Ame Review

Ame served us unusual sashimi, okay appetizers, good entrees, and very good desserts. Our experience, however, was marred by the high prices (near the top of what we've ever paid on any outing) and service that didn't match the quality of the food, decor, or price.

We started with a variety of sashimi dishes. These received a varied conflicting reactions.

• Tempura "Poke." Good. Basically, tempura and seaweed in a sushi roll. One person's favorite.

• Tartare of smoked trout with panna cotta (a type of cream/custard) and caviar. Decent. Tiny cubes of trout on toast. The cream really went well, analogous to lox and cream cheese. This was my favorite appetizer, though one person called it unexciting. We were disappointed by the caviar.

• "Lissa's Staff Meal: Cuttlefish Noodles and Sea Urchin Tossed with Quail Eggs, Wasabi, Soy Sauce and Gobo." Weird. Lots of reviewers said to order it, but we were disappointed. The cuttlefish, related to squid and octopus though with a bone, was cut to look like noodles. We were instructed to "pour" the already cracked open quail egg on top. It didn't really pour, dumping the yolk out in one small ball. With an odd assortment of other ingredients included jalapenos and fish eggs, it received reactions from weird and unusual to slimy, "not right," and even "nasty."

• Hamachi dotted with what appeared to be mustard seeds (or at least it tastes like Dijon) on toast. (The menu's description implied these might be another form of caviar?) Good. Two people said this was their favorite appetizer, enjoying the contrast between the spiciness of the mustard and the sourness of the fish.Simultaneous with the arrival of the sashimi, we received warm fresh bread. This bread was unusually good, much better than what we get at most restaurants. We recognized this quality despite the fact that the rolls sadly weren't warm by the time we had a chance to eat them.

Next came our appetizers:

• A salad of romaine, roasted cauliflower, and a chunk of burrata (a mozzarella-like cheese) on bread. The romaine was dressed with a vinaigrette that was a bit too salty for our tastes. On the other hand, the roasted cauliflower was terrific, and the cheese was fairly good as well. The bread under the cheese was hard to cut but easy to chew and eat, a surprising combination.

• Japanese Egg Custard "Chawan Mushi." A hot dish of lobster, mushrooms, and jalapenos served in custard. Some said its appearance reminded them of a Chinese dish. Although the lobster itself was very good, the dish as a whole was not appealing, mostly because the custard was both odd in this context and too liquidy.

Since we decided to generally stick with the appetizer and sashimi, we only selected two entrees:

• Black cod with thin shrimp dumplings. The fish was cooked perfectly, and I mean that, and served in a sweet sake-based sauce. The dumplings were pretty insubstantial and didn't excite us.

• "Wagyu" steak. Good; nicely peppered. Came with roasted Japanese potatoes -- these were terrific, a perfect texture and with just the right amount of salt. On the potatoes were some mushroom stalks. That's right: mushroom stalks. No tasty head, only dry stalks. Also in this pile was a thin, papery, hard to identify item. At first we thought it was a potato skin, then we thought it was the missing mushroom heads, but we finally realized when we tasted it that it was the thin bitter leaves of collard greens.

As for desserts, we had:

• Apple tart. Good, with a crispy base of filo dough and a moist interior of apple-pie-like chunks. Appropriately accompanied by very creamy cinnamon ice cream. Also came with some apple fritters -- neat, though I prefer banana ones.

• Pistachio ice cream with green tea syrup. Good. Despite what you may have guessed, the pistachio and tea worked well together. The syrup came in its own little pitcher. The dish also came with some fine biscotti, effectively sugar biscuits. Incidentally, out of curiosity I tried the tea syrup itself -- it had the intense bitterness of straight tea, a feature that happily didn't appear when the syrup was poured over the ice cream. As for drinks, we tried a variety. I tried the hiro-tini, named after one of the chefs. It's a mix of cucumber, vodka, and a little ginger. It came nicely decorated with a cucumber strip. Yet, the drink itself was not pleasant. More than one attendee cringed upon tasting it. It tasted bitter, first with a cucumber flavor than a vodka after-taste.

One person ordered a cocktail of vodka and pear. This was nicely spiced, decorated with a long orange peel, and was strong but wonderfully scented with cinnamon that successfully masked the strength of the alcohol. Very well balanced, we all liked it.

We also had red wine, coffee, and hot cocoa, which was said to be good but not impressive. Even the participant who is usually picky about tea deigned to order one.

Located in the St. Regis Hotel, the decor is clean and inoffensive. It felt very Zen, with simple and subdued straight lines, sheer white curtains with black stripes, and lights hidden in the ceiling. Although others enjoyed it, I thought it lacked personality. The restaurant does get some credit, however, for the large open kitchen with unstressed staff.

On the other hand, the adjacent lounge did have personality, such as a nice chandelier and a long thin fireplace that divided the lounge from the lobby.

Incidentally, one person remarked as we entered the dining room that it even smelled like a hotel: freshly laundered.

Our server was clearly inexperienced. For instance, soon after we sat down, when we spilled water on the table, he made us get up so he could change the utensils and the tablecloth. Only after the table was entirely remade did it occur to him that we could have simply moved us to another table, rather than leave us standing while the table was being remade. (Since by the point he asked, the table had been fixed, we declined the offer.) As another example, when delivering a tall cup and saucer of hot chocolate, he spent a while taking it off the tray, attempting to put it on the table, realizing there wasn't enough space, doing so again, and all quite hesitatingly because he wasn't sure if he could carry the saucer with the cup on top without spilling the hot chocolate. We recognize he was trying to be careful and deserves some credit but he clearly spent way too long attempting to do something that should've been handled smoothly at any nice restaurant. Still, the service had some nice touches, like delivering warm plates with the entrees.

Total was ~$58/person including tax and tip but not including drinks.

Original Announcement

Tomorrow let's head to Ame, a fusion restaurant that primarily takes inspiration from Japanese cuisine. It was rated as one of the top ten restaurants the main S.F. Chronicle food critic reviewed last year.

http://www.amerestaurant.com/

It's in SOMA.

Please tell me if you'd like to come!

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