Cheesecake Factory - San Francisco

The Cheesecake Factory.
I have to say, the name of the restaurant was very enticing.

The first thing I noticed about this place was that it was absolutely PACKED! Located on top of Macy's at Union Square, there were people waiting everywhere for a seat. The next thing that caught my eye was a huge cabinet of cheesecakes. There were so many on offer (and I think there was even more than that which met the eye).

Cheesecake Factory

We ended up eating... later. I decided I didn't want to wait. Hence, we went walking, shopping, then came back close to 11.30pm only for find that we still needed to wait to be seated. Hectic!

My hubby ordered a steak. And since I felt like mac and cheese, we ordered that as his side. Because it felt weird for us to just order 1 main and 1 side dish after waiting so long to eat here, I decided that I wanted a soup of the day too.

We were greeted by 2 warm fresh bread rolls - white and chocolatey wholemeal. The bread was quite nice and soft... so good infact that the table next to us had 3 lots of these bread roll baskets (between the 2 of them)... hectic.

yes... there are two bread rolls in here

The mac and cheese was absolutely heavenly. Smelt amazing. Came out lightly charred on top and super super super cheesiness. It was soooooooooooooo good! But because it was essentially carbs and fat, it was really really filling. I got through less than half of this, and I was pretty much done.

baked mac and cheese

Whilst the side was amazing, the main was very much not so. My partner's steak was tough and tasteless. The onion rings were HUGEness but so stupidly floured and again, tasteless. The chips were pretty good though :)

rump and chips

My soup of the day was a cream of chicken and mushroom soup. When the waiter asked me if I wanted a cup or a bowl... I was stupidly thinking normal cup and bowl sizes. What came to my table was epic! A diameter of 35-40ish cm bowl dish came out filled with soup. ZOMG. It was really really creamy and really really rich. I could feel my arteries clogging up. So not the "healthy" option I thought I was up for.

cream of chicken and mushroom soup

I couldn't fit in dessert. Dinner was too epic. But being at the Cheesecake factory and not eating a cheesecake felt wrong... and hence, we got it takeaway. I got a chocolate cookie dough cheese cake. With a chocolate brownie base, it was really rich, really sweet but really kind of yum. Not bad at all.

chocolate cookie dough cheesecake

In America, we get charged a 15% tax to everything. On top of the 15% tax, there's another 15-20% tip. And for the first and luckily, the only time we were in America, we got charged a "healthy eating tax" - a fat tax~!!! ZOMG.

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 26.5/40

Cheesecake Factory (San Francisco)
251 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel: (415) 391-4444

Lori's Diner - San Francisco

As part of the American experience, my partner really wanted to eat at a diner. We chose one of the many many Lori's diner which lined San Fran streets.

There were duke boxes and vintage cars and other random stuff scattered throughout the diner. Pretty interesting - kind of like hogs breath but slightly classierish and less cluttered. Foodwise, we decided on a main each and a loaded potato skins to share.

The potato skins were thick. Slightly crisp on the outside and loaded with bacon and cheese. These were tasty but somehow, maybe could have been better ish.

loaded potato skins

I opted for an Edsel Burger. This was a super nice and juicy patty smothered with sauteed mushrooms and melted jack cheese on top with lettuce, tomato and onion in between 2 soft potato buns. I went for coleslaw as a side as requested by my hubby.

Edsel Burger

My hubby went for something different - the meatloaf. This was interesting. I think I'm a bit asian, but I've never had this type of ground meat combination. Not 100% sure what meats in here but I guess it was okay. I liked the mash - it was super creaminess.

meatloaf

Eating at diners is pretty good. I wouldn't mind having some diners here in Sydney. I did forget to tip them but... as they gave me the change in my hand and they didn't have a tip jar available... and since not tipping is a super nono in America - we ran for it!

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Lori's Diner (Sutter location)
500 Sutter St,
San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel: (415) 981-1950

Luce - San Francisco

We were staying at the Intercontinental on Howard Street in San Fran and in our hotel was the 1 Michelin Star Restaurant - Luce. Capitalising on the opportunity to dine here, we opted for a hearty breakfast. Whilst not too many people were in the restaurant at the time we were here, the atmosphere was almost nice and quiet - almost - because the waiters were relatively rowdy and were mucking around the whole time we were there.

Scanning through the menu, it was a pretty tough choice but ultimately, my hubby chose the Niman Ranch short rib hash. The pork short rib came with 2 superly well cooked organic poached egg in a hearty stew with root vegetable cubes and weiser farm fingerling potatoes. It was really tasty - the meat was fall-off-your-fork tenderness, the root veges were a good mix of mushiness and crunchiness, and the egg was perfect runniness.

Niman Ranch short rib hash

I couldn't resist but to order my usual - eggs benedict. Lightly toasted muffins topped with a generous stack of smoked salmon, spinach and yet another duo of perfectly cooked poached eggs. Light and creamy hollandaise sat in a little pot on the side and a generous portion of cucumber and fennel salad with farm fingerling potatoes complemented the dish. Really really delicious. Yet, it gave off a fresh, clean taste - not oily or dense or anything like that at all!

smoked salmon benedict

The food and the decor in this place is a must. Crazily deliciousness - I could have breakfast here like every morning!

Ratings:
Food - 9.5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 31/40

Luce
888 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103, United States
Tel: (415) 616-6566

Fisherman's Wharf - San Francisco

"Tourist trap", "a place you'd go but you'd regret going afterwards". These were the phrases that had been drilled into my from my endless trolling on the net for things to do in San Fran, hence, when I got there, my expectations were low.

However... what were these people talking about?!?!? Sure, sights-wise, it's slightly non-trilling, but food-wise... YUM! There were crab salads, prawn salads, crab sandwiches, prawn sandwiches, crab chowder and most importantly, clam chowder galore!!! It was top notch smelling, and extremely extremely appetising. Dungeness crab and clam chowders are definitely the "must have"s here.

Fisherman's wharf

We went for two places for clam chowder - Boudin's Bakery (which was so awesome, we went back to find more on another day), and Alioto's. The clam chowder in San Fran is amazingness! It was super smooth, creamy and tastiness with bits of tiny clams scattered throughout. There are benefits of it coming in a bread bowl and by itself (with sour dough on the side). When in a bread bowl, it's novel and the soup is thoroughly soaked through into the bread. When the sour dough is given on the side, the bread is also always fresh and soft and fluffy and you can control how much soup and soakedness you want :)

Clam Chowder, New England Style in a bread bowl

Chili Beef

At Alioto's, not only did we get creamy clam chowder (and red tomatoey seafood chowder), we also got fresh and sweet dungeness crab. I opted for my crab to be in garlicy butter sauce. The garlic and butter was infused through the thin shell and into the sweet sweet meat. My hubby's crab was cooked cajun style. His crab was seasoned with chili powder, cayenne pepper, onion and garlic bits, salt and black pepper. Personally, I preferred my cooking method - yummily aromaticly sweet without being overpowering :)

Alioto's

Clam chowder and tomato seafood chowder

Dungeness Crab - Garlic Butter and Cajun Style

The view from out table

So tourist trap or not, Fisherman's wharf is pretty deliciousness for seafood. The dungeness crab is a must have as is the clam chowder! :)

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 30/40

Boudin's Bakery
160 Jefferson St
(between Mason St & Taylor St)
San Francisco, CA 94133
Tel: (415) 928 1849

Alioto's
8 Fishermans Wharf
San Francisco, CA 94133
Tel: (866) 439 1332

Burger House - San Francisco

We arrived in San Francisco from Hawaii slightly late and didn't get to go out and explore and find dinner until around 10pm. From being in Hawaii where shopping was open til 11pm, we were slightly shocked to find most food places already closed by the time we ventured out to the middle of the city. What was left open was this burger place and a pizza place.

We opted for burger. So Burgerhouse it was.

Burger House

It reminded me of those late night kebab shops you get in Sydney when everything else is closed. Just as greasy probably. My partner ordered the black jack burger and I opted for the '49er all beef hot dog.

The burger was quite yum. The black angus beef patty was succulent and juicy. The monterey cheese complimented well. Then there was your usual lettuce, tomato and tomato sauce. What really was yummy was the chips. Golden crispness on the outside. Delicious hot fluffiness on the inside. Pleasant surprise for a late night dodgy looking burger joint :)

black jack burger

My hot dog was likewise very quite yummy. The sausage was super tasty and massive. In with the dog was lettuce, cucumber and tomato - probably in effort to try and make it seem a bit more healthy. The mustard drizzled on top was also not bad.

49'er All Beef Hot Dog

All up, not a bad burger/hot dog joint. Lots of people frequented the place during the time we were eating (possibly because it was one of the few places that still appeared open).

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 27/40

Burger House
237 Powell St
San Francisco
Tel: (415) 956 2311