Saturday, September 13, 2008

Slanted Door, Slight Disappointment

I finally went to the lauded Slanted Door and was really looking forward to it. Got a lunch reservation and headed there straight from SFO. We didn't want to eat much since a lot of food-ing was coming up, so we decided to share 2 appetizers.

First we got some steamed clams, with garlic+basil.The clams were good and the broth was very tasty. A little spice and heat and a lot of flavor. Liked it quite a bit although we thought it was pretty standard. I can get this at a lot of Asian places for cheaper and it would be just as good.

Next we got some Niman Ranch ribs - I wanted some meat!
This turned out to be not that great. The ribs were kind of tough, and they weren't that flavorful. The Niman Ranch ribs I bought at Trader Joe's and cooked myself at home were better, IMHO!
So this really disappointed us.

We thought the Slanted Door was hyped up way too much and the food we had didn't quite justify all the hype. Did we order wrong? If so, please tell me. What should I get? Why all the hype? Is it worth another try?

Slanted Door
1 Ferry Building #3
San Francisco, CA
4158618032

Slanted Door on Urbanspoon

5 comments:

Cookie said...

I've been to the Slanted Door a few times for business lunches and the food is good but not as great as what it's hyped up to be. I TOTALLY agree that you can get most of the items from a lot of the other Asian restaurants for a fraction of the price. If you do wanna try them again, I highly recommend the Shaking Beef. :)

Anonymous said...

Slanted Door has good cocktails and spring rolls. I think that's about it! The pork with vermicelli dish was drenched in oil, and the other dishes lacked the robust flavors I expect in Vietnamese cuisine.

Definitely try the spring rolls! They are wrapped in rice paper, and then fried. It creates a different texture, slightly chewy and very crispy.

Gourmet Gal said...

The spring rolls & lettuce wraps are delicious, the tofu (with mushrooms & onions) is excellent, the veggies are good (sugar snap peas), yellowfin tuna salad- just some of our favorites. We had the ribs & just thought they were so-so.

ila said...

I tried to get my family to go there, but my dad was adamantly against it. Now I see why!

jeesung said...

it was worth the hype in the late-90's. after their moves to bigger locations the quality and consistency of their food has suffered. the last couple times i've been were very disappointing. i won't be back unless i hear of big improvements.