Luisa's Restaurant Wine Bar Since 1959 — Restaurant in San Francisco

Luisa's left much to be desired. With a decades long reputation, I expected more. For our first visit, we got the bruschetta and the specials: chicken piccata and eggplant parmesan.

Off to a bad start, the bruschetta was a lackluster and uneventful appetizer that accurately foreshadowed the rest of the meal. Although the produce was fresh enough, the bruschetta lacked seasoning that the disproportionate side of oil and balsamic vinegar could not compensate for. To make matters worse, the bread was reminiscent of store bought frozen take-and-bake white bread, crumbly in texture, frail in composition -- pitiful for a city known for its high quality breads. The untoasted crostini disintegrated and left a mealy taste on our palates before the main course.

The specials were nothing of the sort.  The eggplant parmesan (Italian style, not breaded and fried) had under-seasoned filets of eggplant layered between an obscene amount of mozzarella cheese, presumably to distract from the blandness of the jarred Ragu it was swimming in. My friend's review of the chicken piccata: flavorless, underwhelming, lacked the sear all expect from this classic dish. She described it as glorified hospital food. And for the price, glorified it was.

The basics and two wine glasses later, the $90 tab didn't inspire us to order the tiramisu as planned. We popped over to Lone Palm for a lovely espresso martini instead. Overall, I suggest saving your money and trying a frozen Rao's dinner.  It will taste better at a fraction of the cost.

Additionally, I highly advise a critical analysis of the styling and motif of the area to maintain freshness unless cheap 90s wine bar was what...

I had dinner at Luisa’s with my partner last Saturday. I read an article about Luisa on SFStandard a while ago and I’ve been wanting to try. On arrival, I was surprised to see Luisa there, in her booth, greeting us with a nice smile and a wave. That was probably the best part of the evening… We waited 15 minutes until someone brought water. We waited 30 minutes until our waiter took our order. We ordered a bottle of wine, an appetizer (meatballs) and 2 pizzas, following his recommandations. After another 15 min, we had to wave the waiter to ask if we would get our wine soon. We had been seated 45 min and we were still waiting on the drinks! He finally came back, broke the cork while opening the bottle, then poured us ridiculously massive glasses (like, 3/4 of the bottle). Wine wasn’t great but not his fault, we just didn’t pick well. Then he came back with our 2 pizzas. No sight of our appetizer. The pizzas (supposedly napolitana style) were just horrible. Thick dry crust, tasteless, plane boring. Frozen pizza style. We barely had half each. Then we waited and waited for the check. The waiter never came back to ask how things were going, if we needed anything, if we wanted dessert, coffee, another bottle of wine… We had the wave another waiter to get the check. When we got our card back, we left. A nice 100$ down the drain… I definitely don’t recommend Luisa’s. The place is cute and ambiance is nice, but the service is bad and the food is...

There are a lot of pasta options popping up around the city and they’re cool—sure. The food is great. The vibes are trendy. The menus are innovative and adventurous. What an awesome bounce-back from 2020. But let me tell you about Luisa’s—it’s a spiritual experience. The first time I tried it, Luisa herself happened to be dining across the room from me, gently social butterflying with various patrons. She loves her restaurant, she loves her food, and she loves people. Luisa is 95 years old, incredibly sweet, and has been working hard to share her high quality and beloved recipes for 75 of those years. To this very day she literally comes to work! Incredible. Oh—and the food will absolutely knock your socks off. Go ahead and try all the hip new pasta places, there are some great ones. But don’t forget to show Luisa’s some love too. You won’t regret it, and if you happen to get to meet her (I was there on a Saturday) you’ll definitely be inspired by her love for life! God bless you, Luisa!

Pollo Piemontese: 5/5 it’s the signature dish for a reason. Get it.

Lasagna Alla Bolognese: 5/5 I had a perfectly cooked and satisfyingly classic lasagna. I ordered it with the tomato sauce, but she also has vodka sauce, and I learned that you can special request either sauce to have some spice added! I honestly prefer my lasagna to have a little kick so I’ll have to try that another time, but my dish tonight what the spot for exactly what it was...