Address: | 230 California St, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA |
Phone: | +1 415-955-0663 |
Site: | perbaccosf.com |
Rating: | 4.2 |
Working: | 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 5:30–10PM Closed |
GE
Gerald Douglas
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 Id be tempted to slap my mama. Lets 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 youd 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 - Devils 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 wasnt tender even though it was presented medium rare and sadly a tough duck really is a mess. The brussel sprouts were decently prepared but didnt bring a redeeming factor to the meal. My wife had the rabbit and the saltiness was a bit overpowering and the sauce didnt 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 its just done correctly. The meat was tender and braised and matched so well with the pasta. If I were to ever go back Id 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 its not too far off from the 40 we were leaving but Id 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 to venture to.
A
A Private User
We had a company dinner here on a Monday evening. You would think a Monday evening would be the best day of the week to have a group dinner at a restaurant like Perbaccos. Unfortunately it was a disaster. First, our waiter had no clue as to which wine to recommend. I ordered the Niklas for the table and it was either wine gone sour or a bad year, neither of which the waiter could not tell me. The wine menu is not an easy read. The wait time between each serving was 30 minutes apart. We were sitting waiting and wondering what was taking so long. I ordered the Risotto with prawns, absolutely horrible, the worst I’ve ever had. I told Umberto, the owner, that the Risotto was too fishey and the sauce taste like it was out of a can. I then gave a recommendation on how to cook the prawns when cooking with Risotto, thankfully he took that suggestion into consideration. As we were leaving we noticed the prawns were being roasted and placed on top of the Risotto dishes ordered from other tables instead of being cooked with the Risotto. For my main course I asked Umberto to recommend a dish, he recommended the Sea Bass. I took two bites and sent that dish back to the kitchen. The awful thing was that one of our executives ordered the same dish and bit into an olive that had a stone inside and he had to leave early to find a dentist to fix his cracked crown. Unbelievable! I’m so glad I didn’t eat any further into my Sea Bass entree. If I had, I’m afraid there would have been 2 persons on their way to the dentist office. We ordered dessert which took more time than any. We were about to leave had I not gone to wander the restaurant to see if anyone had seen our waiter. The bill arrived. The Risotto and the Sea Bass I sent back were still on the ticket. I was not going to argue the two items. And neither will I ever going back. Unmberto knew we were not a happy group but did nothing to keep our business. As we were leaving Umberto hung around on the curb and watched us all walk away. Terrible business practice for a restaurant that was recommended.
A
A Private User
This restaurant has a nice italian menu and good service. Unfortunately, after having eaten here on three other occasions, I went with a group today for lunch and found the portions much smaller, the ingredients much poorer, and a hair in my dessert. I ordered the roast danjou pear and arugala salad with roast hazlenuts and gorgonzola to start. The gorgonzola was a thin sauce, sparsly applied. The pears lacked freshness and the texture was unpleasant. I had spezzatino as an entree. Stewed beef served on a bed of polenta because on my previous visit, a coworker ordered the dish and it looked and smelled fabulous. Today, the dish was considerably smaller. In the entire stew, there was ONE small whole onion and ONE chunk of carrot about 1 1/2 inches in length. The flavor of the stew was good but a couple of the chunks of beef were dry and slightly tough and the coworker who ate the meal last time ordered it again today and, also, was disappointed saying her meat had a lot of fat in it. Desserts at this restaurant are varied and generally very good. However, today when I ordered the Miascia which is apple bread pudding with moscato poached raisins and rosemary custard sauce, I found a long brown hair buried in the custard. Yech! I book our holiday dinners at Perbacco and weve held them there the past two years. I beleive Ill try a new place this year.