Best Historic Restaurants in San Mateo

John’s Grill is one of my most favorite restaurants in SF. The staff are efficient and friendly. The ambiance is great, and I enjoy taking first-timers to this gem. The food is great, and my favorite is Jack LaLanne seafood salad with a glass of Chardonnay. Steaks and pasta dishes are great too! Make a toast or two to Hammett, Bogart, Astor, Greenstreet etc. Save a bit of time to check out The Maltese Falcon and other film noir items upstairs. Enjoy the day!

We are new to the area and we found this restaurant on OpenTable. It was my husband's birthday and I wanted a place that was quiet, great food & wine and service. The Iron Gate far exceeded our expectations and we will definitely be back. Our waiter, Stamos, was fantastic! His recommendations were spot on. We had escargot to start. It was delicious and perfectly cooked. We then had their signature salad which was prepared table side. I don't think I've ever had a better salad. For our main course, we had the Iron Gate version of lamb (there was also a New Zealand rack option) and the veal parmigiana. Both dishes were perfectly cooked and just phenomenal. For dessert, we had the grand mariner souffle and it was incredible. One of the best things about the restaurant was watching all of the flambe dishes. The servers were just so precise and you could tell they are passionate about giving each diner an experience.

I took my client to dinner here. Food was great. I had the petite filet and some steamed veggies, and we split an order of brussels sprouts with bacon. My client had the porterhouse. We enjoyed it very much; service was great, waiter was friendly but not overbearing. This restaurant is now definitely on my list of places to go for business dinners.

As always, the team at Velvet48 are fantastic. Drea and Emily are always friendly, professional and knowledgeable about the wines. It's nice walking in and they make me feel like home. The splash of rosé to start off the evening is always a great touch. The "book" of wines is 32 pages long - a great selection of many varietals. They also have a great selection of wine by the glass. Highly recommended.

Amazing atmosphere with great food and live music.