Aqua

On Thursday, we celebrated our anniversary at Aqua, an amazing seafood restaurant in San Francisco. Although we made reservations a couple of weeks in advance, we ended up with a short wait upon arrival since we were half an hour late due to the rush hour traffic. While we waited for our table, we had a few cocktails at the bar. The drinks the bartender made were perfect. Long pours were the rule and not the exception.

Finally, our time had come. We were seated nearby a giant mirror and had full view of the entire restaurant and all of its patrons. After being presented with menus and a wine list, we were each served lobster bisque and a cracker topped with seafood. We were also given a choice of bread; I opted for the sourdough, and she went for the olive bread. The crust was a bit hard, but the bread itself was quite good.

The waiter arrived and provided us with details of the various dishes available ranging from the texture of the fish to the taste of the sauces. After some perusing, we figured out what we wanted. To start, she had the Chilled Shellfish, which came with clams, prawns, crab, and oysters. True to my sushi loving nature, I ordered the Hamachi. For the main course, I went for the White Sturgeon En Paillotte, and she passed on the fish and decided on the 1 ¾ Pound Maine Lobster “Fricassee” dish. She had a glass of the 2000 Lagrein Blend, Masetto Nero, Endrizzi; I'm not a wine drinker myself, so I had water.

The food was simply amazing, some might even say sui generis. It was some of the best prepared seafood I've ever had in my life. As reference, this meal was a step above those we had at two memorable seafood restaurants, which both happened to be in Las Vegas, Aqua (Michael Mina) at the Bellagio and AquaKnox at the Venetian. The meal was filling, but not so much that we did not have room for dessert.

Their dessert menu was nice, and each dessert had a recommended matched wine to go with it. But, it was late, and we had had enough to drink. So, we just had dessert without the wine. She had the Chocolate Composition, which was a fancy assortment of chocolate confections and fudges along with some ice cream. I indulged in the Oak Spice Crème Brûlée, which was fantastic. Though, to be honest, I preferred some of the chocolate treats in her dessert. After our dessert, they further pampered us with additional pastries before handing us the final bill. The meal cost an arm and maybe two legs, but it was well worth it. I highly recommend Aqua to anyone who is looking for a fancy night out on the town or wanting to dine for a special occasion.

Here are a few pictures of some of our dishes. Enjoy.

Sturgeon













Hamachi

















Lobster