El Paseo

I have been to El Paseo many times in my life, but this was my first time as a steak house. In the past we rented the area in the bar during my 40^th birthday and had a fabulous time. Wanting a repeat we returned on my 60^th. I was looking forward to the ambiance at El Paseo, but the service and food ruined it.
I am not a health nut, but why must everything be fatty or candied? Yuck! I can’t remember all of the details because the food was not that memorable. We started with the Deviled Eggs. They were nice. Next was the Iceberg Wedge with if I remember right had candied bacon. It was okay, but I don’t like sugar in my salad. For my protein or should I say my fat, I had the ENGLISH-​CUT BERKSHIRE PORK CHOP. This thing was almost pure fat, cost $ 35 and I can get a better one at 3Fs in Sausalito. Man, it was nasty! As a side I had Brussels Sprouts with more candied bacon. Oooph. Did I ever pick the wrong place to eat for a dinner! Denny’s would have been more satisfying. Meanwhile we had to put up with egotistical service and a bar tender that had to one up everyone in the place.
Sadly, I will never have another 60^th birthday. If you are having an important occasion, don’t risk it upon El Paseo. Hopefully a new cook will arrive soon and drop the steakhouse menu

It saddens me to have to give El Paseo such a low review. I actually thought that I had posted a review already, likely with 4 – 5 stars. I came to edit the review based on the past 3 or 4 visits. Seems I was not as inspired to write that first review as I originally thought.
There’s no denying that the ambience and setting at El Paseo is fabulous. That’s why I so want to love the place. But I’ve simply found the food, ranging from starters to the heaviest entrees, to be completely underwhelming. And the burger. What used to be one of the finest burgers out there, they now seem completely incapable of getting right.
I also have to say that service is spotty. Seems the kitchen has a really hard time with timing dishes. In fairness, they comped us an entrée last night which was both appreciated and the right thing to do.
So, in short, I’m not slamming them. But I hope Tyler or Sammy or the guy who runs the joint read this and realize they’re probably losing some regulars. I know I won’t be back for quite some time.

HORRIBLE! My food was stone cold and the waitress was the rudest any of our party of six had ever seen. And we’re from New York. You couldn’t pay me to go back there.

Food: delicious. Décor: the most charming, warm place in Marin.
We ate: clams in brodo – actually tiny steamed clams in butter garlic parsley sauce – not a brodo; 32 ounce rib eye – plenty for three to share. Kale salad with crisp and fresh raw kale. Very crispy, flavorful pomme frites. Beautiful desserts – s’more sundae, intensely flavored apple/​pear sorbet, classic cream puffs.
Service: El Paseo needs to up its game. Although tonight they were short-​staffed a waitperson, on this site, there is in fact a general complaint-​theme of inattentive, perfunctory service by wait-​staff. Tonight’s hostess, however, was warm and totally competent. My educated guess is El Paseo was dropped from the Bauer Top 100 because of service issues.
Nevertheless, regardless of service disappointment, I crave to return for the great food, delicious aromas, vibrant, cozy and charming ambiance.

I went to the past two wine tasting dinners. 120 per person and a total waste of $. I would have much preferred going to Molina, or anywhere else. Waste of time and money. What a total joke.
1 — last night the app was a pork belly served rare as a supposed charcuterie. This was pretty gross and basically a huge plate of fat. GROSS!
2 — the menu specifically referenced which wine everyone was supposed to bring — CNDP pre 2009 — which we did — we shared ours but nobody else shared.
3 — the wine dinner was most of the restaurant but the new manager did nothing to make people feel welcome.
I thought these dinners were supposed to be part of the El Paseo turnaround, but for me it has cemented my view that this is an overpriced and poorly run restaurant.
It is a gorgeous venue. I suggest passing by for a Pinot before going to Molina, Ginestra or basically anywhere else.

We recently went to El Paseo’s in Mill Valley. We were excited to go to a Tyler Florence restaurant. We love his restaurant in SF and enjoy his cookbooks. Great recipes. El Paseo was absolutely beautiful, one of the most interesting spaces with lots of different areas in and around a brick couplet yard. Just enchanting.
The food was good but not dating or exciting like we would expect. We then found out that it was no longer run by Tyler but by a partner they all seemed to like working for. So if you want an interesting décor, great service and good food this is a great find but if you want exceptional food from Tyler Florence this is not the place to go. 5-​ambience. 5-​service. 3.5 for food.

My sister decided she wanted to try Sammy’s Mill Valley restaurant for her birthday. After reading the up and down reviews here, (which frankly
I don’t understand), here is my 2cents worth:
Erica was our delightful server and was very attentive. Popovers were brought to our table immediately. They were light and airy and more enjoyable than your typical bread fare.
We started with deviled eggs, octopus salad and the kale/​pear salad which we all agreed was outstanding. For entrées, we had steak frites, filet mignon’s and scallops. Not one of us were disappointed. My steak frite came as a sliced steak accompanied by a bed of french fries sprinkled with bleu cheese. The fillets were wrapped in bacon accompanied with potatoes. My dining companions agreed my french fries were the star of the side dishes! A great upscale dining experience, our only regret was that Sammy wasn’t there ;)

This is, hands down, the best restaurant in Mill Valley! Chef Henry has prepared a delectable menu, and the addition of Spanish cuisine is fantastic. My husband and I last visited the restaurant on Thursday night, and we enjoyed the octopus, and the French onion soup is A MUST. Our main entrees were the salmon (cooked perfectly, medium rare) and the pork chop, also delicious. The ambience is dim lit and very romantic, and service is always impressive. The wine list has many great choices. I highly recommend El Paseo for your next dinner date with loved ones. We will continue to come back!

Best steak house in Marin. The ambience is a bit farmhouse /​grotto chic so I was a little thrown off by the formal service style, still great service, just a style.
It’s only wine and beer. No cocktails.
The menu is limited which I don’t mind at all — but it is a place where it looks like they focus on what they do to ensure it is done well.
Great place for date night.
Make reservations ahead of time.

I don’t understand why there are so many negative reviews about this place. My experience there tonight is worthy of 5 stars. One review I read said the service was bad. I felt that the service tonight was outstanding. I cannot think of anything negative about our experience with our server. As for the food, my wife and I shared the cowboy ribeye for two, and that was one DELICIOUS steak. It was perfectly cooked and satisfyingly flavorful. I would definitely recommend this place to other people, and you can guarantee that I would come back here again. Money well spent tonight at El Paseo.

Had dinner today, dec 24 th. Very limited menu and only beer and wine, no spirits
.food very average. Service fair.ambience nothing much. This is a two star restaurant. Need a exciting menu and a better chef. I would only go if I had no other choice

What a disappointment. First let me tell you we came for a dinner for 12 on a wednesday night. We apparently had a pre chosen menu (dishes described below) and for the 12 of us, the food was $ 900 BUT there was a $ 1400 minimum on our table, so they were assuming that we would spend $ 500 in wine ontop. out of 12 of us 4 didn’t drink…
Passed appetizers — meh, risotto balls, deviled eggs and something I saw on a little spoon that didn’t look good — nothing was worth a mention.
Market Greens — supposedly with cucumber and sunflower seeds, neither of which I saw on my plate or anyone elses. perhaps one of the 2 highlights of the entire meal was the salad dressing — so that’s not saying much.
Corn Risotto — inedible. Slimy mush that had peas and runny mayo in it. it came out luke warm at best, and was «gloppy» like the lunch lady’s hash.
Salmon with quinoa, dill yogurt, argugla — never found the argugla, and the salmon and quinoa was so dry, the dill yogurt could have saved the dish if it was bigger than the size of a pea.
Hunter’s platter — cowboy steak, pork chops, croquettes and roasted chicken — not enough food on this plate for 4 people much less 12. pork chops dry, steak bland, and croquettes cold.
whipped potatotes — should have been called salt potatotes, I like salt, and I couldn’t get past it. it was awful.
Roasted carrots — decent. next to the salad dressing possibly the only thing edible, too bad each person was given maybe 2.
Chocolate chip cookies, apparently they used all the salt in the potatotes and forgot to put any in the cookies, they didn’t hold together, and were bland and under cooked.
cream puffs — still trying to figure out what they were filled with, the ‘cream’ was either butter milk or spoiled, because there was no flavor. and the pastry was disappointing.
Normally a meal I wasn’t paying for, I wouldn’t complain, but when 90% of it was either inedible or awful and the hosts were being charged an insane amount of money (and none of this included tip mind you) something needs to be said. I believe the check came out to right around $ 2k when all said and done.
awful, awful, awful. if you are ‘too good’ to have a 12 top order off the menu, and enforce minimums for a group that isn’t exceptionally large, perhaps you should check your ego.
We won’t be going back, and you shouldn’t either — there are far superior places to drop your $ on dinner. this isn’t one of them. 2 stars= salad dressing and carrots. pathetic.

Earlier visits were very positive but last nights service was very poor and entrees arrived lukewarm.

— Ambiance is a 5 star. It’s a beautiful location and simply nice to hang out in. During the summer months there’s a fire-​pit/​patron heating space outside and it creates a beautiful, elegant environment with a cozy feel.
— The food was good. Nothing exceptional or ground breaking, and on the $$$ side, but it was good food.
— Parking here can be awful.
— The level of snobbery here is impressive. The hostess sometimes cannot be bothered to say hello or even acknowledge your existence.
I cannot say that the place lives up to the hype but if I’m wanting to spend money on good food at a beautiful location, this is a spot I can go to.

We decided not to cook for Thanksgiving this year and made a reservation for 3:30 to celebrate the day. We were seated promptly and immediately greeted by our server. We ordered the traditional dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes cranberry, stuffing with gravy. We also ordered a bottle of champagne which was very tasty. The dinner came out in about 5 minutes — which surprised us– we know it obviously was made in advance and it was good. It included an even portion of white and dark meat– but It needed a little more seasoning in my opinion. ** I would rather it be on the light side than over seasoned. They also could have put more gravy on the plate– or bring some one the side. You know how people can be with their gravy! The popovers as usual were delicious. We were out of the restaurant in about 1 hour and relaxing home soon afterward. It was our first time not cooking at home and to be honest, very nice. The establishment is incredible as always with a beautiful setting– the service was OK– nothing special. We felt our server could have been more personable and come around more to ask us if we needed anything else– but she was fine. All in all– we had a wonderful dinner and will always come back for more. Nice job!

My wife and I went in for an anniversary dinner.
The waiter was only vaguely interested in us and after taking our order never returned in the 45 minutes it took to GET our food our ever ask how our food was. As far as that goes my Scallops were excellent but my wife’s Pork Chop was still rare. Maybe we would have asked to have it heated a bit longer if he had ever returned to find out how we were doing.
It felt to me like they don’t care much about you unless you are a regular or a VIP.
That’s Ok in a McDonalds but not in a restaurant that presents itself as fine dining.

I would describe El Paseo as Tyler Florence’s whimsical romantic intimate restaurant located on the quaint town of Mill Valley. El Paseo definitely creates an ambiance that differs from the well known Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco. The setting felt as I was in Italy. Walking down the alley on cobblestone into this little gem lit by beautiful lightning into the cozy entrance way. The ambiance was truly spectacular and the dishes were amazingly presented. The wine list was also well put together and paired nicely with each dish. A memorable romantic experience.

If you have dated before,
or are dating now,
or plan on dating in the future,
near or otherwise,
you’ve absolutely got to bring that date here.
Married?
Same.
El Paseo used to be the French place. As in, THE French Place, in Marin. I don’t think that there’s anyone that lived in Marin County that didn’t bring their significant other here for Valentine’s Day, at least once.
And if they didn’t, well, shame on them.
To be frank, which I am, I thought the food was overrated.
But for sheer atmosphere?
El Paseo couldn’t be beat.
Today, it’s the same way.
Except now, it’s a steak place.
The dynamic duo that is Sammy Hagar & Tyler Florence took over a few years ago. They rightly & smartly kept everything, except the food & décor, the same. They even kept the name.
This is still the premier spot for date night. There is just something intoxicating about walking through a bricked entryway, sitting in an alcove, & sipping wine over candlelight.
There are 2 separate spaces right across from one another. One is the main dining room & kitchen, the other is the smaller bar area. I actually prefer the bar area; it’s charming beyond belief.
Actually, the entire restaurant is a magazine layout waiting to happen.
Enter the bricked path, perch yourself down inside or outside, & you could be in Europe.
Or, on vacation.
Or, in a romantic movie scene.
Perhaps it’s not the best steak in town. You may be better off at the Buckeye or even Marin Joe’s for that.
But for aesthetic, this is the jewel.
Bring your loved ones here, & enjoy life.
4 stars.

Whatever Sammy Hager is doing is spot on! Service and food all 5 star. From deviled eggs, the best ever! To a delicious frisée salad and delectable veal osso buco. A creamed corn, spicy and sweet. Amazing. Great chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

I was very surprised at how good everything was after seeing this place transform itself over the last god knows how many years.
It’s current incarnation is a bit hipper and more casual than the «fine dining» formality it always had in the past.
As a couple who enjoy sitting at the bar that was our first look but (like it often has been in the past) it was empty and the bartender never really looked up from the sink so we ended up passing on the bar.
There were a lot of attractive, empty open tables outside on a cool night with the heaters on, but we decided to go inside.
The host was on the phone when we went in, but he came out and met us outside as we waited and sat us with no reservations. He was very nice.
Popovers quickly arrived but our wine by the glass took a bit longer. Very nice and reasonably priced wine by the glass selection as well as bottles. The chenin blanc was excellent. After we asked for water it was promptly served and kept full throughout dinner. The popovers could have been a bit warmer — I like them sort of hot and steamy fresh out of the oven but that is not always practical (I was at a place that did them (the BLT Steak restaurant in Manhattan) that way and it was amazing).
The deviled eggs were really delicious, though there were only 4 halves (a different picture showed 6 halves).
We split the green garlic soup and it was amazing, i can’t recommend it enough. It came with a bowl of pickled vegetables and mussels and the soup was poured on the side.
We also had the sweet and sour shrimp appetizer — two jumbo fried shrimp with a sweet and sour sirachi/​mayo type sauce. It was very good.
For dinner I had the Bearnaise burger ($ 19) with herbed fries and my wife had the asparagus risotto ($ 24) with morels, english peas, asparagus and fried kale chips and radish garnish on top, and a poached egg. It was delicious but it was not clear to us where the morels were. We were told they were «in the risotto» — we were sort of expecting them to be on top rather than sort of stewed in. We still couldn’t find any morels though. The waitress actually offered to bring us some morels on the side! Nice! I’m not sure how the morels were supposed to be part of the dish. I think they would have worked very well sort of roasted and displayed on top rather than mixed into the risotto. Anyway, it was very good. The burger was really tasty as well. The french Bordeaux by the glass was really tasty as well.
Some neighboring tables got the various cuts of meat and they looked absolutely delicious. The only thing I probably wouldn’t suggest would be the scallops. At $ 32 for 4 pretty small scallops that looked like a bit of a ripoff. The rest of the menu I thought was reasonably priced (though not a cheap meal by any means). However, we had three appetizers, two entrees and 2 glasses of wine and it came in under $ 120.
Our waitress and the busboy were both excellent.