Perbacco — Restaurant in San Francisco

I really wanted this review to be better and perhaps the lower rating is due to these high expectations but there were far too many things that were average at best with my experience with the meal.

I had looked through the reviews here and on other sites and many people went on and on about the grand experience here so suffice it say, I was salivating.

The decor was grand and indicative of a post work eatery in the Financial District of any big city and with its tiled floor and mahogony bar I felt like we were in store for a meal that was so good I'd be tempted to slap my mama.

Let's get down to it --

Appetizers

1. Burrata Cheese / Black Olive Condimento / Arugula / Grilled Filone
2. Roasted Octopus / Saffron Poached Potato / Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette / Salsa Verde

The Burrata was what you'd expect. Straight forward cheese with a slight bit of resistance when sliced but roasted and creamy when spread on the bread and balanced with the olive.

The Roasted Octopus however had some winning moments as it was trying to morph into a foie gras with the soft texture and taste. This was a pleasant surprise.

Dinner:

1. Two of us had Liberty Farms Duck Breast / Brussels Sprouts And Apples In Padella / Pancetta / Passato Di Sancrau
2. Coniglio Al Civet - Devil's Gulch Rabbit / Spiced Red Wine Sauce / Otto File Polenta
3. Beef Short Rib Stracotto / Root Vegetable Purée / Roasted Golden Turnips And Cipolline

The duck breast that I and a friend had wasn't tender even though it was presented medium rare and sadly a tough duck really is a mess. The brussel sprouts were decently prepared but didn't bring a redeeming factor to the meal.

My wife had the rabbit and the saltiness was a bit overpowering and the sauce didn't compliment the meal in the least. It was as if the sauce was the star as opposed to the pasta portions.

The winner of the meal was certainly the short ribs as noted by other posts. It won far and away as the other meals certainly left us flat but also because it's just done correctly. The meat was tender and braised and matched so well with the pasta.

If I were to ever go back I'd certainly have that meal but I doubt that I will.

There were some great aspects to the restaurant -- the drinks were made very well and were replaced with an easy frequency. And the overall bill was only 200.35 for the food and with a total of 10 beverages.

I do have to say that our service was a seriously negative factor with the meal. Our server was hard to locate and hear, granted the place was full and she was scampering about trying to attend to far too many tables. One really odd part of the evening was when we were totaling up the bill -- we each were paying 60 dollars. So like any we have done in many other restaurants, we threw in a myriad of payment options. One person threw in 60 in cash and the I and another person decided to use a credit card.

When we gave the server the bill, I said please put 120 on my card, 60 on the other card and use the cash as well. When I got the bill back I had a total of 140 and the cash was gone. Apparently she was so enamored with her service of avoidance and whispers that she gave herself a sixty dollar tip. Now it's not too far off from the 40 we were leaving but I'd never heard of anything like that before.

It was a slight hassle correcting the matter but at least it was done with. Just an odd experience overall.

I would recommend this place as a great spot to meet and greet for drinks and maybe eating at the bar but as for a dinner, there are more than enough restaurants in SF...

I came here for my birthday dinner on November 21 as a solo diner. I was also celebrating the last night. I would ever be able to have pasta again due to the fact that I was just recently diagnosed with celiac disease. I was hoping for a beautiful birthday dinner, but it was far from being enjoyable. Despite the fact that it wasn't busy and my server only had 2 other tables in his section, it took my server 12 minutes to greet my table. I then had to prompt him not to leave the table because I was ready to take my order. As I waited for my first course, he got sat with another table with 2 women of color. He also proceeded to ignore them as they tried gaining his attention on many occasions just to put in simple orders. But I watched as he was extremely attentive and genuinely happy to serve the two 4 tops of all ppl of non color in front of me. I decided I was just going to ignore what was happening and just enjoy the night. But midway through my entree, I look up from my plate, and I see your manager begrudgingly staring at me and the ladies sitting at the booth from across me. I smiled at him to try and diffuse the awkwardness, but he rolled his eyes and then walked off. I tried finishing my meal, but at that point, it just felt really uncomfortable, so I paid my bill and left. I left a polite note for your server inviting him to visit the restaurant i serve at if he ever wants to see what service is like when ALL people are treated fairly. If you don't want black people to dine at your restaurant, you can just put a sign up saying so. I do want to give my compliments to the host(she's a vert lovely person), the backwaiters, food...

Not the type of place I normally go to. Then again I'm not some executive who meets with other execs. This is just another really fancy cafeteria for rich business people.

I was taken to this restaurant for lunch by my new employer. So it wasnt my choice. But the group seemed to enjoy it.

The menu is very limited. I imagined Chef Gordon Ramsey twisting the restaurant's owner's arm to scale the menu down to a few specialties.

If you're like me, a vegan who has gluten intolerance issues this is probably not where you'd want to find yourself.

Could i have gotten a salad? Sure! If i didnt get the dressing and cheese and the meat protein it would come with it.

So I went for the vegan pasta with a simple tomato sauce. Why not the Gluten free pasta you might wonder?? Because the server was nice enough to share that it contained egg. Whew! They also offered roasted potatoes but I didn't order that because I noticed in someone else's order that they were too oily.

The rest of the table ordered the risotto, the stake, (which came sliced and with a few roasted potatoes scattered on the plate), calamari, some poor animal's shank... don't know lamb or pork.

The decor is nothing extraordinary. To me what stood out more was the vibe that the managers are trying to create: just another high end restaurant where business people can go and talk whilst not paying any attention to the food.

I should say that people seem to enjoy their food. But this is definitely not my kind of place to go ever, unless they dedicated some time to create at least one awesome vegan and gluten free friendly dish that would be worth the average $25 per...