Avis SINGLETHREAD Healdsburg

The dinner was nice but I want to touch upon how disrespectful the hotel staff and front desk is by sharing my experience. The check-out was at 11.00am and I requested to use their study room for my Zoom meetings. After an hour, they blasted the music to intentionally kick me out even though they initially said it was okay. When I was going to the front desk to tell them about this, I heard them gossiping and making fun about my age and nationality. This experience was my birthday present and I was super upset and did not know what to do after hearing their conversation, so I got out of the hotel as soon as possible. I believe this is an unacceptable and utterly rude behavior from a Relais-Chateux line hotel. I hope this message gets to the right person and the issue does not persist to young international individuals like myself.

This is another amazing 3- Michelin-star experience in the Bay Area. It is quite impressive that a lot of the ingredients are seasonal and from their farm. The menu is heavily influenced by Japanese cuisines, so there are a lot of high quality fresh fish and vegetables. Their "first course" was the best for me. It consisted of 12 mini appetizers that were insanely delicious. The mushroom rice before desserts was another highlight as well. Service and ambiance are top-notch. Single Thread is well worth a trip to Healdsburg.

If I were judging SingleThread solely by the flavor of the food, it would be a 3.5 or 4. The dishes clearly had thought put into its presentation and in its constituent elements, although more often than not was just overly fussy.

The most disappointing dish, the "Wagyu" whose name is an insult to actual Wagyu, lacked any of the juiciness found in the real deal, and was instead incredibly tough and had to be sawed at with a knife. The small sliver of beef was surrounded by distracting small side dishes, culminating in a panoply of ephemera whose minuteness loses any ability to savor or appreciate the flavors of the meat, the presumed center of the dish (spoiler: it was bland and TOUGH). This dish exemplified my main issue with the menu, that most of the dishes felt like a proof of concept, rather than a part of a meal. A flourish that wanted to be loved for its alleged technical expertise, but nothing that would sit on the palate of memory. Status, rather than substance.

But perhaps wanting more of the food isn't really an insult. After all, most of the dishes were quite good and quite well done, and the initial "Summer in Sonoma" course was certainly dazzling in presentation. Unfortunately, a "dining experience" must be defined by more than the food, and here I found two main failings.

First, the menu wasn't provided and the litany of ingredients in each dish required a sense of mental acuity far more than what I was capable of. Having the menu at the outset would have allowed me to understand and appreciate the flavors, rather than being distracted by the task of identification, like trying to figure out who an actor is in a movie rather than paying attention to the movie.

Second, the price. Simply put, it's not worth the $600+/head (with tax and tip). For that price, I could have had ~10-15 meals at other restaurants that are no less thoughtful and perhaps with a bit less of an ego towards itself. At least one of those restaurants probably knows how to cook a steak, too! If this were half the cost, I'd maybe look back and say it was a fun experience, but as its price, I just have major buyer's remorse.

So far not accommodation. Waiting for my table just a bit early

Outstanding dining experience. Amazing food and service. All the things you would expect from a Michelin star restaurant. When our server sat us and asked our preference of water , he discretely signaled a colleague and our glasses were instantly filled. In another example, he picked up an empty glass , discretely put it behind his back while he spoke to us and another server wisked it away almost unnoticed. It's the details that matter.

Michelin Guide needs to either award this restaurant four stars or kick a bunch restaurants off its guidebook because SingleThread has exceeded my high expectations and raised the bar for culinary art. Decadent can be used to describe so many other less creative restaurants where they make good things better, some of them much better: truffle, more truffle, caviars, more caviar, foie gras, seafood, steak, etc. SingleThread makes ordinary things magical. Every bite you take is a window into a different world. Every course is multiple windows because every part of the course tells a unique story:
The gentleness of yuba (silky tofu skin), the quiet ocean tales by the savory and lingering flavors of dashi (seaweed), the salty and cold Tomales Bay breeze from the oyster, the bitterness of crisp gai lan, and the explosion of excitements from this pastry/tart.
Paced like a traditional kaiseki meal, you get your appetizers (10 of them in fact served on a tiny tabletop mountain), sashimi, steam dish (chawamushi), fried dish (shirako, fried sperms that I usually avoid in Japan but enjoyed here), simmered dish (even the cabbage on the side in daikon bone broth was heavenly), veggie dish (what I can only describe as a sculpture/3-d salad hidden with surprises including duck pate cream at the base that you eat with every bite, and candied coins looking things that are dehydrated sparkle of flavors), fish dish (where the skin was fried like pork rind yet the meat melted in your mouth; it’s accompanied by mochi made by pumpkin yet the best mochi I ever had; it’s the same dish as the simmer dish btw so also the cabbage and soup), meat dish (the steak was flawless; the wine pairing was a comparison of two Pinot varietals; one from new world one from old world) , and finished with a rice dish (porridge of local mushroom; I ate the entire bowl!).
Lastly, the wine pairing was generous, and the take home menu was something I have never seen before… just look at the photo I post.

One of my favorite Michelin experience.

The meal was perfection, we did the wine pairing as well.. from start to finish everything was divine. The service, ambiance, experience, food, everything! I have celiacs and they made sure to make everything gluten free and cooked safely for me. AMAZING! Best meal/experience of our lives!!

Good service but odd description of the food, as Ingredients were listed in painful detail, but too fast and too quietly to really understand. Maybe I should have requested the server to be louder and slower. Food was superb. Service was very attentive. Music was too loud, registering about 72-74 decibels. When the music was briefly paused, the reading went down to 62-64. A major difference and much more pleasant. The desserts were sweetened to Japanese taste, although I prefer sweeter standards.

What an experience. The space was great. Gotta check out the bathrooms. Service was impeccable. The staff was attentive without being over bearing. Shout out to Jackson the sommelier for being knowledgeable and funny. Food was excellent and precise. Great presentation, delicious flavors and paired well with the wines.

The price was steep but ultimately worth it.

For a three Michelin star restaurant, Single Thread restaurant is quite disappointing, highly over-rated and over priced. Among all the three Michelin star restaurants we’ve been, this one comes out on the bottom in terms of food and on the top in terms of price.

On the positive side, the restaurant dining room is well designed and appointed. The servers are attentive and knowledgeable, and each course of food was complicated and beautiful presented.

However, for all the effort the food tasted quite bland. There’s not a single course that was particularly memorable of the whole meal. As a matter of fact, there are multiple dishes that I can name another restaurant that had tasted better. Of course I probably missed the highlight of the entire meal - the last dessert course. As there’re so much food, we were visibly full towards the end. Before introducing the last course, the server kindly suggested packing our last desert course for us to take home, except he totally forgot about it as we were leaving. Even upon my reminder, he seemed confused and only gave us the petit fours as a take home token.

Lastly, the drink pairing was a hit and miss. In summary, we’ve had dinner the same week at one Michelin restaurant close by in Geyserville that’s of higher quality.

SingleThread is a jewel in the heart of Sonoma. Well deserved Three Michelin Stars and No.50 World’s Best. Everything about this Japanese restaurant and concept is perfect from food, artistic presentation, hospitality, aesthetics and service. It’s situated within a boutique hotel that’s an experience by itself which I am hopping to try next time. From the moment you step in SingleThread, you get warmly welcomed by an attentive receptionist with a herbal Japanese tea while having a glimpse at the busy kitchen from where all the magic happens. After a little chat, we got escorted to our corner table which was perfectly decorated with our first garden course .. that’s actually around 10 bites which will take you on a mid spring journey in Sonoma and pleasantly overwhelm your taste buds. Every course afterwards was unique , flavorsome with unusual combinations of fresh ingredients, most of which grew at the restaurant nearby farm. Highlights of courses includes Kanpachi, Spring Vegetable Takiawase, Aka Amadai and Rooibos Glazed Rouen Duck. Presentation was creative and splendid. Service, timing of courses and coordination were all extraordinary and impeccable. Staff were all friendly, very attentive and knowledgeable. Wine pairing was excellent and nicely complimented each course. Deserts were light and delightful, series of of Vanilla & Ume, Mochi & Hibiscus, Huckleberry & Hojicha and pink and peppercorn & Crescenza. Altogether, we had a sublime experience at SingleThread and left satisfied.

fantastic service, stunning presentation, and definitely experienced some new flavors that i haven't ever before

The worst Michelin star experience I’ve had. Staff was kind but whoever is managing this menu needs to resign. Felt forced, inauthentic, several dishes were not edible. Dessert was the highlight. Read the other bad reviews. They are spot on.

Please be upfront about wine pairing prices. This is a shady practice that does not belong in this restaurant. The team in the kitchen does an amazing job only for entire dining experience to be ruined by a dodgy wine salesman

Service was incredible!!! Shout out to Clay who gave us a wonderful tour of the building. We were greeted with a welcome drink and had an amazing time.

Food was okay nothing special but presentation was 10/10.

Absolutely amazing rooms, service and incredible food. Love Healdsburg and SingleThread really is a must visit!!

Incredible experience!

We have been to many Michelin restaurants all over the world, including 3 star establishments such as neighboring French Laundry and Alinea in Chicago. SingleThread was, without question, the best dining experience of our lives so far. Our 10 course meal featured a fusion of summer and fall ingredients, which honored the seasons uniquely and impeccably. I didn’t know produce could taste as good as what was presented in each course! The wagyu and fish were cooked flawlessly and prepared superlatively. And if there was any doubt that this was the best meal of our lives, the dessert that followed quickly put those doubts to rest. Combining both French and Japanese traditions, dessert was innovative, surprising, and delicious. The non-alcoholic drink pairing simply put the whole experience over the edge. It was great talking with our server Garrett throughout the meal. The service overall was some of the very best we’ve experienced as of yet. On your next trip to Northern California’s wine country, skip the tired and commercialized experience of the French Laundry and opt for the cozy, adventurous, and inspired SingleThread. It was a Halloween night we will never forget!

Truly amazing! Put it on your bucket list. Thank you SingleThread.

Me and my wife have a thing for fine dining and of course we had to check out SingleThread. The experience was truly worthy of being within the Michelins. The ONLY remotely negative point I had was how long the experience was. Due to jet lag (we traveled to CA from DC the day before) we were quite tired by the end of the meal. Regardless, I have nothing but good words to say about the dinner and the service was spectacular.

One of those rare places that actually exceeds the hype. A transcendent meal and service perfection. An evening I will remember for a lifetime and hope to return to one day.

Phenomenal experience with exceptional service and attention-to-detail. It can be challenging to get a reservation at your ideal time but it’s well worth it to compromise the date/time. Treat you and your loved ones!