Dear readers and fellow foodies,
Welcome to the first restaurant review on Just One Cookbook. Nami has asked me to contribute to her blog from time to time with reviews on restaurants that we feel strongly about. As Nami mentioned in the previous post, we went on a stay-cation in Half Moon Bay this past weekend and we chose to dine at mostly local restaurants during our short trip. When we go on trips, I tend to seek and support local restaurants for several reasons. The most important reason is to truly taste the local flavor and understand why the spot is popular, and secondly to avoid tourists. On this particular trip, we had two very satisfying meals at a few local restaurants but today I will talk about our Sunday brunch at Navio Ritz Carlton. I spent a few days prior to the trip studying the menu before committing to making a reservation for the brunch.
We actually debated on the brunch since it was $88 per person, and if you include tip and CA tax it’s over $100 per person. For comparison, a full course dinner at Wakuriya (Michelin 1 star Japanese restaurant that we’ve been eyeing on) is $90. Navio typically only do two seatings for their Sunday brunch, one at 11 AM and the second at 1:30 pm. Reservation is required. We made a reservation for the 11 AM spot. We got to the restaurant at 10:50 AM and there were at least 70 people waiting in line in front of us. And before 11 AM there were at already another 20 people behind us. The seating preference is first-come, first-served and we were lucky enough to get a window seat. As we passed the dessert section walking through the restaurant to our seats, it caught my eye how each individual dessert plate is perfectly placed.
Navigating my way through the different food stations, I realized that the food layout is extremely well done, brilliant actually. There was almost no wait at any of the food line except for the raw bar, and even that was only 15 – 20 seconds at most. The food were presented in multiple sections, and they are: pastries, sushi/sashimi, cheese, raw bar, cold cuts, dim sum, salad, single serving, traditional brunch, and desserts. Instead of going into details on what is served in each section, I will briefly describe the highlights of the each section.
For my children’s, most of their food came from the American brunch section, eggs, bacon, and mini pancakes waffles. For the pancakes and waffles, I topped them with fruit compote instead of syrup. Very delicious! The presentation of the food was done quite nicely. Instead of serving all the food in large dish, Navio offered several delicate dish in their own mini serving dish. The seared scallop not only looked great, each piece was seared to perfection and the taste was very elegant.
From the sushi/sashimi section, the Mrs. loves salmon so I got some salmon sushi as well as slices of salmon sashimi for her. For us it’s the true test of quality by tasting the raw food and it passed with flying colors. We were both surprised by how fresh the salmon was. Since Nami and I both don’t eat wasabi, the sushi chef was able to make the sushi without wasabi for us on the spot.
For me personally, the highlight was the raw bar. Navio served raw oyster, littleneck clams, and caviar. All the seafood from raw bar were spectacular and I am getting hungry again while writing up this post and looking at pictures.
Last but not least, the desserts section. The attention to detail was amazing, from the silver cappuccino bean on top of tiramisu to delicate strawberry and banana chocolate truffles, we were in sugar heaven. In addition to the individual dessert offering, there were also 4 flavors of artisan ice cream, 8 types of cookies and truffles each.
We managed to taste 75% of the food choices with multiple runs to the raw bar. As far as the food goes, it’s definitely not your average Sunday brunch quality. Starting from the sushi which Nami and I absolutely agree are top grade to the gold flakes on lychee shots, we agreed that Navio strived to achieve perfection on each and every dish that was served. The service was amazing (I think they replaced my silverware 6 times during my meal) and the atmosphere is fantastic. We had a perfect view of the ocean and the golf course. Despite it’s very expensive price tag, I believe it was reasonable for the quality of service and food that was provided. Will I go back there anytime soon, probably not, but it’s definitely somewhere I would want to go at least once a year to celebrate special occasions. Next time when you visit San Francisco and want that amazing brunch experience, don’t forget Navio on your list.
Wonderful review Shen,..I like neat pictures and the way you have brought across the setup at the restaurant.I hope I ll be able to go in there sometime.I so want that lychee panacotta & crab legs..drooling!! Normally restaurant pictures do not come great coz the lightning is not in our hands but you have done a gorgeous job!
Hi Tanvi, our secret is the Tamron Macro Lens. I was able to take the pictures in low lightly mostly due to how fast this lens is.
http://www.amazon.com/Tamron-AF-60mm-2-0-II/dp/B00200K9MM
This is wonderful review Shen, I love all the pictures that are bringing true light and delightfulness to the dishes that you have presented!
Like you said despite the high price, it is worth every once in a while to let go and enjoy good service and delicious food! I would say very well done! I enjoyed reading it it very much, and of course drooling over those fantastic dishes!:)
Hi Sandra, I am so glad you agree with us. It’s so nice to splurge once in a while and treat ourselves to great food. Luckily for us there is no shortage of great restaurants in SF.
Wonderful! I love going to restaurants and reading this gave me so many wonderful ideas for recipes. Thank you so much! Piquillo pepper with prime rib. I never would have thought of that. Fantastic. And yes, it’s nice to splurege on occasion. Thank you so much for sharing. The pictures are beautiful!
Hi Kate, thank you for your comments. Navio’s spread was pretty unique, I wish they have a cookbook featuring their brunch dishes.
What a decadent brunch – I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review and looking at your brilliant photos. The cost definitely seems to be worth it. Looking forward to your next review.
🙂 Mandy
Hi Mandy, thank you for your sweet and thoughtful comments! Now I am more comfortable to do reviews going forward.
Hi Shen,
Nice to meet you and it looks like behind every wonderful wife, there is a talented man too 🙂 🙂
Looks like a fantastic lunch and the seafood looks so fresh! My fav would be the prime rib counter 🙂
Hi C&MSP, somehow during this food blogging process my wife has become my boss. 🙂 It’s amazing how many things Nami could think of everyday for me to do… LOL
Hi Shen! I loved reading this page!!!! So you will be having your own page “restaurant review”, right? We are also waiting to read “Shen’s Pick Wine List” : )
Hi Mika-san, thank you for the great idea. I’ll definitely review wines I really love from time to time.
What a lovely spread of food!!! It’s been a really long time I have been to buffets like these, as everyone in my family says it’s not worth the money for me to go for buffets as I am such a small eater…LOL:p
The price is a little expensive for this buffet, I have to say, but looking at the food, it was probably the very reason for this kind of price as well:)
Hahahaha…amazing feat that you attempted 75%…WOW, that’s really really amazinggggg…..hehe…I wonder whether I even covered 50% sometimes! (Now you know why I am discouraged from buffets?:)
Hi Christy, I think the younger me could probably cover 100% of the buffet but as I get older my appetite has decreased (unfortunately my weight keeps increasing). 😛
What a great review! And lovely pictures!
Thanks Tiffany 🙂
Hi Shen! Nice to meet you. 🙂 This is a very nice review and your pictures are stunning! The spread is outstanding and I can see myself camping out at the sushi and raw bar. It has been a while since I’ve been to San Francisco and I will keep this place in mind when I do visit.
Hi Biren, thank you for your sweet comments. Let us know when you come to SF, we can provide our recommendations for different foods.
Hi! I guess you’re Nami’s husband? *wave* What a beautiful brunch you’ve enjoyed there! I’d love to go to SF again as it’s one of my favorite cities! 😀 Hope to read you again! 🙂
Hi Kath *wave*, thank you for your comment. I hope your laptop is now okay. You should check if the hard drive is still okay, if it is then the data should be still salvageable.
Aww, you’re so kind for taking interest in my private troubles! My data are safe, and after a few days (of recovery from me, I guess ;)), I could turn my laptop on again. But it runs very hot, and I don’t quite trust the peace …
I get so hungry looking at your beautiful photos! (And I’ve had quite a big dinner 😉 ) Congratulations for the interesting and detailed review! I am looking forward to read your next contributions! Great idea!
Hi Sissi, thank you for your comment! We don’t eat out as much anymore because Nami’s an amazing cook/chef/mom. If we come across a memorable meal we’ll definitely share.
Hi, too bad I live in Asia! Your photos and reviews about Navio are making me feels like I’m just standing outside the restaurant looking in! LOL
Me too love salmon sashimi w/o wasabi (don’t like the taste of it) and sometimes just on its own! The sushi/sashimi section, raw bar and the dessert section are drawing all my attention in this post! 😀
Hi Lyn, as soon as Nami told me she doesn’t eat wasabi as well, I knew she was the one for me 🙂 Neither one of us is allergic to wasabi but we just don’t like the taste.
What a wonderful job you did with the review. Very professional and through! Great pictures too. I celebrated a special occasion at Navio a few years ago so I am a huge fan. Such a lovely setting and I found the food to be impeccable too. I may need to try brunch now.
Hi Terris, thank you! I always wonder what we eat sometimes and it’s great to have blogs like yours for healthy gluten free recipes!
Looking at the photos I think you had a wonderful brunch! I would have probably camped in front of the raw bar as well! Very nicely written review, if I’m ever in the area I’ll know where to indulge in a lovely brunch! 🙂
Thank Gourmantine. You always have amazing pictures. I love how creative you are with the plating and the setup of all your recipes.
That is a beautifully written review, comprehensive and informative.
You did a great job..the pictures on the other hand are phenomenal!
Thanks Sawsan! I love Beef Shawarma and I am so happy to find it on your blog. I’ll have to get Nami to try your recipe.