Left Bank, Gauche Service
Mackie and I have been fans of Left Bank since we were first going out. At the time, I lived in Palo Alto and we frequented the branch in Menlo Park. We took an opportunity to renew our acquaintance with the chainlet by eating a late lunch at the Left Bank’s San Mateo outpost.
As it was a Saturday, the menu was skewed by brunch offerings. (Don’t let the Left Bank web site fool you – the brunch menu is served on Saturday as well as Sunday, at least in San Mateo). We ignored the breakfast fare and ordered from the limited list lunch items.
I opted for the steak frites ($19.50), skipping the sauce Bordelaise (add $3.00). If you can cook a steak right, why ruin it with a sauce? And Left Bank can cook a steak. The “natural” (listen to this podcast to find out what “natural” really means) beef skirt steak was well-seasoned and cooked – perhaps a touch too rare for my medium preference but that’s me being grumpy – tender and tasty. The accompanying frites were also delicious, not as crisp as ideal but, again, that’s me being grumpy.
The only sour note of the dish was the watercress side salad. IMO, watercress should be used to add flavor and a contrasting texture to a salad, not as the salad’s main ingredient. It’s too bitter and the stalk is too tough to serve as a salad’s foundation. I barely touched it.
Mackie’s spinach salad ($8.75) was also good but it took some doing to get it into that state. She knew from prior experience that Left Bank salads could be skimpy on the fixings – blue cheese, pear and pecans in this case – that make or break the plate so she asked for more to be added.
This request should have been unnecessary. When you serve a spinach salad with blue cheese, pear and pecans, the flavor of the salad depends on the interplay of the ingredients. You have to add enough cheese, fruit and nuts so that the diner can have some in every bite! Otherwise, some bites will be good but others will suck. This is elementary but restaurants seem to miss this point all the freakin’ time!!! Now, I’m not asking for a cup of nuts, a whole pear or a quarter pound of blue. I’m just saying that there’s gotta be enough so that the composition of each bite mirrors the composition of the dish as described on the menu. If you’re chintzy with the good stuff, it’s kinda false advertising. Just incorporate a sufficient amount, reflect the costs when you set the price and be done with it. I’d rather pay a little more and be satisfied than pay less, not enjoy the dish and feel ripped off.
But the Left Bank being what it is, Mackie asked for the salad to be prepared to her taste and the waiter said that he’s see what he could do. We’d made similar requests at Left Bank in Menlo Park and they’d been honored with no fuss and a minimal extra charge (disclosed beforehand), which we gladly paid.
When her salad arrived, it contained a mound of spinach and endive with a couple crumbles of blue, a smattering of (not sufficiently ripened) pear slices and a few pecans. In short, exactly what Mackie asked to avoid.
When Mackie inquired about the paucity of good stuff, the waiter mumbled something about there being a set amount each ingredient with each salad. Mackie replied that that was EXACTLY why she asked for more of what she wanted! I mean, imagine that – a special request requiring the kitchen (which, by the way, was not in the least bit busy) to something a little out of the ordinary. Geez, dude, get some cojones bigger than a pea and tell the kitchen staff what your guests want!!!
Mackie again sent our waiter in search of good stuff. Instead of delivering what she asked for, he delivered the hostess, who I assume was also the shift managerbelieve to be the general manager, based on the GM's photo on the Left Bank web site. When Mackie repeated her request, the hostess sweetly asked if she’d like to order another salad. Talk about honey-coated bitchiness!!! No, she doesn’t want another salad. For the fourth freakin’ time, SHE WANTS MORE CHEESE, PEAR AND PECANS FOR THE SALAD SHE ALREADY HAS SITTING IN FRONT OF HER!!! Are you truly dense or just acting like it??? What about this request is so difficult to understand???
Eventually, a small plate with blue cheese, pear slices and pecans appeared at our table. Mysteriously, additional spinach and endive were included. Is there some rule that cheese and nuts can’t leave the kitchen without some green??? One consolation was that the bill was delivered sans additional charge for the extra goodies.
Other service slips were also apparent. The table was set without pepper. When we asked for it, our server delivered a small, dirty grinder. It gave up the ghost after a couple of twists. No server was in sight so Mackie grabbed one sitting on a nearby shelf. It took two requests before I got my Tabasco. My iced tea ($2.25, good but orangey) was not refilled until I requested it.
I passed on dessert but Mackie concluded her meal with the petit profiterole ($3.25), a small, crisp cream puff filled with soft French vanilla ice cream and topped warm chocolate sauce. She snarfed it down in a hurry and declared herself satisfied.
If you don’t know where the San Mateo Left Bank is located, you might have a hard time finding it because it’s tucked into a fairly new residential and retail development a short distance from East Hillsdale Boulevard. Check an Internet map or an up-to-date cartograph before going – older maps will not show the location. Parking is plentiful and free.
The restaurant is very nicly appointed, but not pretentious or stuffy. It’s a great place for all but the most formal of business meetings (I know, I’ve taken clients to dinner there) and for a fun (but not party-hearty) date. Because we ate at an off hour, the place was nearly empty so I don’t have a gauge on the noise level when it’s crowded.
I asked the hostess about the addition of Scott Howard to the Left Bank team. She informed me that his contributions were confined to the Larkspur location and that San Mateo’s menu had not been altered by his arrival.
Service notwithstanding, Mackie and I enjoyed our meal and remain fans of the Left Bank. We just wish that they’d employ more clueful front-of-the-house help.
Left Bank
1100 Park Place
between Saratoga Drive and Wayne Way
San Mateo, CA 94403
650-345-2250
Map
Web site
Food inspection score: Not located in San Francisco
Symbol of Excellence: N/A
-Friendly: Fun Date, Casual Business Meeting, Formal Business Meeting
Categories: Peninsula, Iced Tea, Conversation-Friendly, French, Formal Business Meeting-Friendly, Fun Date-Friendly
Just wanted to voice my grumpiness about your assumption that the woman who came to your table to help was a host. As a woman restaurant manager, I can't tell you how many times customers have assumed that I was a host, they never assume that a man that approaches their table is a host. It's 2008 people and women are managing restaurants all over the world.
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I didn't *assume* that the person who came to our table was a host. I *know* that she was a host. She greeted us and seated us when we arrived. That's the definition of a host, someone who greets and seats. I neither stated nor implied that being a host was her only role.
To the contrary, I *assumed* that she *was* a manager. I stated that in my post saying, "the hostess, who I assume was also the shift manager...." However, I don't *know* that she was the shift manager because she did not identify herself as such. Further, as can be seen from the stricken text in the post, I originally wrote that she was the location's GM. I crossed out that text when Mackie did not agree with me that the person pictured as the GM on Left Bank's web site was the person who came to our table.
I have no doubt that, in your role as a restaurant manager, you've been subjected to and witnessed gender-based stereotyping. However, that's not what I did in my post. To the contrary, I clearly stated that I assumed that the woman who came to our table was a manager. With your comment, you subjected me to exactly the same of gender-based stereotyping that you're protesting. You assumed that a male writer looks at a female restaurant employee and assumes that they aren't a manager.
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