Bottega — Restaurant in San Francisco

Unfortunately this restaurant will not be again for us. The experience was so sad that we were offered and forced to sit at a small table by the host on valentines’ night. The table she insisted on us to sit which could only fits two guests comfortably. Our 3 yrs old son had to sit on the floor to watch TV and crying, he became fussy that he was not comfortable, there was not enough space/ no seat for him to sit comfortably, he was on our lap and his daddy carried him for the whole dining time. This is not a kid & toddler friendly restaurant. They also didn’t have a kids menu, but that is completely fine with us, just an observation. We never encountered this type of treatment from any other restaurants we have visited before. We were always offered a big table that can sit 3 or 4 guests comfortably even for the very famous very busy restaurants such as Sotto Mare Italian in North Beach, Mama’s on Washington Square, StoneMille Matcha and Son and Garden, else. We visited on the valentines night and we were party of three (two adults and a 3 yr old boy), the host was not friendly and not understanding at all and her lack of care made us so sick and upset that we will not be returned although our server is very nice, and he did tried his best to serve us. It seems like that will be a big lose for the host if she lets us sitting at a 4 seats table. What happened there about the host. She originally reserved a table that could sit 3/ 4 guests comfortably for us, but we showed up to the restaurant, she saw us (me and my husband and our son was sleeping that was carrying by my husband), she walked us to the table that could sit 3 or 4 guests comfortably then she changed her mind that she insisted us that to sit at a small table instead which was only for party of 2. I explained to her that the table is too small and too tight for us, that it will not be comfortable for us. And I told her our son doesn’t need an high chair he is 3 yrs old, he usually sit on a chair/ the booth with a high chair. And I told her for at least twice that we are going to order a lot of food and 3 entrees anyway; no matter what I have explained to the host, she would not care about, she was not understanding at all that we needed a table that could fit 2 adults and 1 small kid comfortably. She just forced us to sit on that small table, she sounded like that if we don’t accept that small table then we had to leave. We didn’t want to argue with her anymore, we were hungry at that time, so we just took that small table. She then offered us at the window seatings (just like a fast food restaurant’s counter seatings) that is facing the windows and street, but who wants to be just facing the street on Valentine’s Day instead of facing your love ones. The food were not good either. Some were okay, some were bad. The appetizer were okay, we ordered the fried crab cake and the fired calamari. But entrees were not good, the pasta tasted like it has been frozen for awhile and the pizza was not that tasty. The sea bass was okay. We also found a short hair inside the pizza dough. We spent about $230 with tip for this dinner but we were not comfortable at all that had to sitting at a small table which could only fit 2 guests comfortably. Our son is a small person that he should be considered a guest too (we should have offered to sit at a table for party of 3 or 4 instead). We were heartbroken that our son had to sit on the floor under the dining table and he was crying and frustrated and he started to throws things away no matter what we did to ease and soothe him. Our adjacent tables neighbors (to our left side) saw that and gave our son candies to help soothing him. Unfortunately, we work so close by, only a few blocks away, but we cannot come back to this restaurant anymore due to the lack of care by the host when coming...

AN AUTHENTIC ITALIAN RESTAURANT. I say for 3 reasons: 1. All the staff are Italian 2. A member of my dinner party lived in Italy for several years, is fluent in Italian who also has an Italian husband and she confirmed this place screamed proper Italian 3. It gave me massive nostalgia of my recent trip to Italy a few months ago.

I came with a party of 7 for my girlfriend's birthday. The manager Andrea was there at the front door to welcome us and quickly made small talk with our Italian speaking party members. We were sat upstairs in a balcony type seating which gave us a full view of the dining room - absolutely beautiful. Our waiter Marco was attentive and knowledgeable about the whole menu. We had a child with celiac so he quickly told us everything that she could eat and she loved every bite of it!

All of the appetizers were amazing especially the meatballs, we had to order a second round. We ate the calamari, salads, and burrata which tasted amazing. We ordered individual pasta entrees of different varieties. Each member of my party could not stop talking about how delicious it was - IT WAS PROPER AL DENTE.

Drinks are so reasonably priced. A glass of wine is $10-$14 which is SOO cheap in my opinion but all the wine tasted amazing - the bottles all cost about $40-$50 which is very affordable.

To further compliment Marco, it was a busy evening but he never forgot a single thing we ordered even down to the modifications in a single persons entree. Even if his other duties created a longer wait time for our requests he continually reassured us that he would take care of it which he did.

Desserts were phenomenal and they were nice to us to comp a dessert for the birthday member. We had the Tiramisu, Red Velvet Cake, and the Panna Cotta. Each one tasted amazing and we continually ate them despite how full we all were. Andrea was also so kind to bring the celiac child (Born in Italy and also speaks Italian) some gelato as it was gluten free and she was so thankful!! Andrea also gave us some Limoncello which tasted delicious!

As someone who works for a high-end restaurant in San Francisco, Bottega truly is one the best restaurants I have had the pleasure of visiting. This place is 20/10 and I WILL be back as soon as I can.

This is a repost of my yelp review, I wanted to make sure it was on both...

I was delighted to see a neighborhood place open past 10. It’s uniquely difficult to find somewhere to eat in SF after 10, even on the weekend, and Bottega was bustling. The food was generously portioned and came out of the kitchen quickly. The Brussels sprouts were, as they often are, too salty. The pasta was, as reported here, too thick and too al dente. The sauces were downright gloppy, and actually the meat in the dishes (we shared the chicken parm and pasta with salmon) were so buried in thick orange sauces, I could hardly taste them. They had a generally nice flavor, though, even underneath the spackle and slabs of fettuccini. The chunks of salmon were tender and delicious. The overdressed chicken was…in there somewhere.

However, the disturbingly loud pop music was irritating, and the hyperattentive service was robotic, everpresent, and rather than caring, felt like a hustle. Even though it was late and the late-night rush was over, from the minute we walked in to the minute we left I felt burdened with a staff my partner astutely referred to as “performative.” Every time I got towards the denouement of a story, we were interrupted by a needy server or busser. Did we want to order now? How about now? Or now??? They refilled our water constantly when we didn’t need them to, and after a while the service felt insensitive and intrusive. In between unwelcome visits were throngs of waiters loudly singing “Happy Birthday” about every six minutes. So rather than an authentic, relaxing late dinner, as I have had in Italy, I left feeling exhausted. I recommend they turn down the music, and pay more attention to what the tables really need. We needed serving spoons because we were sharing, which arrived halfway through the meal. Are we finished yet? No? How about now? Or maybe now? Getting a feel for when to approach and when to back off is part of the art of being a waiter. I should know, as I was one for 13 years....