The Surf Club Restaurant

The Surf Club Restaurant is built around a certain kind of precision — the service alone is worth studying. Plates get cleared and tables get crumbed with a formality that would make a stickler go quiet. This is a team with roots at The French Laundry, and the technical discipline of that pedigree shows in every pass through the dining room.

What it doesn't always deliver is warmth. Unless you're a regular or spending like one, the interactions stay clipped, almost procedural — small talk reads as an inconvenience, and once you've been at the table past a certain stretch, the room starts angling you toward the door. That's a real gap between service and hospitality, and it keeps this from being a flawless night out.

It doesn't keep it from being a genuinely excellent one. The cooking justifies the formality, which is why a Michelin star in 2026 and a James Beard Best New Restaurant semifinalist nod in 2019 both make sense rather than feeling like marketing. Go in understanding the terms: you're there for the food and the craft, not to be coddled. On those terms, it delivers.