Really wanted to enjoy and support this neighborhood restaurant, but unfortunately we couldn't overlook our poor experience. We also want to set expectations for future patrons.
To start, service was extremely rough. We understand that the older gentleman was working by himself for some reason, so we tried to be as forgiving as we could. But the issues kept stacking up.
It was a rainy early evening, so the restaurant was perhaps only half occupied or less for most of the evening. Yet he passed on us repeatedly, so he could help other tables; we soon gave up and just watched him scramble back and forth. He definitely looked stressed, so we get it, but we couldn't help wonder about this staffing decision.
He finally got to us, and I noticed up close how frazzled and breathless he was. Poor guy. When he took our order, I also noticed the messy scribbling of orders on his notepad. This will come into play throughout the evening.
The food didn't make up for it unfortunately. The pasta came out first and was simply average. My partner had the parpadelle, and I got the ravioli. The ravioli was probably the best of the two, but the portion was sparse. On the bright side, the bread was good.
But we were still hungry. And our appetizer and salad never came. He was clearly struggling to serve everyone the whole evening. We noticed other diners impatiently turning their heads to look back at him and talking about the slow service. Eventually, we decided it seemed like a crapshoot that any more food would make it to us this evening. We decided to cancel the appetizer and salad and leave hungry.
Even after we paid, he experienced some confusion, which created more frustration for us--although we remained polite. After he realized his mistake, we left the restaurant.
Yet, the issues didn't stop. After we got home, we discovered we were charged for an extra wine. However, after I couldn't get ahold of anyone, I quickly gave up, deciding it wouldn't be worth the hassle.
Other notes:
In terms of the environment, the ambiance was actually pretty bad. The acoustics were terrible. You could hear everyone talk, especially with no background music. More egregious was how loud and disruptive the gentleman was as he cleared the tables, producing comically loud clanging as he collected the diningware. On top of that, it was also very cramped inside, although that can be forgiven for an SF restaurant.
Parking was tough, even on a pouring evening. It's right by Glen Park Bart.
I feel bad for the server. Only one person running around on a busy night. But it was also a disastrous situation that impacted our evening, as well as many other patrons.' As much as I love supporting smaller local establishments, I really can't recommend this one due to my experience. read more