Campton Place Restaurant (San Francisco)

Campton Place Restaurant is located in (what else) the Campton Place Hotel near Union Square. I've always liked the place, which consistently delivers good food and service. I've been to this restaurant a couple times before for SF Dine-about-Town, and that deal can't be beat when you get three courses for $21.95. However, I've always wanted to come here for a regular lunch since there are a lot more choices. For lunch you can order a la carte or have a 3-course prix fixe for $42, which is not too bad, given that you can choose from any item on the menu. Just my appetizer and entree added up to be $45 so it was like getting the dessert for free.

I can never say no to foie gras so I ordered that while my companion got the tomato soup. The presentation was quite nice although the portions were small. When they first put down the soup bowl, it had three little shrimps in it, and then they poured the soup over it. Similarly for my dish, the piece of foie gras was rather small, and then they poured mushroom consomme over it. The foie gras was cooked to perfection though, with juice and fat oozing out as you cut into it.

For entree, I ordered the lamb shoulder, which was tenderly cooked but it was a little bit too fat for me. My companion ordered the pork tenderloin, which looked quite good. As for dessert, I got a chocolate sponge cake with caramel ice cream. The cake was very moist, but again, it was quite tiny and you can pretty much eat it in two bites. Overall, the meal was very good but I have to say that it wasn't necessarily any better than when I came for Dine-about-Town at half the cost. But I think that says a lot for this restaurant, in that they don't skimp on quality for something like Dine-about-Town (which a lot of other restaurants do).

And although the portions were rather small, I thought they were just right given that there are three courses and you don't want to overeat, especially for lunch. Oh, and I almost forgot about the bread! They serve a really nice olive bread that is really delicious when it's warm - that also helps you fill up! All in all, I think Campton Place is great but coming here for Dine-about-Town is an even better deal!