Dakan was hopping on the 4th of July. We waited 25 minutes past our reservation time to get a table. Then, another 10-15 mins before we saw our waiter. The food (miso beets and sea bass for me and corn soup and brick chicken for my companion) was delicious and beautifully presented, but it took very long to get our orders--every step seemed to take extra long. I'm guessing it was due to the holiday. But otherwise, we enjoyed the restaurant and the food--and came back the following night for the crème brûlée (with a hint of cinnamon that I haven't had before on them--prefer without). Four stars for the food, one star off for the slow speed. The staff was friendly and pleasant even with the busy night. read more

Dakan - California sea bass with Bintje potatoes - New American Near Me - Nevada City, California

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I can't recommend this place enough! Our server, Sarah, was amazing the whole night. We had a bigger party and she did an amazing job with us. The food was amazing, there was not anything we didn't finish. Thank you for being so accommodating and helping us out, I know it can get hectic with a big party! We had such an amazing time, Dakan really helped make the day special. Thank you thank you! read more

3rd time here, reservation 7:45pm and this dinner experience was very poor. Mary, our server brought a glass of wine and bread. She then went missing for over 40 minutes, left our wine, waters and plates empty. We contemplated leaving and should have. Finally shows back up after flirting with some people behind the bar, leaving all her tables without service, and asks if we are done.... Regrettably, we placed dinner orders and it was soo bad. Cold scallops, burnt french fries and the wine was loaded with sediment. The restaurant closed 10 minutes after getting our food and we passed on desert to get out! Terrible 3rd experience, really changed our minds about this place. We enjoyed the first times maybe because it was the weekend or just opened. read more

My girlfriend took me to Dakan for my 75th birthday and what a stunning experience it was! Everything we ordered was creative and absolutely delicious and the presentations were beautiful. Our waiter was knowledgeable and helpful and the other servers or food runners who came by were enthusiastic about the food. We'd been warned, even by our waiter, that service could be leisurely. We had a reservation for 5:00 when they opened and the service seemed just about perfect. It got pretty busy later so perhaps things slowed down. The only negative were the yellow jackets that buzzed us on the patio. One of them drowned in my partner's mocktail and the waiter gladly replaced it. My partner is allergic to bee stings and hadn't brought her epi-pen so I was a little nervous. I didn't expect to find such a ritzy place in Nevada City. We're definitely going back the next time we feel like a splurge. read more

Our first time -- but not the last Food - our party of 4 tried a variety of starters and entrees then shared to taste a range of flavors. We loved everything! Ambiance - we were seated on the back outside patio. This is a lovely space. Need to install something to abate the flies. Service - our server was engaging without being disruptive, a great balance. read more

Fine dining comes to Nevada City! A group of us went here for dinner, and the food was excellent and so was the service! We sat outside, with the exception of the noise from the exhaust fan from the kitchen. It was in fantastic, dining experience, great food, great ambience, etc.. read more

The food was delicious! Portions are a bit small for the price. The ambiance was really nice. They've got 3 options- the bar area, the indoor area, and the outdoor area. The servers were readily available, knowledgeable, and friendly. We'll definitely be back! read more

The kitchen at Dakan cannot pace a meal. It's a lovely space with a nice atmosphere and wait staff. Unfortunately, we have been several times and the pacing has not improved. We went to their fall menu debut which was a set meal of 5 courses. It took over 3 hours for the kitchen to deliver 4 courses. We took the desert to go. A leisurely pace is fine but there's nothing nice about receiving some courses quickly and then having the meal grind to a 45 minute wait between courses. It's a shame because Dakan has potential. read more

Delicious food and great vibes. Service was very friendly. Patio is dog friendly. We had the squash soup and Fall salad and then both the steak skewers and mushroom skewers. All were delicious. Then we had the Ribeye entree which was also amazing. There are excise options for all pallets. Highly recommend. read more

Food is great (burger and ESPECIALLY the mushroom ravioli) but the service and friendliness by all the workers you come across is better! Marie behind the bar made our night but definitely coming back. read more

We were excited to try the Dakan, and decided our anniversary was an excellent day to do so. Our visit started off a little rocky because when we arrived I received a text stating their reservations were running 20 minutes behind and to "take our time". Unfortunately we were already in town and all businesses were closed. It was getting cool so we waited inside. There is no place to wait indoors so basically we stood around tables while people dined. Another couple was in the same boat. I hope we added to the ambience in some way. at times there were six people standing around. We did get seated and after around 5-10 minutes the server dropped by, we ordered a couple of beers and they came right now. Same for our appetizer. Then we ordered our mains and waited... and waited. Meanwhile more guests came in and stood around the tables waiting. Not one table was empty. When we did receive our order my entree was the size of an appetizer, I'm not a big eater so it wasn't the end of the world. Plus my wife shared some of her dish. The food was good, though. We barely saw the server he was working so hard. To start with: a 20 minute delay on a reservation is a bit much. Maybe something came up. Also, my suggestion is to drop a table or two to allow space for those waiting. Also, filling up every table when the kitchen and wait staff can't keep up isn't good service. It's okay to stagger the seating to allow for better pacing and the net result maybe more profit because people may buy more instead of getting frustrated with waiting for the server to come by. Just a thought. We will try Dakan again on a week night, maybe it won't be too hectic. read more

Went here for a date night dinner while on our mini honeymoon in Nevada City. It was sooo delicious!! Service was so good and the food was even better !! read more

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Everything was amazing!! Chef Garrett and Chef Colin made everything perfect. Food was seasoned well, beautiful plating, and super nice attentive staff. The ravioli was something I was unsure about, as I am a picky eater, but oh my goodness it was SO good!! I highly recommend stopping in to this cute place. Make a reservation because they fill up fast! Definitely will go back. read more

Food, vibes and services were amazing. It's a Bay Area level restaurant. Me and my partner will revisit it when we visit Nevada city again.

Another fantastic meal with excellent service tonight. It gets better every time we dine there.

The menu is fantastic. My absolute favorite is the Ox Tail Ravioli. The sauce makes me want to lick my plate in public. The Squash ravioli is fantastic too. The sauces... They are by the each for $5. I've tried the Yakinuki skewers which are incredible, Scallops, Wagu burger, Striped Bass, Buratta... All excellent. They have a nice variety of small plates. The staff is great. Location is excellent. I'm looking forward to the patio opening up with music! Reservations are pretty much required. Bon Appetit read more

Been here for a while now and am wanting to see what chefs in this area can do. With my restaurant I had fierce competition and out here there's not much, so I graded higher because this is technically one of the better options around. And they do well enough. But first off I could smell smoky oil they might want to lean into something like grapeseed with a higher smoke point to not flood the restaurant with smoke when waking in. It's a small and organized kitchen but something was off about the heat. They had it too high. Burnt outsides cold center is not ideal for making good food if it takes making 30 different French fry's at different ways to discover the ideal heat and time then do it because I will and will just do it at home. I go out for an experience, and that was missing here. The flavor was there but the technique wasn't and I wanted to watch to see where I could help, but the place was a bit small and I was in the way. It was my birthday they did nothing special for me like it was kind of dumb for me to celebrate there. I kept getting bumped into and the server was nice but I ordered duck wings to deconstruct and put in my gumbo dish and they forgot to give me my duck wings box so that's just a complete waste of $ and I'm not happy about that. I would go back for the poutine just toss the fry's out and go for the meat it's good, but if they figure out cooking temps this place might be okay. I'd judge it much harsher if the flavors were missing that part is there, the technique parts are the next step to improve and be worth repeat visiting. What I was taught is you can tell everything by what kind of butter is served with bread, this place has the flavors but you kind of want to serve butter easy to spread and bread warm, putting fleur de sel on cold butter is fancy the flavor is nice, but again, technique. I'd very much like to understand where the disconnect is between the flavors being presented which are awesome and the techniques being used to sort of ruin it. I think it's fixable and that this place could be really good it's just missing a bit of leadership I'd say, a proper FoH manager wouldn't let food go out like that or ignore a guests birthday. Telling the chefs to refire burnt fry's shouldn't be that hard but my guess is they don't try the food often enough to know what they are serving or what it should look like I can just tell you the issue was too high of heat and this was done to turn out food faster and not necessarily better and food really needs to be made with love. I see that love wanting to shine it just needs focus. I'd go back. I'm not an easy person to please to begin with so all in all yeah they put in good effort they just need a bit of help. read more

Amazing food and good service Will be back! We had great time the place is beautiful and great location! read more

This is the best dinner I've had in a long time. All the flavors and combinations on the menu made my mouth water. We started out with wagyu carpaccio, melt in your mouth paper thin sliced. Sweet potato and chestnut soup with black garlic was velvety smooth, and the ravioli are perfectly sized to share: butternut squash and sage, or braised oxtail sitting in rich jus. The poutine made my husband mad because it was too good and blew any other he ever tried out of the park. Scallop and prosciutto roulade was cooked to perfection, so soft you don't even need to chew and expertly paired with greens and celery root foam. Wine selection is impressive and the server is very knowledgeable about how to pair them. I loved the option of poptails since I don't drink alcohol. Dessert was the cherry on top, we couldn't decide so we got a golden milk crème brûlée and a chocolate bourbon hazelnut mousse with blood orange crème anglaise. The expertise and perfection of every dish, pleasing to the eye and embracing your palate, is one of a kind in Nevada county. My new favorite restaurant! Ambiance is cozy and inviting. read more

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Have now experienced Restaurant DAKAN four times. This is a very special place for the food and service. I usually order some seafood and every time it is delicious. The owner seems to cook with his passion and care. I have tried a few desserts, not very exciting but I know lots of thought and care went into the recipe and prep. This is one of my favorites in all of NEVADA COUNTY. Thank you read more

We dined at Dakan again last night and enjoyed, quite simply, the best meal we have had in the area since the closing of New Moon years ago...and they just opened!! The greeting, seating and service were on par with any "top-tier" restaurant. I enjoyed a deliciously complex soup followed by an exceptional seared scallop and prosciutto entre. My wife loved the tender and flavorful flank steak with fresh delicata squash atop a fine bed of arugula. We dine out regularly in the area and Dakan has now moved up to the top of our "rotation"! read more

This is one of the best restaurants we have ever dined at. The staff is lovely, the restaurant is lovely and the food is absolutely spectacular. Their oysters were rich and briny, the porcini mushrooms were paper thin surrounded by watercress and the lightest olive oil/citrus dressing. The seabass stole our hearts! The plate was full of beautiful treats and every bite we took was luscious! And we topped it off with the best creme brulee we have ever had. It had a slight citrus taste which was quite a surprise. This is a restaurant we cannot wait to visit again. If we lived closer to Dakan, we would weigh 600 lbs. Yep, it is that good!francywallace@yahoo.com read more

Everything we had was excellent! Forked crushed burrata, oysters, ravioli was amazing, sweet potato udon, and Moroccan chicken all delicious. I find a lot of the "higher end" restaurants in NC are almost very good but not quite there compared to larger cities where they are dime a dozen. This is the first restaurant in a while that was on point including portion size and price. I can't wait to try more dishes. read more

My new favorite restaurant! I've eaten here 5 times now and have tried just about everything on the menu. Quality of ingredients, creativity, seasoning, presentation, and the warm and attentive service I've received are all top notch. I've dined with friends, my sweetheart, and solo at the bar and have left feeling impressed every time. What I like about this place is that you can go all out and have a fine dining experience, or you can have a glass of wine and a salad or an app and walk out of there for under $30. Do yourself a favor, gather some friends, head on over on a Sunday afternoon for their Aprés Sol Sundays and order some oysters, a few pizzas, salads (the Broken Caesar is excellent!), a bottle of wine (or two) and enjoy a leisurely lunch on the patio. 10 out of 10 recommend! read more

Finally... it's a week later and I still sit here thinking about the noodles made of sweet potato, the fiddle heads fiddling and those beautiful foraged morels that remind you that another spring has sprung. That dish was special. The braised rabbit was so decadent and ate perfectly with my glass of French red. Did I transport to a provincial farm town? Nope, but Nevada City has a new Chef, with a strong culinary voice, who isn't afraid to take some chances. Thank you for a wonderful meal. We will definitely be back. Cheers! read more

The food was ok at best. It lacked seasoning other that salt which there was too much of its overpriced for everything. The service was fine. Fine by being waiting for water for 45 minutes only for the waitress to sprint to the check as soon as it hit the table. Ambiance... Tables were very tiny and I had a hunch back the entire time trying to reach the table. So loud I couldn't hear my sister screaming right into my ear. Overall wouldn't ever come again. They will only treat you well if you have gucci tattooed on your head. read more

Dakan needs some improvement. My husband and I visit Nevada City often. We met our friends, a local couple, who said they wanted to try out Dakan. We arrived at around 6:00 p.m. and, after getting drinks, we placed our orders at around 6:20 p.m. About 10 minutes later we got an order of fries delivered to the table. We pointed out to our waiter that we didn't order them. He said we could keep them at no charge. After another 10 minutes passed, our starters arrived, 3 soups and a salad. Our waiter checked with us often, interrupting our conversation. At this point the decibel level in the restaurant was so high we could barely talk. We waited over an hour for our mains to be delivered! During that time we didn't see our waiter for at least a half an hour, so we weren't able to ask him about our food. When everything came, the side we'd ordered was something different than what I requested. The waiter offered to bring me the one I ordered but I didn't want to wait longer and said we'd eat what was delivered. We weren't charged for it, which was okay. On the positive side, our water glasses were refilled constantly and the food was very good. But the noise, interruption of the waiters, then their disappearance, and the long wait, made the experience unpleasant and chaotic. By the time we finished our meal it was 8:45 p.m. Over 2 hours to get fed. I was glad to get out of there. read more

Best restaurant experience of my life. From the first pleasant interaction with the hostess to meeting the Chief/owner who was quietly helping his team and serving plates. Oysters app were so delicious almost asked for another order, but glad I did not as everything else that followed was just as delicious. read more

The service was scattered, we sat at the bar and halfway through our first glass of wine we had a server come over and bluntly tell us she needed two seats and needed us to move over instead of politely asking. The charcuterie board was the worst I've ever had, the venison dish I had was cooked perfect but had two small pieces. And my wife's chicken was the worst, overdone and all you can taste is cumin. Our server was very sweet and attentive but the food was hit or miss and that does not match the price. Overpriced and lacking consistency, they're new but they have a lot of things to work out. read more

We went back for another lovely meal. We sat in the back room by the stove, felt warm and homey on this cool evening. The Charcuterie Board to start was simply beautiful to look at and even better to eat! The selection of cheeses (Sonoma Blue, Parmesan Reggiano, Brie, two others I forgot), cured meats (prosciutto and capicola), quince jam, honeycomb, and crispy dark bread was spot on. I also had the ravioli: (Butternut Squash, Brown Butter, Sage, Pine Nuts & Black Trumpet). Most people would love that much butter, but it was a bit much for me so I gave it to my husband - he ate it up with a smile. I also had the Yankiniku Skewers (Mānuka Honey Glazed Flank Steak, Kosho Lime Cabbage Slaw) - perfectly cooked meat, careful contrasting flavors. Again, he ordered the Poutine (Duck Confit or Oyster Mushrooms Cheese Curds, and Gravy) and the Hokkaido Scallop (Seared Scallops and Prosciutto Roulade, Celery Roots Foam, Braised and Crisp Swiss Chard), both his faves. My husband and their cook likes things well salted and I am sensitive to salt, but that is a very individual thing. Two glasses of a red blend wine from Spain rounded out our dinner. For dessert, excellent rich dark chocolate mousse with hazelnuts and I had the the creme brulee with the custard meticulously cooked - it was a delight! We are fortunate to have a good dining house here. I can't wait until the summer so we can sit outside on their spacious patio. $189 (included wine) for a special day splurge, well worth it for the beautifully presented and carefully cooked food with attentive service second to none. Dakan is definitely added to our monthly rotation! read more

I'm sorry to do this. I'm a big supporter of the local restaurants here in my area. We went to a special dinner that had five dishes. I will try to remember them all. The fish ceviche (I can't remember what kind of fish) was not "cooked" like it's supposed to be. It was pretty raw, like they just put lemon over it (I think it's usually supposed to be lime) and served it without letting it sit for half and hour or so. The black cod with forbidden rice was alright. It really had no flavor or seasoning. The sweet potato udon with rabbit confit was okay - it even had a little seasoning on it. The lamb dish (can't remember what all was in it) was pretty raw lamb, which was tough and chewy and since I like my lamb a little more cooked - basically medium rare is good - I stopped after two bites. The opera cake with strawberry sauce was very good. Still, I was full after all that. Oh, yes. The whole wheat sourdough roll was excellent. read more