January 16, 2008

San Francisco, CA

Farina Focaccia & Cucina Italiana ~ 3560 18th St, (415) 565-0360


I drive by this restaurant weekly and every time, I think, "self, you have to try it". The space is sleek and sexy looking. I have had two reservations and have had to cancel both for various reasons. After finally dining there I realized the reason for canceling previous reservations was because it was an omen - an omen not to go.


My friend D. and I were really looking forward to a nice Italian dinner. We were very disappointed when we walked out the door. I arrived a few minutes before my friend D., so I went to the bar for a glass of wine. It took 1 bartender 5 minutes to finally pry himself away from the other 2 bartenders to bring me a wine menu, then another 5 minutes before he asked what I wanted and then another 3 minutes to poor me a glass of wine and then I had to ask for the check 10 minutes later - yes, I kept track of the time. The bar was not busy. The host/hostess staff was fine, nothing to really write about, we were seated and they did a nice job of seating us. Our waitress could had used a couple shots of espresso to liven herself. We ordered the house salad with was made with bibb lettuce and too many dandelion greens with a light dressing. The wild greens were completely overwhelming. The bread with olives was good but you had to ask for either olive oil or butter to go with it. D. ordered a basic ravioli and I ordered a tortellini. Our plates arrived - she had 5 very thin raviolis with a red sauce and I had 5 tortellinis in a cream sauce. You must be thinking we ordered appetizers, right? Well, we did not, these were the pasta entrees for a whopping $17 per place. We decided to skip dessert and just order coffee, which was just okay. Overall, the service was bland, the food was equally bland and the experience was too expensive for "ragu". Recount: two house salads, two pasta dishes, two coffees with a tip was $55 per person!


I give it a 1 fork rating for atmosphere only, the space is very nice. If you love good food, take your money across the way and hit Delfina, you will not leave there disappointed!

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