Delfina Restaurant Review, San Francisco

Delfina 3621 18th St (Between Guererro and Dolores) San Francisco, CA 94110 415-552-4055 Website

Since 1998, Delfina, a bustling neighborhood Italian trattoria has been packing them in. The menu changes daily and they use organic produce and sustainably-raised meats and fish whenever possible. It is a popular place that requires advanced booking for a reservation or showing up at 530pm for a table at the counter or bar.

Pizza is only available next door, where you usually have to wait because there are no reservations.

Decor, Vibe – Stylish modern decor, cramped seating area for parties of 2. Nice patio area in the back, for when the weather allows.  Most of the crowd was couples or small parties of people in their 30’s and 40’s.

Menu pics

Menu changes daily.

Website Menu

Picks:

Grilled fresh calamari ($9.25) with warm white bean salad was a great dish that tastes as good as it looks.

The only down side is a little burn scaring on the octopus. The beans were delicious and tender.

Wolfe Ranch quail ($25) with fennel sausage, polenta and vin santo was very good even though it looks like a mess. Quantities are not high with this delicate bird, but the flavor is great. The sausage makes the polenta a great combination. A little salty but very tasty.

Grilled Swordfish ($25) with warm lentil salad, fennel crusted fennel and anchovy aioli.  Tender meaty fish that was cooked just right.  A little on salty side.  This dish really did not need the aioli.

Risotto nero ($18) with sepia inzimino or squid ink was extremely delicious.  One of the best risotto’s around.  It came out steaming hot and had a bold complex flavor to it.

Leg of Lamb Special ($25) was tender slices of roast lamb leg bathed in gravy with lacopi butter beans.  Slightly gamey but very tender meat. Good combination with the soft butter beans.

Fresh San Joaquin Valley Snails ($12) and celery formatino had only 5 small snails that tasted like butter along with the tasty and smooth flan.  Tasty but way too few snails.

Heirloom Tomato Salad ($11) with pane bucato, Bellwether crescenza, olives, and salt packed anchovies was in season and tasted great. Very light dressing, reasonable quantity.

Buttermilk panna cotta ($9) with golden and red raspberries was smooth as silk. Perfect balance of sweetness to cream. Could have used more berries.

Warm Scharffen Berger chocolate torta ($9) with olive oil gelato and maldon sea salt sounds like a weird combination but it works.  Torta was very chocolaty, a little nutty and bitter, and very good.  The olive oil gelato took getting used to, but then became delicious.

OK:

Roasted Fulton Valley chicken ($18) with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and royal trumpet mushrooms was
a good dish and prepared well but not as spectacular as say the chick at Zuni Cafe. Huge portion of mashed potatoes.

Anson Mills Polenta with fontina Val d’Aosta Cheese ($7.75) was a huge steaming hot pile of polenta.  Not very buttery, but full of corn meal texture.

Spaghetti ($11 large) with plum tomatoes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and peperoncini came al dente and full of their tomato sauce mixed in.  Decent dish, but other items were far better.

Pans:
None

Delfina’s Service was very good, as you could see the waiter circulate repeatedly. They do sit some tables for 2 way too close together. Parking is not fun in this neighborhood. $1.25 per person charge for health plan wasn’t fun but probably worthwhile. Delfina has high wine markup.

Update: We returned in early October and added items to our lists of food recommendations.

Do not forget to save some space for nearby delicious Bi-Rite ice cream that is across the street and down the block.

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