Gialina Pizzeria San Francisco Restaurant Review

Gialina Pizzeria is a small pizzeria named after the chef-owner’s grandmother. It is opened in January 2007 and is located in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood right near BART. Chef Sharon Ardiana has help positions at well respected places including Lime, Dine, Garibaldis, Slow Club, and Boulevard. Her next restaurant, Ragazza in the Metro Kathmandu space on Divisadero, will be opening soon.

They specialize in artisan thin-crust Neapolitan-style pizzas with interesting top notch ingredients and were one of Michael Bauer’s 6 recommended pizza places. Gialina also serves cured meats, special roasts and fish entrees of the day, salads, and dessert.  Our last visit was in the summer of 2010 when we found price up a little bit.

Decor, Vibe – Gialina is a small neighborhood place with large family photos from way back, wood paneling on the other wall and lots of nice pendant lights. Locals, families, couples filled up the place. The place was filled within 45 minutes of opening. No reservations, so wait times can be long. The tables for two are sandwiched pretty close. Gialina gets noisy when it is full. They do accept to go orders.

Gialina Pizzeria Menu pics (Click to zoom in on any picture)

Drinks and Ingredient Information

Ever changing menu see: Gialina Pizzeria Website

Picks:

German Butterball Pizza with Potatoes w/ bacon, red onion, thyme & gorgonzola ($15) was also an excellent pie with hearty pieces of potato blending with the top notch bacon bits.

Spicy Cauliflower Salad ($6) with chickpeas, red onions, ricotta salata and almonds. A chopped up salad with everything mixed in. Not really too spicy and a nice cheesy way to start off the meal. Complex Blended flavors, so it is hard to actually taste the cauliflower.

Little Meatballs ($9) with tomato sauce and aged provolone. Six good sized tender wonders in a ragu tangy sauce with a low key provolone flavor.

Atomica Pie ($15) with pepperoni ($2) tomato sauce, mushrooms, mozzarella, spicy chilies and red onions is one of their most popular pizzas.  Trademark perfect golden brown bottom crust, no sogginess. Nice chewy crust edges. Perfect.  All all pies come in one size 12″ / 6slices.

Wild Nettles Pie ($16) with pancetta, mushrooms, red onions, aged provolone.  This pie has nettles that taste like spinach but frankly blends in with the rest of the ingredients.  Pancetta is on the extremely fatty side.

If you are hardcore, you can order one pizza at a time, so they do not come out at the same time.

Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Pizza ($9) has a thicker pizza dough crust, Nutella, nut sprinkles, and some dolubs of Mascarpone cheese. Awesome, not too sweet, but incredibly filling. A warm dessert that has additional subtle flavors when you spread the cheese out.

Margherita ($12.50) was a good classic thin crust pizza with super crunchy edge, and dense crust. Not soggy at all. Excellent flavor and balance between the tomato sauce, olive oil, and mozzarella cheese. This is the best Margherita pizza we have had. On another visit we tried a half baked version at home.  Our oven just could not produce one as nice as Gialina’s. You preheat your oven and cook it until the edge is brown.

Sausage w/ tomato, red onions & aged provolone ($15) had the same type of crust as the Margherita. Sausage was a little zesty but not in high quantity. Provolone was very sharp. If you prefer provolone, get this pizza.

OK:
None

Pans:
None

The service at Gialina Pizzeria was low key, but decent with no need to hail servers for refills, etc. This isn’t a stuffy fine dining establishment, more of a neighborhood joint. The pizzas are bigger and thicker than most other artisan pizzas, but are top notch, making this an easy recommendation for those seeking great thin crust pizza. One pizza can serve more than one person. They have interesting add on options like eggs and prosciutto on the pizza. We’re still thinking about that dessert pizza!

Wine prices at Gialina are reasonable, starting at $6.50 a glass, $16 for a quartino. We have tested their Gialina Pizzeria’s takeout as do many people living nearby. Their desert menu includes top notch Bi-Rite Creamery ice cream and chocolate pizza.

$25 Dining Certificate for $5

Gialina Overall Rating: (Very Good 2.5)

Come Back?

Food Rating:	(Very Good)
Service Rating:	(Good)
Atmosphere Rating:	(Good)
Value Rating:	(Good)

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Below/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:	Wine
Attire:	Casual
Hours:	Sun-Th 5-10pm, Fri 5-1030pm.
Parking:	Street
Reservations:	No
Prices:	$11.50 - $16