54 Mint Plz

We were downstairs, 10 couples, for a celebration dinner. We had preselected three starter and entree course choices. The octopus appetizer was overcooked and not edible. The house meatballs were nothing special, and the salad was decent. Now, for the Rigatoni Carbonara, what a Joke, it made Olive Garden look Gourmet, It was the saddest pasta dish I have seen or tasted in 25+ years. The fresh fish of the day was just O.K. and the Lamb dish was a disaster. I do not understand what occurred here, but if this place is in business 12 months from now, then San Francisco is not the dining mecca I remember it to be? I guess I am spoiled by Venticello. Ps. We went on to Sonoma the next day and our meal at: El Dorado Kitchen was excellent!! \r more

Well first I would like to say that it's just confusing to name a restaurant 54 Mint when the address is actually 14 Mint. This quaint restaurant, hidden in a dark alley had very good food; however, the gnocchi and tiramasu were not the best I've ever had. I've found better of both in North Beach. I would like to say that one benefit of this place is you can avoid the annoyance of sleezy servers like those at Steps of Rome, but the server was mildly creepy. The biggest problem with this restaurant was that they only had one server on a Saturday night. Service was SO slow, we had to pour our own wine and it took 30 minute after our entire party had arrived for them to take our orders. After taking forever to serve us, they rushed us out the door as soon as we had paid. They actually asked us to leave. All in all the food was good but I don't recommend this place for first dates or if you have any time restrictions. more