SingleThread Restaurant & Inn

Mind blown.

I have been disappointed and now skeptical with most starred restaurant in the Bay Area but SingleThread delivered.

We were greeted outside of the restaurant as we walked from the parking lot. Upon entering, warm drinks (hibicus and yuzu) were offered while we got a chance to observe (admire) the kitchen.

I initially thought they were Kaiseki-style but they're truly Japanese inspired fusion. You see all the Japanese elements from decor to food- even their water cups- but the food was their own.

I enjoyed almost everything that was served. We could tell how thoughtful every dish was- definitely with a character vs just throwing fancy ingredients together. There were even a few dishes where I felt like the meat was there to bring out the flavor of the vegetables- I savored every bite. While not everything was to my liking (though delicious), I appreciated the effort of sourcing locally and sustainably.

The service was good but not amazing- def not the type of place where servers would make small talks with you. However it worked for us and we appreciated the overall staff refilling our water cups for 10+ times.

Note that alcohol is not part of the review since we only had one glass of champagne and didn't dive into the wine/ sake list.

I've been wanting to ST since my friend reco.

I made the 90 min drive and finally did to celebrate Mother's Day.

We were a bit early so we walked around town.

The front desk texted a promised when a rooftop space was available. It was nice and relaxing as we sipped on wine and arare crackers.

We were promptly escorted by staff when our reservation time was up.

We started with a grapefruit yuzu tea drink from a tray facing into the kitchen. It was quite refreshing and a great start to our 10 course meal.

I was so in awe walking through the front door and into the dining room was

The moment we were guided into our table, I was absolutely blown away with the beautiful arrangements of small dishes of intricately displayed fishes, prepared many ways. It looked like a piece of art that I had to take a video and photos from different angles.

The staff immediately explained the whole line up. To be honest, I barely heard everything as I am hard of hearing and asked for clarification when needed. I DO remember to start with the oysters 1st.

All these bite sizes filets of fish from of kinds, decorated into floral shapes, some even too pretty to eat. Having skipped lunch plus the long drive had all of us starving.

I was I looking forward to delving in and enjoying everything, trying it all, having prepared myself. After the 1dt course, it kind of left me with a mouth tasting like yuzu. There seem to have be a lot of it. I rinsed my pallet and try to enjoy the different bites of fish with my glass of riesling. But it wasn't quite cutting it.

Before I could wipe my mouth and digest from the 1st course, the staff efficiently cleared the table and already had the 2nd course in front of me.

Again, beautiful work of art. Too nice to eat almost. Took many photo record the time it took to prep this dish.

Again, it tasted like a lot of yuzu. I was hoping that there would be other layers or flavors, aside from the natural flavors of the fish. But there wasn't that I didn't finish.

I was hoping for some HOT food after having 2 course of cold.

Thankfully it was a dashi based broth with crab and a side of lightly fried (soft shell) crab on the side. Finally! My 1st "yummm" out of my mouth. It was exactly what I needed to rinse my yuzu flavors. I wished the broth was piping HOT even though it was poured from a copper pitcher.

White and green asparagus with a side of caviar and cream on top, served tableside. Again, the staff were great about describing the dish and leaving afterwards. It tasted like fermented bean curd, which I love in many Asian stir fried dishes. I am not quite sure this paste worked well with the asparagus. Also, the taste overpowered the caviar and the frothing cream on top that I could barely taste the caviar. I rinsed my mouth but still, all I could taste was the paste and unfortunately didn't finished.

But this time, we were getting really stuffed and a bit underwhelmed by the taste of the food, that we weren't sure if we were going to finish.

We immediately notifed our server and she offered a smaller portion if that could help.

I can't remember what came next but that was the tipping point.

My DD and I just want to skip to dessert because he didn't want to miss that. Hubs still wanted to try the steak at least, as that is usually his favorite in these course meals.

He was not wowed by the perfectly grilled meat. Sadly.

The desserts were like a artistic center piece so I was SO excited to finish off my meal on a sweet note.

Once again, we didn't really enjoy that either. The sorbet was just meh. The chocolate cigar rolls were tasty at first but something was off about it. The flower cake with "coco nibs," didn't suit my palette either. I did like the matcha tea cakes and apparently my DD and hubs did too but managed to snag a teeny tiny bite. There was a nice chamomile tea that was serves and that was good that I asked for more. The cups of custard and eggs wasn't my cup of tea.

Out of the 10 courses, my DD and I tasted 8, but hardly finished anything but the broth and mashed potatoes dish.

Although the staff provided excellent service and were very attentive, I could not help but feel rushed through.

I wish I could say I left wanting to come back and crave a certain dish.
But there really wasn't a stand out dish other than the arare crackers, the crab cake broth and crispy crab side, the teas served at the beginning and end.

The presentation and ambiance is definitely 5 stars.

Ingredients were fresh and vibrant, but the taste for me, personally, overall was missing the mark, for the most part.

The friend that recommended Single Thread for me still has this place on his bucket list. I think everyone has preferences in taste as I would still prefer TFL were flavors are richer.

I still had an enjoying night celebrating Mother's Day and the staff kindly wrapped up the menus to take home.

Not sure why it took me so long to write this review and sooo reluctantly to check this legendary IYKYK place off my list, here it goes:

Restaurant:
Beautiful space with of course intimate but spacious seating options. But I've been to better 3 stars.

Hotel:
To check in prior to 3pm, the doors locked. You would have to just go around this little town until then. No waiting area, no hosts to explain the situation, just... chill out (I guess) until then (which is a bit inhospitable and rude?). The roof is nice. The room is nice. But for $1500 a night, it's a bit underwhelming. Absolutely no amenities (other than the roof), and no pool (bc it's an inn). Dare I say I enjoyed the traditional Japanese breakfast more than the tasting menu?

The restaurant was nice enough to let us finish the remaining of our menu in room bc we were exhausted. But if I come again, I would rather just order room service and chill in the robe.

Where to begin.

We started going to SingleThread in the pandemic as a retreat. Book a room, get in-room dining, breakfast in the rooftop garden...

We come back again and again. Not just because it's easier to get a table at the restaurant if you stay at the inn, but also because of the comfortable inn experience and the privacy you get in the bustling town of Healdsburg.

Sure it's pricey, but not much more than a regular hotel room elsewhere in town. The breakfast is also more than worth it! The portions are extremely generous, and the setting is beautiful where you sit amongst herbs, flowers, and produce in the rooftop garden. The food is always very delicious, rivaling some of the ryokans I've been in Japan. Their leaf-wrapped miso salmon is one of the best I've tasted and I've had a lot of miso salmon in my life. I can still smell the aroma of it in the crisp NorCal morning breeze.

As for the proper sit down dinner that is worth some Michelin stars? It's always fantastic, maybe minus that one time when it's 90F out and the HVAC gave out. Even then, the staff was professional and the food delicious. I always love the first course where they have an artistic piece with bites hidden all over the piece; it's quite an experience. The meal is mostly focused on seafood, and while their preparation looks simple, it is meticulously prepared and the flavours are often out-of-this-world. The wine pairing is very fun as well!

If you get in-room dining, the first few bites usually have some overlap with their tasting menu in the dining room! That said, depending on what you order, it's a refined, Japanese-style experience. I especially enjoyed the shabu shabu but they don't seem to offer it anymore..

Well worth a visit, and well worth a stay for special occasions!

A Bucket-list worthy Dinning experience! Worth the price!

Me and my wife celebrated her graduating from nursing school and her birthday by booking a reservation at this world renowned restaurant. Every single aspect is tailored specifically to leave an impression.

The utensils and plates used for each serving are different and specifically chosen to correlate with the impression that each meal is conveying.

Servers tell you a little bit about how the serving is prepared so you have transparency and the kitchen is open so you can see how it is being prepared as well.

The whole experience is tailored with each bite to tell us a narrative using food and it's an amazing experience. Each serving is accompanied by meticulously sculpted landscaping that helps you visualize what the chef is trying to narrate without using words. You'll notice this from the photos.

Both me and wife felt this was entirely worth the price of the reservation. Highly recommended!

Without a doubt, SingleThread has been my best experience among all the 3-star Michelin restaurants I've visited so far. The staff's welcoming gestures and their consistent attention to detail were exceptional. The dish presentation, starting from before we even sat down, was breathtaking. It was clear to see the effort and detail the chefs put into each plate. All the staff were highly trained and able to explain the ingredients and the stories behind each dish.

They typically change the menu for warm and cold weather, sourcing ingredients from local farms which explains the freshness of the dishes.

I'm eager to revisit and try their upcoming new menus!

We were so excited to try Singlethread out as we've heard great reviews and is our friend's favorite 3 Michelin star restaurant (and his third visit)!

The first centerpiece was really impressive with a bunch of small dishes laid out - my favorite was definitely the Uni chawanmushi of these. We also then had some vegetable with duck parfait which was super fresh and perfectly complemented each other. Then came 3 different fish - all really yummy (loved the black cod it was so soft), but we wish perhaps they took one fish dish away and had one more meat dish! The duck was the perfect bite size and not too much.

Then we moved onto their mushroom and rice with a broth which was lovely and aromatic though I didn't find this particularly impressive.

Lastly came the desserts, this was the main reason this place did not get 5 stars and a let down for me. I love Japanese inspired flavors and food but the dessert just was not it for me. The Meyer lemon with amazake flavor just didn't do it for me, and the platter of other desserts (including cheesecakes / sweet potato and pecan) were average and did not wow me. I usually find that the desserts at 3 Michelin star restaurant are impeccably and the highlight for me but unfortunately single thread did not do it for me.

The wine pairings / wine bottles are also on the pricier side which I would have been interested in if it were cheaper.

However - it was still a really enjoyable experience, the service was impeccable! Every time someone got up to go to the bathroom, the staff always noticed and would point you there. A nice ambience that isn't too loud or quiet that is perfect for a nice meal.

This was the best experience of my dining career! From the taste of the food the level of professionalism of the staff. They were all friendly and answered any questions my elderly mom had as it was her birthday and she asks alot of them! She is highly critical of places and even here she couldn't find something to criticize! I loved the personalized dining experience and atmosphere of the whole restaurant! Nothing was left to be desired here, it was great hearing the flavors of all of the dishes explained, but I didn't care I just wanted to eat at the end of the day! The dining experience here is everything you would expect from a Michelin star restaurant!

Let's start with service, which was excellent and worthy of 5-stars. Amazing team who was incredibly attentive and worked so well together. So much effort goes into producing the meal that is served.

The food presentation is beautiful, thoughtful, and luxurious. I would have liked a little less food (believe it or not), and a few dishes lacked the flavor that I hoped for. It is very possible I'm just not familiar with some of the ingredients and how they were prepared.

The only thing I'd say was average is the Wagyu add-on. It is a very small portion for $90 extra, but the piece I got was more tough and chewy than I expected.

I hope everyone can try this restaurant experience once in their life. I'm so glad that I did. It's not cheap by any standards, yet worth every dollar spent.

This was definitely a night to remember and we ended up full. The food and beverage pairings were on point, the plating and presentation was beautiful and memorable, and the staff was beyond kind and knowledgeable.

The inside of the restaurant is wonderfully appointed and that bathroom tho!!!!! Toto bidet seat with premist and autoflush... it's a really nice touch that many people wouldn't think of (since not everyone will use the restroom during a dinner service).

While the cost is something that requires a lot of preplanning and saving, it was so worth it.