Verde

Chef Valeri Fuentes brings us delightful dishes that are not only visual works of art but also awaken all the senses with their unique flavors.

We've become very attached to Verde over the last few months. Having it as part of the Perez Art Museum is great (I think we'll recover our entire museum membership cost just from the 10% discount at Verde!), and we've had a meal at Verde followed by a leisurely tour of the PAMM collections a couple of times. The ambience is informal, but of high quality. Wooden tables and cloth chairs work well, the outside deck has a great breeze of the bay and is shaded by the extremely-high overhang above, so you can have an outdoor meal without being in the sun. The hanging gardens contribute nicely to the atmosphere. Food is informal and simple, but extremely well made and of consistently good quality. I'm still vociferously asking them to put the pancakes back on the menu, since those were some of the best pancakes anywhere. But the rest of the food is great too: sandwiches, fries, salads, eggs, finger food... just a nice place in which to spend time with the family without worrying too much about what the kids are up to. Finally, service is a bit weak in the sense that many of the staff seem to be inexperienced or not well-trained. Little mistakes and oversights, like not getting our water glasses refilled, happen often. But in the end, they're friendly and they get the job done, and we're not the type to get too hung up on little things. Prices are slightly high for the kind of food they provide if you're judging them against any normal restaurant, but then they're quite low for a museum restaurant. We find that our average check is about $22-$25 per person. Happy to give a five-star "excellent" rating to a place where we now go at least 6-8 times a year. :-)

I had the mahi fish tacos. the chipotle dressing has a bite, so you'll want water or a cold beer on hand. the food was delicious, sitting outdoors was really nice because this is a beautiful building in a great location.