Seasons at the Four Seaons Hotel, SF

San Francisco has a great month-long promotion called Dine-About-Town. Dine-About-Town is similar to NYC's Restaurant Week. For the entire month of January, SF restaurants offer a three-course prix fixe lunch or dinner for $21.95 , or $32.95, respectively. The promotion started in 2002 (prices were $19.95 and $29.95 then, and the promotion only ran for 10 days), and I leapt at the chance to try some of the pricier restaurants for a more reasonable bottom line. The next year, the promotion length was increased to the entire month, and has enjoyed quite a bit of success since then. It is interesting to note that from year to year, the restaurants participating in the promotion change. Each year, MH has done a cost-benefit analysis, factoring in price alone, to determine which restaurants are "worth" visiting. In other words, if the average cost of dinner were $30 if one were to visit the restaurant on a non-dine-about-town evening, then it is not worth it to visit the restaurant for this promotion. MH effects a cut-off over $45/dinner or greater to make a visit worth our while. I then use my own discretion to determine worthy restaurants once MH has done his price cost-benefit analysis.

Starting off the new year right, MH and I took some out-of-town guests to Seasons Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Downtown San Francisco. I had made reservations via Open Table about a month in advance, and had no problem securing a choice table. NB: I have a friend who had trouble getting a reservation a few days in advance for a Friday night. The room in which Seasons is located is like a long rectangle, with one wall comprised entirely of huge windows overlooking downtown. Obviously, the best tables are closer to the windows, away from the serving stations in the back. Tip: if you make a reservation on Open Table, call up afterward to secure your choice of table. This usually requires some research into the room/setup/etc., but is generally worth it.

The dine-about-town menu was printed on the regular menu. This was most appreciated, as from experience in years past, many places make you ask for the menu, immediately identifying you as low-spenders. The bread basket arrived immediately, and was a highlight of the dinner. Let's just say that the gargantuan parmesean crackers are quite addictive. We all ordered off the dine-about-town menu. I opted for the salad, to start. Nothing special. MH got split pea soup, which he enjoyed. As an entree, I got cod over wilted greens with tender fava beans. Aside from the slight saltiness of this dish, it was very well done. The beans had an appealing nuttiness to them, and the wilted greens were slightly chewy. Dessert was either creme brulée (with tiny shortbread cookies) or an apple tart. I tried both, and enjoyed the creme brulée more - it had a good, crisp sugared crust and the creme was creamy and flavorful.

The service was excellent. Not once did we feel like second-class citizens, although that may have been because some of us ordered glasses of wine. Further, we did not tarry at the table, using up available space (keeping in mind that it is a pricey hotel restaurant, and may not usually be completely filled up). An enjoyable evening with good friends and good food.


Seasons
8.5/10