Millennium
Categories: Vegan, Vegetarian [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Nob Hill, Civic Center/Tenderloin580 Geary St
(between Jones St & Shannon St)
San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 345-3900
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
Fri-Sat 5:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Sun 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. - Price Range: $$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Dressy
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
143 reviews
Neighborhood: Castro
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455 Reviews for Millennium
As a carnivore in a vegan restaurant, I was pleased. The roasted beet appetizer was fantastic, as were the pickled vegetables (those tomatoes rock). Our entrees were good, and they should market the spread served with the bread.
Couple server gripes, though. When a plate is empty and bare, asking if you can take it away is better than asking if we're done, but maybe I'm being fussy. However, if there's still bread on the bread plates, don't take the spread away without asking. Wayne Brady might have to come down here and smack a bitch.
Ahh, Just go there for a belgian beer and their fries sometime. Fantastic.
This place also has the best desserts in the city. In fact I'm glad I wrote this because I can still catch some late summer fruit desserts.
Every birthday I go here with my aunt, or for hers I take her. We are always so happy to be enjoying it. Even though there is no meat, the dishes are incredibly production intensive and huge, and I usually leave almost too full.
They also have super duper great specialty cocktails. I have no idea what planet the people who say the decor here is "all wrong" are from, but I find it fantastic. I have always loved this space though even when it was Brasserie Savoy and was much more sedate. I love the very formal sweepy pink draperies and white tablecloths, then looking around at the totally diverse clientele, everyone from mom and dad from the peninsula to the gender-nonspecific tatooed pierced couple, everyone loving it. It's ultimate San Francisco.
And the fried oyster mushrooms are probably their most popular item. Also good, but they should serve them with a ton more lemons and/or a stronger more acidic sauce.
Gorge!!
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Millennium has been around since the days of yesteryear, before civic center got all dolled up and before the tenderloin bordered on trendy. I remember it as the site of dreamy menus that I would have to save up weeks and weeks to enjoy. It was the magical place that I could order anything off the menu and be offered something new and exciting. It wasn't the old school veggie fare of the Moosewood era.
I went here for the first time since being back in the bay area. My husband Don treated me to a birthday dinner. I had the melon margarita and he had beer from his home state of Maine. We shared the apple salad which had cabbage and seaweed and an enticing name I can't remember. I had the tamale and he had the roulade. Then we split the chocolate zucchini cake.
Our server was friendly and we met a nice couple from FL with whom we shared restaurant suggestions. The new atmosphere is classy and comfortable. I just had a petty fixation with the burlap and rope light decorations ("fixtures"). I know that that was my own issue, but in moments of silence I felt myself reaching to pull down the potato sack like decor. I refrained.
Thanks Millennium for still being there for a special night out and for keeping your menu current. I will come back soon.
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Two nights ago, if you had asked me my dream destination restaurant in the city, I would have replied with Millennium, no thought required. It is hailed as a Mecca in the city for vegans, and being vegan, it just seemed to be somewhere I HAD to check out. Now, after having experienced it, I'm not so sure...
It was, for me, a dream come true: a bday party at Millennium, paid for entirely by the birthday boy's Mom. Though I will say, in perusing their menu, I found Millennium to be less cost-prohibitive than I'd been led to believe. Speaking monetarily, I do wish they'd put some funds into hiring a new decorator-- the weird curtains and fishnet lights have GOT to go!!!
The birthday guest list was planned poorly, and when more people showed up than there was room for, I was humiliated for the group. The staff at Millennium is top notch, with class, composure, patience, and a firm style of being. They were just awesome in every way.
Drink menu was fantastic, with denotations for organic, sustainable, and biodynamic (whatever that means). Both the drink and food menus were paper-printed (I took mine home for remembrance and kitchen inspiration) and I feel like they must change seasonally (reason to try it again!). I started with a glass of Muscat which was sweet and delicious. I know, classic Kirsten... starting with a dessert wine.
The bread on the table was more wheat than stale and white like at most places (thank you for that much, Millennium!). We topped it with the hummus white bean spread and... ooh, what's this, seasoned salt? MSG? finely ground diamonds? does this go up my nose?... sprinkled a little atop the spread-ed bread and DAMN did the flavors go POP!
Then I had the sea palm and apple salad to share. It was beautiful and tasty, with basil, roasted edamame, thin celery, and an Asian dressing. Nice start, and I liked that even at a classy place like Millennium, they didn't mind me sharing a dish. With this, I had a glass of Prosecco.
Entree was the real lowlight. Polenta cake with lobster mushrooms and some bean/tomato thing around. I have had better polenta (not mushy and twice the amount for half the price) at Boogaloo's!!! Sauce was AWESOME though... white and tasting of champagne. Through this I sipped on a Union Square Sidecar cocktail, so I was feeling good regardless.
Time for dessert! The pinnacle of any vegan meal! I love seeing what each restaurant has to offer in this arena, and Millennium wasn't lacking for creativity. I tried the Black-pepper ganache chocolate cake with Basil anglaise and sweet corn sorbet. It was good but I fell in LOVE with the Midnight Almond Chocolate cake with notes of raspberry sauce, white chocolate mousse, and mocha filling. Paired this with a 10-yr. Port and the rest of someone's margarita.
Millennium taught me never to overpay for vegan food the likes of which I can get most anywhere, to enjoy overpriced food when someone else is buying, and... 5 drinks later... that I have an alcohol problem. ;)
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A vegetarian paradise that any meat lover would enjoy. I brought my husband to this restaurant fully expecting him to have something adverse to say about the food. Everything from the spread presented with the bread to the impeccable desserts amazed us both.
The problem that I have had with other Vegetarian restaurants was the lack of flavor, variety of ingredients, and absence of imagination. Millennium uses a melange of ingredients to not only build the foundation of a great dish but also to enhance each component so every flavor in the dish marries and becomes a masterpiece.
Definitely a must for vegetarians and non vegetarians alike!
I had the best meal of my life here, including pre-gan meals at some pretty schmancy places. We did the prix-fixe seasonal menu with wine pairings for each course and I have been thinking back on it wistfully every day since.
Confidential to TG: Weekend trip to SF + dinner at Millennium would make a pretty stellar birthday present. Just saying...
Every time I come here I get an amazing food-high that lasts well into the next day.
If I were a millionaire, I would hire a chef to cook me vegetarian food just like this every day, morning, noon and night and give up eating meat... well... ok, maybe not bacon... or lamb.
You can't really go wrong with anything you pick on their menu. Just close your eyes and point to something, and I guarantee it will be delicious.
Seriously, Millennium is perfect in every way, from the quality service, food presentation, ambiance and their booze is top-notch too. Their Cilantro-infused Margarita was a perfect companion to my Corn Tamale
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............. Foodgasm................
*catching my breath*
Honestly, I feel sad...sad that there is nothing this frickin' fantastic in LA. Gourmet vegetarian, beautiful and elegant ambience, terrific service, and fabulously delicious food.
They have fantastic wine and truly talented bartenders... give them a little space for creativity and they will make you a masterpiece...
I would love to go here again... I would love to take my friends and family... I am a fan!!!!!
If you come here make a reservation..
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I seriously have no idea how this place is rated so highly, but it can't be based on the taste of the food. I'm still a meat eater, but I end up eating a fair amount of vegan and veggie meals b/c I'm allergic to dairy.
I'm not quite sure what to say here: the food is just plain bad. And I had to pay a lot of money for it.
To be fair, the atmosphere was nice and the wait staff were very accommodating. The drinks were fine. But the food was awful. Instead of choosing really fresh ingredients and layering flavors that compliment each other, they seemed to take a bunch of average ingredients, throw them together and hope for the best. The emphasis was much more on the presentation, which wasn't bad, but I don't go to restaurants to look at my food.
I wish I could say that it was just the mushroom dish that I ordered (how do you make mushrooms taste bad?!), but I tried the dishes of my other 3 friends and they were all equally as tasteless. Actually, that's inaccurate because tasteless would have been a compliment. And I know it's not because it's vegan food. I've had many vegan dishes all around the city that have been fantastic. I don't believe the "Millennium is good if you're a vegan" line. That's crap. Bad food is bad food. Period.
In a city like San Francisco, there are a lot of great food options. If you eat out enough, you'll inevitably end up eating at some, hopefully not too many, mediocre restaurants. But this way way below mediocre. Don't waste your money here.
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sometimes pleasure is in what is NOT there.
I am allergic to wheat
I am allergic to soy, also to dairy which can make dining out VERY unfun.
waiters are often unkind and roll their eyes or they simply poison me and smile.
but NOT HERE!
the waitress took the time to make notes on my menu of what was not an option for me, what could be modified and let me know what she could ask the kitchen about changing. She was so patient and sweet. and efficient and quick like a plate-bearing flash.
I am attracted to beauty as in flourishes of artistically presented DELICIOUS more-than-food food. I am drawn to kindness, especially when sincere and true. Like a table by the window separate from the crowd on a Friday so-busy night, with but a moment's wait for us two.
I am HAPPY HERE in the only vegetarian restaurant that manages to have VEGAN PERFECTION without the spaceout hippie birkenstock granola vibe.
the waiter laughed when my beau ordered english peas with a fake british accent while circling his finger like a monocle. I champagne-dared him! and they put a candle in a vegan handmade truffle for me the cakeless birthday girl.
5 star service, presentation and elegant light FLAVORFUL vegan food with splashes of contrasts in texture, color, and taste. no patchouli affirmations or bowls of stinky hayseed.
candlelight, champagne, chocolate, and NO SINGING, just bringing, makes a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
squinknificent!
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Good Vikings go to Valhalla, good Christians go to Heaven, and good vegans go to Millennium, where culinary nirvana awaits.
There is no God but Millennium and Eric is His Prophet.
Only religious and sexual imagery can indicate how glorious their food is. The decor is really nice; I dig the swanky mood lighting and open kitchen.
I am such an Eric Tucker groupie he's welcome to any needed or desired organ I possess or can acquire. Back when my cooking skills were at Moosewood level, I looked at his cookbook and thought "those recipes are too complicated, I'll never be able to cook them." But after attending his class at Sur La Tab he autographed my copy, initiating me into the guild of vegan master chefs.
When I am King, Saint Tucker will be my Gastronomer Royal, charting the seasons, planets, and tasty things which grow from the earth.
Today I blew my mind (and budget) on the soup and salad. If I could resist ordering wine I could afford to eat here more. Alas, Lauren the adorable pixie winemaster and barkeep extraordinaire is not someone I can say no to. She's a gifted spiritician, infusing the house vodka with things that make you go swoon, and a wineaux after my own heart.
The soup, a creamy fennel dream, was garnished with smoked pimento oil of such sweet subtle delicacy I'm sure the people at the bar heard me make involuntary Mmmm noises. Rich in thyme, the soup features a garnish of fried sage and zucchini, and is sent off the charts by a bit of piquant citrus zest. It paired nicely with a $9(!) glass of Sav. Blac, imported from France, featuring a pleasant ripe melon bouquet, grass and vanilla attack, and slight mineral finish.
And the salad! OMG the salad!
Racy grilled nectarines and seductive purslane of exquisite freshness. Creamy avocado slices, melting in my mouth around firm chewy sea palm. Set off like a roman candle of flavor by crunchy spicy cashew pieces and tiny tangy flecks of sweet sesame-chili(?) dressing.
The world stopped and I got off.
Unless I find a sugar mama that thinks food coma is sexy, next time I'll skip the wine and get dessert instead. And by that, I mean I'll get dessert with the suggested dessert wine pairing.
Om Millennium Padma Hum...
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A vegan, vegetarian or even a meat eaters dream come true. 5 solid stars in my book.
I have no idea how they do it....the dishes at Millennium are absolutely unique full of so many flavors it will leave you wondering for days what exactly you just ate. i took my friends here recently as a big 'gracias' for watching my cat roscoe while i was in peru for a month. i hadn't eaten here in years (like since they were under the hotel abigail) although as a vegetarian i think about it often. last time i went my mom took me there when she was visiting (it's that kind of place since you will drop some cash).
we started with the beets and the raw-violi which were both beautiful and delicious. then we each ordered a different entree. each entree has a paragraph describing all the ingredients and flavors in the dishes, it is hard to remember. however i don't think i ever remember a dinner out when every plate at the table was clean (especially my one friend who never finishes her food). i had the mushrooms and polenta with baby tomatoes (way simplified description). i tried to eat slowly and savor every morsel.
the wine list denotes wines that are either organic, made with organic grapes or biodynamic. i appreciated this as i recently learned about what the differences of all those meant. the cocktail list is creative, and they also have a few non-alcoholic cocktails (i tried the 'new raw' which was super tasty). also be sure to leave room for dessert. they have a really nice tea menu and a list of yummy desserts which are better than anything made with dairy.
best to make a reservation ahead for sure as the place has been around for a while and isn't super big. if you can't plan ahead that much they have a good sized bar for dining too.
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Like any skeptic carnivore, I entered with caution only to discover that the food was mind-blowingly DELICIOUS! Their Sesame Cornmeal Crusted Oyster Mushroom was similar to that of Fried Calamari. If anything, it packed more crunch than the carnivorous version. My fav was their Heirloom Tomato appetizer with what looked to be a vegan version of ricotta cheese with sprouts, olive oil, and almonds. It was the perfect marriage between savory and sweet.
Their entree menu is culturally diversified from Eggplant Miso Curry to Corn Tamales. There is something for everyone. All our dishes had great presentation, and most importantly, the food tasted like a lot of thought and care was put into it, and this is why I am completely sold on this restaurant.
Don't just take it from these yelpers, one MUST go out there and try it - all meat eaters & haters alike. It is the only way you will truly understand and appreciate the beauty of being a Vegetarian. I haven't converted yet, but Millennium makes me want to.
We wanted to celebrate 2 of our friends birthdays so we chose a place to splash and Millennium sprung to the mind so it was settled. I loved the presentation of food out here. I am vegetarian so finally had a menu where everything could be ordered. Everything was so elaborately and painstakingly garnished. The food was cooked to perfection and they were able to whisk out exotic dishes with average ingredients. Even our meat eating friend was impressed with the novelty.
Thats a very creative chef sitting in the kitchen! Kudos to ya!
My only regret?The portions were a wee bit small.Not that I eat a lot but they were REALLY small!So Millennium please make your portions a wee bit larger and Ill give u 5 stars.
I'm a carnivore, but I didn't miss my meat at all here at Millennium.
I started out with Fire & Ice, which was a wonderful and extremely confusing cocktail. I kind of like my food to confuse me! Spicy, warm flavors, but in a cold drink.
I shared the roasted potatoes, marinated olives, and roasted beets with the table. The potatoes came with house-made ketchup that had a lovely, smoky flavor. The olives were marinated in-house and were full of delicious thyme-y, fennel-y goodness. The beets were much more subtle, but well prepared, with a good texture.
My appetizer was the soup of the day, heirloom tomato, wheatberry, and olive. Had a lovely depth that I would normally guess came from veal stock and a finish of butter, but of course, neither were used. A nice splash of sherry vinegar. One of my friends had a dish involving watermelon salsa that was downright confusing. Smoky watermelon! Wonderful.
I had a Mediterranean roulade for my main course, served with cauliflower and shiitake. This was nice, but I found the cauliflower a bit tough and on the raw side, and the roulade didn't have as interesting a flavor profile as the rest of the dishes. I was kind of let down by this course.
My dessert was a trio of very interesting sorbets. I can't recall the flavors now, but they were intensely flavored, unusual, and very fresh-tasting. Clearly made of high-quality fruit.
Portions were just right if not a tad heavy. I got all four courses plus the cocktail, and walked away for $65 including tax and tip, which is an excellent value for a restaurant of this quality.
I'm impressed.
1. I am vegan
2. The food is flavorful and
3. overpowered by salt.
4. The dishes are creative.
5. It's too expensive for what tastes like MSG.
All accolades but this one caveat:
AVOID the roasted garlic/sun-dried tomato infused vodka. It would likely make a great bloody mary. As a martini- not so much.
On second thought, they could do well to tweak their bar offerings from seasonal availability to something a little more main stream.
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My favorite vegan restaurant of all time! They can literally make any vegetable taste amazing, including things I don't normally like. Because it is expensive we usually save it for special occasions and get the tasting menu. The tasting menu is great because you get a chance to try a bunch of things (in smaller portions that a full order, but still plenty to enjoy) and it forces you (in a good way!) to try new things. They often even include an extra treat, like a small cup of the daily soup or seasonal pickles (two examples we've gotten). The dessert samplers at the end are always amazing, so be sure to save a little room!
I've been here twice at the behest of my visiting Vegan brother and Vegetarian close friend. Both times, I tried the Seasonal Tasting menu with wine paring $$$$.
Unlike many Vegan/Vegetarian places, this place is not shy from using vegetarian fats and oil here. Because I had the luxury of sampling pretty much their entire dish line up from the tasting menu, I can say that some dishes shine and some are meh. Their salads in general are beautifully composed but some of their starters and even entrees can be over-wrought with so many ingredients/flavors that I don't know what ingredient I'm tasting. My Vegan bro loved it as it's unlike the typical SoCal "healthy = bland" Vegan cuisine. He described it as an explosion of flavors in any one dish.
Their signature is layering a lot of ingredients and flavors and usually it works and sometimes, the individual flavors conflict with each other. But overall, this is a unique dining experience with extremely attentive white table cloth service.
If you want to splurge, the Tasting menu is the way to go. Skip the wine pairing as the pairing was off both times for the entrees. Order wines by the glass or get a bottle.
I had to give this a 2 since 3 was 'A-OK'... I would have given the night a 5 but I was very disappointed and flabbergasted by their post-meal customer service. Reviewing my credit card statement annoyed me enough to post this.
Visiting from AZ as an excuse to escape the heat - and my ex-job since getting laid off, my friends decided to 'convert' me...
http://www.millenniumr... states:
"Convert A Carnivore
Bring a Carnivorous Friend into Millennium on the 2nd Wednesday of every month and you and your friend will receive a 25% discount, excluding alcohol. The next Convert A Carnivore is Wednesday July 9th."
Has an awesome meal and I was so impressed I even bought their book - so raked up a $200 tab with only 2 drinks on it. When we got home, realized that the 25% did not happen. Call and let a message for Erica 415 345 3900. She called me a day later and there was no way this was ever going to be credited. Asked her for a gift certificate for my friends who live there (and love this place) but NOPE. Best she could come up with was to come back and ASK for the discount NEXT time. Or how about they add THEIR instructions on THEIR site!?
Besides that bad taste, loved the food and really enjoyed the experience, but now I feel rather cheated. AND I need to get another job a little quicker!
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I gotta say, I don't get it. I worry that I'm missing something because people really RAVE about the place here - and I do tend to trust my fellow yelpers but . . .
First, the design/decor is ALL wrong, and I don't mean in a "not my style" way . The old school brown paneling is a great place to start but they leave these mirrors in the panels on one half of the restaurant and cover them with a brown cloth of some sort on the other half. Then there's the giant hanging curtain/fabric in shades of gold, purple etc. which is actually pretty but no one thought about how it might look against the black and white checked marble floor or the brown restaurant. I'm not going anywhere near the fishnets hanging from the "chandeliers", or the black framed and white matted pictures against all the brown. There's creative . . . and then there's incoherent.
We were seated along one of the cushioned benches but the table was set up so that my date was sitting on the precise place where the benches come together and the tables were so close together that we couldn't really move so she had to sit to the left or right of the table all night (This is a nit-picky point, but ordinarily not one that needs making in a place where your tab could easily approach of $200 for two with wine)
I will levy the same criticism at the food -perhaps we ordered wrong. Soup of the day (which was, thankfully, basic) the mushroom entree for my date and the Zucchini corn cake for myself. I can't say the food was bad (my date did though and she's the vegan). I just don't think you need to fuck with ingredients that much in order to make something good, it was literally as though both dishes had EVERYTHING in the kitchen thrown into them. Some of the individual elements of my dish were quite good (the aforementioned cake for example) but it was just so painfully overworked with layer after layer after layer of bizarre additions that did nothing to compliment the dish.
Service was very good, the wine list was okay (a bit too much devotion to one or two wineries). Insult to injury, my drink ,which was supposed to involve tonic water, was flat.
Final thoughts: I might come back and just stay away from the entrees because all of the appetizers that I saw come out of the kitchen looked very good and much less overworked - but it'll only be on someone else's tab and at someone else's prompting.
I know "Vegetarian" is not a food type like Japanese or Italian but for places that bill themselves as such, Ubuntu in Napa and Greens leave this place in the dust on all counts.
Millenium can have my children, and throw them out of trees if they piss Millenium off, like those certain monkeys in Africa.
The ambience is amazing, dim lighting es muy romantico, service is sexy and knowledgeable. Our server was a sweet love. Not overly attentive, but helpful, polite and completely unphased by our inappropriate homesexualist banter. The tempeh here is perfection. All dishes come out beautifully presented and all three of us were impressed like woah.
For dessert, I shared the Chocolate Almond Midnight:
almond cashew crust, mocha chocolate filling, raspberry sauce, white chocolate mousse....all Vegan. Sooooo soooo good. The sorbet selections my friend had were all winners as well.
I'm most definitely coming back, their menu is always changing as produce goes in and out of season. I also want to punch someone in the vagina again. Sorry, lady, I gesticulate with my hands....a lot.
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Very romantic and very attractive wait staff. The food is delicious but I would say there are too many texture and flavor combinations.
Cocktail menu options look kinda weird, but are very delicious.
VEggie Friendly: Yes
I like meat. I like to grill it, eat it, talk about it, handle it with my bare hands. Ribeyes, NY strips, porterhouse for two. MMM.
I say this to give you a really good frame of reference to my review. I would gladly return to Millennium. Do not be swayed by the fact that this is a vegan restaurant. The food is awesome. It's not like other vegan restaurants that serves pretend meaty food. Their food is vegan, proud to be vegan, and deliciously vegan. The menu changes often so indulge in your adventurous spirit and come here blind.
I'm looking forward to my next Millennium experience. I mean, in between all the meat eating =P.
I made reservations for my boyfriend's birthday (as he is a strict veggie) because I wanted to take him to a really special restaurant, but I didn't want him to be restricted to side dishes or just one or two veggie options.
I was trying to be a brave carnivore, as most of the menu seemed foreign to me- I was happily surprised with the menu and the meal. I'm not saying I'll be giving up meat, but I can definitely get down with the dishes here at Millennium. I didn't feel as if I was missing a thing!
The ambiance of the restaurant is warm and welcoming with wood everywhere and warm candlelight without being pretentious or stuffy. We got excellent martinis at the bar before being seated. The servers were friendly and even got a special birthday table for us. You can show up in your little black dress or in jeans and a nice top- there is a full range of folks there.
I highly recommend giving it a go, even if you aren't a veggie yourself.
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YUMMY!!! I was in town for work last week (feels like a month ago) and I convinced my colleague, who is quite the picky eater, to visit Millenium with me. Ok, in truth I sort of guilted her, because as a veg who travels for work all of the time and mostly in Texas, I never get to eat at an establishment where everything is SAFE.
They have a few 1/2 bottles of wine, which delights me to no end. Decent wine too, even after we spent the day in Napa.... ooops, did I say I was there for work? I hope my boss isn't a yelper.
We both ordered the soup du jour (something with cilantro and squash, topped with cashew "sour cream") which was fantastic. She ordered a tofu entree and I went for a dish that included tempeh, peach sauce, and a wild rice. The tempeh didn't blow me away but really, the soup was a hard act to follow. We ended the meal with a tea with a name like "soothing after dinner elixir" - hilarious - and quite sweet. And by quite, I mean sickeningly sweet.
And the staff? Eye candy galore - and nice. I heart SF!
I like the food here -- they even have good looking potato wedges and hearty, filling entrees like corn cakes, good sauces, and some really fun cocktails (good alcoholic and non-alcoholic ones--try the Kombucha!). The wine list is long, and full of organic and naturally-made vintages, which is a rare option among restaurants.
Millenium stays away from depending on soy products, and instead does cooked beans and grains and vegetables, in a creative, upscale style that looks beautiful on the plate. This is a _nice_ restaurant, everyone, so you get what you pay for in quality, taste, and presentation. The desserts are excellent, too, offering the same standard delicious fare you would find anywhere -- tiramisu, tarts, strawberry shortcake, rich chocolate cake, and some good fresh sorbet.
Millennium's focus is on cooked and hearty -- and while there is more focus on veggies than your typical restaurant, perhaps, this place is still trying to win over all dietary types (a great thing to try to do, of course!) but I think they do it at a cost to their more veggie-focused customers. Millennium doesn't have much in the way of big 'ol salads (a shame from a vegan restaurant) but I must commend them, anyway, on purposely including one totally raw entree (also available in appetizer size). Thanks for the nod, Millennium. And thanks for not loading the dish with tons of nut cheese.
Try it out, whoever you are: Millennium is there to make everyone at the table happy--and the food is beyond flavorful (good chef)--so people of all tastes will be happy with what they see on their plate.
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Girlfriend.
Millennium is UNbelievable.
I've done prix fix
and chosen my own things
...either way it is always an amazing meal.
DO get coffee & dessert.
There is no skipping of any course here if you want the full experience.
I love the low lighting (bright lights generally bother me) and have always had fantastic service.
Haven't been here just for drinks/dessert but it seems like it would be
the perfect "end" to that hot date
...you know the one.
Likewise, Millennium is attached to a hotel.
Did I mention it's vegan too??!
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I've been checking out more vegetarian friendly restaurants lately in my effort to cut back on meat and I've been dying to try Millennium. Last night I had the in-laws in town and we were heading off to the theatre. So I thought I'd take a group of non-vegans to a vegan restaurant. I figured that would be the true test of how good their food actually is.
Let me tell you, I am fully and totally impressed. Our dishes ranged from Mediterranean, to Indian, to American, to Asian for inspiration, and each one was perfectly prepared.
The oyster mushroom appetizer was a perfect sharing plate and the chocolate mousse desert caused and actual shoving of elbows to determine who got the last bite.
And the true test... the in-laws are actually going back there again tonight before they leave. I'd say that's a pretty good endorsement.
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This is the perfect place to take your parents or in-laws or anyone else willing to pick up the check especially if they are snooty wineauxs. On my own I'd love to go anywhere else in the city - oh sure I was super excited when this place first opened - the original location had more character and the menu seemed so fresh and innovative. But the bloom is definitely off this rose because I hate paying so much for a meal that requires one to eat a sandwich less than an hour after eating.
THEY HAVEN'T CHANGED THE MENU SUBSTANTIVELY SINCE THEY OPENED.
There's only so many times I can eat a beggar's purse with filo pastry while being inundated with hyper loud conversation from the room. The current location is TOO COLD in the winter and TOO HOT in the summer and the room lacks anything even remotely close to charm.
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Millennium is incredible. Every time I go I am completely blown away.
As a vegan, it's so wonderful to be able to eat anything on the menu. However, I've been here with anti-vegetarians and they LOVED it too. They were shocked when I told them that it was a completely vegan restaurant.
Speaking of the food, I can say that the amazing food at millennium is like having one long orgasm of the mouth. The food is 100% delish. All of it. And I know that to be true, since last time I went I got the "Taste of Millennium"--5 courses, chef's choice. I recommend.
The featured cocktails are fabulous too--unique and really tasty. There was one cocktail I ordered that didn't really suit me though it was too sweet (and I like sweet!) but the Strawberry Mojito was fantastic. Also, their wine list rocks. Got a wonderful bottle of Pinot.
I also love the ambiance here. Get there early, sit at the bar and have a drink while waiting for your table. The wait staff, for the most part, are pure eye candy. The dark wood, dim lighting, and white table clothes make me think that this is a place where Tony Soprano would eat if he were vegan and a real person. That makes me love it even more.
I am not a vegan, nor even a vegetarian, but this food rocks. It is so healthy, I always leave the restaurant feeling like a could jog (as opposed to that bloated feeling somewhere else after you've eaten a large meal). This is an upscale restaurant, and I frequently like to take out-of-town guests there for a meal they could only get in San Francisco.
It is a vegan restaurant, but the portions are filling, not small. I recommend ordering at least a couple of appetizers; when going there with a friend, sometimes we share one entree and a few apps. The drink menu (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) is extensive. The desserts are the weak link. Occasionally they'll have a special "theme" seasonal tasting menu that is fun to order from. I've had the "potato" menu and the "mushroom" menu, and both were great.
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I am not a vegetarian and usually enjoy a good steak with some excellent red wine now and then...however, my friends convinced me to try this vegetarian establishment. The quality of the food was actually very good - but small portions at very high prices. If this establishment could increase the portion size of the dishes in order to justify the prices they're charging, then I would give them five stars! I recommend trying other vegetarian restaurants before returning here.
The first time I came here with my ex wife I have to say I was actually disappointed, I spent a lot of money and didn't really feel like I got a single good thing out of it other than the assorted pickle appetizer. That was many many years ago, and things have changed.
My sophomore visit here was with some other vegan friends and the four of us split the tasting menu. They were so kind as to actually give us different tasting menus so that we had quite the assortment of dishes to try - it was AMAZING. Expensive, but well worth it!
Since then I come here with friends and go with the tasting menu, or if there's a large enough group we'll pick a wide assortment or just ask the waiter/waitress to pick an assortment for us. This strategy has never proved to be a disappointment. At this point, the only negative I can say about this place is that I wish I could afford to come here more often.
But definitely - variety is key, they change their menu regularly, and if you find one dish not really your thing, if it's amongst five other dishes you can treat is as something you weren't into, whereas if that's all you ordered, you're setting yourself up for failure.
It's such a treat to be able to go in a restaurant and to be able to eat anything on the menu. Dining out is not easy for a vegetarian, even in San Francisco.
The frequently changing menu at Millennium is a delight. The chefs combine things I would never think of bringing together and it's always a pleasure to the eye and the palate.
I can't afford to go here as often as I'd like but for an upscale restaurant the prices are actually not bad. It's one restaurant I never hesitate to recommend, whether you're vegan or not.
this place was phenomenal. i went for one of their full moon special dinner things and found the food exquisite. I wish i could say more about the food but the fact is i didnt actually know half the stuff that i was eating :P.
what i can tell you is that the flavors went together really well, like the little sweet mushroom sauce with some fancy herb i have never eaten before.
To start with they give you some fresh bread with hummus...mmm something i knew.
i did think it was funny when the gentleman at the table next to us asked for some butter instead of hummus :P
i highly reccommend this place, especially for people who arent vegan...it will totally expand your eating options a million fold.
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Wow. It's like magic. Think Iron Chef meets vegetarian. Well worth the premium, highly recommended.
Eat something with mushrooms. They were amazing.
Update: I made a second trip there with some friends a few weeks later, and the visit was not nearly as good as the first. I would rate it a 3 of 5 on this trip (5 of 5 on the first), averaging to 4/5. :)
We showed up without a reservation as they said they were full, but they seated us within about 15 minutes. No complaints here. The complaint was that they seated us right next to the bathroom and it smelled pretty gross. The food was not as good this time around (I had the tofu steak with coconut sauce). The appetizer (beets) were not that great. The desert was awesome, and the service was good. Overall this visit was about average, but with a $35/person bill, not including drinks, it's up there for average.
I would definitely go again and probably will soon. I would make a reservation again next time and hopefully I'm seated away from the bathroom.
If I were a rich girl, we'd go at least once a week, however I'm not so we save it for special occassions - birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
My first experience here was when I first bec