Laurel Court

David Striker

We stay at the Intercontinental across the street but come here in the evenings for cocktails and a bite to eat. Only downside is it is very expensive. Cool place to hang out.

Oliver Pe

May 2025 Fairmont's main lobby restaurant serving standard American menu. The menu also forms the in room service menu. The dishes are in good and standard portions. Service may be a bit slow due to a staff shortage. The historic interiors are stately and very grand benefitting the heritage hotel's ico ic status in the city of SFO.

A lovely old world restaurant but low volume means a limited buffet that just wasn’t good at all. The Fairmont in Whistler had an amazing breakfast buffet so I expected better. So while it’s convenient and elegant, I would go somewhere else. Ordering off the menu may have better results.

Derek Labian

A lovely old world restaurant but low volume means a limited buffet that just wasn’t good at all. The Fairmont in Whistler had an amazing breakfast buffet so I expected better. So while it’s convenient and elegant, I would go somewhere else. Ordering off the menu may have better results.

We went for holiday tea. We really enjoyed the love music but felt disappointed overall. The service was slow. Slow to be seated and slow to be served. We were seated 45 min after our reservation time and it took an additional 20 min to get the tea. The food was okay but not worth the price.

Amanda Smith

We went for holiday tea. We really enjoyed the love music but felt disappointed overall. The service was slow. Slow to be seated and slow to be served. We were seated 45 min after our reservation time and it took an additional 20 min to get the tea. The food was okay but not worth the price.

I really seldom give poor review as I feel that is wasting my time and not helping anybody. I had high expectations for this place given it's in a 4-star hotel and charging premium price. I was disappointed as there was such big disparity between the price they charged and the food and service they provided. We came to the Fairmont Hotel to see the gingerbread house and decided to have a nice dinner here since the atmosphere seemed nice. Seating was quick as it was still early at 6pm. We started with steam mussel and California coastal chowder. The chowder was good though not exceptional. The mussels were below average and obviously not that fresh. For the main course, my wife had a butter lettuce salad and I had the braised lamb shank. At least no one can mess up a salad as it's just chopped lettuce with apple and pecans. The lamb shank was tender but with little flavor. Overall the quality of food would be 2 out of 5 stars even in a average restaurant. Our waiter did not even check in on us once after taking our orders. We had to tell the bust boy to catch him to give us our bill. The lack of service from the waiter was jaw dropping. We ended up paying 5-star price for 2-star food and service here. It's hard to imagine I would ever come back again.

Stephen Lam

I really seldom give poor review as I feel that is wasting my time and not helping anybody. I had high expectations for this place given it's in a 4-star hotel and charging premium price. I was disappointed as there was such big disparity between the price they charged and the food and service they provided. We came to the Fairmont Hotel to see the gingerbread house and decided to have a nice dinner here since the atmosphere seemed nice. Seating was quick as it was still early at 6pm. We started with steam mussel and California coastal chowder. The chowder was good though not exceptional. The mussels were below average and obviously not that fresh. For the main course, my wife had a butter lettuce salad and I had the braised lamb shank. At least no one can mess up a salad as it's just chopped lettuce with apple and pecans. The lamb shank was tender but with little flavor. Overall the quality of food would be 2 out of 5 stars even in a average restaurant. Our waiter did not even check in on us once after taking our orders. We had to tell the bust boy to catch him to give us our bill. The lack of service from the waiter was jaw dropping. We ended up paying 5-star price for 2-star food and service here. It's hard to imagine I would ever come back again.

We went to the holiday afternoon tea and for the high price I found it disappointing. The sandwiches and pastries were fine but nothing impressive. The service was friendly but seemed understaffed. We went 15-20 minutes at one point without seeing anyone or hearing anything while waiting for our premade tray of sandwiches and cakes to arrive. Also, the piano player wasn’t very skilled, hitting a lot of off notes. This afternoon tea is a lovely idea but seems like the Fairmont is calling it in, based on their brand, versus providing the experience I expected.

Went for holiday tea December weekend. Wow. For that price....I feel stupid. Service was great and friendly, atmosphere of the restuarant is nice. Upscale but I spent more than 500 for 2 adult 1 child holiday tea and I was thinking the whole experience and food selection would just be alot more. For the same or less price we have dined at 1 and w michelin star restuarants here in the bay area. I will never go back again. The whole experience was very underwhelming.

R K

Went for holiday tea December weekend. Wow. For that price....I feel stupid. Service was great and friendly, atmosphere of the restuarant is nice. Upscale but I spent more than 500 for 2 adult 1 child holiday tea and I was thinking the whole experience and food selection would just be alot more. For the same or less price we have dined at 1 and w michelin star restuarants here in the bay area. I will never go back again. The whole experience was very underwhelming.

Lainey Cameron

We went to the holiday afternoon tea and for the high price I found it disappointing. The sandwiches and pastries were fine but nothing impressive. The service was friendly but seemed understaffed. We went 15-20 minutes at one point without seeing anyone or hearing anything while waiting for our premade tray of sandwiches and cakes to arrive. Also, the piano player wasn’t very skilled, hitting a lot of off notes. This afternoon tea is a lovely idea but seems like the Fairmont is calling it in, based on their brand, versus providing the experience I expected.

R Anderson

We couldn't figure out why this place was not even half full on a Saturday night. Took 5 minutes to seat us even though there was no line to get in . Took a long time to bring us menus to our table. We ordered drinks, took about 15 minutes to get them. Dinner menu was a bit thin, portions just a tad small. Ordered wine with our entrees, came to the table just as we were finishing. Coffee was cold, when we mentioned it they took the cup and watered it down with hot water, tasted like dishwater. This place has potential, just not managed properly.

Terrible service. Poor quality of food. So-so ambience. Not recommended. Lack of staff and mediocre breakfast quality and variety. Buffet is $45 per person exc charges. Came for breakfast at 7am, due to lack of staffs, buffet items did not get refilled on time. Service was slow although Gerald our server was great, but clearly covering more tables than he should. Decided to give another shot for lunch and that did not go better than breakfast. Ordered a burger with medium patty, after 40 mins, burger came with very dry patty. Took another 10 mins to get the server to flag this issue and another 20 mins to get a new burger that is less dry than the first one but certainly not medium. And very oily fries but at this point I gave up and can conclude that this is the best they can do. Being a 4-star hotel, i think this level of service and food quality is not acceptable. Overall a letdown to the Fairmont name. And can not recommend this place.

We stayed the weekend at the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill as a big birthday treat. One of the reasons we chose this hotel was for the onsite restaurants. We are disabled, thus appreciate not having to leave the festive hotel for meals. Unfortunately, prices; service; quality; even the ambience, make Laurel Court a massive rip off. A few examples from our mid-December 2025 stay. One piece of avocado toast: $26 Cup of mediocre coffee $8 Skimpy Breakfast Buffet $45 Martini $26 Tiny ginger ale $8 Basic Salad $19 Child Size Mac & Cheese $15 15% - 18% Tip is automatically included with all tabs, thus robbing staff from earning the 20% + many of us pay for excellent service. I seriously doubt they see much of the tip added to tabs and suspect this is one of the reasons most are so grumpy and uninterested. The Laurel Court is seriously understaffed at the front desk, as well as in the restaurant and bar. They need at least double, maybe even triple the staff for an acceptable level of service. It's a very tense work environment, thus also tense for guests. Those working here are understandably mostly miserable. Our waiter, after a 45 minute wait, greeted us with, 'Whad-ya-want?' The dining room was half full, but he clearly had better things to do on a Saturday night at 6:30 PM. Many of the chairs in the elegant dining room are badly stained. The place setting is cheap. Those paying $185 per person to dine in the so-called Gingerbread house, were actually seated behind the house in a super-tacky, roped off area in Laurel Court. We've had much better breakfast at a Best Western Hotel. AND worlds better hospitality. We've had much better dinner at Black Bear Diner, and again with worlds better hospitality. The Laurel Court doesn't want customers, so save them another bad review and spend your hard-earned money elsewhere.

Not worth the price for high tea at this hotel. More than $150 per person and the service was beyond poor for the price. The holiday decor inside the restaurant was barely noticeable. Basically 95% of the decor was outside and it was supposed to be a holiday high tea event. The server just poured some champagne without even asking first and then came the extra charge. The kids entire main 4 item entree was pieced together from one slice of bread. There was no elegance to the entire service. The music was so loud, each member had to basically yell at each other. I absolutely do not recommend this restaurant for High Tea. The mandatory 20% service charge is another reason to go elsewhere. Find another place or you will regret ever going to this restaurant.

Avoid the holiday tea like the plague. What was supposed to be a fun and festive experience turned into an outrageously overpriced disappointment. The sandwiches were unforgivably stale and old, and the bread was practically inedible. The sweets were mediocre at best—forgettable and certainly not worth the $155 per person price tag (plus a mandatory 20% gratuity!). To make matters worse, the presentation was messy, the portions laughably skimpy, and the even though the servers were nice, the service was slow and inattentive. The entire experience reeked of laziness and greed. For this kind of money, we expected at least basic quality and effort. Instead, we left feeling ripped off and regretful. Don’t waste your time or your hard-earned cash here. The photos attached show everything that comes with the holiday tea (for 3 people) minus the tea itself.

The cheese was moldy! I am a vegetarian and my partner is not, and we ordered a pasta dish, one with meat and one without. Both came without meat and instead one had cheese and one did not. We decided to ask for extra cheese rather than asking for it to be remade with the meat on my partner’s dish, and the parmesean they brought out had MOLD on it. The servers also tried to take away our appetizer too soon (we were halfway through the brussel sprouts and they already tried to take it away), and the pasta itself was runny and had frozen peas which was not listed in the ingredients on the menu. While we were seated, we watched a waiter clean the table with a dry, used towel, not replace the plate mat, and place the new silverware directly on the used table mat. The table itself where we were seated was extremely sticky. They also charge an automatic 20% gratuity, even for just 2 people. Given the order was wrong, we were rushed, and the food literally had mold on it I have never been more disappointed in an overpriced meal. I added a photo of the moldy cheese. I know the mold spot is small, but as a microbiologist, I think it’s important for people to know, by the time it’s visible, the entire package cannot be salvaged. Edit: We had a breakfast credit so we had to come back for breakfast and it was just as bad! I added a photo, and yes that is $7 worth of potatoes! I am Irish, so I’ve never not wanted to finish a serving of potatoes. They've accomplished the impossible! My partner’s sausage had frozen goo on it. I added a photo of his sunny side up egg breakfast, as served. $25? Yikes! Took forever for the food to come out and the avocado was hard and brown. At least the table wasn’t AS sticky! Oh and they charged us an extra $40 for drinks we didn’t order separately after we left dinner. No idea how that happened. Luckily the front desk cleared those but I’ve literally never had a hotel charge for drinks I didn’t even order??

Hester Pamela

Terrible service. Poor quality of food. So-so ambience. Not recommended. Lack of staff and mediocre breakfast quality and variety. Buffet is $45 per person exc charges. Came for breakfast at 7am, due to lack of staffs, buffet items did not get refilled on time. Service was slow although Gerald our server was great, but clearly covering more tables than he should. Decided to give another shot for lunch and that did not go better than breakfast. Ordered a burger with medium patty, after 40 mins, burger came with very dry patty. Took another 10 mins to get the server to flag this issue and another 20 mins to get a new burger that is less dry than the first one but certainly not medium. And very oily fries but at this point I gave up and can conclude that this is the best they can do. Being a 4-star hotel, i think this level of service and food quality is not acceptable. Overall a letdown to the Fairmont name. And can not recommend this place.

Marsha Coupé

We stayed the weekend at the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill as a big birthday treat. One of the reasons we chose this hotel was for the onsite restaurants. We are disabled, thus appreciate not having to leave the festive hotel for meals. Unfortunately, prices; service; quality; even the ambience, make Laurel Court a massive rip off. A few examples from our mid-December 2025 stay. One piece of avocado toast: $26 Cup of mediocre coffee $8 Skimpy Breakfast Buffet $45 Martini $26 Tiny ginger ale $8 Basic Salad $19 Child Size Mac & Cheese $15 15% - 18% Tip is automatically included with all tabs, thus robbing staff from earning the 20% + many of us pay for excellent service. I seriously doubt they see much of the tip added to tabs and suspect this is one of the reasons most are so grumpy and uninterested. The Laurel Court is seriously understaffed at the front desk, as well as in the restaurant and bar. They need at least double, maybe even triple the staff for an acceptable level of service. It's a very tense work environment, thus also tense for guests. Those working here are understandably mostly miserable. Our waiter, after a 45 minute wait, greeted us with, 'Whad-ya-want?' The dining room was half full, but he clearly had better things to do on a Saturday night at 6:30 PM. Many of the chairs in the elegant dining room are badly stained. The place setting is cheap. Those paying $185 per person to dine in the so-called Gingerbread house, were actually seated behind the house in a super-tacky, roped off area in Laurel Court. We've had much better breakfast at a Best Western Hotel. AND worlds better hospitality. We've had much better dinner at Black Bear Diner, and again with worlds better hospitality. The Laurel Court doesn't want customers, so save them another bad review and spend your hard-earned money elsewhere.

YesItsMe Stephen

Not worth the price for high tea at this hotel. More than $150 per person and the service was beyond poor for the price. The holiday decor inside the restaurant was barely noticeable. Basically 95% of the decor was outside and it was supposed to be a holiday high tea event. The server just poured some champagne without even asking first and then came the extra charge. The kids entire main 4 item entree was pieced together from one slice of bread. There was no elegance to the entire service. The music was so loud, each member had to basically yell at each other. I absolutely do not recommend this restaurant for High Tea. The mandatory 20% service charge is another reason to go elsewhere. Find another place or you will regret ever going to this restaurant.

Lulu Dai

Avoid the holiday tea like the plague. What was supposed to be a fun and festive experience turned into an outrageously overpriced disappointment. The sandwiches were unforgivably stale and old, and the bread was practically inedible. The sweets were mediocre at best—forgettable and certainly not worth the $155 per person price tag (plus a mandatory 20% gratuity!). To make matters worse, the presentation was messy, the portions laughably skimpy, and the even though the servers were nice, the service was slow and inattentive. The entire experience reeked of laziness and greed. For this kind of money, we expected at least basic quality and effort. Instead, we left feeling ripped off and regretful. Don’t waste your time or your hard-earned cash here. The photos attached show everything that comes with the holiday tea (for 3 people) minus the tea itself.

Leah Van Dyke

The cheese was moldy! I am a vegetarian and my partner is not, and we ordered a pasta dish, one with meat and one without. Both came without meat and instead one had cheese and one did not. We decided to ask for extra cheese rather than asking for it to be remade with the meat on my partner’s dish, and the parmesean they brought out had MOLD on it. The servers also tried to take away our appetizer too soon (we were halfway through the brussel sprouts and they already tried to take it away), and the pasta itself was runny and had frozen peas which was not listed in the ingredients on the menu. While we were seated, we watched a waiter clean the table with a dry, used towel, not replace the plate mat, and place the new silverware directly on the used table mat. The table itself where we were seated was extremely sticky. They also charge an automatic 20% gratuity, even for just 2 people. Given the order was wrong, we were rushed, and the food literally had mold on it I have never been more disappointed in an overpriced meal. I added a photo of the moldy cheese. I know the mold spot is small, but as a microbiologist, I think it’s important for people to know, by the time it’s visible, the entire package cannot be salvaged. Edit: We had a breakfast credit so we had to come back for breakfast and it was just as bad! I added a photo, and yes that is $7 worth of potatoes! I am Irish, so I’ve never not wanted to finish a serving of potatoes. They've accomplished the impossible! My partner’s sausage had frozen goo on it. I added a photo of his sunny side up egg breakfast, as served. $25? Yikes! Took forever for the food to come out and the avocado was hard and brown. At least the table wasn’t AS sticky! Oh and they charged us an extra $40 for drinks we didn’t order separately after we left dinner. No idea how that happened. Luckily the front desk cleared those but I’ve literally never had a hotel charge for drinks I didn’t even order??

DO NOT GO! Worst service. Hostess had an attitude the second we tried checking in. We got there a few minutes early. In a snappy tone, she said our table will be ready at 5:30. We went back at 5:30 on the dot. We didn’t get seated until 5:45. No one came to see us. We let 10 minutes go by and then we walked out. Just don’t go. You will be disappointed. They knew the holidays are a busy time and they still weren’t prepared. I made these reservations months ago. For such a nice hotel, you expect better. Also, the hostess need more training in customer service. Night ruined.

Are reserved table was given to someone else, after having to wait an additional 10 minutes to be seated in our reserved table, we waited for over 30 minutes just to place in order. Poor service from our waiter. Our food was nit only under cooked but the portions were inadequate. My plate came with beans, I was actually able to count them, just over one dozen Pinto beans. I guess they're imported. Gratuity was automatically added to our bill, even tho it was only two of us eating. Tips are based on quality of food and service, of which this restaurant did so poorly. To top it off I had to pay $50 just to park. This is the first time I've eaten at a restaurant and leaving still hungry. I do not recommend eating here.

We were here for a very special birthday weekend. Booked months and months in advance. They could not find our dinner reservations. We waited about 15 minutes for them to find a table. Not bad. But then 40 minutes went by before we saw our server. He walked up to our table and barked “What do you want?” No apology for the long wait. No greeting of any kind. The food was incredibly underwhelming and lukewarm. The macaroni and cheese was dry. The salads were fine. Adequate for a salad, but nothing special at all. We had to flag people down constantly for water. Our empty plates sat on the table for at least 30 minutes. They seemed completely unprepared for their holiday rush, which is crazy given how long this hotel has been here. The staff was all shockingly rude. I’m guessing they’re very underpaid. There was a mandatory 15% gratuity so maybe they were just mailing it in? Regardless. They need more staff. And their staff needs better training. Save your time and your money and give this whole hotel a skip.

Don’t waste your money. The food at the Fairmont isn’t good and you will feel ripped off. Make reservations at another restaurant in SF. We had dinner reservations that we made over a month in advance at the Laurel Court but we were seated at the furthest table, outside of the domed ceiling and it felt like we missed out on eating under it. Our table was right next to the bar where it was so incredibly loud we could barely hear each other. There were also crumbs of food left on the seats and floor before we sat down which was disguising and the bench that I was sitting on had rips and tears in it. The menu was small, I assume because they use seasonal ingredients. They did have clear labels of each item in parentheses if it is (v) vegetarian, (pb) plant based and (gf) gluten free which was nice. But unfortunately, the food was not good at all. It was very disappointing. Especially because we were really hungry and still ended up wasting a couple plates. It was mediocre at best and extremely overpriced. Wasn’t worth it at all. The only good part of dinner was our server who I can’t remember his name now but he had short dark hair and a beard and was very kind, always had a smile and who I made sure to tip well. But there definitely won’t be a next time. Support other local restaurants instead.

C.M

Don’t waste your money. The food at the Fairmont isn’t good and you will feel ripped off. Make reservations at another restaurant in SF. We had dinner reservations that we made over a month in advance at the Laurel Court but we were seated at the furthest table, outside of the domed ceiling and it felt like we missed out on eating under it. Our table was right next to the bar where it was so incredibly loud we could barely hear each other. There were also crumbs of food left on the seats and floor before we sat down which was disguising and the bench that I was sitting on had rips and tears in it. The menu was small, I assume because they use seasonal ingredients. They did have clear labels of each item in parentheses if it is (v) vegetarian, (pb) plant based and (gf) gluten free which was nice. But unfortunately, the food was not good at all. It was very disappointing. Especially because we were really hungry and still ended up wasting a couple plates. It was mediocre at best and extremely overpriced. Wasn’t worth it at all. The only good part of dinner was our server who I can’t remember his name now but he had short dark hair and a beard and was very kind, always had a smile and who I made sure to tip well. But there definitely won’t be a next time. Support other local restaurants instead.

Antoinette Oneill

We were here for a very special birthday weekend. Booked months and months in advance. They could not find our dinner reservations. We waited about 15 minutes for them to find a table. Not bad. But then 40 minutes went by before we saw our server. He walked up to our table and barked “What do you want?” No apology for the long wait. No greeting of any kind. The food was incredibly underwhelming and lukewarm. The macaroni and cheese was dry. The salads were fine. Adequate for a salad, but nothing special at all. We had to flag people down constantly for water. Our empty plates sat on the table for at least 30 minutes. They seemed completely unprepared for their holiday rush, which is crazy given how long this hotel has been here. The staff was all shockingly rude. I’m guessing they’re very underpaid. There was a mandatory 15% gratuity so maybe they were just mailing it in? Regardless. They need more staff. And their staff needs better training. Save your time and your money and give this whole hotel a skip.

Kendra K

DO NOT GO! Worst service. Hostess had an attitude the second we tried checking in. We got there a few minutes early. In a snappy tone, she said our table will be ready at 5:30. We went back at 5:30 on the dot. We didn’t get seated until 5:45. No one came to see us. We let 10 minutes go by and then we walked out. Just don’t go. You will be disappointed. They knew the holidays are a busy time and they still weren’t prepared. I made these reservations months ago. For such a nice hotel, you expect better. Also, the hostess need more training in customer service. Night ruined.