665331 Fri Nov 06 20:03:56 -0800 2009 11 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 5162606 best itallian food in sf. moderatly priced in pac heights or north beach? here for the weekend and would love some help. thatnks so much! Fri Nov 06 20:03:56 -0800 2009 147753 brycol1 1 5163001 North Beach: L'Osteria del Forno. No credit cards, no reservations. One oven. Incredible pork roast, my favorite pizza in the city (try the porcini and the salami), awesome appetizers (I love the roasted beets, the grilled radicchio and the speck). If you are willing to leave Pac Heights and North Beach, my favorite moderately priced (ok, moderately expensive) Italian restaurant in the city is Perbacco. Also, I've been hearing some great things about 54 Mint, but I've not been. Other good options include: Delfina (Northern, Mission) A16 (Southern, Marina, hven't been since founding chef left, but hear it is still good) SPQR (Roman, Pac Heights, not been, same people as A16) Incanto (Cal-Italian, offal, Noe Valley) La Ciccia (Sardinian, Noe Valley) http://www.losteriadelforno.com/ http://www.perbaccosf.com/ http://54mint.com/54_Mint_Wine_Bar_Vineria_-_Ristorante_-_Alimentari/54_Mint.html http://www.delfinasf.com/home.html http://www.a16sf.com/ http://www.spqrsf.com/ http://www.incanto.biz/ http://www.laciccia.com/ Sat Nov 07 06:30:36 -0800 2009 5162606 50041 whiner 2 5163233 whiner's list is right on and would mirror my own. Perbacco and SPQR would be my favorites on that list. Sat Nov 07 08:46:39 -0800 2009 5163001 183782 bobpantzer 2 5163444 Good list. I'd call Delfina Cal-Italian. SPQR just had a chef change and a pretty radical menu change, so past reports might be somewhat misleading, though with the same owners and sommelier I expect the quality's still very high. Between North Beach and Pacific Heights there are also Antica Trattoria and Milano. Sat Nov 07 11:14:54 -0800 2009 5163001 11369 Robert Lauriston 3 5163472 Re: Antica and Milano... both are ok, imo, with Antica the better of the two. Russian Hill actually has a lot of ok Italians. Contadina is pretty decent, but haven't been in over a year, despite it being two blocks from my apartment. Recently, when needing local (ie. within 6 blocks of my apt, which all of these places are) my go-to has been Amarena, which is never mentioned on these boards but which I might defend as currently the best Italian restaurant in Russian Hill. Still, it is not up to the other restaurants on my list, imo. http://www.amarenarestaurant.com/ Sat Nov 07 11:32:03 -0800 2009 5163444 50041 whiner 4 5163514 Yeah, your list matches mine. Note that due to the tiny kitchen L'Osteria does not have pasta except usually one baked dish such as lasagne or cannelloni. Sat Nov 07 11:49:29 -0800 2009 5163472 11369 Robert Lauriston 4 5163578 We went to Amarena for the first time last Saturday and liked it a lot. I don't understand why it doesn't get mentioned more often. Maybe I'm glad it doesn't get mentioned more often. Friendly staff and owner and kind of a romantic little place. We'll definitely return. Sat Nov 07 12:23:16 -0800 2009 5163472 183782 bobpantzer 1 5163104 During the past few years I've been enjoying a North Beach Italian restaurant that appears to be full of locals, which is a noteworthy detail for this part of town. It's called Ideale and is located on Grant Ave. The pastas and pizzas are very good. The Italian staff and proprietor create a warm and welcoming environment. Aaron http://www.thesluicebox.com Sat Nov 07 07:40:11 -0800 2009 5162606 1105836 DandySF 2 5163204 I had an excellent dinner at SPQR last week. Several atypical dishes that worked well. Try the pork belly appetizer and the skate cheeks, as well as the veal sweetbreads. Sat Nov 07 08:28:02 -0800 2009 5163104 84603 baron45 1 5163385 Capannina on Union Street is another good choice that's fairly close to Pac Heights. Very good food, nice room and warm service. Sat Nov 07 10:28:28 -0800 2009 5162606 10157 farmersdaughter 1 5165002 If you're willing to brave the cold at this time of year, you can almost always bypass the usual 1.5 to 2 hour wait at SPQR by requesting to sit at the (now always vacant) outside tables. Went for desserts and (Blue Bottle) coffee the other night; great place to people watch amongst bustling pac heights Sun Nov 08 09:20:01 -0800 2009 5162606 292347 vulber 2 5165085 SPQR now takes reservations (online only): http://www.spqrsf.com/reservations Sun Nov 08 10:04:23 -0800 2009 5165002 11369 Robert Lauriston