Watercress

Watercress
1152 Valencia St (between 22nd & 23rd Sts), 415 648-6000, dinner only, 7 days, 5:30-9:30pm

Watercress has been reviewed several times recently, for good reason — the price is right, and the food is superb. But it deserves another review under my heading, Affordable Dining in San Francisco.

Watercress, a large, attractive 60+ seat restaurant in the Mission area, features a prix-fixe three-course dinner for $19.95, consisting of one appetizer, one entree, and one dessert, — all of which are chosen from the large a la carte menu. Other prix-fixes in town offer either one fixed menu (e.g., Metro), or a choice of a few dishes (e.g., Chapeau). Watercress is the only restaurant that permits one to choose freely from the menu. What a deal! Especially when one considers the high quality of the food and the artistically arranged servings. One caveat – the wine is quite expensive (see below).

We had dinner at Watercress early (6:30pm) on a weekday evening. Before we were finished eating, the 60+ seats in the large dining room were more than two-thirds full, and diners were arriving steadily. We found one fault at the table — the only lighting was a glass-candle which did not give enough light for us to read the menu! When we told the waitress of this, she patiently recited the entire menu to us. Service was impeccable.

Appetizers (petite assiette), all $5.95, a fabulous price for some of the dishes, e.g., grilled tiger prawns with vegetables, house-cured salmon with cucumber and capers, roasted mussels in chardonnay sauce, oysters on half-shell. Comment – similar dishes in a comparable French restaurant would be up to $3-5 more expensive.

Main course (grande assiette), e.g., seafood pasta with mussels, squid, tiger prawns $9.95, wild mushroom risotto with eggplant and tomatoes $9.95, almond-crusted sautéed sole $13.95, duck confit au orange with spinach and roasted garlic $13.95, NY steak with French fries and asparagus $15.95, braised whole lamb shank in sherry-wine jus $14.95. Comment: These dishes in a comparable French restaurant would cost up to $5 more per dish.

Desserts, All $3.50, a fabulous price, for which other restaurants charge $6.00 or more, e.g., cheesecake with chocolate truffles, four-flavor sorbet, napoleon with berries and pina-colada sauce, ginger crème brulee, cheese platter ($3.00 supplement).

Beverages, Wine corkage $18! Glasses start at $7, with few bottles under $30. Beer (German) $4.50 bottle. Coffee $2.50, espresso $2.95, cappuccino $3.50.

click image to enlarge

Watercress exterior