What happened to A Cote?
Since it opened several years ago, A Cote has served as a hip, late-night tapas locale with difficult parking and long waits, but ALWAYS worth the frustration. Not so anymore. What happened? The Mark Becker design still maintains its "be cool" atmosphere, and the bar and wine list are still terrific, but all else disappoints. The mussels with Pernod are anorexic, the deserts are floppy and/or dry, the steak overdone, and the pommes frites that may as well be made from frozen potatoes come with an aioli that is DOA. The sad thing is, these dishes used to be so GOOD! (One exception: the flatbreads are still good). Must we trek to Cesar in Berkeley to be fed small plates? Perhaps the efforts to revive Citron, next store and owned by the same restauranteurs, has left A Cote without the attention it needs. But until more attention is paid, A Cote will fail today when compared to memories of past meals, and leave loyal diners and newcomers as lukewarm as their panna cotta.
Recommended: none
Food: 4
Service: 8
Ambiance: 10
Overall: 4

Overrated
My husband and I were hoping for a lovely romantic little dinner. We were disappointed. We ordered 3 of the tapas, the frites with aioli, duck rillettes, and pork chops. The frites were good, the aioli not so much. The duck rillettes were absolutely flavorless and the leather on my shoes was more tender than the pork chops. The sauce that accompanied the chops was very good. The prices were high even if the food had been great. The selection of beers was outstanding, but again the prices were quite high. We didn't stay for dessert.
Recommended: Frites
Food: 4
Service: 6
Ambiance: 6
Overall: 2