Without a doubt the worst dining experience ever, anywhere! The service was mediocre at best. The cloak room had no attendant. The hostess was dressed in plain casual clothes. The Maitre D' didn't ask to take our coats and when we finally arranged for our coats to be hung, we found them later stacked carelessly one on top of the other on a single hanger. The wine we ordered was not the wine we were served. The appetizers were not prepared in the way they were described on the menu. My consomme was cold on arrival and I had to send it back only to have it returned to me cold again. Our main courses (all meat) were tough and unpalatable and came with cold and clammy polenta and not the garnishes described in the menu. Our bus boy reached across the table to serve water out of a cheap plastic pitcher and missed our son's glass. He didn't wipe it, let alone apologize. Our desserts were literally uneatable. The chef's menu which I had chosen called for a grapefruit sorbet to be followed by a pumpkin cake. The two were brought together on the same plate as though to speed things up. The sorbet was substituted with a lavender one and the pumpkin cake was so tough, I would have challenged any lumberjack to cut through it! My daughter's chocolate souffle was made with cheap chocolate and arrived cold and deflated!
At no point, throughout the evening did our main waiter ask how things were. We didn't want to create a scene and we felt quite sure that either there was no one in charge and possibly even no formal chef attending the kitchen. It seemed as though everything was prepared ahead of time and reheated.
This was not our first visit to the Carnelian Room and in the past we had quite a stylish and pleasant culinary experience. It used to be a classy, San Franciscan establishment. No more! Stay away and spend your money wisely somewhere else. This is a ridiculously overpriced tourist trap!
more