Ernest

Brandon Rice was chef de cuisine at Rich Table before this. He had been building this Mission corner lot out since before COVID. He opened in March 2021 anyway, doing 40 covers a night on the sidewalk. Over a thousand people put their names down for those 10 tables. It was $47 in May 2025. The San Francisco Chronicle's critics ranked it No. 89 in the Bay Area in March 2026.

Why go

Rice marinates the hanger steak in shio koji and sears it hard. Then he poaches it low and slow in clarified butter run through with garlic and thyme. MacKenzie Chung Fegan is the Chronicle's restaurant critic. It read to her like a dry-aged steak basted in compound butter, with the flavor turned up.1 The dish listed as sushi rice is a pile of beef tartare under a layer of salmon roe. Vinegared rice and toasted nori come with it. You build your own hand rolls. A whole section of the card is raw, from oysters and clams to Kaluga caviar with tater tots. The kitchen also puts out prawn toast with a green garlic tartar sauce.4

Rice is opening a second room, Lawrence, at 448 Brannan Street, named for his other grandfather.3

Order this / avoid

Order: the hanger steak if it is on. The menu changes constantly and it is one of the few dishes that repeats.
Order: the makrut lime fizz, $17 in May 2025, built on cachaca, makrut leaf vodka, egg whites, soda water and sour cream.
Order: all three desserts across visits. The Basque cheesecake barely holds its middle.
Order: Let The Kitchen Cook For You at $99, nine to 14 courses.7
Avoid: looking for the door at the address. The entrance is around the block, at the corner of Florida and Mariposa.

What locals & experts say

MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, ranking it No. 89 in March 2026: Ernest's initial success was a product of misfortune.2
Brandon Rice, asked by Fegan for the secret, in May 2025: But we also cook really delicious food.1
The Infatuation SF (Julia Chen, February 2026), 9.0, on the wall of miniature maneki neko cats: at Ernest, where ownership is white, the cats can feel mildly tokenizing.5 The Infatuation is owned by JPMorgan Chase.

Good to know

Getting in: OpenTable for up to six. Seven or more goes through the venue's event inquiry form.
The bar: first come, first served, and it serves the menu.
Closed: Monday and Tuesday.
Where: 1890 Bryant Street, Suite 100, in the Mission.

Verdict

should-visit — A weekend table wants weeks of notice. A weeknight gets you the same kitchen.