State Bird Provisions

“Wow! 5 stars cannot even comprehend how wonderful this establishment was. My only complaint was not having a bigger stomach! We arrived for our reservation and was informed our table wasn’t quite ready yet, but we could step to their sister establishment next door for a quick libation while we waited. It was perfect timing for us to enjoy a quick cocktail before dinner. Upon being seated, we were quickly educated on how things would be orchestrated for dinner service. PSA - they are not exaggerating when they say they will bring round à la carte items for you to pick from in addition to the dinner menu. Wow! So many options - it was a tad overwhelming but in the best way. We opted for 4 à la carte items and 3 dinner items. A bit much for 2 people, but we just couldn’t say no. It was all outstanding. Sadly we had no room for dessert and that was one of the parts I was really looking forward to. However, we definitely had no shortage of amazing food. All our service staff was incredibly knowledgeable and professional. Thank you for a wonderful time.”

“What a treat! We tried making a reservation but we couldn't so we decided to get their about half an hour early to start waiting. They do allocate space for walk-in guests which was very nice and it was sure worth the wait! It was fun to watch the staff prep before service as well. The chips were all lined up on the window and very enticing. We got a few of the rotating items, some of which were hit or miss, but otherwise it was a fun experience. It's very easy to overspend there since they come around the table to you and ask if you'd like what they're serving and everything looks so delicious. A la carte, we ordered a state bird provisions which was amazing. They somehow deboned a quail which was very impressive and it was nicely seasoned and fried. You must try the chips and dip! It is on the oilier side which is not my preference, but it is still very very good. We also got the yuba all matriciana which turned out to be a pasta-like (with no pasta but tofu skin) dish which was very enjoyable. My favorite thing we had that night was the little almond muffins with pate.”

“Arrived at 4:40 as walk-ins and were second in line. More walk-ins started trickling in around 5 and by the time the restaurant opened at 5:30 it was bustling. Were seated quickly and there were many servers walking around so flagging down attention was easy. They were attentive of dietary restrictions, which is impressive for the serving style. The dishes we ordered a la carte at the beginning of the meal came almost at the very end of the meal by which point we were already pretty full. Although the dim sum concept was fun, I really did not like the flavor and texture profiles of almost all of the dishes. Many were way too oily such as the almond financiers, pancakes, toast, and noodles. The toast was so tough that I could barely cut through it with a knife. Some flavor combinations did not pair well at all, such as radish with szechuan peppercorn. The almond financier really overpowered the duck liver mousse and I couldn’t taste the mousse at all. Other flavor profiles were just not interesting. Toast with cheese and corn tasted exactly like you would expect. And there were texture issues, specifically with the fried beans. The outsides were the texture of popcorn kernels, not crispy, and the inside was dry. I thought the dishes overused jalapeños and too many were fried. The peach bacon cheese pancake was interesting, it tasted like a breakfast platter in a bite. The only dish that actually tasted good was whipped cheese with cherries, but the cherries weren’t pitted.”

“High energy place and fun just being in the middle of the hustle and bustle - the chefs were ever moving, churning out dish after dish, the waiters were carrying plates of tapas or wheeling them around eg. Scallop crudo, potato chips with trout dip, pork belly with fish sauce, etc I really wanted to like the food but the ones I tried such as pork belly, sourdough-sourrkraut with pecorino and ricotta, black cod toast, state bird were too either too heavy or salty or hard (deep fried). The only one I liked was the scallop crudo. Overall, fun for a try but I expected much higher standards from a one star Michelin.”

“I generally do not ever leave comments but this was definitely one of the worst meals i’ve paid for in SF. To start off with dim sum style appetizers, hog island oysters with kraut was not good together. The kraut was too crunchy and too much on soft oysters which was overpowering in general. The pate is not very good, i think french butter would have been better with almond fancier. The “best” one was the handrolls and even that i didn’t understand other toppings with scallops. Just overall did not have any harmony with the ingredients. Regarding the “main” dishes we ordered state bird and the steak. The state bird chicken seemed a little undercooked and not worth $24 for 2 pieces of average fried chicken. Also the steak was tender for sure but was so salty i couldn’t taste the numbing sensation from sichuan peppercorn. I actually didn’t have high hopes and i genuinely felt robbed. Their drinks and water were very good.”