Aphotic

Fantastic staff and ambience and some really interesting dishes. The oyster ice cream was an unexpected standout. However, some dishes were muddled with a variety of tastes which don't necessarily mesh as a whole. Although I'm not a drinker, the other five people in my party were and they reported the mixed drinks to be a mixed bag. Not sure if the overall dinner was worth the expense.

Very glad that we get to come here towards the end of our trip in SF. We really enjoyed the beautiful space and ambience. The tasting menu is very well put together. All the dishes were amazing and perfectly done. Several extremely unique signature dishes that we never forgot their flavors. The risotto dish and oyster ice cream really stand out for me. The cocktail menu is also nicely crafted and unique.

As suggested by the name, the interior of the restaurant very much reflects the deepest parts of the ocean where sunlight can reach. The ambiance of the restaurant is dark, a bit haunting, but not in a bad way. We sat at the bar and ordered the a la carte menu, (FYI you can't get the tasting menu at the bar) however many items on the menu are found in the tasting as well. Starters, we had the octopus carpaccio and skate cheek karaage and milk bread. The octopus came with citrus and toasted focaccia. The dish was a bit bland, could use a bit of sour note since the citrus just tasted sweet. Fish in the Karaage was soft at the bite, served with some yuzu. Milk bread was served up warm, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside with a side of dungeoness crab curry. Just a personal preference, but I did think the crisp on the outside of the milk bread overpowered the softness of the dish. The dish that wasn't very good for me was the prawn risotto and sea urchin even though it has good reviews. To start, the presentation looks pretty unappetizing. Kind of like someone made a bunch of spit and covered the risotto in it (sorry for mental image but I could not unthink it) It almost completely covered the uni, so you don't actually see what's underneath. The foam tasted fine. Flavors were there but the rice was a bit under cooked for our looking, almost gritty on the teeth, not creamy as risotto should be. I'd pass on this dish next time. Finally we had the miso black cod. I quite enjoyed this dish, the fish was light but sweet and melted in the mouth. Served atop a bed of sushi rice with beurre blanc, delicious. Now for dessert, we had the oyster ice cream and banana tiramisu. The oyster ice cream was such a pleasant surprise, I'd never tasted anything like it. It's paired with a mignonette foam and is very delicate. Portion size could be bigger because I was craving more! The second dessert was like a deconstructed tiramisu, good but nothing outstanding. Service was excellent, the staff were attentive and super clean at the bar. It was quite entertaining watching the bartenders make beautiful looking drinks.

Phenomenal restaurant with even better service. All seafood but definitely a lot of creative preparations. I actually ordered two of the bread/crab dish. It was so good. Cool table side martini preparation, though they didn't give me the option to pick vodka or gin. Super cool space, really feels like you're somewhere unique and not just another nice restaurant in SF. Highly recommend if you love seafood. There was oyster ice cream. It's worth trying.

Went as part of a wedding party and had the tasting menu with 10 courses. It was an amazing culinary adventure with the sea. Everything has an ocean element, from oyster ice cream (unexpectedly delicious) to a seaweed martini (interesting but odd.) The service is perfectly timed and coordinated by a wait staff that must have been trained as ninjas 🥷! They explained each dish and the wine pairings. High dining with the high seas!

Aphotic is a restaurant shooting for the stars, with conceptually amazing food and drink, anchored by an in-depth fish aging program and an in-house distillation facility for entirely custom spirits. No one else in the city is doing this. And yet the results are simply good, occasionally great, but rarely as amazing as I expected given the tools at their disposal. Don't get me wrong, I certainly enjoyed my visit: the staff and service are excellent and accommodating, the food is very good and well balanced, and the cocktails were as a whole also tasty. But having tried 8 drinks with their cocktail tasting menu (I love that they do this), and evaluating their cocktail program on that basis, I'd say that - while it has some great drinks and a lot of promise - it ultimately falls short of the incredible possibilities their in-house distillates provide. Although they use some of these distillates (essentially strongly and uniquely flavored spirits made in-house) in their drinks, I found the flavors they added to be too subtle to be of major note in many cases. Perhaps it's just a matter of preference, but if we're going to have nori or citrus marigold in a cocktail, I want that flavor to stand out a bit more. As it is some of the drinks, like a Penicillin variation, don't taste different enough from the standard you might get at another quality bar (and for a lower price, albeit with less cool glassware). They were uniformly good, but mostly lacked enough uniqueness or a "wow" factor (with a couple exceptions). It feels like a somewhat wasted opportunity. That said everything is certainly quite good. As a restaurant and bar program they are also very new, some 6 months from opening I believe, so there is plenty of room to grow into their potential and I have high hopes that they will do just that. So I will certainly be returning to see how things evolve in the future and I hope their innovative approach brings them years of success! We need more places blazing trails like this, even if the results are not always as spectacular in practice as they have the potential of being. Shoot for the stars and land on the moon? I'll take it.

Food is pretty good, highly recommend include wine pairing. The only part that can be improved is service. One server put utensils on wrong side, gave me empty wine glass when the next dishes don’t have wines, and also plans to take the dishes when I was still working on it… never experienced those things in other Michelin Besides that I would say this is a nice place, might come next time for cocktails.

Fantastic staff and ambience and some really interesting dishes. The oyster ice cream was an unexpected standout. However, some dishes were muddled with a variety of tastes which don't necessarily mesh as a whole. Although I'm not a drinker, the other five people in my party were and they reported the mixed drinks to be a mixed bag. Not sure if the overall dinner was worth the expense.