. I have no clue what she said, though, because she seriously whispered everything. I don’t even think she realized she was doing it. Didn’t matter, since I knew what I wanted.
I ordered the 14 oz. NY Steak, which I wanted medium rare.
«Oh, sorry, we can only do medium.»
Before my head had a chance to explode, reconstitute itself, and then allow me to attempt conversing with this nudnik a manager, who happened to be nearby, cut her off, looked at me like he sympathized and said «No, no, we can definitely make it medium rare.» He then shot her an incredulous look as if to say «What planet are you from?»
So, I can’t be dropping my rating down that low based upon an airhead waitress, right? Right. My steak sucked. Sucked. Sucked so bad I can still vividly recall the suckage. Here is what should be a fine slab of beef, at a cost of $ 32, and it is so friggin’ fatty that I’ve cut this 14 oz. steak down to practically half its size. Oh, and she was almost right about the cook on it, too. It was medium rare for the first 1/​3, rare in the middle, and medium on the end. How in the name of Christ do you manage THAT?
My sauteed green beans on the side were barely cooked, to make matters worse. Honestly, I would have been better off getting the lobster grilled cheese at a fraction of the cost. My gf tried to chalk this up to us coming in late and the kitchen staff wanting to hurry up and get the last plates of food out. I’d like to think that isn’t true. When I’m paying $ 70 – 80 for a meal, after using a $ 40 certificate, it had better wow the ever-​lovin’ shit out of me. And this did, only in the opposite direction. I could’ve had a steak twice as good, for almost the same price, had I walked over to Hanna’s.
Oh, and that braindead waitress never came back after her gaffe. Someone else dropped off the check. I don’t know if she was hired via nepotism or what, but it’s not like she provided bad service because she was super busy and neglected us. She simply does not have the chops to be in service.

Huge let down.
We were so excited about finding this place always nice to discover new restaurants if you are a foodie.
We drove 30 minutes out of our way to see how great this place is– seemed to have potential from reviews and the history of the owner.
The atmosphere and décor were nice, modern and the place was clean. Staff was nice from the time we walked in (had 7pm reservation– had to call as their Open Table function is currently not working). One unusual sign we noticed right the way was how empty the restaurant was on Saturday night.
We sat down ordered a bottle of wine and looked through the menu. The waiter (Brett I believe) was nice and gave decent feedback on the menu and popular dishes. So all went well until the salad arrived. Beet salad was supposed to have dressing on a side– it did not– and was blah– even with the beets and cheese– definitely lacked flavor. The greens were fresh but I would not order this again.
Then we waited and waited. Now mind you there were ONLY 2 tables in the back of the dining room– one of them being our two top. Finally after 40 minutes our main dishes arrive– scallops and Chilean seabass– only to have my seabass done wrong– swimming in a sauce that I asked not to include (due to my dietary needs). Furthermore they bring side of mac and cheese which looks like out of a KRAFT box yet much worse– I tasted it and it was like eating overcooked pasta with tons of salt in a Velveeta sauce– something you would expect in fast food restaurant. So I sent it back and said I am not interested. So we split the scallops while I am waiting for my dish that takes another 20 minutes– finally arrives we take a bite but since it is already so late we decide to take it home. The fish filet was fresh.
At no point did the restaurant manager came over, I am not certain why dinner for two takes so long when the restaurant has 4 tables total AND they do not even offer to make this up to their clients. So not only did they not take anything off of the bill, show up and try to resolve the situation or look for feedback– they charged us for the mac & cheese so we had to let them know and they ended up taking it off. And their wine list shows one price of wine (the Justin Cab is $ 54 on their website, $ 57 on their wine list but they actually charge you $ 64– not a huge deal of money but how ridiculous) — we did not even bother to let them know about this as wanted to leave.
Needless to say we will not be back unless things improve drastically. Sad part is that this place has so much potential, food is fresh but the staff obviously needs to be trained on timing and taking orders correctly while the kitchen follows through and the management needs to step it up as they are the main reason why things are where they are. You always follow your leader (at least in a successful businesses) so if they are not doing their job to no surprise the staff upfront or in the back wont either. This location is a «destination» so unless you do a superb job so word of mouth can travel people will stop coming.

Thinking about my dinner here last night, makes my mouth water.
New Years Eve, they had a special menu…
We started with the Truffled Tater Tots that were free, for checking in on Unilocal.Delicious. We also ordered the Roma Tomato Confit & Burrata Cheese Caprese appetizer. It was also delicious.
They had a New Years Eve Surf and Turf special which my friend and I both ordered, we decided to treat ourselves. For $ 48 we got a lobster tail and an 8 oz steak I believe, with mashed potatoes and asparagus. I had my steak cooked medium well and it was perfect. The lobster was sweet and so perfect. The entire meal was perfect.
I had two glasses of a Zinfindale as well, that I dont see listed on their website but it was fantastic.
I really have nothing bad to say about my meal here last night. We had a reservation for 8pm, but decided to show up at 5pm, and we were able to be seated with no problem. Very friendly waiter, and very attentive.
When all was said and done, with tip, we each paid just under $ 100, but like I said, for NYE we treated ourselves and it was 100% worth it.

Even though RSM is out in the boonies, I’d make the trek out here just to eat here again.
It’s located in the corner of a shopping center with a bunch of other stores and restaurants. We came around 7pm on a Friday and there were plenty of open seats the whole time we were there.
I started with a guavatini that was delicious! It had a light sweetness from the guava and champagne but a little kicker from the grey goose. If they hadn’t been $ 10, I would’ve kept ‘em coming.
For food, we ordered the truffle tater tots, chicken nachos, lobster grilled cheese and a wedge salad (to add some healthiness to our meal ;)
Tater tots were $ 5 and worth every penny. They were cooked to crispy perfection and you could smell the truffle oil. Their house made ranch wasn’t your typical ranch flavor but pretty good with the tots. The nachos are a good size. For $ 8 you get a hot plate piled with chips, pinto beans, all natural chicken, lots of melted cheese, guac, pico de gallo, and sour cream.
Our server warned us the nachos were big so he hadn’t put the rest of the order in yet, and we could still cancel anything if we wanted to. That was nice of him because we were stuffed after the nachos. However, he didn’t follow up with us again and had put the rest of the order in. We didn’t want to be «those» customers so we took the grilled cheese and he was nice enough to take back the salad.
Lobster grilled cheese was a first for me. It was filled with chunks of lobster and gooey cheddar cheese on sourdough. It’s very decadent and filling. The side of herb fries were tasty but I think the tomato bisque option would’ve been good too. At $ 16, it’s not your everyday sandwich but a nice treat.
There’s a lot more on their menu that I want to try. They need to have an extended or late night happy hour!