Coco500

location: 500 brannan (at 4th street), SOMA
time of day: friday night dinner
i ate: batter fried green beans ($7), cocomole taco ($6), truffled mushroom flatbread ($12), harvest pizza ($16), grilled hanger steak ($15)

i have always heard pretty mixed reviews of coco500 so i was very excited to be treated to a meal there by my friend d. we must have been in early on a friday night (7pm res) because it was pretty empty until about 30 minutes before we finished, when the entire place filled to capacity and people were starting to put there name in to wait for a table.
we had a wonderful mix of veggies, breads, and meats in various forms and everything was fantastic. i absolutely loved the mini tacos which came on a tortilla chip, the perfect two bite treat. the pizza had wonderful flavors of grape, bacon, rosemary and fontina cheese, one of the best pizzas i've had at a non-pizzeria and our steak was grilled to perfection. there is a really great bar as well.
the service was fantastic. our table had a handwritten reserved sign with d's last name and the hostess promptly offered to hang our coats at our arrival.
whenever i have a great experience at a place like this i really wonder what the expectations were of those who claim to have subpar experiences. i loved coco500.

food vs. price: yay!
tastiness: yay!
service: yay!