Il Pirata — Restaurant in San Francisco

[from jul 2006]

I got two meals takeaway here this afternoon, so I can't really comment much on service, ambience, etc.

The person who took down my order and handed me my food was friendly enough. The portions were HUMUNGOUS -- each $9 meal could easily feed 2-3 hungry people.

The food seemed to be of decent quality... nice cuts of meat, not fatty or bony.

So if you're looking for a good value and reasonably tasty food -- I'd give this place 4 or 4.5 stars.

BUT... if you're looking for something that tastes more than a couple of notches above cafeteria food, you may want to look elsewhere. The chicken marsala and stuffed pork were both sadly uninspired, to say the least. Tender, yes, even a bit juicy... but just otherwise nothing to write home about.

One more positive item, though, in this pathetically disjointed review: The veggies were cooked decently... not mushy, not like a rock. So for once -- and maybe this is a good thing -- I was far more inspired to eat all my veggies INSTEAD of the meat. My veghead friends...

More than friendly staff. Not a "hip" joint, mostly because it does not get too much foot traffic. But they have a great selection of italian american food and all the big players in the beer game. Prices are like any other dive bar and if you are a sports fan, this place will take care of you. Patio area is great to hang out in and very spacious. My friends and I threw a special event here and they were more than willing to work with us to setup their sound with our mixers. I use to come here on Wednesdays for their psy-trance parties and they were...

The bar itself was a fun dive bar. They had Monday Night Football on and a good selection of beers. The issue was, that over the course of just more than an hour, both one of my buddies and my car were broken into as we were parked on Utah Street. Both had windows shattered and they rummaged through the car. It was a pretty well-lite street with enough people around right outside of the UPS center there I wasn't too worried. My mistake I guess. I'd recommend only coming if you are getting a ride or...