A16-Bware
A group of hounds met at A16 last nite for a chow down. Malik had called several times to confirm the reservation. I arrived about 15 minutes early and decided to whet my appetite with a glass of wine. The bartender was very busy and it took about 10 minutes to get a glass of wine (strike 1). Interestingly enough when presented with the bill for the wine which was listed for $7, the bill was for $7.60....a creative approach to adding tax to an already taxed item that probably cost the restaurant about $7 a bottle (strike 2). We had all arrived shortly after 8pm and were told that the table was not available because "people were staying too long" About 15 minutes later still no table and we got comped a half glass of barely drinkable wine. About 15 minutes later several pizzas were ordered as we stood in the bar area. Forty five minutes later and still no table, no pizza (strike 3, I had an early appt. next AM and walked out.) Please forgive me fellow hounds for jumping ship, I hope you didn't have to pay for the meal and that it was tasty, but that's no way to run a restaurant!
michael
Mar 11, 2004 03:40PM
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We had a similar bad experience at A-16 this past weekend. After reading the wonderful reviews that were on Chowhound, we opted to go there for Saturday Lunch. There were 2 other occupied tables (the place was practically empty) and it took an awfully long time for the waitress to come and take our order. Another 2 top came in about 10 minutes after we had. They received their appetizers, pizza and were leaving before we had even gotten our pizza delivered. When our pizza did come, the margarita (sp?) was burnt a deep black around the crust and soggy and runny in the middle and there wasn't much flavor at all. (and before we were served our pizza, not only did two of the cooks lift it up to check out if it was done, but the waitress and the buswoman both picked it up with their bare fingers {right after they had cleared another table}to check it out. After we ate, the waitress totally disappered and we had another loooonnng wait for the check. Once we left, we also realized we were overcharged. We gave it a try, but we won't be going back. Hope others have a better experience.
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We had arguably the worst service experience of my life. We waited over an hour. The first 45 minutes I was pretty Zen about it. Clearly they were overbooked and we were a large party--it happens. Then after an hour, I asked the manager (at least someone told me that's who she was) if we were *ever* going to get a table. Because, if not, we would move on. This was a practical question. It was after 9pm at that point, and we were hungry. She was extremely defensive, blaming us "Were you all here at 8?" Us: "Uh, 8 by 8:07pm." Also she blamed other diners, saying they came late, stayed too long, etc. She even blamed the hot weather. They just overbooked, which is fine, but it's better just to say so and move on. Instead, she was just a raving witch. Finally, we wised up and left.
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It was pretty clear to me that the staff needs major polishing. If a customer asks any staff-person a question, the default response should not be, "I don't know, it's not my responsibility." Too bad, really, since it's hard to find good pizza in the Bay Area.
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I concur, as one of the party of 8 there for an 8pm reservation. Probably won't bother trying A 16 again, there are so many other places with excellent food and far better service. Other restaurants I've been to have been much better at managing booking/turnover and customer expectations, for example by noting to a party before they are seated that there is a later reservation for the table at Xpm, so the 1st party can choose whether to be seated, knowing they need to be finished by that time, or opt for somewhere else less busy. If the restaurant has allotted sufficient dining time, this is fair to both the first and second reservation, and avoids unfairly penalizing the second reservation, if the first reservation arrives late.
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Wow, sounds horrible.
Question, what wines did you have? I only ask because I was there and was quite enamored with the wine list. Didn't see a single undrinkable wine on the list. Was the complementary wine on the list? Was it cooked or corked, or just bad?
Also, $7.60 for a $7 wine is totally obscene. Which wine did you order?
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I had a glass of the California Pinot Grigio (?Puli). it was ok. The complementary wine was a white wine that had a disagreeable vegital character, we couldn't identify it on the chalk board.
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I am not a wine expert, but Melanie guessed what the wine was when we described it to her. It was an Italian grape that started with an "F." It was similar to a Sauvignon Blanc.
Anyway, I will definitely be going back to A16 once things settle down, because everyone I know who has eaten there says the food is damn good. I think the lesson here is not to go to a new restaurant with a huge party. And lord knows we need some good pizza in this town.
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Fiano?
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It was Falanghina.
Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...
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The Pavi Pinot Grigio is $14 a bottle retail, so the markup was double retail, which seems pretty standard to me.
As for the other wine, if it was Falanghina, either it was an off bottle are you don't care for the style. In my opinion, that is a lovely wine, and Feudi Di San Gregorio is a fine winery. I base this on the fact that I had this wine at the restaurant and enjoyed it, and my overall knowledge of the Feudi Di San Gregoria winery.
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Well, your experience sounds horrible, and there is no excuse for poor service.
As for the wine, I found the review a bit unfair. To say the Pinot Grigio was ok doesn't tell us much, and the assumption on the mark up was way off.
In my humble opinion, the wine list at A16 is really diverse and fantastic, and the main reason to visit. At least it is to wine enthusiasts. Maybe Italian varietals don't suit you?
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Good point. I agree that the wine list is top-drawer. I was very impressed with the list as well as the wine I ordered (the Castaldi sangiovese, if memory serves). But it really does say something about a restaurant that the best aspect is the product they DON'T produce.
After my horrible experience there I noted that it would be worth going back to see if my experience was an aberration. Having since read this string I now doubt I will ever return.
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I have now read all of the reviews (here) for A16 thus far. This is really sad for me professionally because I met the five people forming this restaurant a few months ago and they had clearly done their research and had knowledge and passion.
Have any chowhounds contacted the rest. with any of this feedback? If I were the owner, chef or pastry chef I would want to be told.
shuna
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One of the owners is a regular on this board and I'm sure she's reading the feedback (presumably with horror).
In its defense, I'd like to point out that the restaurant has been open less than a month, and might just need more time to work all the kinks out.
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I think this "Bware" is a bit unfair. I don't doubt that you were treated awfully, but it was only one night. I would feel just as pissed if I were treated like that but I think A16 is definitely suffering from being too popular too fast. There's an orthopedics convention in town because I haven't been able to get a reservation all week and finally ended going for lunch yesterday. I couldn't get a reservation at A16 on Wednesday and ended going to R&G lounge and the entire top floor was booked for conventioners. I had friends that tried to go last night and couldn't get a table. I've had great service everytime I've been there and have never waited more than 5 minutes for a table when I made a reservation. Granted I always try to get there for the first seating or for lunch or brunch when it's not busy at all. And I am always guilty of staying too long because I've never been out of there in under 3 hours for dinner because we always end up ordering half the menu.
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We were so busy enjoying our leisurely lunch at A16 that we forgot to feed the parking meter. Another 2004 parking ticket. Oh well, that's life in the City.
The clam pizza was tasty, the chestnut polenta was perfect, the zuppa was the best, and the semifreddo was to die for. Service was friendly and attentive. No complaints - except for the parking ticket snafu - because we completely lost track of time. I just can't rush myself out the door when I'm there.
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why is it unfair to warn people when you have had a bad experience?
"I don't doubt that you were treated awfully, but it was only one night."
if I am treated awfully at a restaurant, I don't think it's incumbent upon me to give them a second chance. in general, it's not my job to cut a restaurant breaks, any more than it would be a restaurant's job to cut me breaks for being rude to the staff or other customers just because I had a rough day at work.
if a lot of people have good experiences at a restaurant, it may make it less of a risk to try again, but it doesn't nullify the bad experiences.
I enjoy eating out but my time and money to do so is not unlimited. I appreciate hearing a range of opinions because they help me to make informed decisions about where I want to invest my money, my calories, and, most importantly, my own time and often that of my friends (on a board like this I'm sure many people can empathize with the irrational feeling that your reputation is at stake when you're choosing a place for your group to dine! :) ).
and no offense, but given your very familiar-seeming exchange with one of the restaurant's principals in an earlier thread, I think it would have been nice to include a disclaimer in your post if you have any sort of connection with the management.
all that said...
a friend and I had dinner at A16 last week. There were no reservations available earlier than 9:30, so we thought we'd try our luck as walk-ins and ended up waiting a little under an hour.
Once we were seated the service was friendly. The food was very good, we had a nice dinner, and I was glad we went, but nothing grabbed me enough to make me think "I will definitely be coming back here!" Sort of a "I'd be fine/happy eating here again, but won't be going out of my way to return" thing, if that makes sense. To be honest, this bummed me out a little, because I came in ready to have a great experience.
The two of us split the chanterelle mushroom app (very tasty but the mushrooms seemed ever so faintly dry), the octopus and bean zuppe (not bad; note that there is almost no liquid in it), a half-and-half vongole/romana pizza, the beef with bean side (good but there was a little too much oil happening around the beef for my taste; the beans were very creamy), and two desserts: the chocolate cake (OK) and hazelnut semifreddo (nice flavor combination with the pear garnish).
The much-discussed pizza--tasty enough, but nothing special. My dining companion, who is a rabid fan of Napolitana pizza and was really looking forward to trying A16's version, said that it was good but not really to be compared to the real thing--the crust was not tender enough.
The biggest drawback to our meal, which was not any fault of the restaurant itself, was the guy near us who talked at high volume and excruciating length about how great the place was, and how he really knew what Italian food should be because he went to Italy three times a year and had been to X, Y, and Z restaurants, and blah blah blah. I include this information as a note on the overall atmosphere. It's a nice restaurant and an attractive space--I loved the cork walls--but large swaths of the clientele definitely gave off the "glossy and boring to the point of being slightly annoying" vibe.
overall: it's a nice place and undoubtedly will do very well, but I didn't feel any sparks.
just my two cents to add to the chow community piggy bank...
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I don't think there's anything wrong with giving a place a bad review or sharing your bad experience. But when the title is prefaced with "Bware", they are giving people a warning from the start that what they experienced once is what everyone should expect when they go. And that is just not true. Everytime that I've gone and everyone that I've gone with have always looked forward to a return visit. Even writing something like "charging $7 for a glass of wine that is $7 a bottle" tells everyone they are getting ripped off every time, when the reality is more like a 20% mark up on the wine.
I think it's very unfortunate that A16 is so busy that reservations are backed up and walk in's need to expect a long wait but that doesn't mean it has to be like that everytime. I'm a bit annoyed that I could probably never expect to walk in and get a table right away without a reservation. A friend of mine and her family tried to go last night also but had to leave because the place was too busy. I know they had a reservation but should they do when everyone dining is just sitting around drinking wine and enjoying dessert. I think the place would also be slammed if people started to post about how they were forced to leave because they weren't being considerate of the people waiting in the front. What do you tell people who also invested there time and money that they can't enjoy themselves anymore because there are others that need their seat? I hate it when restaurants do that.
As far as the food is concerned, I'm in agreement with you about the pizza. Everytime I've gone the pizza seems to get worse and that was two days ago for lunch. The crust used to be slightly crisp and very tender, now it's more like burnt cardboard.
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You wrote "But when the title is prefaced with "Bware", they are giving people a warning from the start that what they experienced once is what everyone should expect when they go."
What???
It does sound like a warning, but, that's the writer's intention and the writer's negative experience is what he can base his warning on. Nothing wrong with the title, as far as I am concerned. Personally, I use this board to get information and NOT to form my opinion. I believe in forming my own opinion through my own experiences.
Secondly, when is a $7.60/glass on a $7 bottle (or, actually, $14 as I was able to catch on with the rest of the thread) "more like a 20% mark up on the wine."? What makes you state that it's a 20% mark up? Do you know this for a fact?
I also seem to detect your deep concern for the restaurant's reviews and, no offense, but do you have some form of affiliation?
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For the record, the original poster (and me!) did have a reservation. It wasn't a walk-in. I think this whole thread is about to get deleted ;)
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I've not participated in any of the prior discussions of the place due to my personal relationship with some of the restaurant's principals. But since I was also there that night, in a separate seating, I'll add my 2¢.
If you believe in chaos theory and the butterfly effect, it might be fair to say that I had a hand in the back up at A16 that night. You see, I attended a wine tasting (Neil Empson's unveiling of the 2000's from Piemonte) hosted there by the importer for the trade earlier in the day and was on premise from 2pm onwards. Some nice apps were served that aren't part of the regular menu - delicate porchetta with sweet layers of porcine fat that coated the palate after those tannic Baroli, intense braised celery on toast, squares of a cheese-custard with bits of cured meat, an herbal fritatta with a airy crumbly texture, lovely aged cheeses, foccacia, and some lemony sugar-coated crescent cookies.
With a dinner res later that night, I was allowed to hang out on the back service porch to enjoy the warm day with a big bottle of Panna and a book. When it started to cool off and grow dark before 6pm, I thought I'd move to the bar in front, but at that early hour it was already full and the place was filling up fast. It seems that the Bay Guardian gave it a strong review this week and soon the restaurant was slammed. I decided to claim two seats at the pizza counter to camp out and wait for my dinner date.
Wanting to make an entrance suitable for a southern Italian restaurant named after an autostrada, my gentleman friend decided to stop at home to change vehicles and he arrived later than expected. The racing red Italian sports motorcycle parked in front all evening was his. (g) By this time it was nearly 7pm, and I'd been holding two seats for nearly an hour, which must have affected turnover.
There was a longer than expected delay for our flight of red wine to be served due to some malfunction of the order entry system. Then the rosé bubbly we wanted was sold out due to a missed delivery and much more sales than anyone anticipated. However, Shelley made up for it by bringing us a glass of a more expensive blanc de blanc AND a glass of still rosé.
We didn't order that much - pizza vongole, oven-finished braised pork with a side of kale, and a semifreddo with extra cookies. But we chatted with the cooks from our perch at the counter, savored each bite and lingered over our seven tastes of wine, and soon it was almost 10pm. It is a place that invites you to stay . . . my apologies to those waiting two deep in the bar for our seats.
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I ate at A-16 for lunch today so there were no crowd issues. I was mainly intereted in sampling the pizza b/c I had heard that A-16 was intending to serve "authentic" Naples-style pizza. Brimming with hope and optimism, I ordered a margherita pizza.
My opinion? The pizza *looked* very authentic with its paper thin, variously charred crust and slightly irregular, oval shape. However, there was practically no taste to the pizza. The crust was not only think like paper, but had the same flavor, too. The crust was flavorless. In fact, the pizza was flavorless. It was form over substance. They successfully replicated the look of a Neapolitan pie, but not the full flavor. Very disappointing.
To boot, the restaurant that occupied this same spot two iterations ago -- ZinZino -- produced the very best Neapolitcan pizza in the United State. A-16's version is a weak imitation and not one I will return for.
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Bless you--after meandering through 5 or 6 posts, I finally discovered that the place under discussion was in my neighborhood, since I knew where Zinzino had been!
Am I alone in dipping in occasionally, as time permits, and not necessarily having perused every single post that might have informed me where--at least in what part fo the SFBA--a spot is located?
Surely those out-of-towners encouraged to read through posts have not had the opportunity to memorize every passing reference to a new place, so please, when you introduce a topic, try to remember to locate it for all of us.
Thank you.
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I am really surprised at the negative reviews people are posting about A16. I've been for dinner three times (including dinner the night of the Empson tasting (as an aside, the wine of the tasting was the 2000 Einaudi Costa Grimaldi but based on these wines, the Wine Spectator has significantly overrated 2000 Piedmonts)) Every time I have been the experience has been top notch with friendly and competent service and great food. We have been promptly seated each time including the Empson night.
The tripe, beef, and dried fava bean app are standouts but all dishes (save for the Chanterelle app) have been at least good. The sommelier has been available to discuss any wine I wanted to talk about. Wine list has been constructed by someone who knows what they are doing and is very reasonably priced to boot (2001 Montevetrano for $115 for example). Overall, A16 is a fantastic experience and I plan on returning often.
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I too was dissapointed with this restaurant.
My husband I and I waited more than 40 minutes for a table and were charged two different prices for the same wine.
When I brought the issue to bar's attention, they stated: "That's the way it is sometimes."
Pizza was reasonable, but not worth leaving the house for. Crust was tasteless, almost like Matzah.
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We showed up early because we were in the neighborhood on Sunday around 5PM. Enjoyed a crisp, dry white wine flight all from central Italy, recommended by the very nice bartender. Waited until the kitchen opened at 5:30 and order a few things, nothing super spectacular but all enjoyable for a wine bar sitting. The place was getting packed by 6:30 PM. I think with time it will settle down because it is still new. To sit at the bar early on a Sunday evening and to sample some nice inexpensive, interesting wines and order some light plates I would say it is worth trying again and we would go back.
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