Corridor Cafe

Since its opening, we have been eyeing Corridor as a convenient place to dine before attending the symphony or theatre performances, but we haven’t been able to secure reservations in the desired 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM slot. On this night, however, we attended a late afternoon movie nearby that ended at 6:45 PM and were delighted to discover that Corridor had open slots at 7:00 PM. Dining is on two levels and we were given a table for view that had a great view of the first-level bar and Van Ness Avenue. We had two different young waiters, a woman and a man, and both were cheerful and helpful. I avoid most pork and the waitstaff was very proactive in asking about food sensitivities and in asking the chef not to include pork in the sauce that accompanied my seafood entrée. Corridor offers several artisanal beers on tap. My friend ordered “The Brewery Mischief” ($7), a kind of Belgian IPA. I had a sip of his beer and really liked it. I enjoy a little lemon in my Corona, so I decided to try their “Almanac Sour” ($10). And boy, was it ever sour! For our appetizer, we shared a tuna carpaccio ($19). For our mains, my dinner companion ordered the NY strip steak ($32) and I selected the sea bass ($27). Both dishes were excellent. As our dessert course, we split a chocolate mousse ($9). It was good but wasn’t particularly memorable. Given the location of Corridor in the recently renovated high-rent 100 Van Ness building, we anticipated that our restaurant bill would be outrageously high. That said, we left the restaurant feeling that the pricing structure was fair for the items we ordered, $70.50 per person including taxes and 20% gratuity. We’ll try Corridor again the next time we dine in the Civic Center neighborhood around 7 PM or thereafter.

Came in for the first time today, and we loved it! They have exciting food, but we both had to get the Fried Chicken with gravy, a biscuit, and poached egg. It was delicious! I tried the salted caramel latte, which was enjoyable as well, but they have extensive alcohol selection which is really fun. They have both endless mimosas AND endless beer, which is virtually unheard of. We'll definitely be coming back here to try the prix fixe brunch!