Fior d'Italia — Restaurant in San Francisco

Second time here for Sunday jazz. The first time I had a ravioli di zucchini which was too sweet for my taste, probably from the amaretti. Yesterday, I had a friend with me and we ordered escargot, insalata Romano, linguine with white clam sauce and roasted potatoes. The escargot were served in a small ramekin, out of the shell.The first bite told us that the snails were off, having a tinny taste as if they had been in the can too long. We returned them to the kitchen and were not charged for this appetizer. The salad was good with small fresh romaine heads sliced in half lengthwise and topped with the cheese and pine nuts. The linguine con vongole was a downright insult to Italian cooking. The “sauce” was flavorless, as if the cooking liquid that the clams had been steamed in had been dumped out and replaced with dishwasher. Although the plain pasta was prepared well, it was tasteless without any additional flavorings or sauce to accompany the clams. The roasted potatoes were okay. Service was another key disappointment. The waiters were abundant but clearly not there to serve the customers. They sat together at a table in the back of the dining room, conversing loudly for the musicians played. When the dining room started to fill up, they moved to the bar area. We waited to place our order for over 10 minutes. Our water glasses are not refilled and I had to get up and break up the party of waiters at the bar to get a refill. Although our waiter was sympathetic with our disappointment in the food, I would have liked to opportunity to speak with the manager or chef about the shortcomings we experienced with our meal. No such...

Was here for a big group dinner. The good: The burrata salad and the ossobuco was all right. The bad: The waiter we had was obnoxious and not good! We have one person with gluten free allergy (celiac!) and when the waiter brought out the entree, he did not remember which one was gluten free. Not only did the waiter not remember who ordered what, but he also did not remember which was the gluten free dish out of the 5 pasta dish! The waiter also pushed us to drink the wine and sparkling water instead of bringing us water! There were not enough cups at the table and it took forever to get tap water. Our water was also never filled and instead the waiter kept bringing more sparkling water. I suspect this is because this is a work dinner so he knew that we would just pay whatever the bill is, and wanted more tips (but also didn’t even pay attention to the person with allergy?) The desserts were SO BAD! They had did dish called Bacche Alla crema (cream and berries) and a version poached pear in cream and it was literally fresh fruit in heavy cream. Like watery heavy cream! The restaurant smells faintly of mildew/trash smell. I don’t know if this is a function of their carpet/ building being old but it was not a pleasant smell. The waiter kept going on about the history of the place, but the basic service quality and food quality were just not there. Go here for the “character” and the Instagram pics- don’t go here for...

Came here for an end-of-year dinner with family. We arrived at 5:30 pm so things were still pretty slow, as it got later more people came in and almost all tables were occupied. The lights were pretty dimmed, good for the atmosphere but it was pretty hard to read the menu😅 There was a pianist playing live music and grandma absolutely LOVED it (all the songs played were songs from the 50’s and it matched grandma’s taste😂). For starters we got the Caesar salad and fried calamari. The calamari was a huge basket and the tartar sauce that came with it was a good addition. Salad was standard but the bread that came with the table was AMAZING (yeah we liked it more than the salad😅). For mains we got Fettuccine ai Tre Latti (Alfredo), Tagliatelle alla Bolognese, Risotto alla Milanese, and Coniglio ai Funghi con Polenta (yes, that’s rabbit🐰). I personally preferred the two pasta dishes over the rabbit and risotto. But also that huge basket of calamari made us already half full when the mains arrived😩. We were already very full after the appetizers and mains but still felt like we had to get some dessert (there’s always a second stomach for desserts😏). As someone that isn’t really a big fan of desserts I actually LOVED the cheesecake! Overall the experience was good and I would recommend this place to anyone who’s looking for a place...