Californios

“Went here as a solo diner and had a wonderful experience! I loved most of the dishes, with the standouts being the savory flan and the mole with quail. A couple of the dessert dishes fell short for me, but overall this was one of the best meals of my life. I did feel a bit too full around halfway through the meal — perhaps the pacing was a bit too fast for me, or there were too many filling dishes in the middle. The service was amazing, very attentive and kind wait staff. They even cleaned and boxed my abalone shell for me after I asked to keep it. Overall, I’m really happy to have experienced this meal. Thank you Californios!”

“Top 3 Michelin experience for me. Love seeing tortillas apart of the Michelin conversation, if you can serve Parker rolls you should serve tortillas too. The California focus here gave me a lot of pride to be from here. Every bite felt well planned for, exciting flavors, and great service. I found the pacing a bit too quick, if they gave a few more minutes in between serving dishes or wine pairings I would have felt more relaxed. The wine pairing is 9 2.5oz pours, so you drink close to a bottle per person. They mentioned you could share the pairing if you’re looking to split the equivalent of a bottle. Highly recommend for visitors to get a real taste of California and for people from here to have pride in our cuisine!”

“If you’re looking for the best Mexican restaurant experience in San Francisco, it’s Californios. No question. Having tried over 50 Mexican fine restaurants outside of the US, I can confidently say this is in a different category. It’s not only exceptional Mexican cuisine — it’s one of the best structured and executed tasting menu experiences I’ve had. We enjoyed a multi-course tasting menu with wine pairings. The menu thoughtfully explores diverse regions and ingredients of Mexico, presenting them with technical precision and modern elegance. Flavors were vibrant, fresh, and rich, with remarkable balance throughout. The setting is sophisticated, adorned with tasteful Mexican motifs that elevate and honor the culture. The wine cellar is impressive, the pairings were deliberate and well-matched, and the cocktails were outstanding in their own right. We attended as a group event, part of an exclusive and high-level experience. Service was flawless from start to finish. Really appreciate the staff, they went above and beyond. Louis gave us the kitchen tour and told us about the history of the restaurant and its roots in Mexico & California.”

“That was a delightful experience. The most important: the food was amazing. Crab with caviar, spiny lobster, rock fish and short ribs were the top highlights for me. My date enjoyed the Mezcal flight, and I loved the non-alcoholic pairing. Everyone was a top profesional making our experience even more so wonderful. The dishes were three bites at most, but I was so full after that dinner. Of course, it was also very beautifully presented. Expensive, but definitely worth it.”

“Californios is an amazing meal. The restaurant has a very modern sleek interior with black walls and modern art, but there also many more traditional and ornamental elements like chandeliers and Christolfe dining ware. The starting courses were fun and delicious. We were started with a sope topped with a generous amount of caviar. The textures and flavors worked really well. The seafood dishes that followed were fresh and beautifully presented, e.g. the lobster aguachile was bright orange from chile oil, nastrutium flours, and bright pink from the lobster and cara cara orange which made for a very stunning presentation. Unfortunately, the mains, the tacos lacked the wow factor. Again the presentation was beautiful. The fried fish taco had a delicately placed checkerboard of sauce. But when eating the taco, I think it became a standard, albiet very tasty fish taco. There was a second fish taco that I found to be somewhat bland and there was a small bone in the rockfish fillet and the skin wasn't that crispy which seemed to be what was intended based on the menu describing the matsukasa method After the tacos, the mole and desert returned to amaze. There was an overwhelming amount of deserts in the best way. I'll remember the almond ice cream with pixtle. The service was very good. There were 13 courses served over 3 hours, which I thought was a little slow pacing. Overall a really great meal, though I wish some aspects were better given the steep price for this kind of experience.”