Isa

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3324 Steiner St (at Between Lombard and Chestnut sts, The Marina/Pacific Heights/Cow Hollow)
San Francisco, CA 94123

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(415) 567-9588
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Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Isa - San Francisco, CA
Reviews
( 23 )
( 6 )
( 3 )
( 1 )
( 7 )

Best

Bam! Five stars. Here's why. Service: From start to finish...impeccable. We arrived an hour before our...

Worst

i went here for a birthday. we waited an hour past our reservations for a table. you would think that they would invest in a host, bartender or even a food runner to help service ...

Bam! Five stars. Here's why. 6/21/2012

Bam! Five stars. Here's why. Service: From start to finish...impeccable. We arrived an hour before our... more
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Bam! Five stars. Here's why. 6/21/2012

TheTripChick Provided by Partner
Bam! Five stars. Here's why. Service: From start to finish...impeccable. We arrived an hour before our reservation time. Knowing that most... more
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Editorial review from Citysearch 6/20/2012

It was very good and the atmosphere was pleasant. more
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Isa - the best 10/24/2011

I am sad, I was not able to vote for Isa on Best of City Search! Isa is still the best for me, delicious food prepared from quality ingredients. I love the covered patio with heat lamps and twinkly lights. Any day is the party day at Isa! I will be back again and again. more
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DELICIOUS 5/2/2011

DELICIOUS! The Spaghetti with truffles was out of this world. We also had the Lobster broath which was fresh-tasting. The salmon carpaccio and Tuna Tartar were delicious as well. The goat cheese was some of the best I've had. Our service was excellent and the wine list had some great moderately-priced wines in addition to the more expensive ones. more
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A Zesty Panache! 8/6/2010

Isa, as its name conveys delivers both promise (food is great!) and laughter (coy merged with romantic cozy) with a service and ambiance catered to ensuring a delectable and relaxing dining experience. \r \r I enjoyed my first experience at the restaurant savoring the hint of minty herbs in my asparagus soup served with warm baked bread. Our waiter was friendly, quick, and attentive, and by the time I was downing my desserts – ice cream, and then, a perfect caramelized, ready to crack with spoon crème brulee, I was content and ready for a siesta. \r \r This was a wonderful intro to French cuisine for me, and thanks to the waiter, and oh so awesome desserts, I look forward to trying more.\r more
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Best balance between eligance and value 8/5/2010

Isa in Marina is the my favorite neighborhood restaurant. They serve five star food with five star service without exorbitant price as other restaurants. Try their perfectly seared scallops or potato wrapped sea bass that they call it their signature dish. I bring friend here and they enjoy the food and ambiance equally. I can go here five time and spend the same money that I would in those big name restaurants. more
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Definitely Worth It 10/9/2008

Hi, my name is Emily and I am working with StreetSmart4kids to help spread the word about the Dine Out and Donate program happening now. On Citysearch, you can learn just about everything you need to know about a place, so I thought this would be the perfect way to let diners know that Isa is a proud participating restaurant in the Dine Out and Donate program. StreetSmart4kids' mission for the Dine Out and Donate program is to help raise support for the homeless/at-risk youth in our Bay Area. Now until November 16th, you will have the opportunity to support this cause when you dine at Isa--by simply including your donation with the check after your meal. For more information, ask your waitress at Isa. more
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excellent food and comfortable dining 6/26/2008

I am highly recommend this restaurant. The food are excellent!!! I love the most are the crab salad and the foie Gras. The taste is perfect! The server is helpful and nice that know how we want. There is an outdoor dining which make me feel very comfortable and enjoyable. I definity will go to eat at this restaurant again! However, it's hard to find parking. this is the only thing I don't like to dine in to this restaurant. Pros: food and service Cons: parking more
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a neighborhood favorite, i love sitting out back with the... 7/24/2007

a neighborhood favorite, i love sitting out back with the heat lamps, the potato wrapped sea bass is amazing! more
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a neighborhood favorite, i love sitting out back with the... 7/24/2007

fattylikes Provided by Partner
a neighborhood favorite, i love sitting out back with the heat lamps, the potato wrapped sea bass is amazing! more
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A perfect experience 11/30/2006

We tried Isa on a recommendation from a friend and were both very happy with the experience and even happier that it is only a few blocks away from our apartment! We were seated right away in the back patio - a lovely setting that I wouldn't necessarily call ""outdoor dining"" but it has great ambiance. I don't know whether Isa made an effort to improve the service issues written about in a lot of the reviews here, but we had great waiter service - friendly, responsive, and quick. We had the prix fixe menu - 2 plates plus a dessert each for $30 each. We had the tuna tartare, the arugula salad, sea bass, and risotto and loved all of it. For dessert we had the creme brulee and the semifredo. Yum and yum. We will definitely return. Pros: Yummy food, back patio more
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Romantic yet loud 10/28/2006

Went to Isa with my boyfriend and we enjoyed every plate that we got. The Seabass, risotto, and asparagus were our favorites. I went there again with my 5 friends this last month and were seated in the patio. It was breathtaking and the heatlamps helped. Our waitress was a bit slow at taking our orders and gave us a lot of attitude. In the end we enjoyed the food as usual. The bussers were attentive while the waiters/waitresses could use a dose of politeness. Pros: Ambiance, and food Cons: Service more
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Try a Weeknight 9/19/2006

We went last nite (Tuesday) and it was still packed but we were able to be seated without a wait. We could have had a table but sat at the bar. Our server was pleasant and helpful.\r \r The food was awesome!! the Spicy Tuna Tartare, Baby Arugula Salad, Potato Wrapped Seabass and Pan Roasted Fulton Valley Chicken were all excellent. \r \r I will be going to Isa's again soon and highly recommend it. more
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Excellent food, great menu and a great time! 9/14/2006

We went there because we had heard about it from friends, and it not only matched our expectations - it exceeded them, by a mile! The food was fantastic - the lobster broth with prawns was the best soup ever. The foie was great, and so was the steak - I highly recommend it. However, the service wasn't too good because our server seemed to not have a great time while serving us, or maybe it was the fact that we weren't buying the bottles of wine like everyone else. Nevertheless, I think it's worth every penny and every SFer must make at least one visit to Isa to really understand what great food is. Pros: Excellent food Cons: Very bad service more
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Not a pleasant experience! 9/10/2006

We had made a reservation at Isa. What I did not know was to request the patio - there was obviously more space out there and hopefully NO mirror that flanked our table tucked away tight in front. We ended up waiting 15 minutes while 2 other parties walked in and were \r seated (not sure if they had rsvn's or not) got shuffled around the bar while they squeezed more parties to eat dinner there. Once we were seated the NOISE plus the mirror were just too much. We paid for our wine and promptly left! We will not go back! And I second the comments about the less than pleasant hostess experience. Pros: patio Cons: hostess, ambiance, tight space more
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Great food, great service! 7/14/2006

I went here Friday night, not expecting much. Party of three adults and a six-year-old. We were seated near the front of the restaurant. The dishes come out family style and we ordered asparagus soup (absolutely delicious and even my kid who hates veggies ate it all), Dungeness crab salad (plenty of crab), paired this with a bottle of Isabel (Marlborough) Sauv Blanc. Our server noticed that one of our party wasn't eating the salad. Turns out he was allergic to shellfish and she brought out an heirloom tomato salad with chevre on the house. It was excellent with firm consistency and a nice citrus sauce with basil accents. Other dishes we had were the halibut (voted best dish), potato wrapped sea bass (perfectly moist with cardboard-thin potato wrapped around the meat, duck (ok, but a little overwhelmed by the cabbage side), scallops (perfectly cooked). Restaurant was busy, but our server was always there when we needed her. The food came out with great rhythm and we had great conversation and great food. I wouldn't call this a place for that romantic couples evening, but it's great food and great value with a nice, bustling atmosphere. I think previous negative comments seem a bit harsh. Bill came out to $185 which includes two bottles of wine, not cheap, but food quality and service was worth it. If you want cheap, then go eat a bowl of pho. Pros: Great service, great food, great rhythm Cons: Can get a little loud more
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NOT WORTH IT AT ALL 5/29/2006

2 of us went there thinking this is the best small plates in san francisco, ya right. frist thing his potato rapped sea bass that adish he got from daniel's in new york and when we got it it was so overr cooked the waiter saw it with out us saying anything to him. i known the portions are small plates but come on, 80$ later we went to in and out to fill up after we left. this place is so over rated. you know the saying "" just say no"". mybe the chef should get back in his own kitchen. Pros: decor , service Cons: price , food, food more
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Undercooked meats, browned old salad.... 5/9/2006

Beautiful ambiance, good service, food.... a huge disappointment. The endive salad had day-old looking endives, browned on the edges and all over the leaves, making the entire salad look, well, old! Halibut - totally undercooked. Luckily I am okay with raw fish, but my date could not eat it. It had charred edges, but was completely cold inside (fresh out of the freezer onto the grill?). The roasted chicken was pink and cool to the touch near the bone as well, with two large cuts through the breast, done after it was cooked, possibly to make sure it was cooked through? Next time, test closer to the bone, we couldn't bring ourselves to eat most of the drumstick. We didn't send anything back since we heard how service can deteriote at Isa. Sad to say, the best part of dinner was the wonderfully crusty bread! Would not recommend :-( Pros: Ambiance, Nice Server, Inexpensive Cons: Undercooked meats, Rushed service, Food overall more
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Unbelievable Rude treatment of a nice customer 3/16/2006

Food was satisfactory, nothing spectacular for sure... back patio was nice...had to ask twice to get a heat lamp turned on. our server was decent...nice gal but rather clueless when it came to timing and finding out if we needed anything. The kicker were the rude hostess and the general manager who exuded even more disinterest and disdain for treating customers any better than terribly. Unbelievable. Rude, discourteous, and disrespectful. And I was a nice customer asking for another bottle of Veuve Cliquot and giving some very constructive advise for better service! Pass on this place.....i put up with snooty French servers when the food is extraordinary, but this is a confused sub-par tapas joint that just aint that cool. Pros: tough one, value maybe?, 3 Pros? No-way! Cons: Management, Service, Service more
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Menu for Isa


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Editorial

  • In Short
    The sleek, gray dining room is a nice match for the menu. Walk past the kitchen and dishroom to run smack into the spacious, tent-covered outdoor patio. Patrons sit around heat...

  • 12/11/2006 Provided by Citysearch
Additional information
  • Hours: Mon-Thurs 5:30 to 10:00 PM Fri-Sat 5:30 to 10:30 PM
  • Payments: Visa, Master Card
  • Neighborhoods: North, Marina
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