Butterfly Restaurant

My boyfriend and I just had dinner and it was great! The owner was super sweet, sat down and chatted with us for half an hour, bought us drinks then brought out two desserts. We had an excellent time and really enjoyed the food/​atmosphere!

My friends and I came to Butterfly for their $ 25 prix fixe lunch menu for SF Restaurant Week. When we first got there we all noticed the beautiful view right on the pier, and also the inside looks prettyy swanky, with mirrors and glass everywhere haha.
For my app, I ordered the salt and pepper fried calamari. It came drizzled with a tabasco remoulade and ponzu sauce on the bottom. The calamari was fried well and had good seasoning! I also got to try some of the duck confit spring rolls and they were pretty good. Even though the chinese mustard/​honey dipping sauce is a bit strong, I liked it.
I went with the grilled pork hanoi style which was basically a «make your own» lettuce wrap dish with vermicelli and a mild version of fish sauce. The pork came on a sizzling platter in 3 different types: pork belly, pork meatballs, and grilled bbq pork. I used the lettuce cups for the most part but I noticed a few of my lettuce leaves had holes in them – not prime material for a lettuce wrap because the sauce would drip all over my hands LOL. I ended up tearing the lettuce into smaller pieces and mixing that, the vermicelli, and my meat in the bowl provided. My favorite type of pork was the pork belly, which was fatty and very tender!
My friend ordered the shaking beef garlic noodles and they were just okay. I’m really not sure why that is such a popular dish. You can barely taste any garlic flavor, but the noodles were very buttery.
For the dessert, I got the crème brûlée and that was sooo good! The only bad part was that some of the crust was burnt, so that taste echoed in my mouth for that whole bite… eh. However it was super creamy and the rest of the crust was great!
$ 25 for a 3 course meal is not bad at all! I haven’t looked at the regular prices, but the restaurant week menu seemed well worth it, with whatever options you choose.

SF RESTAURANT WEEK HERE I COME (First timer, first stop… Butterfly). And yes, I intend to go as many as possible this week.
As fragile as butterflies are, Butterfly’s food are just as delicate. Just one touch and it fell apart (i’ll explain later).
SF Restaurant week Lunch $ 25/​person (set price for set menu)
Each person gets only 1 app, 1 entrée, and 1 dessert. I came with a party of 3 so we tried to order different things to try.
–Appetizer–
: Duck Confit Spring Rolls: paired with chinese mustard and honey sauce. The spring rolls seems more like egg rolls as the exterior skin was fried. The duck was tender and flavorful. The sauce (maybe personal preference) was a bit off putting. It almost had a strong horseradish feel to it??? I cant describe it. The rolls fell apart instantly upon one touch so it got quite messy.
: Salt and Pepper Calamari: paired with tabasco remoulade, ponzu marinated cucumbers. It was pretty savory with a salted batter and moist interior of squid and mini octopus.
–Entrée–
: Shanghai Garlic Noodles: (choice of shrimp, skaing beef, chicken, surf&turf) We got shrimp. The overall feels of the dish seem more like a chow mein than garlic noodles. Not enough garlic taste to it and probably not cooked in enough butter. But noodles were not too hard and not too soft.
: Grilled Pork Hanoi Style: With caramelized onions/​herbs, rice noodles, nuoc cham (aka fish sauce). So this dish can be eaten two ways– lettuce wrapped or in a bowl like a salad. There seems to be three types of pork: ground pork, pork belly, and pork loin. My favorite was probably the pork belly. The fish sauce was fairly plain as it had not contribution to flavor. The lettuce cups also got super messy as one bite caused the entire thing to collapse easily.
–Dessert–
: Warm Chocolate Pot de Crème: 90% of the jar consisted of what seemed like warm brownie topped with a hint of vietnamese coffee, whipped cream and cashews.
: Classic Crème Brulee: topped with one lychee. Probably my favorite thing out of the entire meal. Perfectly caramelized top layer and incredibly tasty custard under.
–Service/​Atmosphere–
Our waitress was extremely nice and welcoming. Our waters were ALWAYS filled. Nothing beats eating by the ocean with a great ocean view (we were lucky to be seated next to the window). The one thing that got to me was their restroom. I’m a germaphobe, and to see the toilet stained black was a bit off putting. It was also weird since it was such an upscale restaurant in the Embarcadero.
Overall, quite a pricey meal (even with the SF restaurant week special). The quality was decent but nothing like a WOW, SO AMAZING factor. But overall a good experience to say I’ve tried.

Went here today for lunch and saw a rat on the floor. The manager also saw it. Very disappointed how they handled the situation. It was really hard to stomach the food knowing there are rats running around in the restaurant.

Picturesque Restaurant serving delicious Asian fusion food! Butterfly is located right on the waterfront along the Embarcadero. I have been here a couple of times over the years but have never written a review so this is long overdue.
The food presentation is visually stunning and I like to feast with my eyes first. A couple of menu items I enjoyed on my last visit the Peking Duck, Sesame Tuna, & Animal Style Garlic Noodles. All were delicious and the portion was very generous!
Our server was very attentive and I throughly enjoyed my dining experience here. Will be back!

HAPPY HOUR!
Good Food, Outstanding Staff. Atmosphere and scenery hard to match.
1^st Stop. = Duck Confit Spring Rolls.

Loved their fusion Food with a good view of the water
. Happy Hour Has lots of food to choose from.
Duck spring rolls you can’t go wrong
Kailua Pork !!! Yes. I’m from HI I know it’s a bit fussion? But loved it .For the price can’t go wrong with it …
One of my few happy Hour Secrets place to hang around with Less … ^^#}~, people. I’d come to enjoy the place not to complain.

Stopped in here for a quick lunch before going on our Alcatraz trip.
Our table was against the window with a view of the bay.
We had a cheeseburger and wok seared garlic noodles with chicken. The chicken was tasty and the noodles were chewy and lightly seasoned.

There are so many wonderful dining options in SF but good Fusions are few far in between. If yow want a good fusion culinary experience eat HERE. Great atmosphere, dimly lit for a group, family or date in the evenings and during the day, beautiful view of the bay.
Had these dishes and they were exceptional:
Angus burger, remember to chew it’s so good
Wok garlic noddles with surf and turf, yummy
Catfish.yes, catfish with lettuce wraps, flavors of Vietnam.
Also flat steak was delish! Don’t forget the fanciful cocktails. I love the lycheetini.

The food at Butterfly was delicious. We had brunch that consisted of a Cobb salad with tender steak, the pig in a hole sandwich, burgers grilled to perfection and the egg with mushroom bowling yeah and the pork lettuce cups. This is the round two to Sammy’s Aloha and it was much better! The oooooonly downside. ONLY downside, is that the bathroom are disgusting. But you can see the kitchen so that’s clean.

Came to celebrate a birthday with a group of friends. Nice restaurant, great location with ample parking across the street. Nice atmosphere, awesome service and reasonably priced and well proportioned dishes. Tried the oyster shooters (very good), garlic noodles loco style, ahi tuna (nice quality and HUGE portion for the price). Calamari, and spring rolls were also very good. They even brought a complimentary crème brûlée for the bday girl with a candle. Very thoughtful. No complaints…

The location on the Pier makes for a spectacular view. The service is rock solid. The food flavor rich and well presented. I went with the fried fish sandwich-​spectacular! This is a gourmet sandwich presented with style. The calamari was perfect also. I tried the Vietnamese ice coffee and it was very refreshing. The shrimp soup was also tasty. Butterfly is a sure bet.

Unilocal reviewers haven’t been overly kind to Butterfly Restaurant, but it was the bf choice, so how could I say no?
I was pleasantly impressed with the interior design. The dining area has a wall of windows looking out to the bay.
The host staff was warm and friendly, as was our server and the supporting staff. BJ had Anchor Steam to drink. For our meals, BJ got the Shaking Beef Cobb Salad. He thought the flavors were very good. I got the garlic noodles. My serving was a good size and unlike the name, the flavor was just right. Not over powering. We decided that we could not pass on dessert and got the bread pudding. It was amazing. All in all, a great spot.

Meh. This place is pretty pricy because it’s on the water, but the food isn’t that great and the service is painfully slow. My sandwich was really greasy and my friend’s noodles were overly fishy flavored. Also, when I asked for the most buttery Chardonnay, I was sold the most expensive Chardonnay which wasn’t the least bit buttery. I’ve noticed this is a general trend everywhere, however. Overall, if you’re in the area and need a bite, give it a try. Otherwise keep walking for something else.

Went to Butterfly’s with my two friends from Atlanta who were just visiting for the night on their trip. I took them to butterfly since it is on the embarcadero and we went out afterwards since it’s close-​by to other places to go out to as well.
The food was great. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and my friends also enjoyed their meals as well.
The server was extremely kind and we were even able to have a conversation. We closed out the restaurant and they were kind and courteous the whole time!
Definitely would go back!

My boyfriend’s sister and her son came to visit so we decided to head down to the wharf, walk around and have lunch. We decided to indulge and order brunch with cocktails.
My guy and I went for Bloody Mary’s with oyster shooters on the side. His sister ordered a mimosa to start and the nephew went with a house made soda. We sat at a really nice table in the corner which made it feel private with a full ocean view.
I ordered the Hula Burger, which was a stacked burger with so many ingredients that it made it quite difficult to eat. It was delicious and filling, but I had to laugh when trying to negotiate that first bite.
My guy ordered the beef noodle bowl which he liked a lot. His sister went with a big chicken sandwich and her son went with French toast. Although we ordered different items, everyone liked their order. Food and service were great and would recommend to anyone interested in trying Asian Fusion food and cocktails on the waterfront.

This place is really good!
The food is delicious, no matter what you order. However, I do recommend that you order the spring rolls — they are amazing! Extremely yummy.
The happy hour it’s great here. There are several drinks and food that are way cheaper than normal, so it’s great for you to go with a group and try several different options of their delicious dishes.
Also, the view from the restaurant is quite amazing.

On the Waterfront, more than a tourist joint.
When Barbie suggested a restaurant she saw on Check Please located between the Ferry Building and Pier 39 I said «heck no;» are you kidding me. Well, turns out this place is really fun and good.
After locating a parking space on Bay Street about a block away in a two hour zone we waded through the Hop-​on Hop Buses, bike and pedestrian highway, and public transportation cross traffic including Über, Leaf and taxi dodging to arrive just in time for Happy Hour. Oh yes, try to make their happy hour as the value is pretty good for San Francisco. $ 1 Oyster Shooters folks…
We had the Garlic Noodles with Shaking Beef, really tasty and brought to the table hot, which is a pet peeve of ours — hot food that is. We also shared the tuna steak, two real nice large pieces of tuna seared to perfection.
The view is of the Bay and beyond looking down the channel between two arms of the Pier. You will most likely see sail boats, wind surfers, tug boats, tankers, and a bunch of other craft alongside birds and a seal from time to time.
The service was attentive and friendly.
This is not a tourist place by-​the-​way, mostly locals who had come for Happy Hour and after work on a Thursday evening.
There is lots of free parking if you make the effort to drive around in the back streets for a few minutes to avoid paying. 2 hour parking is abundant.

The Embarcadero in San Francisco stretches from Giants’ stadium to the northern tip of the city near Wisherman’s Wharf and is lined with all different kinds of restaurants from fine dining to hole in the wall pubs and diners. Most of the eateries offer breath-​taking views of the Bay and the Bay Bridge.
Butterfly is located right next to Pier 33 and just steps from the Aquarium. The dining area has high ceilings and exposed beams, giving the appearance of an old warehouse that was converted to a restaurant. The wall facing the Bay has huge floor-​to-​ceiling windows that have an awesome view of the water. There’s also outdoor seating for those clear and fog-​less days.
The menu is varied and has something for everyone. While most of it focuses on seafood, they also have duck, chicken, and steak. To get things started we got the duck confit spring rolls (with spicy Chinese mustard and honey dipping sauce). These small rolls of heaven we perfectly fried and the dipping sauce had just the right amount of spice without blowing your head off.
Next up came the ahi poke wraps and vegan garlic noodles. The ahi poke wraps were amazing and the small eggs exploded like flavor bombs with each bite. The garlic noodles were great too — not too much garlic and they weren’t overlooked — two necessities for good noodles.
Right before our main dishes came out we all decided to try one of the Bloody Mary oyster shooters (with chili lime foam and micro cilantro). This little shot was full of flavor and the oyster was fresh and had the perfectly consistency without being too chewy.
For my main dish I landed on the turmeric grilled catfish (with rice noodles, Vietnamese herbs salad, and nuoc cham). The fish came served in a hot skillet, right off the stove, and piping hot, and the noodles and lettuce wraps were separate to make the whole thing a DIY experience. The fish was perfectly flaky and the condiments were all great too!
Even after all this food we still managed to have room for dessert. We decided to get a couple to share amongst everyone. First we got the iron skillet chocolate chip cookie (with mint ice cream) and some fresh lychee ice. The cookie was warm and delicious and the lychee ice was the perfect pallet cleanser to end the meal.
Butterfly is a great dinner destination if you’re wandering around the nearby attractions. If you’re lucky, the outdoor patio has great views on clear days, but no matter where you get seated, the humungous windows have great views from every corner!

Totally not how I thought we would spend a celebratory graduation dinner!
We, eight of us, were here to celebrate my bf’s graduation. This was recommended to us by a friend/​family member because they hold their company parties here. I didn’t know what to expect because I had never heard of it or even seen it pop up on Unilocal.
I want to try to sum up the experience as much as possible, but if you have any questions feel free to message me!
We called in a reservation early in the morning (on 5÷23÷15) because we wanted to make sure we would get attended and not run into any issue. When we arrived, we got seated and we were given menus. We were given water shortly after. However, they didn’t return to take our order until 35 – 40 min later. By the time we got out food, it was 40 min after that! –_​_​– It wasn’t even busy when we arrived! Also, the only reason we got our food in that time frame was because we spoke up. If we would have stayed quiet, who knows when we would have received the food!
The owner/​chef came out to apologize. The way he did it though was so strange! He didn’t have his thoughts gathered at all! He was making must sense! He even had this bewildered look on his face. A few minutes later, we see him take shots at the bar! –_​_​– It’s definitely not a pleasant thing to see after the bad service. It all made sense now.
The food arrived. The chef returned to see how the food was… by then, most of us lost our appetite! It’s sad because we truly wanted to love this place or at least have a nice dinner for the fact that we were there to celebrate my bf’s graduation! Oh well. On a side note, I always take pics of my food, always, and as you can see, all I was able to get was of the desserts. We weren’t happy.
We received complimentary deserts — every dessert on the menu. It was a nice gesture, but it still wasn’t good enough, considering the wait for our food was 1.25 hrs!
We hoped to see some kind of discount on the bill. Did we? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Yes, we didn’t. We spoke to the chef once again, but soon realized it didn’t matter because he wasn’t in his five senses. We had to peace out after that!
We definitely won’t be returning to this restaurant! Good luck to those who do go. I wish them a much better experience. Peace!

Große Halle, netter Blick nach draußen, wenn auch auf ein stillgelegtes Hafenbecken, an dem große Lagerhallen darauf warten, wiederbelegt zu werden. Professioneller Service, durchaus flott. Ambitionierte Karte; und das Essen hält, was die Karte verspricht. Ist etwas abgelegen von großen Touristenrummel, aber mit ein paar Minuten Fußweg zu zu erreichen. Etwas gehobene Küche, aber man bekommt auch «ganz normale» Gerichte. Ich fands nett; war auch hier nicht zur Haupt-​Essenszeit und daher war die Sache sehr relaxed.

Excellent et très bon rapport qualité prix surtout vu la localisation. Cuisine moderne et innovante une vraie bonne surprise