flour + water Restaurant Review, San Francisco
Posted by Food Nut
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flour + water 2401 Harrison Street (At 20th Street) San Francisco, CA 94110 415-826-7000 415-826-7001 (Fax) |
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flour + water is a new Italian restaurant in the Mission district of San Francisco. They focus on hand rolled pastas, house cured meats, and an Italian pizza oven. The chef is a veteran of La Folie, Danko, Quince. They take reservations and reserve half the place for walk ins.
Decor, Vibe – Narrow, long room with refurbished, repurposed and reclaimed wood, and a lot of it exposed. People lined up before the place opened. A fair amount of couples, bigger parties, locals, with most casually dressed folks in the 30’s and 40’s.
Menu Pictures (Click to zoom into any picture)
Picks:
shaved asparagus ($10) and arugula salad with a pancetta-caper vinagrette was a very good salad. The vinagrette was strong enough to cover up a lot of the green’s intrinsic flavor. Nice cheese and bacon accents. A bunch of olives too.
braised pork cheek ($18) with borlotti beans and erbette chard had good amounts of tender braised pork on top of a bed of beans with a slight bit of chard. Flavors on the pork could have been more aggressive.
OK:
margherita pizza ($12) tomato, basil, fior di latte, extra virgin olive oil was slightly above average. The middle was soggy, the crust very thin. Flavors were decent but the cheese did not stand out. Several burned areas on the crust.
corzetti stampati pasta ($16) with braised monterey squid and fava beans was very al dente. Could have used a lot more egg based thin pasta. The squid out numbered the pasta. Sauce was slightly spicy. A squid ink pasta we had at A16 was far better.
maltagliati pasta ($15) with brown butter braised giblets and ramps (onions) was also very al dente, more so that most places. The quantity of pasta was also pretty low. Flavors were ok.
Pans:
None
flour + water had slightly above average service that was competent but not exceptional. Server did her job but not with a lot of enthusiasm. The cooks did botch a dish but did not offer anything other than a sorry. Our sense is this is a neighborhood place, not a destination restaurant. The food is fair, not exceptional. Pasta quantities are very skimpy. One would have to order a salad, a pasta, and a dessert to be full. Delfina is not far away and a lot better and so is Farina. New 54 Mint is also a better bet.
Moderate wine markup, small selection. Glasses of wine from $6.50, bottles from $26.
Overall Rating: 
(Good)
Come Back? 
| Food Rating: | (Good) |
| Service Rating: | (Good) |
| Atmosphere Rating: | (Good) |
| Value Rating: |  (Above Average) |
Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Fair/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary
| Alcohol: | Beer, Wine |
| Attire: | Casual |
| Hours: | 530pm - Midnight |
| Parking: | Street |
| Reservations: | Yes |
| Prices: | $12 - $20 |
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2 Responses to “flour + water Restaurant Review, San Francisco”
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May 27th, 2009 at 9:16 am
“Our sense is this is a neighborhood place, not a destination restaurant. The food is fair, not exceptional. Pasta quantities are very skimpy. One would have to order a salad, a pasta, and a dessert to be full.”
Agreed . . . while the neighborhood needs retail development, we were disappointed in flour + water for the same reasons you cited . . .
Skimpy portions, lackluster service, only OK food. We did enjoy the reasonably priced Italian wine list and the shaved asparagus salad. But the Frito Misto and pizza we ordered did not measure up to others.
Open to midnight is a big plus if you are craving a pizza and Delfina and Paulines are already closed. But we likely will not return unless we hear about some changes. OK food only works if the portions are big and the atmosphere makes up for the failures in the kitchen.
In any other locale, this restaurant might be acceptable, but in San Francisco, “just OK” isn’t good enough.
Sadly, the owners do not aspire to anything more than having a money making neighborhood “pub” a la Atlas Café.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
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