Bacar

Before Alexander’s and the proliferation of good fine dining in SF, Bacar was one of the first go to places back in the day. The wall of wine cellar they had was tremendous and Alexander’s was smart to keep it. It was a bit on the pricey side but the food was progressive for the time and they treated you very well. RIP

LOD 4
Yes I know this place has been closed for some time. I had a great dinner here and had it bookmarked To Review for several years — better late than never. Hence Long Over Due.
Bottom line — is this place was solid! A SD Bencotto feel to it i nrespect to the layout. My gf at the time and I ate on the mezzanine where she had an amazing pork chop and I had a pizza (I know) but it was good.

It’s been a while since I went to Bacar but I’ve been lagging on writing the review. So I’ll try the best I can to write down what I can remember.
* Parking is difficult. But now you can park in the B of A lot right next to it after the bank closes.
* Superb ambiance and décor. Trendy and upscale. The wine wall along the stairs is the focal point of the restaurant. And upstairs is a smaller cocktail area and restrooms around the corner.
* Ok service, no smiles, sounded robotic, but did the bare minimum of taking orders and came back to check if things were ok half way through the meal.
* Great food, both taste and presentation. The lavender scented lamb chops and the octopus carpaccio, mmmmmm…
* Great for groups. And therefore, great for people-​watching =). Make sure to dress to impress.

Love the modern, chic décor with the exposed brick and wine wall. Food was overall excellent along with the service. The bread was good and that is usually a reliable telltale sign of what to expect from the food.
— Caesar Gems with Pork Belly: delicious! excellent flavor in the pork belly paired with the fresh crunchiness of the salad made it the winning appetizer of the three
— Octopus Carpaccio: interesting, very thin and light, OK
— Shrimp Salad: average, shrimps were good
— Lamb Chops: flavorful, tender, sauce paired well, the best of the 3 entrees
— Sole: cooked perfectly smooth & flaky, light
— Steak: a bit chewy until you get to the center then it was really tender, potato side tasted like yorkshire pudding
Don’t leave valuables in the car! Our car got broken into while we were dining unfortunately even though it was only parked across the street. Other than that, we had a wonderful time.

A good dinner spot, not cheap however. The quality is great, my waiter was slightly retarded… actually I think he was fully retarded… just very SLOW.
The décor is neat too, when you walk inside theres a wall of wine bottles. They’ve also got a full bar separte from the restaurant,…so if you don’t want to have dinner you can just go in there for drinks.
Seems like a good place to do some MILF hunting.

Came here cus I had a groupon for $ 50 and decided to do some happy hour before sitting down. The happy hour area was packed– yet the dining area, completely emtpy, ah a sign of the times.
They have a good happy hour– half off appetizers, $ 1 oysters and great brews, we had 12 oysters and they were good and fresh. I would give the happy hour 4 stars alone.
Now onto dinner…
its a limited menu which wasnt an issue, but w realized we could have gotten some of the menu appetizers for half off at happy hour!
we were pretty full from oysters so i went wit the brick chicken, half pan roasted chicken with duck fat potatoes and baby veggies. Overall it was delicious, especially the duck fat potatoe! but for $ 25 for a chicken, in this econcomy? no wonder your seats are empty. My BF had the baby beef cheeks and they sounded beter than they tatsted. It was sort of luke warm and not very well seasoned, a tiny portion for $ 30 something dollars.
One thing that bothered me was how I got to the end of my chicken and realized it was RAW. YES RAW. When i was eating it i thought it was a bit squishy, but I just thought it was a REALLY JUICY PIECE OF CHICKEN. Not untili got to the bone and wing portion did i noticed it was pink and sort of bloody!!!
Since I ate most of the chicken, i was hesitatnt to ask the server to do it over, but I thought it was raw enough fo rme to point out to the server, i mean what if I got sick???
I told the waiter and to my dismay, he said that «we always under cook our chicken so it is not dry and moist». He then offered to throw back the 80% eaten chicken back on the grill– another NO NO. We declined and grabbed the bill.
Despite him being nice, i went home and thought «why cant someone cook chicken that is juicy and NOT RAW?».
Go figure. No wonder why they are empty for dinner and barely turning their tables once in a night.
For the same price, there are plenty of other great rstaurnats that dosent charege for overly priced mediocore food.

Came here for the Sunday brunch with the groupon coupon.
We ordered the homemade basket of bread, which unfortunately did not show up for the longest time, not even after we started having the main brunch. The bread eventually showed up and was okay.
For the brunch, we had the benedict in which the poached eggs were impeccably made. The spinach was properly cooked with a good side of lettuce.
We also had the Croquet Madame with 2 layers of everything — puyere, egg and toast. It was good but too heavy even for lunch. They even put a side of fries. The fries were okay.
The coffee was pretty bad. Why would anyone be cheap on the beans while the beans were not that expensive to start out with and they are the stable for brunch?!
Service was impossibly slow. The waitress appeared a couple times then disappeared and we had to ask a few times to get coffee and water refilled. It broke the pattern of having brunch when everything required a 5 to 10 minute wait.
The space looks differently in the day then the evening. It’s nicer looking, bright and clean. Those big tables for bigger groups in the middle reminds me of Chinese restaurants.
This place really needs improvement on service and some food. The eggs earned that extra star.

Visit 1 — Valentine’s Day prix fixe!
We arrived a bit (well, 15 min!) early for our reservations, and expected to camp at the bar… but our table was ready, which was nice. Lovely atmosphere and design inside, very comfortable yet still stylish, with a nice soundtrack of chillout/​lounge.
Loved the food, especially the very simply prepared dishes (almond and pea tendril salad with burrata cheese and olive oil, for example.) Nice cocktail list for a wine-​focused bar. I tried a few glasses of the pairing suggested wines, all nice.
I’ll def be back, and hope it keeps meeting the standard set by this experience!

I had purchased a Sunday brunch groupon and seeing as it was Chinese New Years, I took my parents out to brunch today at Bacar’s. We were not disappointed with our food.
I had the pork belly sandwich with pickled jalepenos, avocados, and egg salad. The pork was tender and juicy. Easy to cut. It completely melted in my mouth. I tried my sister’s smoked salmon sandwich, and I thought that was delicious as well. I liked my sandwich more though. My order came with fries, and I thought the fries were just okay. They were crispy but not oily, which I liked, but I like fries for the potatoes rather than the crispiness. We also ordered a side of duck fat potatoes. Mmm, yum.

This place may be better known as a wine bar, but it is also a solid brunch place suitable for any occasion.
FOOD: The brunch menu seems to change frequently. We had a burger and a salmon sandwich with side salads. Both tasted fresh. My husband remained satisfied with the burger for the next few hours, if not the whole day. Our dessert sorbet was a bit sour, but nicely refreshing.
DRINKS: The $ 12 unlimited/​bottomless cocktail offered, including bloody mary and mimosa, is a sweet deal and is offered every Sunday at brunch. However, it took them a ridiculously long time to serve each glass. I can’t speak for the wine list as I didn’t drink or even look at it.
AMBIANCE: The setting is beautiful. Clean and breezy. At lunchtime, there were noticeably many couples with babies, so the place is fairly family-​friendly during the daytime and spacious enough for strollers.
SERVICE: Our first dining here was a pleasant experience, except the service was exceptionally slow. We had trouble flagging down our server most of the time, though she was friendly once she appeared.
SUM: Yay to another promising brunch place.

Came here with my boyfriend for a rare date night dinner when he was working 100 hour weeks. We weren’t really thinking about cost since we rarely got have a meal together but it was pretty pricey.
All in all the meal was good and we had a nice server. I had bacon wrapped quail which was delicious… but then again, what isn’t the best wrapped in bacon?
Worth a try if you’re in the area. Apparently they have a happy hour with $ 1 oysters but unfortunately I’m never back in the area from work until after happy hour.
I’d like to try the brunch here too, apparently it’s pretty good.

I love the big stairs leading to the 2^nd floor with the wine shelves below it. The lighting is so perfect and romantic.
Anyways, we didn’t order appetizer and jumped to the second plate right away. I ordered the shortribs with polenta. My date has the lamb plate that has many different kinds of lamb (legs, neck, sausage, and loins). My shortribs tastes good and juicy. The texture is also so soft that it crumbles in my mouth. I tried some of the lambs, but the legs is kinda tough to eat. The loins is good, but I still like my shortribs more.
I think our waiter had a bad day since he looked a bit frazzled and sweaty. Other than that everyone is very polite and served us very well. The amount of noise last night was reasonable. However my date pointed out that once he went here when they had a live jazz music and it was very loud that he couldn’t hear anything else other than the band.

I’ve been to bacar for dinner, but never for brunch and this weekend I finally got the chance to try it out — wow!
It really was an incredible meal — I started off with the Country French Toast, which was outstanding — thick slices of fresh country brioche-​like bread cooked to perfection with the egg/​custard mixture… the entire dish was also covered with a good portion of butter, fresh berries and a special vanilla syrup; I was really blown away since I wasn’t expecting it to be THAT good — definitely one of the best French Toast dishes I’ve ever had. My main entrée was Crispy Pork Belly and Potato Hash — nicely fried, but not greasy strips of pork that were tender and flavorful were rounded-​out with the subtle, yet flavorful fried eggs, potatoes and green peppers.
San Francisco has a ton of great breakfast/​brunch spots, but this is one of the top five in my book. It’s in an excellent chic setting in SOMA with great and attentive service.
Thanks to bacar, I have a new Sunday spot!

Apparently, Tuesday night is date night/​meet up night at Bacar. Mike and I slowly realized this as we decided to head over there for happy hour. We live about a block away and have walked by numerous times but nothing every really excited us about the restaurant. When we both got off early enough for happy hour, we decided to see if it was worth all the fuss.
The place has a huge wine cellar and there are several floors. Near the front is the bar area followed by an open area dining section. I believe a more intimate section is downstairs.
They had a pretty decent selection of mixed drinks for $ 5 during happy hour and all their appetizers were ½ price. Since I’m not a big drinker, I went for the food =) We ordered the sliders, fries, hummus & pita, fried salted cod fritters. Mike ordered one of the drinks (small but tasty). The food was o.k. The sliders came out first and those were probably the best things we had that night. They were juicy and tasty and we could have definitely ordered a few more orders of those since it only came with 2 sliders. The rest of the food was only so-​so. The fries-​a little soggy, the hummus & fried fritters a little salty.
What was more interesting to us than the food or the drinks was the action that was happening all around us. There was a first date session to the east of us. To the west, at the bar was a hopeless romantic waiting for his date with flowers only to have her dismiss them and put it back in his bag when she showed up showering more attention to her friend the maitre d’ than her date (poor guy). To our south was a couple where the guy treated the girl as a bff but she clearly wanted more and rounding out to our north was an older couple clearly on some sort of first or second date.
So long story short, maybe the people don’t come for the food or the wine maybe they all come for the chance to be loved and hey for whatever reason it seems like Tuesdays at Bacar is that time.

I chose this restaurant because of location and ease of parking. However, a Saturday night baseball game at AT&T made parking around here an adventure.
I had made an 8:30 reservation and were right on time as we pulled into the neighborhood. But as we were entering the City from the Bay Bridge I could see the lights on at the ballpark. Oh no! But after three or four trips around the block we found a nice large space in an ally just a few steps away from the front door.
We were warmly greeted and seated in a corner booth. The waiter and sommelier were at our side within minutes and were now well underway to an excellent dining experience.
My wife and I split a nectarine appetizer that included a crostini topped with goat cheese, prosciutto, candied almonds and greens lightly drizzled with a light olive oil dressing. My wife commented that the nectarines tasted like «summer». In a weird way, I had to agree. They were terrific.
For our our main entrees, I went with the cannelloni which is a dish I rarely ever order out. They were stuffed with mushrooms and topped with an Italian cheese of some sort. I also detected a hint of black truffle in the background. The portion was a good size and included 3 medium sized pasta shells. I gave one to my wife and ate one and took another home. My wife went with the ribeye in a bordelaise sauce. This dish is normally served with shoestring fries, but my wife asked if they could substitute the shoestring fries for the provencal fries. I agreed this is a much better pairing. The ribeye was cooked to a perfect medium rare and was mouthwatering.
Since our belly’s were completely fully and we were satisfied that we had enough to eat we obviously would skip dessert right? yeaaaah right…
One scoop of house made salted caramel and one chocolate soon found it’s way to our table. Up until this point I would have sworn up and down that Bi Rite made the best salted caramel ice cream in the universe. I no longer believe this, Bacar’s is amazing and is head shoulders better than Bi Rites. The chocolate ice cream too was amazing and the best I have ever tasted. And in case you are wondering, Yes, I have been to Argentina and Italy and have the ice cream there and Bacar’s is better.
Being a wine bar, obviously Bacar has an amazing wine list. We went with a South African blend that was priced under $ 50, but tasted like it was double that.
The service was excellent and ever request filled quickly and efficiently. We cannot wait to make a return visit.

Bacar is such a beautiful space. If it wasn’t a restaurant I could totally envision it as one of those amazing San Francisco loft spaces. It has these beautiful brick walls, high ceilings with sky lights, and both the tall black bordered windows as well as the semi circle windows. I could see myself living here. If I were decorating this as a loft space, the cellar would be the game/​media room and the upper floor where the bathrooms are would be my bedroom, but I digress.
Came here with Ted W. to get our DAT on, only to find that there was nothing I wanted from the DAT menu, none of it sounded appealing, save the rhubarb and strawberry dessert.
I ended up ordering the Wood Oven Roasted Bone Marrow Sultana Raisin-​Caper Relish, Italian Parsley & Toasted Baguette to start. For folks new to eating bone marrow, it’s so delicious, but I had no idea that there was such a thing as a marrow spoon. New things I learn every day. Next, do not mix the relish with the marrow on the bread. The relish should be used as more of a palette cleanser in between bits of marrow and bread because it’s so sweet and overpowering but still good. Lastly do not waste the oils! Take the softer bread served with dinner and sop up all the delicious meaty oils. It was so good I wanted to lick the bones inside and out. The coarse sea salt that it came with brought out the meaty flavors so well.
Pretty much after that I was already full, but I had already ordered a main course of goat sausages. It was actually the veges in this dish that stood out since they absorbed the meaty flavor they were so light and savory delicious.
I forgot what the name of the cocktail I had was too, but it was the first one on the list with grapefruit in it. It was not too sweet, not too strong either.
It was a really nice break to come to Bacar on a regular Thursday night and feel transported to another world of city and sophistication. Too bad for their DAT menu however, it was kind of sad.

If it were up to me, I probably wouldn’t have come here JUST for Dine About Town… but because one of my colleagues RAVED about Bacar being one of his favorite restaurants in the city and it being the best thing that happened to DAT, I decided to come here. He mentioned that they have the BEST wine selections too. The DAT menu wasn’t up when I decided to come here, but I heard a lot of good things from my friends, so I decided to give it a shot.
When we got there, the restaurant is your typical SOMA restaurant –big warehouse turned into a restaurant. It was nicely decorated inside, but it wasn’t super fancy. It has a lower level for larger parties, and an upper level with more tables. So, this place can actually hold a lot of people.
When comparing the DAT menu: appetizers — chicken soup, sardines or salad; entrees– chicken, risotto, or gnocchi, it wasn’t worth it really… so I ended up ordering other dishes:
appetizer — rabbit —-this comes as rabbit sausage, rabbit loin pieces and mushrooms. It was pretty tasty, but I wish it came with more of the rabbit loin instead of sausage. The rabbit taste is between a chicken and pork.
I thought about getting the foie gras, but I’m glad I didn’t because 1) its $ 19, 2) it’s one SMALL-​A** piece of foie gras!!! like one piece of popcorn chicken (I saw the next table over get it).
entrees — the grilled pork loin with crispy pork belly, white shrimp, and clams. —my meat was REALLY tender. It came with a pretty decent portion: 3 pieces of grilled pork loin, 3 pieces of crispy pork belly, 3 white shrimp, and 3 clams. Although the meat was cooked perfectly, the sauce should have added more flavor. Overall, it was pretty good.
My friend got the chicken soup, chicken, and strawberry rhubard off the DAT menu. The chicken soup broth is really good. I haven’t tasted any kind of homemade soup like that before. I really liked the soup. The chicken entrée was also realllly good. The meat was really tender and had a thin crispy skin with the perfect crunch and almost no fat! The strawberry rhubard streusal was ok… it’s a little sour for my taste.
Overall, service was good, food was good, and the atmosphere was good. It’s more of a restaurant for the professional crowd, who can afford to spend money on the wine and the food. Our bill came out to be $ 85 before tip for 1 appetizer, 1 entrée, and 1 DAT.
If I ever come back here again, I want to come for their happy hour =P Parking is really easy to find also. We parked right in front of the restaurant at the meters!

Happy Hour Fridays!
$ 1 oysters! (
) (
) Can you blame us for getting 50?
$ 2 PBRs! Yay for beer served in fancy glass!
$ 5 Classic Cocktails! (
) French 75! Champagne + gin + orange liqueur + squeezed lemon! You are yummy!
½ off bar bites! (
) (
) Flatbread with Hummus! You are my fav!

My son and I took Gayle here for Mother’s Day Brunch yesterday. The dining room on the main floor had a completely different vibe than supper and was mostly filled with happy families.
The food was delicious, especially the crusts on my son’s French Toast. My Belgian Waffle (with fresh fruit) and a Sunrise cocktail was also very nice. Gayle had the quiche and a Bloody Mary. It was a great outing all around.

I got a job! Horray!!! No longer unemployed.
After being laid off I wasn’t sure when I would fine dine and Unilocal again. But here we are. My husband took me to Bacar to celebrate. We had a reservation but the table wasn’t ready so we waited for about 15 minutes in the bar. Took a while to get service but we got some nice wines and then shifted over to our table easily.
I started with a salad (mmm blood oranges) and my husband had the rabbit which even I ate because it was cooked so well. Loved the bread selection as they came by allowing me to choose one. For an entrée I had the quail which was excellent. Not gamey or gross like it can sometimes be, but crispy and perfect. It came with a delicious side of polenta and mushrooms. I also added a side of brussel sprouts with panchetta which was quite good.
For dessert I had an amazing rice pudding with crispy bits of toffee, caramelized bananas and a salted caramel sauce. Probably the best dessert I’ve had in a while. My husband had a chocolate tort type thing and said it was actually nice and light for being chocolate.
We drank wines by the glass because the list is so extensive and we wanted to try everything, but it ended up being pretty costly in the end so a bottle is a far better value. Service was good, but I would have loved to talk to the sommelier to narrow down the choices.

The décor = calming colors, elegant tables, tablecloth, etc.
Ambiance = well-​lit but secluded. Simple white tablecloths. Love the live trio – they rock!
Service = busboys are on top of it! Server was adorable. Very professional and friendly.
Drinks = great. I had a lovely lemondrop, as usual. And we also had many glasses of wines… Ridge Three Valleys 06 blend, and a lovely Dr. Loosen Riesling. Sigh.
Food =… well… stuffed! Their amuse bouche were great. The first was a small fillet of sardine, with toasted chick peas and other savory, tart things. My starter were the Luna and Petit Kusshi oysters on the half shell… slurp, slurp! Clean taste, and just wanted more, but I stuck with one of each.
Other people had the halibut carpaccio, which was delicate and tart in a good way; the fried egg and proscuitto frisee salad, which was very tasty and fresh, and their fried egg isn’t just a ‘fried egg’, it’s actually coated in some type of light batter, and when you stab it… the yolk runs delightful over the greens; the calamari pasta, which was refreshingly light and slightly minty; and finally the duck pizza, which was garlicky heaven and had a bit of duck meat along with duck hearts.
Then came another amuse bouche of sorts– sable fish fillets and petra sole with their own sauces.
Finally came our entrees – I had the duck breast which had a to-​die-​for port reduction, and the duck was tender but flavorful, and I loved the greens and wild rice on my plate – so savory and delicious. Others had the lamb (loin, leg and belly), which was very tender and not too gamey; and the oven roasted chicken which was a very hefty portion.
The bread and butter were great too– selection of a cheese biscuit, walnut bread, garlic roll, or sliced sourdough. It was too tempting to refuse.
Since we knew the pastry chef’s assistant… we were bombarded with cheeses and desserts as a lovely treat after the entrees, and much to our stomachs’ demise. lol Their snickers dessert is just so creative and heavenly… and I loved their rice pudding/​whipped cream and salted caramel. Also, they had a nice little tray of little desserts – truffles and other little sweets to die for.
Yes, we had to rolled out of there… doggie bags and what not in hand.
They do have coat check. They have an excellent wine list and they offer flights. And I love the empty wine bottles on display… just good use of space.
Hint: Sunday is a slower night for them… so try to go if you can. We had reservations at 7 p.m., and we left around 11 p.m., because we were just so bombarded with the food and extra desserts.
My only suggestion for this place is… that the manager would stop looking so serious and frown-​y… smile, damnit!!!