Pizzetta 211 — Restaurant in San Francisco

Back in 2008 when I had freshly returned to San Francisco from a month in Europe which included two weeks in Italy spanning the range of Milan, Rome and Venice my palate, understanding and respect for pizza was changed forever. I somehow deduced that Pizzetta 211 and Delfina were the only ways to feel satisfaction around this type of pizza considering that. Back then, it was true. I held Pizzetta 211 as one of the greatest in the City and even later found out there was some type of connection this place has to members of Empire Pizza, which is in my book the reigning defending King and/or Queen of New York Style Pizza and Grandma Style in the City.

This all being said, I may have very well stacked the deck too high and formed expectations of Pizzetta 211 by coming in right on the dot at their posted opening time of 1130. This shows my enthusiasm, my care, my preset respect for them, my naïve allegiance to the 2009 mindset that they are one of the best in the City, which has lasted for 13 years. That is, until one fateful October morning. Look at these pictures, folks. This is how it was handed directly to me from the host. I showed this to one of my good friends who also understands and respects the craft of pizza in as severe a way and he said "this is a hate crime."

Anthony Bourdain would agree. The fact that the pizza is falling apart and clearly not handled with care could have been forgiven if the quality of the actual product was higher. It was good. It very good although reliant on the olive oil to achieve being good. But after now trying 46 pizza places since May of 2022 without any pre-judgement and open mind to try them all, I am sorry. to say Pizzetta 211 has become a very average place. No knock on them, maybe if I sat down and ate there I would have been given a product that was not apart but the truth is I did not feel welcomed there.

This is the kind of place that goes into red alert mode when you just walk in the door. Most of the staff wearing masks, including the host who was nice. I observed a male employee who honestly looked homeless and dirty and was just singing and speaking out loud, very loudly, any random thought coming to his mind as someone might do if they were alone. As a Bay Area Native I know this just how people are here but of the 46 places I went to I never saw anything like his decorum aside from places in the Tenderloin. And I do not mean the people who work at Pizza places in the Tenderloin. And he was behaving that way in front of paying customers. It felt like there is not much of a value on decorum from all the employees here which is fine. Not everyone will have a problem with this and maybe even enjoy the way it is here more than I. These are just my objective observations.

If the pizzetta was any more than $14 and went into the $20 I would be very displeased with the product objectively aside from the discomfort attributable to the staff which render my desire to actually sit down and eat there null and void, even if I had the time to. I could be convinced, and at other places I have been. There was nothing happening in this instance to produce convincing. For $14 is was very good. A lot better than many other options you could make. And it is a nice little cozy place with an overall good vibe in a very nice quiet area of town that I would imagine would be a good time to sit at and lounge with a friend and have a few courses together. Back in 2009 there was a lot less options for good pizza here. And they really were a standard bearer then. It's just now there are better places in both product and in professionalism and treatment from the staff.

Nonetheless, wishing this business continued success and very happy you exist! Keep up the good work you do do because it is noticeable that overall this is a great establishment I just did not draw the best out of them! Perhaps because I came in right on the dot at the opening...

Food 4/5 The wait 0/5 Waitress 5/5 = Overall experience 3/5

Waited 60 minutes for a table for two with my sister on a Friday evening, from 7:01pm and got seated at 8:03 pm. Not going to lie, the wait sucked. We only did it because we were killing time to meet up with a friend in the area later that evening.

When we finally sat down, the waitress sounded surprised we weren't given a menu to look at when we were seated by the host. But it's okay, my sister and I already looked at the menu online on our phones while waiting and knew what we wanted to order immediately when we were seated.

We ordered: Field Green Salad ($6) Two Tomato, Mozzarella, Basil pizzas ($13 each)

The Field Green Salad was a nice portion and tasted really fresh. My sister and I split it and really enjoyed it. I would rate it a solid 5/5. Very plain but delicious (we were also starving...) It came out within 10 minutes of us ordering.

The pizzas on the other hand were good. I would rate it a 4/5. I can tell fresh ingredients were used, but the cheese was so cheesy that every time I took a bite, I would eat more cheese than the slice I intended to consume and it would leave me eating parts of pizza of just crust/margarita sauce. Oh well, I just haven't eaten a cheese pizza that was so cheesy where the cheese just slides off like that. The pizzas came out about 20 minutes after we ordered. But overall, I have eaten better pizza at Eataly and Roberta's pizza in Los Angeles.

Other random tidbits -It was nice that the host would periodically update us on our waitlist status every 10-20 minutes or so -We noticed that a lot of customers behind us would wait max ~30 minutes and then order pizza to go -We were the only Asians there -The bathroom was cute - one stall, go straight to the back... a small space but nicely decorated. -Water is free, comes in a cute large glass with however many glass cups of people at your table, self-pour style -Finding parking for this place was a nightmare. I circled 3 times and realized I had to go out further so parked 0.5 miles away before finally finding meter parking. But the meter parking was free (after 6pm is what the signs said) so I think that's why it was so difficult.

Overall my sister and I were starving by the time the food finally came and so we ate everything. The food was good--fresh but nothing special. The wait sucked. Our waitress though was really nice! I liked her. The host was okay, it was nice he updated us on our waitlist status. I don't think we will ever return though. But if you are in the area and craving pizza, sure... give it a try! Just maybe order it to go? Whatever you're in the mood for.

PS--I noticed it says "Cash only" here on Google but we paid with credit...

Met up with friends on a Friday night for pizza and quality time - Pizzetta 211 turned out to be a great venue for it. Yes, they didn't take reservations so yes, our party of 5 had quite the wait ahead of us since we arrived at 7:15pm but the heated lamps and being able to pull up 5 chairs into a small circle definitely helped pass the time just a little quicker. Admittedly, we almost lost faith. At about 8pm, we still hadn't been sat and almost got up to leave but the guy that took our name quickly came over and talked us into staying pointing at the table that would be ours. Alright, sold.

We began our meal with the cheeseboard which comes with 5 crostini, olives, candied walnuts, plums, and two cheeses. Ours was a funky goat cheese and a smoky hard gouda. Yum. Both were so good and no, that wasn't just the hunger talking. We also opted for a bottle of Fiano di Avellino which was deliciously fruity and not too dry.

For pizzas, different people shared different pies. I shared the fresh farm egg pizza with a friend. ABSOLUTELY DELISH. Everything played so well together from the pesto to the sundried tomatoes, pepperoni, and creamy fresh egg. The crust is thin and crispy so it may not be everyone's favorite texture, but I still enjoyed it (even though my favorite style is pan crust).

To complete our meal we had to have dessert. We split both the flourless chocolate almond cake and the daily special which was a plum(?) galette. Both again we're great. The housemade whip was definitely also a fan favorite on both. If I had to choose though, I'd go for the galette again. It's play on sweet and sour was just so so GOOD. But if you're a purist looking for a sweet dessert, that rich chocolate cake would be right up your alley.

All in all, it was a great meal. Highly...