Trestle

Cuisine	American (New)
Price	$$$ (31-50)
Rating	4/10
Last Visit	Sept. 2, 2022
Location	SFBA: San Francisco: Downtown + SoMa

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General Notes

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Trestle is an interesting New American restaurant that offers fixed-prix menus at a reasonable price point ($39 as of September 2022). Great ambiance, lovely service, and you really feel like you get that fine dining treatment, with fresh silverware for each course. I had high expectations coming in, but unfortunately the food didn't quite deliver. It wasn't necessarily bad, moreso just disappointing. The portions are quite small -- definitely get the optional pasta course if you want to end up remotely close to being full. It is theoretically "good value", but I feel like I'd have to have two three-course meals here to actually feel full.

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Positives

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> It's surprisingly easy to get a reservation here. I made a reservation for Friday evening (party of 3) the day before, and there was plenty of availability at reasonable times (6pm, 7:45pm, etc)
> The ambiance and service is wonderful.

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Negatives

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> The portions are really small, considering the number of courses that you get.
> Minor nit: for some reason sales tax here is substantially higher than other businesses in the area, at over 10% vs around 8-9% at nearby restaurants. I have no idea why this is the case.

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Dishes Tasted

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• ★★★☆ Chocolate Cream Pie -- bourbon meringue & caramel, toasted pecan. Really solid dessert, I like the addition of bourbon and the mint leaves, which adds a bit of color to an otherwise relatively heavy dessert. I've had better pie crusts before, but overall really solid.
• ★☆☆☆ Roasted Black Cod -- forbidden rice, trumpet mushroom, warm garlic-yuzu vinaigrette. The forbidden rice is mushy and disgusting. Otherwise, the individual components are cooked well, but the combination is just ... weird (the garlic-yuzu vinaigrette in particular just doesn't work). The black cod filet is disappointingly tiny, though it is really tender and well cooked.
• ★★☆☆ Heirloom Melon & Cucumber Salad -- cotija, toasted pumpkin seeds, jalapeno-lime vinaigrette. I have two main gripes with this salad. First, the melon feels out of place and doesn't pair well with the other ingredients. Second, the construction of the salad is not very sound; the vinaigrette doesn't cling well to the cucumber and putting together a complete bite is annoying. Aside from the melon though, the combination of ingredients works quite well.