ABSteak by Chef Akira Back

The service was excellent!

The meat was great quality and it was enjoyable to watch the meat cooked right in front of you! The pork belly rice and soup is very tasty!

The cocktails are creative as well.

They have a beautiful wine cellar and private dining room.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Wagyu Beef

Jay aka Jeremiah was the best server ever. Never had such a fabulous experience. We were celebrating a birthday and Jay made it extra special. We really appreciate you, Jay.
We wouldnt have had such a memorable experience without you so thank you.

Food-wise, AMAZING! The snow flower kkotsal is to die for. It melts in your mouth. The meat cuts are so delicious and reminds me of Korea. Amazing amazing hands down and cant wait to go back!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I had dinner at ABSteak and unfortunately got food poisoning. My server recommended a drink called the Obi-Wan Ken-Ube because it had strong flavors of ube and horchata.

From the moment I tried the drink, I thought it tasted weird because it had a weird sour flavor to it, but thought it was one of the many ingredients in it. Throughout dinner I sipped on the drink but could only get 1/4 through it until my stomach startled to feel unsettled.

Finally when dessert was served, I asked the server if the drink was supposed to be sour and if it had milk that spoiled and he took it back to the bar. The bartenders mentioned there could be something wrong with the horchata. Then the main server also came by to apologize and mentioned the horchata might have gone bad in the back. I didn’t think too much of it until…

5 mins after I walked out of the restaurant, i needed to throw up and threw up my entire meal. I then looked up horchata and realized it includes dairy and spoils very quickly.

Aside from the food poisoning, I thought the ambiance, food and service were great. The server or chef stands by the entire time the meat is cooking, but despite this the server did accidentally burn the kalbi. It did feel a bit painful as price per ounce for meat here is higher than normal given the ambiance but we didn’t want to complain and the server didn’t offer to replace the burnt meat.

Initially after this meal, I felt chill about things and didn’t want to cause a fuss, but after throwing up, a night of stomach pain and recounting the dinner again, I feel pretty angry. I did email the restaurant immediately after I got home to go check their ingredients for the drink and let them know what happened.

I want to give the staff the benefit of the doubt but there did seem to be an undertone where a couple people knew something was up with the horchata having gone bad. If so I hope ABSteak takes accountability for this and doesn’t just brush aside food spoilage, esp dairy since it’s quite dangerous. I got lucky I drank only a small amount of the drink and my body was able to purge most of it.

Minus one star for burnt kalbi, and minus two stars for food poisoning, throwing up and stomach pain. Minus another star as i emailed the restaurant and they refused to take responsibility after the fact.

I did think our server was really nice but as there were 2 incidents where he saw there was issue with food and drink, he could’ve made a small gesture, but instead brushed it off.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 3

I ate at ABsteak last night and it is even better than the Los Angeles location where I have eaten before. First off, the restaurant is stunning. I have never seen this type of design before. You enter downstairs to a basement like feeling and then you see the most beautiful bar and dining room. It is really cool.

The food and service were amazing. They recently opened but all of our dishes and drinks were served fast and perfect. Some favorite dishes were the AB Wagyu Pizza, Seafood Pajeon and Jjigae. For meat, we had the Marinated Galbi, Boneless Short Rib and Chadol which I believe was brisket. We didn't get dessert but saw another table eating a cow shaped chocolate dessert that looked very unique and yummy.

I definitely will be going back again!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The ambience was beyond measure. Glass, crystal and lighting gave a very elegant and rich atmosphere with its dark wood walls and candle lit tables offering comfort and warmth. The gold tableware gave the essence of being of royalty. The food was amazing, cooked to perfection with great technique and dedication. The service was superior! Eric was my server, he did an excellent presentation of the food and made the evening very special for me. I had the Marinated Galbi, Banchan Platter and Sorbet Hanrabong. An excellent choice for Korean Cuisine!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Wagyu Beef

I had such a wonderful time. Food was amazing and Jay took the best care of us. Date night success. Must try you won’t be disappointed

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Jay was the best, OMG drinks and wines
Love the service I will be back soon

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Wagyu Beef

Where do I start? I took my boyfriend to dinner for his birthday and everything was perfect! The food was great, drinks were so tasty. Everyone was so nice to us especially Jay! He was so nice and made us feel special. I will be returning soon! Thank you so much Shane and Jay!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The best food I’ve had in quite some time around here! And the service was amazing, especially Jay. Will definitely be returning in the near future! Thanks AB Steak

It’s clear that it’s the beginning, the food is delicious but the service is clearly not in place.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 3

We dined at ABSteak during their opening week and were quite surprised by the poor quality of both the food and service, especially for a restaurant in this price range.

• They burned the meat twice, and we had to request replacements, which resulted in a long wait.
• The cold noodles were nearly inedible, as they were extremely difficult to chew—something we’ve never experienced with this dish before.
• The service was confusing, with multiple people coming by to ask about things, yet none were attentive enough to clear our table between courses. Additionally, they forgot an item from our order.
• The entire restaurant felt disorganized. At one point, our meat was being cooked by a bartender, and several staff members appeared nervous and unsure of their tasks. I felt bad for the staff, as they seemed overwhelmed.

While we understand that ABSteak is a new business with room to grow (and we did share our feedback with the staff), it was disappointing that they didn’t meet even the basic expectations for service and food quality. Honestly, I’d close the restaurant and really work on improving the dishes and training the staff before opening again—or expect more one or two-star reviews coming in. Unfortunately, we don’t feel confident in returning for another visit.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 2

Amazing food, beautiful atmosphere and Jay completely made the experience special!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Atmosphere, food and service amazing!! Highly recommend Jay for professionalism and personality.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

AB Steaks just made its way to San Francisco, and it’s fantastic. Open for just two weeks, this LA favorite knows how to grill up a stellar. Shockingly I’ve always felt that high end Korean bbq was a huge gap missing in the city and this fills that void and then some. I asked the Steven, who is the director of operations and up here from the LA restaurant for a couple of weeks what I should order and here’s what I ended up with:

AB Pizza with Truffle was the first to come out and was very tasty. I don’t know if the added truffle is necessary and may try it with the caviar option next time.

The Snow Flower Kkotsal (Australian wagyu boneless short rib) was the first to hit the grill. It was marbled just right, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture that did not disappoint. The richness of the wagyu shined, each bite leaving you wanting more.

The Deung Shim (7 oz Australian wagyu ribeye) followed, and it was a true showstopper. Juicy and well-seared, it had that classic beefy flavor that ribeye enthusiasts love. The marbling was top-notch, making each bite a savory, buttery delight.

The Marinated Galbi (USDA Prime boneless short rib) brought a familiar Korean BBQ vibe to the mix. Sweet, savory, and tender, the marinade gave the galbi a rich, satisfying flavor that lingered just enough.

The Vegetable Platter was a nice touch—grilled asparagus, onion, mushroom, zucchini, and tomato added some freshness to the meat-centric lineup. It was a simple, yet solid, way to balance out the richness of the wagyu.

A surprise star of the meal was the Spicy Tofu Jjigae, which was sent over by the Director of Operations visiting from LA. The six-hour simmered broth was packed with depth, and the added wagyu short rib, silken tofu, and veggies made it a hearty, comforting dish. It had just the right level of spice to keep things interesting.

The service was top-notch, with staff grilling everything tableside and placing it on warming plates to keep it all perfectly hot. The attention to detail was impressive, and the team made sure we had an outstanding experience.

AB Steaks SF has brought its A-game to the Bay Area, and it’s definitely worth a visit.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Amazing venue. The atmosphere was great and we'll try it again sometime, the smoke free grills work great. They are trying something hard but it clearly needs more polish.

It sounds like the staff knows service isn't totally up to par but this feedback has made them twitchy and lacking confidence - they kept emphasizing it was OK to flag them down and to do this or that to get their attention but they missed the basics. We felt bad for them at times but they are also charging over $150 a head for dinner so they set big expectations -

- we had a huge rotating cast of staff, the bartender was our server, he had a shadow in training, then 2+ meat cooks, 2+ runners doing table side preparations, a drink guy (server/bartender claimed complete ignorance of the drink menu so we needed a som for every question).
- they ran out of all the dry age beef apparently in their first week but didn't bother to tell us until we tried to order it since it's at the top of the menu and highlighted.
- They put the water deep at the back of the table and would have to interrupt everything to reach into refill folks.
- banchan was brought but also something to purchase off the menu, and it was never refilled when we ran out. Overall it was confusing maybe we got someone else's banchan? We ordered the platter but that didn't seem to come with anything different than was already on our table. At the end we were just eating steak because we were out of lettuces.
- the bibimbap was served in a cold stone bowl so it didn't sizzle or crisp at all.
- the $25 dessert was a confusing thing we were supposed to smash these chocolate cows or something. It was just confusing for a dessert especially when there is such good pastry and ice cream available.

Well hopefully try it again, we loved the space and the relaxed pace of dinner.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 2

Recommended dishes: Wagyu Beef