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Bistro Ember in San Francisco opened in May 2023, helmed by Chef Deniz Sezer, formerly of Sorrel Restaurant in San Francisco and 3 Michelin-starred Quique Dacosta in Spain.
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Bistro Ember Location and Hours
Bistro Ember is located at 1298 Church Street by 25th Street in San Francisco's Noe Valley, about a 15 minute drive from downtown. On public transit, take the J Church to the Church and 25th Street Station, then walk a couple minutes to the restaurant. Bistro Ember is open exclusively for dinner, from 5-9 pm Tuesdays-Thursdays and Sundays, and 5-10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, closed on Mondays.
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Bistro Ember Menu, Food and Service
We arrived mid-week for a 6:15 pm reservation, and found ourselves the only diners at that time, although other diners arrived at 7 pm and 7:30 pm. After being warmly greeted and seated, our server provided menus, explained that the menu was divided into cold appetizers, hot appetizers, and entrees, and invited us to ask him any questions.
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We decided to order several dishes to share among the three of us. Bread isn't complimentary but can be ordered, so we ordered two of the Chickpea Yeast Breads, which came with artfully honeycomb-molded butter with spicy honey, rosemary oil, and olive oil. The warm bread with the butter and infused honey and oil was delicious. I didn't find the chickpea flavor pronounced at all, which could be good or bad depending on how much you like chickpeas.
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Next to arrive was the tomato and watermelon salad. While this is a summer favorite of many home cooks, not many of us have the equipment to expertly compress watermelon, so this salad was a stand-out with its intense watermelon cubes and fresh summer flavors.
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It took some time for our hot appetizers to arrive, but when they did, we were especially happy with the perfectly fried stuffed squash blossoms, which were light and not greasy at all and accompanied with a saffron sauce and vegetables.
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The charcoal grilled octopus with muhammara sauce (with roasted red peppers, tomato and walnuts) was excellent as well.
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The manti (Turkish ravioli) were fine and came with a delectable smoked yogurt sauce, but there should have been a few more of them for the $22 price, given how small they were.
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For our mains, we shared what our server termed the “most traditionally Turkish dish” on the menu, the Lamb Mutancana, with apricot-anise and sour plum purees. The lamb is slow cooked for three days, and was incredibly tender, accompanied by Turkish wheat berry porridge, keskek, which is a traditional wedding dish. I would have liked more of the flavorful maitake mushroom; while beautifully plated, it seemed stingy to serve so little mushroom, given how well it complemented the other flavors.
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Our final dish was the charcoal grilled eggplant with chickpeas, baba ganoush, and fellah kofte, a vegetarian dumpling. It was a satisfying vegetarian entree, and would make a perfect vegetarian meal paired with the squash blossom or tomato watermelon salad.
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The Verdict
At time of writing, Bistro Ember is arguably the best fine dining restaurant in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood, taking into account the level of cooking, presentation, and service. That can be a tricky niche to occupy, since it's a low key residential community and the restaurant is on a quiet corner off of the main drag of 24th Street. The restaurant may struggle to fill tables on slower weekdays. If the portions were about 30 percent larger or the prices were about 30 percent lower, we'd return sooner. Highlights of our meal were the tomato and watermelon salad, squash blossom, octopus, and lamb mutancana.
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