Leo’s Oyster Bar had been on my list (and my friend’s!) for quite some time as we had both heard some great things about it from people, but I never had the opportunity to head over there. One day I heard from her that they now had Thursday nights free for date night as she and her husband had recently had a baby. I was really excited to try to spend some time with her, and she is a huge fan of seafood, so we booked ourselves into Leo’s for double date night. (Which really just means catching up and drinking a ton of wine, but hey, I have no complaints about that!) They were running a bit late, but they seated us at the table to wait which was kind of nice. However, we were sitting in the front part of the restaurant and the tables are quite close together and there isn’t much space between the tables and the bar seating. I guess it ordinarily wouldn’t be a problem, but all four of us are six feet tall or taller (and one is even much, much taller), so it wasn’t the most comfortable dining experience seating-wise.
We all decided to get a few nibbles to share, then starters and mains. I think my friends were just excited to be out! We went back and forth about oysters. Don’t get me wrong… I LOVE oysters. But (and it’s a big but) I do find it a bit hard to spend $4 on an oyster when I can go to many places and get $1 oysters. Maybe the $4 oysters will be better, but will they be four times better? Luckily, they have some gourmet oysters on hand, so we decided to try the oysters with uni, shishito peppers and candied Macadamia nuts to nibble. Then I ordered the clam chowder to start (because I love a good chowder when I can find one) and my date ordered the hamachi crudo. For mains, we decided to split the lobster roll with uni butter and the moules frites. (Also a warning, the venue is very dark so the pictures are also quite dark. I’m sorry in advance about the poor quality!)
On the whole, the nibbles were quite pleasant. The oyster with uni was pretty flavorful. The shishito peppers were good, but I usually enjoy them so I wasn’t overly surprised. The nuts were also tasty, but I would have preferred a bit more candy on the outside. To be fair, I don’t often see a candied Macadamia nut so it made a nice change. I make a pretty killer candied nut though, so perhaps next time I will give the Macadamia nuts a try. Basically the nibbles were a nice start, but there wasn’t anything that really excited me about any of them.
Up next were the starters. My soup was on the disappointing side. It was slightly cold (but stirring it helped homogenize the temperature of the soup). I would have liked some crackers or something for texture–the toast served with it helped a bit, but it wasn’t quite crunchy enough. And it was really underseasoned. Cream soups definitely require a fair amount of pepper to help balance the cream. They did get some pepper for me when I asked, so I did manage to add my own, but it would have been nice to have the slightly pepperiness through the entire bowl. I didn’t get to try any of the crudo. It was served on a salt plate though (well there was a salt plate, but the fish was not on it). My husband and my friend who ordered it thought it was underseasoned quite a bit, but given there was a salt plate, they let the fish rest on it for a bit to absorb some of the seasoning from that. However, both of them were not impressed with the dish or the faff that went along with it.
The mains followed, and both of them were fine. I wasn’t floored by the mussels as the broth felt like it needed more flavor, especially as I had some better mussels a few weeks early when a friend was visiting. The fries were nice, but I felt like I recognized them somehow. The lobster roll was better, with a rich butter sauce to drench your roll in (even though I tasted no uni), but the chips served with it were nothing interesting. In fact, based on the fries and the menu that reads well but disappoints, it was beginning to dawn on me that perhaps Leo’s was part of the Marlowe group (and it turns out it is). Yet again was I disappointed by a restaurant that promises so much on the menu but fails to deliver in flavor. Oops!
But, I wasn’t going to leave without having dessert, as it may be the only time I went to the restaurant. I decided I really wanted to try the lemon trifle. I lived in England and there’s nothing like a good trifle with a bit of cake soaked in booze and jello and custard! The lemon just sounded like it would be a nice change. My friends ordered the chocolate mousse (and then the ice cream with pineapple because the mousse had coffee in it). The trifle was, well, disappointingly not a trifle. It also wasn’t good. Just some lemon flavored custard with some toasted cake squares on top. No jelly. No booze. Just a not-trifle. Don’t get the trifle. The mousse was actually quite rich and pretty good, and the ice cream sundae was okay with fairly average ice cream but a great pineapple sauce. So desserts were really hit or miss, but mostly miss.
So again, the Marlowe group came up with a great restaurant idea with a beautiful interior and then falls flat with executing dishes that meet your expectations. We all left kind of disappointed really, and the wine list wasn’t really anything special either (or so says my husband). I can’t really recommend it, as there was a huge lack of the wow factor, plus the seating being so close together is a real turn off in a restaurant. With the plethora of fish restaurants in the bay area and the city, I feel like there must be better options for your seafood needs.
Score: 2.5/5
Recommendation: None
Leo’s Oyster Bar
568 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
