SFReview
photo credit: Krescent Carasso
August 1 Five
This spot is Permanently Closed.
The Van Ness corridor is mostly home to construction, car dealerships, and restaurants you don’t want to spend much time in. House of Prime Rib is an obvious exception. And now, so is the upscale Indian spot August 1 Five.
August 1 Five is another addition to the string of new and exciting Indian places in San Francisco, and we’re happy to have another good restaurant option in a part of town that badly needs them. Whether you’ve ended up here because you promised to take Grandma to the opera, have to take a lunch meeting, or just got sick of the traffic and decided to pull over and eat instead, August 1 Five is a good choice.
photo credit: Krescent Carasso
Having said that, August 1 Five is a low-energy spot. Maybe it’s because of all those opera season ticket holders, but the volume is consistently hushed. Everyone here seems very sophisticated and also maybe like they subscribe to Departures, and the space feels corporate - like it could easily be converted into a steakhouse.
Which is a shame, because the food is better than the Kristen Stewart-levels of enthusiasm in the dining room would lead you to believe. The lamb shank is fantastic and the biryanis, both chicken and vegetable, are classically great. The palak chaat is one of our favorite new dishes, because it’s basically a fried salad, and the lobster curry is stellar too. Besides the food, the bar area is an ideal spot for post-work drinks, or even a quick dinner alone with one of the very good cocktails. It’s never particularly crowded, to the point that on at least one occasion we’ve witnessed someone hanging out with a laptop and a drink.
We’ve had some very good meals at August 1 Five, but we’ll probably end up here again only because it’s close to other cool places, like Bill Graham, or when we’re running away from not-cool places, like Civic Center. It’s a solid option for dinner or lunch in a particularly barren part of town, but not where we’ll be heading for a big night out. Unless the big night out is La Boheme with Nana.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Krescent Carasso
Palak Chaat
Pepper Chicken
Pork Spare Ribs
photo credit: Krescent Carasso
Lamb Shank
Lobster
photo credit: Krescent Carasso