Back to Back — Restaurant in San Francisco

I greatly enjoy the food and atmosphere of this restaurant, which is why it pains me to write such a poor review.

This past visit, in which my partner and I brought my brother who was visiting from San Diego, we had a very friendly and attentive server and our meal and service was great! However, it was towards the end that really spoiled the mood. When the check was left for us to pay, my partner had not yet placed his card all the way down before the server grabbed his card/the bill from his hand, which is quite rude. In case others are not familiar, you are NEVER supposed to take the bill out of a customer's hand unless they initiate- as a server/worker, you need to WAIT until you see the customer place their card/money down and wait a beat or 2 before going over to grab it. Another negative unrelated to the server was that this restaurant unfortunately has a ridiculous junk fee mandate, which is always disappointing to see as it represents (to us) dishonesty when restaurants could just simply raise their prices and be transparent in what customers can expect to pay.

Anyway, when the server came back with the card reader, my partner hit "no tip" because we always prefer to tip cash. The server then proceeded to stand RIGHT BEHIND my partner, which made it so incredibly uncomfortable for my partner as he felt like he was being watched as he took money out of his wallet and decided how much money to leave.

It is really unfortunate that we had such a poor experience, and I'm unsure if we will return, which is such a shame because it really is a great place to check out as it drops you off via cable car and is...

My girlfriend and I visited Back to Back restaurant in San Francisco at 6:30 PM this Friday night, and it was an incredibly disappointing experience from start to finish.

Horrible Service We were seated at table B5, which is the worst table imaginable. The two of us were crammed into a corner at the bar, with more than half of our space taken up by the bartender making drinks. When the seat next to us cleared, we asked to move to have more space but were promptly pushed back into the corner when another group arrived. It felt like we were an afterthought.

2: Unacceptable Wait Time It took over 30 minutes for anyone to even take our order. This was despite the fact that the bartender, who was also our waiter, was right in front of us. The lack of attention and care was evident and frustrating.

3: Cold Pizza When our food finally arrived, one of the pizzas was cold. For a restaurant that charges over $50 per person for a basic pizza and wine this is simply unacceptable.

4: Ineffective Management We spoke with the manager about our concerns, and all we received was a cursory apology. There was no attempt to rectify the situation or make up for our poor experience.

I am typically too lazy to write reviews, but the combination of awful service, long wait times, cold food, and high prices left such a horrible taste in my mouth that I felt compelled to share my experience. Never coming back to...

Pros: atmosphere was very charming and cozy. I had tried to go to back to back right after they opened without a reservation. When the two of us walked in, there were lots of open tables but they said they could not accommodate us, even at the bar. This time we had a reservation so it wasn’t an issue and the host was taking walk ins this time even though they were much busier. The wine selection is small but the wines were very good and well priced. The bread (which is basically the pizza dough) was very good; cooked to perfection, flavorful, slightly chewy. The endive and beet salad was good (although slightly over dressed). The tuna carpaccio was very good, interesting, seasoned well. The gold potatoes with bonito flakes was delicious and interesting, kind of like a smoky potato skin but more grown up. The pizza crust was good but see the cons below. This is one of the best pizza crusts I’ve had in SF.

Cons: the pizza had a good base but needs some help. The sauce didn’t have a ton of flavor. The sausage was also pretty flavorless. Next time I think I’d try the hot honey pizza in hopes it has more flavor. The service was also lacking. They put a lot of tables in a small space so I got the sense they were just short one or two servers. Maybe it was just an off night?

Overall, I’d definitely go back. With some small tweaks, this place...