A true gem of a restaurant, if you enjoy trusting the chef's selection. It was mostly one "several course" menu, and every single bite was excellent! Very good food, great ambience and very nice staff. You can get a private room with beautiful burgundy velvet curtains to give you privacy. Generally, it has a very nice ambience. It was a very good and epic experience.

What a delightful way to celebrate our anniversary! Great food with elegant presentation, extremely reasonable wine list, warm and intimate ambience, topped off with attentive and personable service by the chef himself. We loved all the courses, including a bonus bean caesar, warm bread rolls with 3 butters, and a bonus ice cream topped with delicious crumble and celebratory candles. Hard to pick a favorite, but would probably say the potato and crab croquette on tomato base. The catch of the day was black cod straight off the fishermen's boats, and its preparation was perfect--delicate and tender. The lamb chop was tender and perfectly pink. The dining room is intimate and beautiful, with long dark velvet curtains that add a touch of elegance and privacy to each table. Thank you for a wonderful evening!

John is a great host and chef!! The cod and the lamb were perfect! I could have that every day of the week. And he was really nice and knowledgeable about wine. So we ended up talking about the different wineries we liked. Overall a wonderful experience.

Our experience at The Richmond was awesome. After a day at Academy of Science we enjoyed a beautiful dinner for 3. The chef was so accommodating as we arrived earlier than our reservation. He prepared delicious plates and even made a couple surprise dishes that were very yummy. I recommend getting the wine pairing. The lamb & risotto was so good, I was wanting more! Also, we brought our 3 month old and Chef was so understanding when he was fussing. I was very appreciative of that because I was so stressed about it. I already booked another dinner for next month!

Fantastic neighborhood restaurant! I had not been there in a few years but it's even better than before. Such an intimate setting and very comfortable dining experience. Highly recommended.

I stumbled upon this place on Yelp, so my husband and I decided to come here for our 3rd wedding anniversary. It was a rare date night out without our baby. We were able to make reservations day of, for a Wednesday evening. We got seated by the window. The long curtains made us feel like we were the only ones dining there! It was very intimate. We actually didn't know it was a prix fixe menu, but I was pleasantly surprised because it saved us from having to decide what to eat (I've been getting decision fatigue lately haha). $79 per person is a very reasonable price. You can also do $60 for wine pairing, but we decided to get a bottle instead. We got the calipaso cab sauv and it was excellent. There are four tasting menus per year. When we went during May, we got to try: -Cardamom Carrot & Beet Salad, goat cheese wrapped in phyllo -Potato and Crab Croquette, tomato bouillabaisse -Catch of the Day, pea purée, fresh peas, baby carrot & carrot sauce (we got halibut) -Petite Lamb Chop & Risotto, mushrooms and arugula -Toasted Pound Cake & Fresh berries, lemon curd and lemon cream We also got asparagus caesar, bread & butter, and ice cream with shaved brittle. Every dish was delicious!! Sometimes lamb can be too gamy for me but that was not the case here. It was so tender and flavorful. The potato & crab croquette was my husband's favorite. I'm all about pastries and desserts so the phyllo, pound cake, and bread & butter were my favorites. I was especially blown away by the bread & butter. The bread was sooo warm and buttery and the three different flavored butters were unique. John, the owner, said that on busy days, he's at the restaurant until 2am! You can truly see his love and passion for what he does, through the food and the service he provides. What a treat to be served by the owner himself. I would love to go back to try some of the other tasting menus.

Talk about hidden gems: they've been in business 20 years and I only heard about via Tock. Since it was my birthday, I figured I'd give it a try--happy birthday to me! The chef serves the six-course meal which came with two extras: rolls with three types of butter and a baby asparagus salad dressed with caesar dressing and accompanied by the most buttery croutons. There are only five tables in the restaurant, and yours is set aside for the evening. The leisurely two-hour delicious and innovative meal started for real with a beet and goat cheese salad topped with a fluffy phyllo pastry, followed by a crab and potato croquette floating in a tomato sauce, then a local, succulent black cod, a petite but meaty lamb chop, and finally toasted pound cake with berries and cream. I will never eat pound cake again unless it's toasted first. The presentation, flavors, and sauces were all top notch and thoughtfully prepared. The Richmond is so close to the Cinderella bakery, which always has deserving crowds, but for a special occasion in a relaxed, welcoming environment, don't pass up this place. For $79, plus well priced wine and beer list, this meal will linger in your mind for months, leave a smile on your face, and a warm spot in your belly. They make everyone feel special.

Every dish is meticulously done. You can tell that the chef put a lot of heart and thought into preparing the meal - down to the flavoured butter and bread. We loved everything on the menu! Simply divine. The only negative thing I have to say is that we don't drink wine and there was no alternative beverage choice. No soda, no juice, nothing. I know that this is a wine bar but there are a few of us who don't drink (I know, rare!) but just want to come here to enjoy the delicious food!

The Richmond is an absolute gem and I can't reiterate how blown away I am by not only the food, but also the impeccable service and intimate ambiance. The chef is a one man show and even then he made sure throughout the service that my boyfriend and I were checked up on. The timing on the food coming out was melodically thought through and there was very little time in between courses. Mapo Tofu fries- (5/5) crispy delicate fries with a soft interior but covered in a heavenly umami mapo tofu sauce. Crab cakes- (5/5) the subtle acidity of the tomato sauce helped elevate the sweetness of the crab enveloped in a lovely crusted ball. The fresh green beans gave the overall dish a refreshing bite which made this dish even better! Halibut- (5/5) perfectly flaky and the zesty sauce was pleasant Le petit ribeye- (5/5) any creamy sauce with tarragon always has my heart. Ribeye was cooked to perfection. I'm blown away that it took me this long to try this place out. What a pleasant surprise and I can't wait to be back again.

Tips: - Open only for dinner at 6pm only on weekdays. - Call a day in advance to make a reservation. - While you wait outside, you can see the entire kitchen from the glass windows. - Car break-ins is unfortunately common all over San Francisco. There are a few Muni bus stops around the restaurant. The bus is never over crowded in this quaint neighborhood. +++Full review+++ Imagine Hannibal Lector invites you to dinner, "Before we begin you must all be warned, nothing here is vegetarian." Opera music is then queued on the speaker as your fingers glide expensive silverware against each plate. You sit at one of the tables separated by tall red curtains, inside looking out to Balboa, the street named after the Spanish conquistador who led a Pacific expedition in search of gold. That is how I theatrical feel during my 2-hour dinner at The Richmond. Every guest must accept to order the 5 course prix fixe by Chef John. That is the ONLY dinner option regardless of dietary needs (remember "nothing here is vegetarian"). Chef John makes sure you know that in the reservation call. He seems to be a likeable guy, tells me that the red privacy curtain was the concept for 10-20 years way before Covid. "We wanted every guest to have a personalized experience," says Chef John when he floats between courses to check in with me. I don't think it is necessary to describe the food at this point. The overall cuisine is French focus. The menu changes regularly at the Chef's discretion. So does the price, as everything is seasonal. I pay $79 for 5 courses and $60 for optional wine pairing today. But you, Yelp readers, may have all different meals at different price points when you visit. You will 100% have bragging rights for discovering a San Francisco hidden gem.