Molina Restaurant - Mill Valley

We've gone to Molina a couple of times now and do appreciate the food quality, preparation and creativity. However, the service staff is as blank as they could be, pretty much no interaction or interest in their customers. They really need to work on their friendliness quotient; I do hope they can get it together as the food itself is good and it would be nice to have a matching atmosphere.

The food was a little disappointing. Not at all bad, but nothing really stood out other than the apple pie for dessert. I first ordered the spritzer. It was ok but kinda plain, until I got to the bottom where all the syrup was settled. Obviously it wasn't properly mixed and as a result the last 1/4 was WAY too sweet and the first 3/4 was a little lacking. Could have been really good. To start, I ordered the mixed vegetables with goat cheese and my husband ordered bread with whipped ricotta. I wasn't really sure what to expect, it didn't say how the veggies would be prepared or if they'd be hot or cold. They were hot, grilled maybe? Good, but not amazing. My husband's was a little surprising. It was essentially a flat bread, with some ricotta and topped with some onions and tons of greens of some sort. It didn't really have much flavor needed something like salt or bacon... For my main, I ordered the chicken with kale, bacon, raisins and walnuts. The chicken was well cooked and flavored but the blue cheese (which I either missed or they omitted on the menu was the predominant flavor, which didn't really do it for me. The kale was a little chewy... My husband had the pork with grilled peaches. He seemed to enjoy it quite a lot. I had a bite and it seemed good (pork a little on the tough side though . This dish was also topped with tons of greens (surprise! For dessert we shared the apple pie a la mode with raisins and chantilly cream. This was actually really delicious. Buttery, flakey crust, tart apples, and overall wonderful flavor. I might try it again sometime, but I'll definitely venture elsewhere before returning.

We tried the ribs plate and the cod. Interesting flavors, but overall felt very expensive for not so great food. Perhaps it's more of a hype thing or our palettes are not so refined, but I wouldn't go back.

Molina is a small place with many folks dining on the sidewalk tables in good weather. We were inside, between the front door and the large bake oven, and thankfully it wasn't too hot in that location. The decor is on the spartan side with solid black animal imagery and minimal pressed flowers in frames against white walls. The noise level inside was moderate even with the front windows open for the warm evening, yet we could talk to each fairly easily at our isolated table. Our dinner consisted of the butter lettuce and smoked trout salad, asparagus, mussels, and fried cod dinner. All of them were very attractively plated but none of them had outstanding flavor. And the pricing was outrageous 33% 50% too high for what you received. We had an $8 beer in a can and an $18 glass of wine. We skipped dessert. I have no reason to go back per the overpriced menu and would not recommend the food as anything particularly special.

I drove from Berkeley to visit this stunning restaurant, and I would gladly do it again. Molina is truly a unique and wonderful place.