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This is the place to impress your date with your sophistication and grace. This is a wonderful place. The first time we chanced in here I was with my teenage son and we were starving and happened to be parked nearby. Even though we weren't dressed up, they treated us like we were the most important people there. The food was amazing. The next time I went, I did dress up and took my husband there on a date. He loved it. Makes you feel that you have discovered the best of the best.

As a self-proclaimed chef myself, I'm not easily pleased. I go in to each upper-echelon restaurant expecting an experience rather than value. I have been to quite a few of the better restaurants in San Francisco and surrounding cities (Aqua, Farallon, Boulevard, Chez Panisse, Myth, etc.) I look for ambiance, service, and most of all taste. Jardiniere delivers on all fronts. You enter the restaurant and recognize that this place is very San Francisco with a touch of Gramercy Park, Manhattan. A spiral staircase led my fiancee and I upstairs to be seated with a direct view of the fantastic jazz ensemble banging out standards by the likes of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. The service was nice, but the ambiance is one of the real draws here. It's lined with brick and warm woodtones. A circular full bar adds to the artsy San Francisco feel. The tables are not crammed and you are very comfortbale in any seat in the restaurant. The other draw is the taste. The flavor in Chef/Partner Traci Des Jardins' shortribs was nothing short of explosive. Her horseradish mashed potatoes were a perfect companion to my main course. My fiancee's salmon was the best either of us had ever tasted. (Stevenswood Resturant in Mendocino is the only thing that comes close.) The desserts were splendid and the drinks were perfectly mixed as well. I highly recommend you reconsider and make reservations for Jardiniere. This amazing restaurant is not just for the Opera crowd. What an amazing, amazing experience.