Penne for Your Thoughts Cal-Italian restaurant in the quaint town of Larkspur that's celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. Picco blends the best of California with locally sourced and fresh produce with classic and modern takes on Italian dining. They are also Michelin recognized, as they've been Bib Gourmand winners ('21-23) in the past, and are currently "Recommended." The Good: * Reservations via OpenTable * Free street and City-owned lots available but there are time limitations, so check the signage. * They also run a pizzeria (Pizzeria Picco) literally right next door if you'd rather have a pie than pasta. * Outdoor dog-friendly seating * Waitstaff was fantastic and friendly. * Also has a bar if you just want to come in for a drink or three. * Local brews on tap, as well as a full oeuvre of alcoholic beverages. * They're known for their changing seasonal risotto, and after one bite, it was easy to see why! It was simply fantastic, as the rice was cooked perfectly and the fresh spring flavors in ours shone. * Carissa loved her King Salmon and veggies, as the fish was cooked perfectly. I ordered a daily special with house-made pappardelle noodles and smoked beef short ribs, and while it looked like a hot mess, it was fantastic. The noodles were thick and held up well to the assertive smoke and flavor of the beef--just a perfect dish in my opinion.. The Meh: * The Polenta-Crusted Artichoke Hearts appetizer was just OK. I liked the crunch and how they tried to present them as chicken wings, but they ate a little dry and the coating needed more seasoning. Fortunately, their concomitant aioli was able to save the day. The Ugly: * Not the biggest restaurant, and with the brick walls, it can get raucous in there fairly easily, especially if a large post-wedding party shows up to the bar to get sauced. Conclusion: Fantastic spot for a date night or any other occasion with great ambiance, service, and, most importantly, food. Highly recommended. read more

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Our plans for my birthday weekend got cancelled suddenly so we had to quickly pivot. We ended up in this area for the night and we spotted Picco on the Michelin guide. We grabbed an early reservation on a Saturday night but we always eat early anyways so it was a win for us. The service was outstanding. And the food was excellent. I wasn't a big fan of the crispy polenta but I'm also not big on artichokes. John loved it. My salmon dish and the vegetables that came with it was so good. I couldn't stop raving about it. Larkspur is such a cute little town. Wish we had more time to explore. read more

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Another Michelin-recognized spot that delivers every time. Thoughtful food, great execution, and consistently memorable. A strong choice for anyone who prioritizes food quality and wants a special but not stuffy experience. read more

On the way back from Dawn Falls Trail we had dinner here. Nice outdoor parklet with heat lamps. We enjoyed their pizza and appetizers. The mushroom risotto was really good. Little gem salad was average so I would try another saladCocktail and wine selection was good too. The dessert was good - soft serve and the apple tart. Service was good as well - friendly and prompt. read more

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Another great dinner at Picco. Lovely weather for eating outside. Enjoyed the rigatoni alla Norma and the ibis pizza. Lots of olives for the appetizer. Always great service. read more

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Very small portions. Had to send back one meal. Salmon was fishy. Pizza was good. Service was mediocre.

Great waitress Lorraine ! Some good food but a shock for a New York. Steak for 52$! Dry and sinewy and a strange tough cut ...a deal breaker ... read more

Food was pretty tasty. We shared an order of Avocado Toast which was mouthwateringly delicious. Perfectly ripe avocado sprinkled with salt and a drizzle of sweet balsamic served on a slab of crispy sourdough. From there we ordered Mary's chicken and a Gnocchi with spicy sausage main courses to share. The gnocchi was pillowy soft intermingled with substantial pieces of spicy Italian sausage. The Mary's chicken was tasty but overdone. The plate was drowned in an oily sauce, I guess to compensate for the dryness of the chicken? Although the sauce was tasty it really soaked the chicken and potatoes in a lot of oil. Note to self - Next time sauce on the side. The service was meh. Our waiter was good but terribly overworked. When I asked for a taste of my $30 glass of white wine he ran over dropped it and ran away before I could say yeh or neg. It would have taken a moment to decide but ok. We had to wait around for another 10 minutes for him to circle around. The person who dropped our meals was devoid of personality. If he could have thrown the dish at us I think he would have. It's a shame but it's also hard to want to give a greater tip when the service isn't great. We tip anyway but maybe not as generously as we would if we get really great service. All in all I might go back. I've been here probably 15 or 20 times but it's not that close to me and since I neither think the food is superlative and now the service I'n not sure it's worth the effort to travel 20 minutes to get there. read more

Through our son and daughter-in-law we met many of their social circle and one particular couple/family has been absolutely wonderful to us when we have visited the San Rafael area. To thank them, we asked them to dinner at a place of their choosing and they chose Picco. It was very nice, wonderful and warm, with excellent service and a menu with conventional as well as unique items and terribly expensive. $350 dinner, appetizers and drinks for four was a lot for us, especially as we moved out of California years ago. But we are so grateful for this family that it was well worth it and we will be thanking them again and again. Picco is a good spot and we will be back. read more

The restaurant adds 4.5% fee to the total bill, before tip. We added the relevant amount to hit a 20% tip (total), and got attitude from the waiter as they thought it was low (- because we hadn't added 20% on top of the 4.5%). I watched him show the receipt to other wait staff as if we had done something wrong. It wasn't even great service to begin with, which is a pity as the food was good. Definitely won't be returning. read more

For sure one of the nicest restaurants in Marin - great service, cool atmosphere (actually has cool vibes past 8pm which is sometimes rare for Marin!). Avocado bruschetta is a MUST! read more

Restaurant Picco - Avocado Bruschetta (chorizo on the side!) - Italian Near Me - Larkspur, California

Dined here recently to celebrate a birthday and was underwhelmed. The physical space feels dated and in need of a refresh. Service with a smile was absent, replaced with a terse, all-business approach. Food was fine, but my NY strip steak was undercooked - despite ordering it medium rare - tough, and served cool. Birthday celebration assistance was cursory, merely amounting to a candle stuck into a dessert we had already ordered. Likely won't consider Restaurant Picco for the foreseeable future and certainly not for celebrations. read more

Food was great. Ambiance was lively and great for a Saturday night. Service was a touch slow and not much interaction after you order. I guess that is a personal preference. Took a while to get dessert menu and there was no return to ask for a second drink. The pirogies and the salmon tartar were fantastic. Definitely recommend people check it out! read more

Restaurant Picco - Pirogies (spelling?) were fantastic. - Italian Near Me - Larkspur, California

The best gnocchi I have ever had, full stop! Great wine selection and the service was amazing. I only wish we could have had the pizza inside the restaurant, but that is a small price to pay for everything else that was so great. read more

Had a lovely dinner here with my in-laws. Our server was very nice and attentive. The food was delicious. Really loved the avocado bruschetta. I had the Sole which was cooked very well. My mother in-law had the risotto and raved about it. We all got dessert, their soft serve is excellent. I got the chocolate with hot fudge while my husband got the vanilla with dark caramel. Both were fantastic. read more

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Food and ambiance was fantastic. The avocado bruscetta was both beautiful and delicious, especially the chorizo side topping. read more

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This was an outstanding meal! The service was great, as usual. It's always really cute inside, albeit a little loud. Filet mignon carpaccio, crispy rice with tuna, melon and burrata, gnocchi with sausage, and pumpkin curry. read more

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Always consistently excellent. The new chef Is great. He was even nice enough to give us some suggestions on how to cook duck from a recent hunt my Son did. Highly recommend the spinach artichoke appetizer as well as the tuna tar tar read more

The pizza looks and tastes burnt very pricey too noisily and not many good options in the menu.

a mixed experience. first i will say the food was very good. my pork chop was good, my wife's risotto was excellent and my daughter's chicken Parmesan was fine as well. but as for the rest... we had early reservation and wa sled to the worst table in the restauran with multiple open tables available. I requested a different table and the host, somewhat sullenly informed me other tables had reservation; which I informed him we did too. reseated the servers and service was completely phoned in. appetizers arrived before the wine did; plates were cleared before we were finished, the din in the room was jarring and the espresso i ordered never did arrive. good food; yes. fine dining? hardly. read more

Sabri was amazing! From the moment we arrived, he was so welcoming and made us feel right at home. His warmth and hospitality made the whole experience so enjoyable. We truly felt taken care of and appreciated. Highly recommend read more

Restaurant Picco - Italian Near Me - Larkspur, California

This is one of my husband and my favorite restaurants - the inside is so nice and cozy during the winter and in the summer, their outdoor dining is wonderful! You can only get pizza outside - our top choice is the Kona with tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, jalapeño, scallion, red onion, pineapple, house coppa (yes, pineapple goes on pizza!) On their indoor menu, they usually have amazing daily specials to choose from like a savory duck pasta (see photo) or a filet mignon with creamy mashed potatoes. My husband always gets the sausage and mushroom gnocchi - it's one of his all-time favorite dishes. For dessert they have delicious seasonal cannolis that we highly recommend. read more

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Fantastic- service, food and ambiance. Wine and cocktail selection doesn't disappoint either. Favorites were tuna tartare, seared tuna crudo and the half chicken. Don't miss the soft serve with olive oil and sea salt. A perfect dessert to cap a wonderful meal. read more

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Ordered a pizza for pick up at a later time. Went to pick up the pizza, and it was cold. So be warned, if you order a pizza, they're not going to cook it at a specified time for optimal pick up. I would go elsewhere. read more

We got take out. The pizzas were ok but only half way cut through. Not a big deal but for $31... We got the burrata for $29. It was one small piece of burrata and about 6 small pieces of fruit and I mean small. It has been a while since we were there and, obviously, they are more interested in a profit than in quality. We won't be back. read more

We dined here on 9/24 at 7 pm with a party of 4. Food was amazing. Ambiance too dark. Could barely see each other. Service the worst I've had in a long time. The older woman who works there really shouldn't work in a service industry. She splashed water on me without apologizing when first pouring us water. I thought something dropped on me from the ceiling and she cheerfully said "oh I must have splashed you".....and throughout the meal, she almost knocked stuff over multiple times. Later she spilled beer and wine all over my partner's father and barely apologized. His clothes were soaked and his phone and car key got wet. Despite all these mishaps, not a single thing was comped even though they spilled all over the poor man and the table. It was also my partner's stepmom's birthday and again no free dessert, nothing. I've never eaten somewhere where there is such a huge mishap and nothing is comped. You should at least offer to cover dry cleaning!!! More on the awful waitress: she talked my partner's mom into not getting the risotto because it would take too long to come out. Then it took forever for them to bring out any entrees and she could have gotten it after all. I repeat: this woman really needs to not work in service. She also never repeated back any orders after we placed them. Her attitude sucked too. Maybe she had a bad day but holy hell. At these prices, service needs to be better. It's a shame that a place like this doesn't have better service because it ruins the experience... read more

hands down the best pizza i have had in Marin and will tie with the best of the best in north beach or the marina. their sliders are also exceptionally good. the outdoor seating area is perfect on a nice summer evening. wine and champagne selection is quite decent too read more

Brought my parents here and we really loved the food. Who would have thought avocado bruschetta, a different take on avocado toast, could be that tasty and simple. The tuna bites were my fave--the crunchy rice cake under the tuna tartare was just magnificent. Although you can get soft serve for about $1 at McDonald's, here it was $6, then extra for chocolate hard shell and then extra for the Marcona almonds--but so so so good! read more

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overall A+: Lovely local place, food amazing, service amazing given the busy dog and child-filled scene, sat outside in sunshine: halibut ceviche, filet mignon carpaccio, snap peas, kona pineapple jalapeno onion pizza, bourbon and gin cocktails. Daily specials are fantastic; highly recommend. read more

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We had a reservation for a Sunday night. It was busy but not full. The outdoor space is pretty small. Tables inside were a bit crowded. Nice decor. Service was well-paced and attentive. Our server was friendly as expected at this more upscale location. Some of our food dishes were great, but the linguini pasta was a bit chewy and gooey. It was not done right. So we skipped it and just ate the other parts of the dish. Snap peas were the bomb - slightly spicy. They had a very extensive wine list, including "by the glass". read more

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Wow! I'm so impressed by Restaurant Picco! Made a suggestion coming to this place for dinner to friends and none of us had dined here before. We came on a Saturday evening and were able to get a table inside. We ordered sliders, grilled octopus, and avocado bruschetta to share as our appetizers. Every single dish was outstanding! The sliders were among the best I've ever had and I'm not even a huge fan of sliders. These sliders are so unique with very complex flavors hitting all your taste buds! It even had cucumber kimchi in it. 10 out of 10!! The grilled octopus and avocado bruschetta were equally remarkable!! I'm drooling thinking about them. By this point I was even more excited about my entree which was the sausage gnocchi. When I took the first bite, I was literally smiling in foodie heaven! I absolutely loved this dish, so meaty and satisfying! I got to try my friend's risotto which was timed to cook every 30 minutes. That was impressive and tasted super yummy. But my gnocchi was better of course, haha!! I'm so glad that I finally tried this awesome restaurant and can't wait to return for many more visits in the near future! read more

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Definitely a good spot for a pizza, some wine, and people watching. We ordered a bottle of wine (out of stock of the Rhone) instead got a nebbiolo, the Nero squid ink sea urchin bucatini pasta and the special pizza (sausage pepperoni mozz) Pasta came first, nice and hot, lots of ingredients. Terrific. Pizza, nice but toppings could have been more.. Uniform. We were enticed to get a dessert after, but unfortunately nothing on the dessert menu interested us this night. Perhaps if there was tiramisu, we would have had one read more

Restaurant Picco - Nero uni bucatini - Italian Near Me - Larkspur, California

Used to be our amazing place but as you can see from my review many years ago- not so much! It hadn't changed! A bit dingy and same food. I believe the pizza may be awesome but went for a dining experience and was very disappointed! If you can get a reservation. there is a reason! read more

One of our favorite casual dinner spots as a family w/ the dog or with friends. The seasonal menus are well-rounded and do a great job showcasing in-season produce. The salads, pizza, starters are all inventive and I haven't had a dish that I haven't liked! They don't take reservations so there can be a wait when the weather is nice. read more

We usually enjoy this place but got really disappointed when they served us morels. At first chew our mouth was filled with grit and sand. We tried again and it was the same. They immediately offered an alternative but when the check came we realized they still made us pay for the dish we returned despite the feedback. They claimed that "morels are very hard to clean". It may be true but it shouldn't be the customer's issue. We have been regulars , we live in the neighborhood, and were disappointed by their approach to customer service. read more

Wild Mushroom is the Best!!! Great outdoor seating. Great . Highly recommend the salads too

Pricey! We got there on a Saturday night around 7, prime dinner time, and we had to wait for a bit without having a reservations. We had to sit outside (but they have heat lamps) to get seated sooner. The service was good, waitress was super friendly. We ordered the margherita pizza and the whole branzino which came with bok choy and tempura sweet potato. The branzino was around $50! Both entrees were good. The pizza came out SUPER fast, but we had to wait for the branzino for over an hour. However, the waitress did apologize for the long wait and offered to give us a free dessert or frozen pizza, which was really nice/thoughtful. read more

This restaurant is always a winner with super friendly service, insanely delicious food , and a great atmosphere for all occasions

Wow is this placed overpriced! The food is a 6, service is a 6, ambiance is a 6 and prices are sky high!!!! Typical southern Marin crowd. Hard pass. read more

While some dishes where good others less but for 5 starters to end up paying $200 for us equals unreasonably expensive. Would advise to think certainly if you want to go and over pay for good food at a AMAZING food prices. read more