Delfina Restaurant — Restaurant in San Francisco

Delfina will forever hold a special place in me heart. When I visited SF in 1999, Delfina had just opened and my friend had become friends with the couple who owned and ran this new restaurant at the time. They were a sweet couple, and the husband was the chef and the wife the manager. It was a good combo. They came and hung out with us and were super friendly. It made a lasting impression that really hasn't been altered after many visits since then, and by many visits I mean many, many since I've never lived more than a block away that entire time!

I was blown away by the quality of the food then as a visitor but more importantly, it has remained that good in my mind even as I adjusted to raised expectations after living here now for eleven years. They pretty much started the nuevo Italian cuisine movement in SF that has been copycatted so much since then. Everything, and I mean everything, is really really good. My standbys have always been their chicken and steak entrees, but whenever I've been in the mood for pasta, their creations don't ever disappoint.

Service is nearly impeccable, it's hard for me to think back to a bad experience there. They're knowledgable about the wines and food without sounding pretentious.

It's great to see them continue to do well after all these years, the dining room always full of happy customers and management never lapsing on quality or coasting on their reputation. This is one of the best of the best and set a bar for the Mission which has rarely been met by many comers and goers the past 15...

Atmosphere/ vibe were great but the food was so not good.

Bread and ricotta - bread was great and ricotta was tasty but close to only 1 spoonful of ricotta for a solid amount of bread (ricotta was an extra $9)

Warm olives - olives were delicious (not pitted fyi) and actually HOT! once they were cool enough to eat we polished them off.

Calamari- was an interesting take on a classic, large (grilled) chunks of squid with some rice beans and olives. happy to have tried it but would not get again.

Cherry pie pizza - had 2 bites and did not take anything home… im prepared to rip this to shreds but ill keep my critique simple. Cheese was rubbery and hard to chew, wayy too soggy with too much tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes were much to wet as well. Last but not least there was NO integrity of the slice, you try to pick it up and all the ingredients fall off which is so awful on so many levels but worst of all lazy design. If i cooked a pizza that was as flimsy as loose leaf paper, i would throw it away immediately but here that’s standard i guess.

Tagliatelle- essentially spaghetti bolognese with a tagliatelle noodle. My partner enjoyed so good reviews there.

I saw this coming a mile away once i sat down with the menu. I hate this feeling, nothing worse than knowing you will spend ~100 per person for a full dinner and still leave hungry.

To other review readers, and my friends/ acquaintances I strongly advise against dining here. you can do a lot better for a lot cheaper (check out...

The remodeled place looks good. Menu is looking good with some promising dishes (passatelli in Brodo,…). Service was hum... I really wanted to try (again) this place but they didn’t want to make an exception by serving a pizza margherita to my 8 y.o. daughter. They make all Pizze to go (all kind) at the entrance but you can’t order one and eat it in the restaurant, even if we were going to order plenty of dishes from the dinner menu. The manager refused us to order a pizza different from the dinner menu (one with clams, and i don’t want to even remember the other) They are making all pizze (pie) at the counter, right next to you but that is for the people - outside- To Go. Try to understand that stupid situation and explain it to your kids. So we decided to leave that pretentious spot with its upscale menu to its snobish front hostess and her passive aggressive attitude. In Italia we treat kids with love and respect, good food is a religion, price are not that ridiculous. I know SF don’t give a ish to kids. Stop messing around. We never refuse a pizza to a kid even if it tastes more like a pie than a pizza. And if it’s to offer a spaghetti pomodoro, i’d stay home and make the best one. This kind of place wouldn’t last one year in Italy. Dai vai fare un giro in Italia poverina. Non hai capito cose le piu importante parte de la cucina italiana. La generosita....