Christmas at San Francisco Steak House

Although Chinese New Year is still around the corner, Christmas spirit still lingering in my mind, which is my favourite season of the year! In searching for a place to celebrate the festivity, I decided to give this new hang-out place a try, which opened their first franchise in Ipoh in early 2010.

1). This is the entrance to the steak house. As you can see, there wasn't a table to spare on Christmas Eve! Luckily I got my table reserved as early bird at this time of year..

2). The interior was nicely decorated, filled with Christmas atmosphere. 

3). Simple and spacious table arrangement allowed to fit in nearly a hundred of diners easily.

4). This is the best seats in the house to watch live coverage with a bottle or two.

5). Speaking of which, the Christmas meal is incomplete without a glass of wine. I ordered a glass of Tocornal Cabernet Sauvignon, all the way from Chile. Easy on the mouth, tasted even better with food..

6). A very special drink on the menu, Red Christmas cocktail, well suited for the occasion. However, it's not my cup of drink, better off sipping my own wine while we patiently waiting for a feast.

7). Slices of bread were served with a fragrant creamy butter chunk as appetizer.  

8). A dozen of Baked Escargots with garlic cream sauce was promptly served on the table. Nice and creamy, just the way I liked it! (RM15.90 for half a dozen)

9). More to come as the Red Sea Prawn Salad was served as starter. Salad was not the first thing on my mind when eating out, especially without any salad dressing.

 10). A Christmas dinner is not complete without the Traditional Roasted Turkey. Out of all the turkey I had tasted all these years, this is a real disappointment! The portion was too small, coldly served and too little gravy, etc. Anyhow, turkey was not my favourite meat.

11). On the other hand, their US Rib-eye steak was a different story. They were not called a steak house for nothing. Cooked medium raw and nicely grilled. Tasted tender and juicy, better with every bite, with or without the special sauce.

12). Here comes a Traditional Christmas Pudding for dessert, as part of the Christmas Set Menu. I am not the biggest fan of pudding either. This was the only dish that we reluctant to take a second bite, as was sent back to where it belonged, dumpster..

13). A dinner is considered disastrous without a mouth-watering dessert. Luckily, the second one didn't disappoint us. A slice of Dream Chocolate Cake was enough to allow us dreaming of Santa Claus!

14). The dinner left us with mixed feelings. However, this place is worth the try though the money is better spent on their regular menu. Dine-in customer can enjoy a complementary waive of the parking ticket, which costs RM2 flat per entry into the multi-storey car park inside this Coliseum Square. Last but not least, I would like to wish everyone a "belated" Merry Christmas, better late than never!

SAN FRANCISCO STEAKHOUSE
No 8, Ground Floor,
Coliseum Square,
Jalan Raja Dr Nazrin Shah,
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.

(Next to Impiana Hotel, formerly known as Casuarina Hotel)
Telephone : 05-255 5798

Business hours : 11am - 1am daily