Crossing The Bar

I ate here once and I really liked it. It was empty and the food did take a long time to arrive. Other than the slow service, it was great!

Yep… all bad.
Went there because there was a 1,000 pt special on Open Table. Uninspired, weird, gross, bad service, bad wine list. If they were out of business it wouldn’t surprise me at all. Oh, did I mention it was expensive?

I would probably give this place 1.5 stars. It’s just that the experience was so bad and I took so much shit for having suggested the place. I’ve been writing a lot of positive reviews so need to put on the black hat for this one. I’m not sure if they are still in business.
I had never been here so suggested it for my b-​day party a few years back. It’s supposed to be Indian /​Fusion food. I’m not sure what it was fused with but the cooks were fusing for a long time. We showed up around 8 PM and the food was not served until 10 PM. What’s up with that? Hopefully they were not fusing our dishes using leftovers from the meals of others patrons. They turn the place into a club /​bar, which started occurring at about the same time they served the food.
To be honest with you, I can’t remeber what I ate which is sad on both their part and mine. It was not enough to mitigate my rating. If the food was memorable, I may have been more merciful with the stars.
Good location on the Pier. The venue is nice, and they had a decent drink selection. Can’t remember if the bartenders were generous with the alcohol content.
Don’t come here (if it is still open) unless you want your friends to hang this over your head and pick restaurants for the next year.

I am shocked this place is still open. I have been here twice, and never again.
The food was so-​so (despite looking promising), expensive, and the service was horrid. We waited 45 minutes for out check after explicitly asking for it. By then the ‘disco’ part of the restaurant had started and we SO past wanting to leave.

Oh lord. Where do I begin with this place? My sister picked it at random, and we went for dine about town (this was the big mistake, i never participate in that).
First of all, it was totally empty and creepy, like eating on a sound stage. I think we were the only ones there, and from the other reviews, it seems that is a common occurrence.
Then there was the food, which was actually okay at some points and then totally and completely off at others. The duck breast was cooked perfectly, and I mean perfectly, but it was accompanied by Maraschino Cherries. That’s right, you read correctly. Those things are not really made for human consumption, they are fluorescent pink and plastic flavored. They do not belong alongside a juicy, tender ducky. We were convinced the kitchen had made a mistake, so we asked. We just couldn’t help ourselves. But no, they hadn’t run out of real cherries or even dried cherries, those disgusting pseudo-​food abominations were always part of that dish. And! those same cherries reappeared on the dessert course, which was some ghetto chocolate mousse that tasted like fake chocolate.
As we were getting ready to leave, a dj started playing euro trash music and a bunch of «night at the roxbury» types arrived. It started looking like an eastern bloc nightclub in the early nineties. Party time! Luckily we were on our way out.
1 star for someone in the kitchen actually knowing how to cook duck. Minus all the other ones for them having no idea what to do with said duck after it was cooked.
I wouldn’t go back there. I am surprised anybody goes there anyway, except for some homesick eastern europeans looking for a night out like they had back in the homeland.

How this place has maintained any stars is beyond me. I’ll echo the other comments: mediocre food, awful service, plasticky décor, and a bad bartender. Worst of all, they were slow with our service and then annoyed that we stayed for too long, since they wanted to let a bunch of young 20somethings in tight dresses in to dance. And they were testing DJ music throughout our entire dinner. Why there aren’t any good restaurants on the waterfront in SF is beyond me.

New restaurants are always trying to fuse two different cuisines. When I saw an attempt at French-​Indian fusion, I had to try it. I’m sorry I did. Crossing the Bar was far below any of my expectations. Our food was served cold and the restaurant was empty, even though we visited at a prime dining hour on a Friday night. Now I know why. It was a disastrous and disappointing dinner. So even if you’re enticed by the idea of French-​Indian fusion like I was, don’t waste your time at this restaurant.

Strangely enough I distrust things with three parts: George W. Bush. Low Fat Chocolate. Low in Cholesterol. Wiggle Toilet Handle. And to this strange list, I will add Crossing the Bar. Usually, a restaurant with a strange name will have a story to it, and I half expected it, but there was nothing to indicate a crossing or a bar, unless you were interested in encountering the bar and would therefore have to cross over to it.
The night started out okay, with a great appetizers (vegetable crêpe and beef simosas), and the drinks were good. We noticed, like other Unilocalers that the place was virtually empty. Only two tables were seated when we got there, and clearly there were at least 12. The whole time we were there, no other table was seated. In a food ville such as San Francisco, every restaurant should have a buzz to it, but none was to be had here. Sad. Then it sort of went downhill.
The table that ordered after us got their food first, and we were told that our dishes were «lost» in the computer system and we’d have to wait a bit longer. 15 minutes later we were served, and we were by then pretty hungry (and mildly annoyed) and tore into our dishes. Of the four dishes we ordered — chicken masala, lamb chops, snapper, and tandoori fish — the lamb chops and the tandoori fish were doable. The snapper though proved to be a challenge because it was a whole fish and the restaurant was so dark (ambiance? or an attempt to sedate the diners?) that it was difficult to dig through the meat to get all the bones out. The chicken masala was like leftovers… I’ve had better! The rice tasted like it had been sitting out for a while, and that alone is an offense to rice lovers everywhere! The desserts were whatever: cheesecake, indian carrot something or other, and nothing to write home about. Boring.
The interior was a remnant of the 80s, and yes, you do have a view, people! It’s a parking lot!
We soon discovered that the reason why the place was so empty, that the club soon opened afterwards, and maybe that’s why the place exists, solely for the dancing. If that’s the case, save the diners by shutting down and stop insulting us with boring food.

Do I have to give at least one star? I can’t say enough bad things about this place. I had the very unlucky pleasure of going here on V-​Day. I too, thought it was some kind of weird joke. You had to have a reservation, that had a $ 75 per person charge. Why then did we wait almost 45 mins for the first course? My first clue should have been the look on the face of the people sitting next to us! Not sure what was worse the food or the management attitude? Thank god Houstons was right across the street! I“m still amazd that this place is still open. I think it is, even though everyone keeps saying they are the only one in there when they go.

this place is a joke. the whole time i was there, ii felt like the candid camera guy was gonna pop out of my bland tasteless mound of rice. the place was EMPTY on a friday night and we still waited forever for our appetizer. good thing a made a reservation. if a restaurant’s food is gonna suck, at least have a good atmosphere and good service. but when you have none of those things, you are just wasting your time and the time of the poor suckers that give the place a try.
am i being too critical? maybe. but im pissed that i spent $ 90 to embarass myself taking a date here. it just plain sucked. i could go to any 24 hour diner and have better food and service.

It is on the Embarcadero, but there is no view. The interior is mod. The bartender was fun and the food was really good though pricey (we only had appetizers), but where the hell did they get that name? Who will want to go there based on that name? I only went because I kept riding my bike past it and was wondering what it was like and I had talked to one of the owners before and he was really nice.

Dude. Don’t.
Maybe I was there on the worst night ever. I’d like to think that was the case. Because if it wasn’t, I can’t figure out how they’re still in business.

I had hoped for more. Service was good, the food beautifully presented, but overall, the food was disappointingly mild to bland.
I was disappointed because I had expected the rich, complex flavors of the Indian side of the fusion to be present. The spicy beef samosa was good, but not spicy. The crab crepes, while good, were also bland. I had the lamb curry which, while very good, lacked any curry flavor that I could detect.
Perhaps this was because we were there early on a Saturday evening. The other patrons in the restaurant were a rowdy crowd hanging out at the bar waiting to go on a Hornblower cruise. Maybe things hadn’t yet ramped up in the kitchen for the the night?

I agree with April, I’m a big fan of Tallula, but have to say Crossing the Bar is really delicious. I’ve gone on a few occasions, mostly for dinner, sometimes for happy hour, once with a large group (including my parents). The food itself is succulent and thoughtfully prepared, with a distinct nod to French infusion. Some of my favorites include the flaky beef samosa and the masala crab cakes as appetizers, and the kasmiri lamb or the tiger prawns for your dinner entrée. I found their wine list to be a little lacking but there were some nice finds that paired well with our dishes. The cocktails are a nice way to go. My only main criticism is the last two times I went our servers were a little clueless and sometimes slow. This hasn’t always been the case, and with food this good, I can learn to tolerate it. Last time I checked, they’re open for lunch as well!

Yayy, I beat Andrew to this! At first, we were hesitant to stay because we were the ONLY people in the restaurant. I’m not kidding. However, we gave it a shot and I’m glad we did. They have an inventive cocktail menu and we loved our drinks. the apps we all had were great, especially the crab crepes I ordered. The entrees weren’t over the top, but good nonetheless. I think this is easily on par with Tallulah, though not quite as amazing as Saha. And I guarantee you’ll get a table and good service!

I give this restaurant 3 Monkeys. It’s a pretty nice interior, great drink menu, and excellent food and portioning (I should alert you to the fact that I don’t like to eat until I am pregnant). Plus, before we finished our meal, an entire disco-​dancing Jewish singles party had broken out. I enjoyed that. Prices are high given that it’s not SPECTACULAR, but that’s normal here.

One of my favorite restaurants in this city is Tallula so I was a little apprehensive about trying out the «other» French-​Indian fusion restaurant. I was surprised to find the food to be really tasty, especially the lamb dishes. Their meat samosa is a good appetizer to start with, but a little oily. Service is somewhat slow, and the wine list could have more selections. They left a flier on our table about having bhangra nights on weekends, which I think is like a party for Indians and the people who love them. Spicy in all senses!