I will get to the "immigrants" headline momentarily....but first...THE CHICKEN!!
Repeat customers know all about this menu item but for those first-timers you have to order the roast chicken for two. Hopefully, you will make reservations as far in advance as Open Table will allow. Then, when you arrive at there, order the chicken and give yourself an hour (as advertised) for preparation. For us, it was less than an hour.
While we made reservations in advance for 6:45 pm, we still arrived around 5 pm in hopes of getting a table earlier. Why? Because we had season tickets to 'HAMILTON"! We never would have been able to enjoy this entrée otherwise. We were just lucky that once we arrived a table in the "bar" section opened up and the host said to sit there. By the way, when they say sitting at the bar, there really isn't sitting "at the bar". It's standing room only. There are a few tables to the side and entrance that do qualify though. Our table was just fine.
Once seated we told our server we wanted the roast chicken for two. We then noticed that a couple next to us were enjoying the chicken already. While waiting for our chicken (it really took about 45 minutes), we enjoyed glasses of "ruelle-pertois", one little gem salad (it is little) and one Caesar salad (bigger). Both were delicious of course. Needless to say, the roast chicken was one of the best ever. We were concerned that it would be too large, but it was just right. After the chicken, we found room to share a nice lemon tart for dessert.
Service was also seamless with multiple servers not missing a beat. I would say that it was one of the best service experiences ever. For example, at the end of dinner, I noticed (actually my wife noticed) all the tiny white lint left on my sweater from the napkin. We asked the server if they had a lint roller and THEY DID PROVIDE IT!! Now, that's service.
Oh...the evening's theme turned out to be "immigrants make America great again". It was printed on the bottom of our bill! Locals know this is a major them in San Francisco and some restaurants, like Zuni, are printing it on their material. Also, we saw Hamilton (San Francisco road show) afterwards and of course it's all about the great immigrants who indeed did make America great the first time!!
You have to go to Zuni Café and enjoy a great meal and great service...even if you don't order the chicken.