Brenda's French Soul Food

• catering@frenchsoulfood.com
• libby@frenchsoulfood.com
• brendas@frenchsoulfood.com

Michelle Shen

I have an unreal backlog of new restaurants I've tried, so here we go again--starting with Nopa! Nopa genuinely surprised me. Despite its lower Yelp ratings, everything exceeded my expectations. We were seated upstairs, which helped with the medium-loud atmosphere and noise level. Service was wonderful, even with a small snafu - still absolutely no complaints. To start, we had the soup--perfect for the chilly night. Then came the smoked trout latke, hands down the best thing I've had in a while. If you order just one thing here, let it be the latke. Trust me. Next up was the roasted lamb. Cooked beautifully, but the small potato chips on the side? Not a fan. They felt out of place and took away from the dish. For mains, we debated between the pork chop, steak, and cheeseburger. But when you see nearly everyone in the restaurant ordering the burger, you kinda have to. And let me tell you, it was the right call. A hefty beef patty, and the cheddar cheese they used was incredible. I could eat pounds of that cheese on its own - as someone who rarely eats dairy. We also ordered the chicory salad, which was supposed to replace the fries. But the kitchen forgot our request, so we ended up with both--no complaints there. Parking is nonexistent in SF. Save yourself the headache and just Uber. Thankfully, my girl friend lives nearby, so we found a spot and walked over. Good vibes, great food--9.5/10. Would definitely return.

Carlos Villavieja

The place is a bit noisy, and it was pretty packed but service was quick, gentle and I couldn't ask for more. The food was delicious, the bolognesa was insanely good and tasty with some super tender vegetable. The smoke brisket delicious and super tasty. The parmesan eggplant was also a nice choice with highlights to the pesto sauce. For appetizers we had the trout which was great to share for two people. The chocolate tart was ok. Will definitely come back.

Jonathan Grubb

Amazing first experience at Nopa sitting at the chef's counter. Ended up trying the tortelli as well as the tagliatelle for mains. Both were delicious but I think the tortelli was the star between them, mainly for the parsnips and hazelnuts. The key lime mousse and espresso were a fantastic end to the meal and I highly recommend to fans of key lime in general. Absolutely will return again when in SF.

Gustavo Gomes

This place was highly recommended by locals, so I decided to try it when I was in SF. I ordered their burger, and it took almost one hour to get my order, in the meantime the waiter gently offered a salad as a courtesy from the house. The burger meat was well done (ordered medium) and the taste was ok. In the end, they added the “courtesy” salad to the check, so I had to ask for them to remove it - which they’ve made. In summary, it’s the restaurant was a cool place, but the food and service didn’t meet their fame in my experience.