Farina

What a hidden gem! Pasta is made right in front of you as you are transported to Italy with fresh ingredients and refined flavors. Place seems to have bad reviews from service, but they must have turned it around as we had great attention to detail and awesome food.

Summary: walk one Block to Valencia and go to a different place. There are lots to pick from!
Check you receipt before you sign!!! Shady stuff, poor service, won’t return, don’t recommend.
I don’t normally write reviews but this place deserves one. I’d give them 4 more months in business, but since I recently heard that they have not been profitable for quite some time, I suspect they will stay in business and continue to lose money. I also heard that the foreign affluent owners have another place around the corner, which helps subsidize the poorness of this place. That should raise the first flag.
Secondly, I Went with a travel zoo coupon. $ 40 for $ 80 value. That should have told me something from the start also…2^nd flag!
The drinks we ordered weren’t even filled to the top, the bread came with no olive oil, the staff was extremely cold and short. We Saw our waitress 4 times and that was just to bring drinks and exchange plates. Only 6 couples were dining. Ravioli was 9 pieces~ for $ 28, felt like eating something from a pre made meal.
To top it off… Waitress brought back receipt with tip already charged on the card… and then they had the audacity to leave the «tip» line on the receipt. So you over pay. automatic 18% for 5% worthy service. Sadly, I saw the guy next to me add on an additionally amount to the 18% that was already charged. If you’re not looking at your receipt, you won’t catch it! Double check!
I won’t eat here again, I definitely won’t recommend, and I feel bad for the staff that does work hard. This place looks cool from the outside and has potential, but it has to go through a massive training overhaul… One that I’ll never check out again.
Your best option is to walk around the corner to Valencia and grab a different spot! There are tons to choose from.

This is definitively one of the finest Italian restaurants in San Francisco.

We were shocked when we came here to write a rave review and find some horrendous comments here. Totally blown away. My husband and I had a stellar experience here. Some of the best service we ever experienced. Daniele is amazing–
A stellar manager who happened to wait on us. the service was totally the opposite of what I am reading here– on point– attentive– quick– polite– there were no wines by the glass that we liked so the waiter offered to open a bottle of something he thought we would enjoy– it was an excellent choice– we ended up taking the whole bottle. Salads delicious, polipo (octopus)very fresh and garnished with pesto, the gnocchi were like light fluffy pillows made with swordfish and eggplant– the food was all so good that the waiter sent the chef over to meet us, Giuseppe was sweet and humble. Then we had the fresh fish which was impeccable. Followed by coconut sorbetto. We had no issues with ridiculous portions or anything people are complaining about here. Almost feels like people are trying to bring this place down. Sorry but the food is really really good and the service was excellent, maybe we got lucky. We will definitely be back. And by the way it’s no more expensive than many of the restaurants in the mission, the end bill is the same as the others. Grazie Mille to the host (from Milano– forgot his name– crazy hair– true gentleman), to Giuseppe from Sicilia and to the world traveler,
Daniele. A presto!

Italian person here to tell you this is the best, most delicious pizza in all of San Francisco. the reviews for this place are written by ppl that wouldn’t know a decent pizza if it slapped them in the taste buds. seriously… this is what pizza tastes like in my country. I literally get emotional eating their pizza. it is everything I need.

Love — fresh handmade pasta handkerchief pasta w/basil&almond pesto, culurgiones, and prosciutto di parma burrata e fried sage focaccina (Combination of this warm herb focaccia with cold milky burrata and prosciutto… too good…)
Waiters are friendly.

Wow, so Overpriced for the food they are offering.
The service at the bar is real bad, rude.
Will never go back again

So good, so very good.
Signature dishes exceeded my expectations. Truly the best pesto on the incredible house made handkerchief pasta. Next we ate the Focaccia de Recco I’ve heard so much about and it did not disappoint. The rabbit in the casoncelli and butter sauce sent so much pleasure to my taste buds! Unbelievable.
Someone from the kitchen procured the freshest porcini mushrooms around and put them into a great salad. Manny the sous chef gilded the lily by shaving northern Italian truffles for us. Eating all Italian courses– our main course was bisteca Akaushi ribeye encrusted with herbs served with broccolini and perfect fingerlings. The hospitality par excellence finished with a light lemon curd like marscapone. In an hour and a half we were treated royally with flawless service and quality. It would have been great to stay longer, but the theater beckoned.

Pros: The setting is great — they have a super cool rooftop area and the décor is modern and stylish. The menu was full of interesting options — yummy sounding pastas and pizzas.
Cons: I was disappointed by most of the things I ordered… the food was WAY too salty. The prices were also too expensive for the quality/​portion size.

Stopped in for a late bite to eat. Every few months I crave the pesto pasta. It is so delicious! It reminds me of one of the amazing pastas dishes you would have traveling in Italy. The pasta is so delicate, it practically melts in your mouth. And the pesto has a slight cream taste to it that makes it out of this world.
The waitress was lovely, and accommodated my dinner date and my young son. She recommended a few great starters and a lovely glass of Italian red wine to accompany it. The first dish we got was the Focaccia di Recco, which is highly undersold by it’s name. It is this amazing puffed dough that has cheese and herbs. When you cut into it the whole thing deflates.
We also got the spring salad. It was filled with pecorino cheese, orange slices, walnuts and potato with a champagne vinaigrette. We would have ordered it if it had not been to our waitresses suggestion, and we would definitely order it again. It was fresh and flavorful.
Another winning dish was a starter that had a mushroom cream sauce, a cooked egg and a bread bottom. It was an unexpected treat.
The only reason I didn’t give Farina four starts instead of five was our disappointment in our desert selection and end of meal experience. We knew that we were the last people in the restaurant, and we conscious to eat quickly and apologize to our waitress if we were keeping her. She kept assuring us to take our time and enjoy our meal. We asked if we could order dessert, and she said absolutely. To order anyting we wanted and indulge. She gave us the dessert menus, and walked away while we narrowed down our choices to two great sounding options. We couldn’t wait to try the cannoli and the latte dolci fritto.
Well, to our dismay when she came back to take our order she informed us that her manager told us we could only have the pannacotta or the ice cream. Hardly the baked desserts we were looking forward to. Now, I understand that we were the last table and that the kitchen staff wanted to go home. But don’t you think that they should have come over and askes us if we wanted any warm dessert options before they closed it down? It could have been handled so much better. Or at the very least, offered to treat us to one of the desserts to apologize for minimizing our options. We did get the pannacotta and the ice cream. For ice cream flavors we chose chestnut and creamy lemon. Both were good.

The only reason to go here is to admire the architecture, but you’re well advised to just do this over an espresso or a dessert. The food is comically overpriced. You get a $ 20 flat bread and $ 28 basic (even if homemade at the place) pasta.
We ate there with a big group and the service we experienced was terrible, probably someone in training. Everyone needs to learn, but you don’t do that in places where it is easy to pay $ 100 a person. Staff should arrive trained at that price.
If you wan’t actually good premium pasta go to Locanda or Tosca but not here.
You might also run into a person protesting because the previous owners have been sued hard for not paying anyone.
Basically an inauthentic, rip off italian place, wait for it to die, go elsewhere.

Picture this, a handsome and sweet Italian man walking by while I was walking in to get a table… Telling me he is visiting from out of town, he’s a true Italian, he tried this restaurant and this food is made with love, it’s better than what he eats at home… Omg sold, I’m an out-​of-​towner so yeah let’s do this! Amazing Italian food, like my heaven.
Hmmm false. Slowish night, incompetent wait staff, 15 minutes for drinks, another 40 minutes for our meals, and $ 28 for 9, yes 9, raviolini. Raviolini if you’re wondering, are adorable tiny little dime size ravioli. $ 240 later for four, we were craving taqueria.
Ok, back to where we started, that cute Italian man, err boy, must be hired by the restaurant to bring people in, I watched him say the same thing to three different groups of people then walk in and shake his head in defeat to the manager when he was unable to swindle/​swoon them.
I wish I read the article about their sketchy behavior before eating there, bummer. Never again.

I have eaten here 3 or 4 times. Last week we ordered the saffron croquettes. My husband said they tasted like dish soap. The consistency was very thick and they didn’t have much flavor besides saffron to me. Need a dipping sauce or something. The carbonara rigatoni was absolutely the worst. Plain rigatoni under cooked and with just a few pieces of bacon and an egg over it. Ok flavor but pretty boring and unappealing.
We had the spinach balls which were ok.
It seems to me they are skimping on the good stuff. Our bill was $ 70. Including the healthy SF surcharge. The very next day I found out they allegedly do not pay their workers and prey on immigrants. This is unnaceptable and I will never frequent this business again. Shame on you.

I was here for a pharmaceutical dinner back in January with a set menu. Good food, nice place, but not sure about the prices though.
Service: ⁴⁄₅
Better than your average, but nothing amazing.
Food: ⁴⁄₅
Flavorful fish, rich pasta, great Sauvignon Blanc.
Recommendations:
Dentice Alla Ligure Ai Carciofi — pan sautéed snapper with artichokes capers, taggiasca olives garlic, tomato and zucchini in a white wine and fish broth sauce.
Focaccia di Recco — Stracchino cheese melted between two layers of thin dough typical of Recco (Liguria, Italy).
Pansotti di Recco Con Pesto Di Noci — handmade Genovese pansotti filled with ricotta cheese, spinach and borage, and served with walnut pesto.
Skip:
Tagliere del contadino — selection of artisan Italian cold cuts served with marinated olives and imported Pecorino Toscano.
4 stars because the food was good, albeit nothing special. It’s rare to find a place that does fish so well. Maybe I just don’t opt for fish often because of the usual hit or miss. Peeked at the online menu and would not pay those prices for the food. Will return if I’m craving that snapper or some killer Genovese pansotti.

I still live next door to Farina and have not once been there to eat as they continue to be parasites in the neighborhood. I am writing this follow up after I ran into one of their ex-​employees (old man from Latin America) who was picketing by himself outside their restaurant with a sign to boycott Farina. I asked him what the story was and he said he and 2 other employees (he said they were dishwashers/​back of the house staff) where not paid 2 months worth of wages that totaled to about $ 1,200.00 each. I have no reason to doubt this man given Farina’s reputation in the neighborhood (I’ve lived here for 20 plus years). Needless to say, this was incredibly upsetting and downright bs. Who does this? It’s one thing to have bad food and bad service but to stiff your workers their wages is criminal and inhumane. I hope this man heeds my advice to go to the labor board and file a formal complaint against this gross behavior.

Great atmosphere and friendly staff.
I had ordered spaghetti with clams, squid, and mussels. The pasta was al dente and seafood was fresh.
Ordered a caffe latte which was served in a whiskey glass :)

The food is really good at this restaurant the servings tend to be small and the price tends to be high it’s definitely a luxurious feeling experience but if youre hungry and you’re on a budget this probably isn’t the best place for you to go. It’s great for a special occasion like Valentine’s Day a birthday or something like that but if you like to eat out a lot you don’t get a lot for your money at this place and the cost is prohibitive

Let me sum it up this way: If you’re going to greet us with a hearty «bongiorno!» then maybe you should expect, in a cosmopolitan city like this, to have someone reply in Italian. Our waitress did just this, and when a few in our party did reply in Italian, she got the «deer in the headlights» look and walked off.
Granted, our party staggered in 2 by 2, but in 15 minutes we were all there. Waitress dropped bread and water, but when we asked for olive oil to dip the bread in, it was like she was doing us a favor. I noted that the menu said there was a 4% charge for «bread, house filtered water, and other premium amenities». I would think that olive oil would be covered in that, and not worthy of a derisive look.
We ordered. 2 bottles of wine, 2 of the focaccia, and then 7 pastas, including the «award winning pasta with pesto». The wine and focaccia came reasonably fast for a restaurant that had us and 4 other tables occupied. The pasta, on the other hand, took another 40 minutes to show up. No status update from the waitress, although she did make sure to top off our wine glasses while we waited.
When the pastas were finally served, first thing we did was ask for a menu so that we could figure out who had been served what. Then we had the passing of the plates so that everyone had what they had ordered. That’s not our job, and that’s not why we’re paying your mandatory 20% gratuity on a party of 6 or more. You took the orders, you should have it marked down who ordered what, and you should be able to deliver that properly. Anyway.
$ 28 for pasta with pesto. I know it’s a «primi piatti» but for $ 28, it should have been a knock your socks off best pesto I’ve ever had sort of experience. Instead, it tasted like chutzpah.
The linguine with clams was the biggest disappointment. The pasta was undercooked. Remember how we waited 40 minutes for our food? 40 minutes and they still managed to undercook the pasta. Not al dente, we know what that is (remember, we have genuine Italians in the party), but seriously raw in the middle undercooked. We called the waitress over and she said «would you like me to make you something else?» We decided that waiting another 40 minutes for disappointing pasta was not worth it, so we said no, and then prompted her to remove it from the bill. The manager, who had been standing by the bar the whole time we were sitting there rolled his eyes when she talked to him about it (and oh so gently pointed to us as the offending party), but agreed to take it off the bill.
All in all, it was a pretty offensive meal. The price point, the tiny portions, the lack of effort in the service, and the fact that they undercooked a pasta that they had 40 minutes to cook led me to write. Farina, if you’re reading this far, I figure that you maybe care about your customers and not just hoovering money out of their wallets. For the prices you charge, I should be walking out thinking about puppy dogs and rainbows, and how awesome the world is. It’s too bad that I walked out thinking «that’s 90 minutes of my life I won’t get back.»

I went with friends and split three desserts. We had the lava cake, the duo, and the panachgo. They were amazing! We had no wait and really want to come back again for dinner.

Over priced for the shitty, shitty service. They need to hire competent servers at $ 30 a plate in this neighborhood.

Great service, kind of great food, great atmosphere.
The flat bread we got was nasty. Why was there cold ham on top??? We thought it was going to be prosciutto. Nope. Literally cold ham shavings. What the heck? No. gross. so gross.
The included bread for the table (which — MAJOR props because so few restaurants in the city do that) was INCREDIBLE. SO GOOD. The breadsticks were delicious, the focaccia perfect.
The bowtie pasta was more like pesto goo ball. Not good.
The steak — dang. That was good. That’s what saved the meal.
The chocolate lava cake — actually quite good but they’ve got to get a different name. No way to escape that it sounds like a microwaved chain restaurant item.

Group changed dinner venues, text came late (thanks AT&T?!) so I stayed and ate anyway. Prosciutto, fresh handmade mozzarella on a croûton to start; venison ravioli as my main, panna cotta for dessert. Food was amazing, service attentive, vibe just right for a Tuesday night. A little pricey at $ 100 without any alcohol but a great meal all the same. Would definitely come again.

Highlights: Service, wine list, portion size, seasonal menu
Went here for my mom’s birthday. I was absolutely blown away by the food, service, wine, and above-​and-​beyond attention to detail.
We went in on a dumping-​rain, sleepy Sunday night, a little ahead of our reservation. Seating in a fairly empty restaurant wasn’t a problem, though I watched it fill up to about 70% through our dinner.
My sister quietly let the server know it was my mom’s birthday, and I was glad to see he understood that none of us wanted a big celebration; he quietly acknowledged it and went about seating us. I was seriously impressed with his knowledge of the wine list, and was able to recommend a very reasonably priced, *delicious* bottle of red (I didn’t get a good look at the label, sadly.)
While we pondered on what we wanted to eat, we were given a little of background on the menu items, seasonal specials, and personal favorites of our server. Taking some advice, we ordered a pasta apiece, and a couple salads and foccacias to split.
My mom was very pleasantly surprised to receive a glass of champagne, gratis, served with a quiet well-​wish and little fanfare (just as her liking) served alongside our salads and appetizers. The appetizers and salads were good, suitable to whet an appetite for the rest of the mood. The salads, particularly, were excellent interpretations of classic Italian greens, and I was very satisfied.
Portions were slightly spendy for the size, but tremendous care and attention went into each dish; presentation, ingredients, and flavor was off the charts. I had the lamb-​shoulder pappardelle, and was pleased with the portion size, flavors, and presentation.
We were finally served with a complementary birthday panna cotta, served quietly and without much fanfare; one quiet verse of happy birthday later, my family dug into a fabulous vanilla panna cotta with Italian cherries. By the end of the mean, we were all stuffed, happy, and will definitely come back.

Farina always appears busy on weekend nights — maybe because it’s an easy alternative choice when Delfina is overflowing down the street, and an attractive venue at that?
Menu items are a bit spendy given the quantity and quality of what you get. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the pappardelle, for example, although it did pair well with some Slovenian rebula (ribolla gialla). A cup of affogato was a good way to round things out. Service was friendly and the food came out fast, given that it was a slow night when I showed up. Overall, however, an average experience.

We took my father here for birthday dinner at his request, and ultimately, while it was not a bad experience, so many elements of the meal just didn’t come together.
After being seated, the waiter introduced himself, dropped some fresh bread on the table, then promptly disappeared. We were left for easily 15 minutes without plates.
When the waiter returned he asked us for our drink order, then made some suggestions on the food he thought we’d like. We managed to get in an order for focaccia, and a few drinks, but before we could tell him what else we wanted, he darted off. It was very unclear why he was so rushed with our table, at this point in the evening we were one of only 6 filled tables, with the others already in-​progress of dinner,
15 minutes later, the Focaccia with ham arrived, which turned out to be the best thing on the menu. At this point we were finally able to get the attention of the waiter to put our food order in.
My wife ordered a pork loin that was dry and just overall really bad. when she complained to the waiter, he gave her a hard time and told her that was the way its supposed to be?!? Seriously? We’ve eaten pork loin before. its NEVER supposed to be like this. At this point we were shocked at how lackluster this experience was.
Overall, egotistical wait staff, overpriced food, small portions. Some people may be enamored with the taste-​full and pleasant ambience, but this doesn’t make up for lack of EVERYTHING ELSE.

Yummy appetizers and strong drinks. Love the warmly lit atmosphere. Great place for catching up with a small group of friends.

Delicious! Was here with my work team, and per usual, we ordered many appetizers and were able to try a great many things. My thoughts:
Great: nothing in particular, but perhaps others had more out-​of-​this-​world experiences with other dishes
Solid:
— Antipasti: selection of cold cuts; proscuitto with melon; grilled octopus; caprese
— Focaccia: cheese between two layers of thin dough
— Veggies: green beans
— Pasta: squid ink long pasta
— Dessert: tiramisu
Would pass:
— Veggies: artichokes — just okay
— Dessert: lava cake — the gelato is too mild for me; would prefer ice cream: P
Overall: super nice, pricey place; great for a slightly formal event, but definitely not my bag for everyday eat, or even for splurging, personally, though I love that the pasta is homemade!

This place is great for a bit of a splurge meal. Just solid Italian food. Must haves are
–affogado
–any type of flatbread/​focaccia
–the salmon special if they have it
–the artichoke dip

We enjoyed the food and the atmosphere, though the service was a bid languid (around 6:00pm on a Saturday, so the place was not full.) I would come back again and dress up a bit, the crowd at this place is fan-​cey, my bf and I showed up in our Dolores Park chillaxing gear and felt a bit out of place.
Ciao!

Great service n cute restaurant.
We ordered the recommended red wine with our dinner and the wine was DELISH!
We LOVE LOVE the amazing burrata n procuitto app. Pappardelle al tocco d’agnello
Handmade long pasta tossed in a slow braised New Zealand lamb shoulder in a red wine and tomato sauce was also super savory and yummy, and we had 2 of the salads with our wine. Honestly, surpised the review is just ok for this place, cos I loved it! Might be a a little pricey but a great date spot.
N you can sit outside with heat lamps on gorgeous day. New favorite go to resto.

«He’s down to the 30. the 20. the 10… ohhhh and he fumbles just before the goal line!» That’s kind of how I felt about my meal here.
Our meal started off great. Our server was nice and was very attentive. Our pour of wine was very generous, not to mention great-​tasting. Our seared scallop appetizer was good; the prosciutto /​buratta /​fried focaccia appetizer was even better, and we fell in love with it.
Then the mains. The NY steak was pretty decent, and we enjoyed the house-​made pasta was excellent in texture. However, the lamb and sauce that came with the pasta was a bit on the salty side. still enjoyable, though. Portion sizes were a bit small considering the price point, but I feel like that’s my complaint about every single solid Italian restaurant in the city. Ever been to Flour + Water? They have miniscule portions as well.
There was a «bread guy» who was very attentive and would refill our bread basket before we were even done. That was pretty awesome of him. except for the time when he came to refill our bread after our meal was already done and we said «No Thanks», and then he awkwardly took our remaining bread as well, and then paused, and then asked us «Wait, did you want me to take this one back too.?» Awkward, but kind of funny.
And then. the fumble:
Our attentive server completely disappeared on us during the meal. We sat with the dessert menu in front of us for a good 20 minutes at least. Maybe even longer… We declined dessert and asked for our check. That probably took another 10 minutes before we got our check.
Hmm… if they followed through on the service until we actually pay-​for and finish our meal, if they lower the salt level of that pasta sauce just a bit, and most of all, if they lower the price point by $ 5+ a dish, this place would be awesome. We lucked out by being able to use a voucher here to get a discount, but I’m not sure if I would come back here at full-​price.

Came here with a small group of friends. They ask for a credit card to make a reservation at Opentable, but they’re pretty flexible about changing the group size and time. Since there were a few of us, we were able to try a bunch of different dishes. Service was generally good, but tended to lag towards the end of the night.
APPETIZERS
The burrata was amazing. Definitely a must have. The calamari was okay — the batter was well seasoned but I thought there was too much batter. It got kinda heavy and I wanted to save room for all the other delicious things we ordered. Asparagus was great — the sauce it came with was really good. We also got this fennel salad, I think, that was also good — very refreshing.
PASTAS
All of them were really good, and we tried 5 – 6 different kinds. Memorable ones were the pesto and the ricotta and eggplant dumpling one (forgot the name). My pappardelle with lamb ragu was good, but I thought some of the other pastas were better. The taglierini with dungeness crab was also very good. My least favorite was the carbonara, which I thought was bland and heavy.

Sure Farina is pricey but it must cost a lot to run it so there you go. We were wandering down 18^th after an event around 9:30pm on a weeknight looking for eats and we were warmly welcomed and were glad to be here.
I look forward to going back, ESPECIALLY for the «piccolo fritto di barca alla Ligure», with the most tender calamari… totally delicious. Stellar. The only thing better would be to eat it on the Ligurian Sea.