a Mano — Restaurant in San Francisco

Let me start off by saying that my friend and I (the two of us) ordered way too much food. The only reason this place got onto my radar was because I read that the restaurant hand makes all of their pasta. I was very intrigued by this and had this on places to eat for a very long time. The wait for dinner, on Saturday, was an hour and a half long. I shouldn't have expected anything less since it's a Saturday night. The place was packed to the brim and there showed no signs of the wait time dying down. When my friend received the glorious notification that a table was available, we rushed immediately over to be seated. Luckily speaking, we had plenty of time to review the menu prior to sitting down. There was also a particular reason why I wanted to dine here on a Saturday, their special for the evening, Porchetta. Our server immediately notified me that there was only one order left and without even a thought, I told her to put it in for us. I would live to regret this (slightly) later, when the rest of the food began amassing at our table. To start, we had the Cauliflower, Arancini and Duck Liver Mousse. The cauliflower was really good, it had a hint of citrus and was fried to a nice crispy texture. The arancini was definitely worth ordering. Perfectly fried to a crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside. I loved the contrast of texture that this created. The duck liver mousse is beyond words to describe. The masterful combination of rhubarb with mousse was just genius. I would have never imagined to have put the two together. It made for a heavenly taste in my mouth, I couldn't get enough of it. Moving on, we ordered a pizza with seasonal vegetables. The lack of regular tomato sauce was quite refreshing. The next item to join the fold was the almighty Porchetta. Full disclaimer, if you're thinking of ordering this, do not order too many other things, it's on par with a full sized 12-16oz steak, it's no joke. When it arrived at our table, both of our jaws just dropped to the ground; we were floored. As for the taste, it was amazing. I don't think it could've been executed any other way; to have the exterior so crisp and fatty. The inner piece was tender enough to just take the fewest chews to break down. It was accompanied by a nice arugula salad that had some green tomatoes and grilled onions. The salad's acidity cut through the fattiness of the Porchetta. Finally, to end our meal, we ordered two pastas: rigatoni and ravioli. My friend had ordered the rigatoni that had a nice spice kick to it and my order of mushroom cream stuffed ravioli was really good too. Unfortunately (more like by feats of a miracle) we couldn't finish everything and had to pack things to go. Even as leftovers (especially the Porchetta) everything still tasted amazing. I would definitely go through the entire process all over again. I think my friend and I could've finished everything had we not gotten ice cream prior to dinner (the wait was an hour and a half and we needed to kill time and we were hungry, yes, I'm well aware it spoiled...

Good food, rude hostess.

The food was good, not mind-blowing. We got the burrata appetizer, the asparagus salad, a pasta, and a pizza. The burrata was good and surprisingly generous in the portion. The salad was great, with all the flavors being complimentary, and the dressing adding a nice citrusy brightness. Pasta was good, obviously handmade, with a nice toothiness, and the pizza was good as well. The portions are not huge, but depending on what you get, it might be rich enough to be filling.

My only real complaint was the unnecessarily rude and unprofessional hostess. I came with a party of 3, walk-in on a Saturday evening around 6, so the place was busy, but not completely packed yet. As I checked in, they were clearing a table which the hostess said would be for us, The hostess then asked if my whole party was there, to which I said yes as my party was standing beside me as I checked in, and I pointed them out to her. After waiting a few minutes, we saw that a party that came after us was seated in the table promised to us so I went in to see what was happening. When I went back in, the hostess was almost immediately rude when I asked about the table. She claimed that my whole party wasn't there when I checked in, which is false, so they gave the table away since I was apparently supposed to check in when my whole party was there. When I explained to her that my whole party was there when I checked in and that she saw them since I both pointed them out to her and that they were standing beside me, she still refused to apologize or take any sort of accountability for her mistake. Instead she tried to pin the blame on me by claiming that there was a mutual "miscommunication" on our parts. Not long after this, we were seated, but only after I had to go back and forth with the hostess. As she walked us to our table, she made it obvious that she wasn't thrilled with us/me, and it set a sour tone to the beginning of the meal. I'm not sure why she felt the need to be this rude, as she could've just apologized for the error, and it would've been no worries. But instead, she chose to be unprofessional in her demeanor, rude during our interaction, and apparently incapable of apologizing or owning up to her error. What should've, and could've, been a simple interaction, was drawn out and acrimonious because the hostess was unprofessional. Other than the hostess, the wait staff...

Have you ever walked by a place and been like man we need to come here, they’re always packed. That thought may have led to start dissatisfaction of the overall experience here.

We were quickly seated which was great, but probably the last time anyone here was quick to do anything. We ordered apps just because we saw how busy it was and thought they’d be a lot faster than the entrees. Later our server told us he’d forgotten to send the order? Super confusing because we saw him type it all in and then go on to take orders at other tables. Once ordered we waited about 30 mins for the appetizers. The server asked what we thought of the dishes and told him they were just alright. Apparently didn’t hear, or maybe did, and just said that’s great and took the plates.

We had ordered some non alcoholic drinks since we had drank earlier, and you would never have thought that it’d be harder to get someone’s attention for a straw. Once we did we were told they can’t help us and we need to ask our server. Not a let me grab your server for you, or sure here you go I have some here in my pocket for you. If we didn’t witness this same lack of customer service towards other tables I would have thought it was discriminatory.

When the entrees finally arrived they were just disappointing and bland. We finished the food without anyone checking in. Sat there perhaps another 5-10 mins before we got someone’s attention to help us close out. Unfortunately left there with just a bad taste in our mouth for trying out a restaurant which we thought merits the crowds often seen, but now we don’t, and believe many will be dissatisfied with what they get.

To the restaurant: there is a lot more that I can say here, but I’d leave you with the recommendation of teaching proper customer service to your staff. A little courtesy goes a long way to compensate for long wait times. Also, don’t stretch your staff so far out that they are covering tables inside and out. At the time we went the sun was almost set and probably made for hard times for your teams to see what’s going on at...