71 Saint Peter

We made reservations 1.5 hours before our show, and we arrived 15 min early. We waited 10 minutes to be seated, and ½ hour before even getting a glass of water. The waitress was friendly, but evidently had too many customers. And we were told there were 20+ orders in the queue in front of us, so if we ordered there was no way we would have gotten out in time. We had to abandon dinner and eat fried food at the show.

Very tasteless and bland with poor ingredients. Very slow kitchen. Would sadly not recommend someone come here even though the ambiance and location is great.

We went here for the first time for Valentine’s Day dinner and loved it! The food was unbelievable and the drinks were equally as good. The service and atmosphere added a great romantic touch.

The food was seasoned really well but the actual ingredients were horrible… tough meat, dried figs (not fresh) with the salad, etc. Service was mediocre. Best thing of the night was the bottle of wine we brought with us. I really wanted it to be amazing.

Limited choices on the menu. Very slow kitchen. People who came in after us got served before us. When the food finally came out, everyone who had ordered pasta got served pasta that was inedible — ridiculously oversalted and undercooked. The chef should be fired for not tasting the food before serving it. When we told the waiter that the pasta dishes were inedible, he looked concerned and told the manager, but never offered to take them off the check.
I will never come here again. There is a reason the place was empty on Saturday night.

If I could give zero stars I would. I will never go here again, nor will I recommend it to anyone. I came as a guest at a birthday party. On a Saturday night, the restaurant was empty except for us. That should have been the first clue. The appetizers were lacking and the vegetables were barely cooked, which is ok for some veggies, but not for potatoes.
My father had booked the restaurant months earlier based on it being rated a fine dining experience. While confirming the reservation, the hostess never returned phone calls until 2 days before the event, and then came back several times saying his choices were not available. In the end the choices the night of the event were not what he had chosen. I’m sure they are going through a change in ownership or just lost a lot of employees because our experience was the worst.
The choices were salmon, ribeye steak, or chicken cordon bleu. With the main course also came a choice of salad and dessert. I chose the chicken, spinach salad, and chocolate fudge cake. I also asked for iced tea to drink. The waitress took our drink orders first and the drinks came pretty quickly. My iced tea was fine, but I never got a refill and my son said his coke tasted bad. This was just plain coke and he said it tasted like a dirty dish rag. He asked for another one and it still tasted bad.
Next, the waitress took the meal orders. They just must not have had enough people working that night, plus I wonder if they lost their chef. Nothing looked even close to the pictures on the website and the food and service were horrible. Some people were finished with their meal before some even started. People got wrong items and there was never a chance to request anything else or get refills of drinks because our waitress was just absent.
First came the salads. Some people had something like a stacked salad, which I heard was not very good. The spinach salad tasted good, but I noticed that I got a few spinach leaves with almost nothing on top, while my cousin had a huge gorgeous salad with all kinds of toppings.
My chicken cordon bleu was a dried out piece of chicken breast wrapped around a chicken leg bone. It looked like an odd shaped drum stick and it had no ham or cheese inside. It was supposed to be on a bed of potato purée, but it ended up being on top of carrot purée. I guess they ran out of potatoes? The people on either side of me got the ribeye steak. I have to say there were huge pieces served like brisket rather than a cut of steak. The person to the left had nice lean pieces, but bloody purple like it had only been browned in a pan on the outside. The person to the right of me had almost all fat with a bit of mooing purple flesh inside the fat. Those who had the salmon said it tasted good, but all those who had salmon or chicken were very sick afterwards.
The dessert was just not edible. Those who chose the crème brulee said that some received large bowls and some small, but that it tasted ok. The chocolate fudge cake was a joke. First, I don’t think it had a bit of chocolate in it. It honestly tasted like a dry piece of toast with no frosting at all. What happened to the fudge? There was vanilla ice cream with it and it was on a bed of melted caramel that was hard as a rock. I had to laugh when the waiter took my plate away and asked if I was not fond of caramel. I didn’t want to break my arm trying to scrape it off the plate. That should have been obvious as every single plate he picked up still had the caramel stuck to the bottom. The only thing I could eat was the ice cream.
Then the hostess came to me and asked who’s birthday it was at the end of the night. Something I would think she would want to know at the beginning.
Before even leaving the restaurant, my brother was in the bathroom getting sick. Once we hit the car, my whole family was sick. The next day I heard that most of the people at the party were sick. It was just very disappointing having been through all the trouble of not getting what was expected in the first place, but then shelling out almost $ 2000.00 for a nice family meal and everyone ending up sick.
This restaurant is on it’s way out and I don’t know if they really were good at one time, but they are horrible now. My recommendation — don’t even think of going to this place!

I’ve never reviewed before but after eating here I felt that I must.
This was one of the worst meals that I’ve ever had. I was a guest in a party of 22. The host paid $ 60+ per guest for the atrocious meal.
The only good thing that I can say is that my salad was excellent. Unfortunately mine was the only good one. The other guests reported to me that they did not nearly have the amount of extras in their salad. I must’ve received the bottom of the unmixed bowl.
The entrees were salmon, rib-​eye, and chicken cordon bleu. Those who ordered the salmon reported that they were outright sick. The rib-​eye came cold and raw to all who ordered it. The rib-​eye cuts also had heavy gristle. The chicken cordon bleu looked ok. After talking with several people many of the chicken cordon bleu plates were missing the the ham and cheese!
All of the vegetables that were served were not properly cooked. I personally don’t like crunchy potatoes.
Well desert was included so I looked forward to my chocolate fudge cake with gelato and caramel sauce. How could they mess that up? The cake was dry, there was no fudge, the gelato was tiny and half melted and the caramel sauce was melted hard candy stuck to the plate. My poor kids got blisters trying to chisel it with their knife.
The server was very nice and I could tell that she was doing her best but they were obviously understaffed.
I feel real bad for our host because he wanted to treat his family to a nice meal.
This Restraunt won’t be around long with this kind of poor food.

I had a great dining experience years ago and convinced my party of three to give it a try tonight. Firehouse No. 1 was packed next door as we walked by and had our group worried there might be a Sharks game/​crowd. But 71 Saint Peter was empty, which actually made us a bit more worried. Of the three group of diners there, one was so loud, their obnoxious conversation carried over to our table making us really question our dining choice. Service was prompt and professional but very lacking in warmth or friendliness. Once we all took a bit of our entrees we let go of all our doubts. The Duck breast, Chicken Bravo and Braised short ribs were well prepared and delicious! We all agreed, the food is worth coming back for and hope for a better overall experience.

Eating at the best European restaurant in San Jose! Try the short rib or braised Duck, delicious!

Crab cake was awesome to go along with the Old Fissioned cocktail.
Salmon with the wild rise tasted absolutely delicious.
Service could use some improvement, however wait time really worth it.
Family place with pleasant background jazz.
Will be back.

I came here on a rainy Monday evening, with a couple of co-​workers, all of us in town for a conference. We were very pleased.
After taking our drink and dinner orders, we were offered a bite size taste, a small appetizer. The waitress worked with us, answering our questions and offering alternatives where needed.
In my group we had the spinach salad, risotto of the day, pasta ragu, & steak. All were beautifully plated, cooked just right, & were delicious. The ingredients tasted very fresh too.
The ambiance is relaxed and quiet.

They hired a new Chef who revised the menu. He kept a few favorites such as the Baked Brie appetizer, which is my personal favorite! It comes with apple slices, caramel sauce and candied nuts. Something new is the Agnolotti appetizer which is made from fresh (hand made) pasta and meat. That was the most delicious thing I ever ate. I like the low lighting and candles, it has an easy romantic atmosphere at night. I gave it 5 stars for the food because everything was fresh and healthy, not heavy or greasy. Also, the location is close to parking.

We met a friend for dinner last night and instantly became worried about it being over crowded due to the Sharks game. There were hoardes of people trying to park in the city lot and other hoardes walking down the street to the Shark Tank!
BUT – we were lucky as the crowds were on their way to the Sharks game and had already left the restaurant. So we were fortunate and were able to enjoy a quiet evening in a very nice restaurant.
We had reservations and were seated right away. The lighting is low, the restaurant has a warm cozy feel about it. I agree with another Unilocaler that said this would be a nice place for a date night!
Our wait person was terrific, very friendly, polite, professional and attentive. She was also very patient as we spent a lot of time chatting and catching up and not looking at the menu for a while.
So we finally made up our minds and all ended up getting the special which was grilled salmon, asparagus and potatoes. All of us enjoyed our meals, the salmon was grilled just right and I’m always a fan of grilled veggies. The potatoes were also well prepared. All in all a very enjoyable meal and evening.
We’ll try some other items from the menu on our next visit. There is also outdoor seating but it was definitely too cold for that last night. I know the restaurant can be packed, especially when events are going on downtown and on weekends… so make a reservation. Or of course you can wait at the bar for a table to open up!
Happy New Year!!!

This is a beautiful little restaurant and the atmosphere is quite pleasing. Sadly the food is just mediocre.
The wine and complimentary bread were good.
I had the chicken saltimboca and the prosciutto was cooked to stale crispness that made it inedible.
My wife had the smoke salmon alfredo and the sauce was very watery, like the pasta was not drained. The pasta was cooked nicely.
The service was OK.
Overall the experience was very mediocre and not worth the price.

I went here on ¹²⁄₁₅ for my birthday dinner. Their complimentary bread was great. I had a glass of white wine, cannot recall the name of it, crab cakes and their tilapia special. The crab cakes were great. The tilapia was still raw. Raw fish was not what I was expecting. I did not like it but also did not want to send it back. I was highly disappointed. I told the waiter it was my birthday and she brought me a Crème Brule with a candle on the house which I thought was nice. Overall, it is a good place to go have a glass of wine and a few appetizers. Not my ideal place for dinner. There were not that many options.

Gorgeous little restaurant, but the food didn’t impress me all that much. I’s consider it one of those places where the presentation is off the charts, but everything else just kind of falls short. Granted I’ve only eaten here twice and I’ve definitely not tried most of the food/​drinks, but I can usually tell when the food is just «okay». Pork tenderloin, one of my all time favorites, was very dry and still had a good amount of fat on it. The only thing that saved it was the delicious sauce they drizzled over, I’d guess reduced red wine if I had to. Other than the mediocre food this place has a lot going for it. The atmosphere and service are both absolutely wonderful, so much so that I’d eat here gain because of it.

The outdoor seating/​atmosphere was great. The food was delicious and the menu had a wide variety. The food was thoroughly enjoyed by my family and I. I highly recommend this place if you are looking for some quality, delicious food!

This place is a really romantic place, definitely great for dates.
I love the wine here, its very fine just like the quality in food.
The filet sole is soo good here.
Its a must try, hella juicy and delicious.
I like the foods sweetness and texture here.
I was really happy with my visit here.

I ate here many years ago and finally was able to try it again. I would say overall the food was good but the service was a little lacking. We started with the caprese salad and a special artichoke appetizer. Both were very good. The artichoke had a nice char to it.
For entrees, I had the risotto on the day — chicken and veggies. Very good. One person had the fish special of the day. One had the seafood linguine, and one had the salmon. Everyone enjoyed their food.
I would say our waiter was inattentive and did not check on us very often. The place was practically empty when we got there so service should have been way better. And the kitchen was quite slow. A near empty restaurant should not equal a long wait for food.
I may come back here as I eat down at San Pedro Square often before Sharks games but hopefully the service will be better.

Came here for lunch one Sunday afternoon. I was so pleasantly suprised by this extraordinary european rustic atmostpher. Not to mention the Service was exceptional 5 ***** stars from our Waitress Amanda ! With Low light cozy Romantic I felt so relaxed as soon as I walked in. The overlay of the music provided a memorable luncheon.
Being a first timer here I ask my waitress for assitance on suggesting a few items from the menu. Im in awe when I find a Waitress/​Waiter that knows her Menu.!! Amanda was very knowledgable on each item, I ask for some suggestions for an appettiser:
Phyllo Baked Brie — Apple, Pear, Candied Pecan, Toasted Walnuts, Prescuitto, Toasted bread. — This was AMAZING — Cutting into the Baked Brie — Excellent Presentation this is a cheese baked in a crispy bread. The cheese is creamy amazingly just perfect for spreading on the toasted small bread on the plate. Fresh Pear/​Apple to clear your tast bud for the next candy pecan and walnuts to eat.
Complimentary Bread with butter is always kept on the table ! Extravagant Blue glasses filled with Water.
Lunch Entrees:
Grilled Chicken Breast: Organic Greens, Wild Berries, Toasted Almonds,
Goat Cheese, in a Port Wine Vinaigrette. — Refreashing salad !!! The chicken was tender, tasty, grilled to perfection. Over a bed of greens I was in heaven. I couldn’t have been more happier with my salad.
Penne — Sauteed Large Prawns, Hot Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, fresh Basil, Spicy Tomatoe Sauce. — Over the moon — excellent dish ! The prawns where large and this dish was so enjoyed. Totally Recomment this dish.
I certainly will be back to 71 Saint Peters very soon. After looking over the menu and seeing pictures from my fellow Unilocalers there are so many dish here I would love to try. Exceptional Customer Service with Exceptional food.