Perbacco

We hosted a wedding celebration dinner in the Barolo room here. The room was so beautiful and private. The staff could not have been more friendly, helpful or fun. The food was exceptional. The steak was so tender and delicious and the scallops were the best any of our guests had ever had. I highly recommend Perbacco for your next group dining experience. Top notch! more

I love this restaurant. The best food and service you can get with reasonable prices. The menu always offers new dishes and the pasta is always freshly made. Whenever I am in the city, I want to go to Perbacco. The private dining rooms are very comfortable and when I dine alone, the bar is one of the most comfortable in the city. more

I had to go to another boring work function the other night was going to skip it but I was really glad I didn't. We had dinner upstairs in a private room that was lined with windows on one side of it. Through those windows you can watch the kitchen work their magic while you have hand passed apps and wine. The food was delicious!! I had one of their signature pasta that was unlike anything i've ever had. When dessert came I opted for the chocolate! It was dense chocolate cake with a gooey center. I really hope that my work has a holiday dinner this season! It's one work function I will be sure not to miss!! Pros: watching the kitchen from above Cons: it gets a bit hot ( no air conditioner) more

Great service, very good food though not spectacular, nice atmosphere (casual yet upscale). FOOD: This was... more

Great service, very good food though not spectacular, nice atmosphere (casual yet upscale). FOOD: This was my first time coming for dinner and a... more

I love having business meetings here, since it is right behind my office. All the food is excellent, the portions are just the right size, and ingredients always fresh and seasonal. Pros: Excellent food, service & atmosphere Cons: Can be noisy more

In this lively, even noisy FiDi eatery, Chef Staffan Terje and his team turn out delicious Northern Italian... more

In this lively, even noisy FiDi eatery, Chef Staffan Terje and his team turn out delicious Northern Italian dishes that make the din seem like a co... more

I really wanted this review to be better and perhaps the lower rating is due to these high expectations but there were far too many things that were average at best with my experience with the meal. I had looked through the reviews here and on other sites and many people went on and on about the grand experience here so suffice it say, I was salivating. The decor was grand and indicative of a post work eatery in the Financial District of any big city and with its tiled floor and mahogony bar I felt like we were in store for a meal that was so good I'd be tempted to tell my mama. Let's get down to it -- Appetizers 1) Burrata Cheese / Black Olive Condimento / Arugula / Grilled Filone 2) Roasted Octopus / Saffron Poached Potato / Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette / Salsa Verde The Burrata was what you'd expect. Straight forward cheese with a slight bit of resistance when sliced but roasted and creamy when spread on the bread and balanced with the olive. The Roasted Octopus however had some winning moments as it was trying to morph into a foie gras with the soft texture and taste. This was a pleasant surprise. Dinner: 1) Two of us had Liberty Farms Duck Breast / Brussels Sprouts And Apples In Padella / Pancetta / Passato Di Sancrau 2) Coniglio Al Civet ? Devil?s Gulch Rabbit / Spiced Red Wine Sauce / Otto File Polenta 3) Beef Short Rib Stracotto / Root Vegetable Pur?e / Roasted Golden Turnips And Cipolline The duck breast that I and a friend had wasn't tender even though it was presented medium rare and sadly a tough duck really is a mess. The brussel sprouts were decently prepared but didn't bring a redeeming factor to the meal. My wife had the rabbit and the saltiness was a bit overpowering and the sauce didn't compliment the meal in the least. It was as if the sauce was the star as opposed to the pasta portions. The winner of the meal was certainly the short ribs as noted by other posts. It won far and away as the other meals certainly left us flat but also because it's just done correctly. The meat was tender and braised and matched so well with the pasta. If I were to ever go back I'd certainly have that meal but I doubt that I will. There were some great aspects to the restaurant -- the drinks were made very well and were replaced with an easy frequency. And the overall bill was only 200.35 for the food and with a total of 10 beverages. I do have to say that our service was a seriously negative factor with the meal. Our server was hard to locate and hard of hearing, granted the place was full and she was scampering about trying to attend to far too many tables. One really odd part of the evening was when we were totaling up the bill -- we each were paying 60 dollars. So like any we have done in many other restaurants, we threw in a myriad of payment options. One person threw in 60 in cash and the I and another person decided to use a credit card. When we gave the server the bill, I said please put 120 on my card, 60 on the other card and use the cash as well. When I got the bill back I had a total of 140 and the cash was gone. Apparently she was so enamored with her service of avoidance and whispers that she gave herself a sixty dollar tip. Now it's not too far off from the 40 we were leaving but I'd never heard of anything like that before. It was a slight hassle correcting the matter but at least it was done with. Just an odd experience overall. I would recommend this place as a great spot to meet and greet for drinks and maybe eating at the bar but as for a dinner, there are more than enough restaurants in SF to venture to. Pros: Great Drinks Cons: Ill Prepared Food and Slow Service more

I was looking forward to Perbacco based on some of the reviews I had read about it, but left disappointed and with somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth. I went with a group of four for the last seating on a Friday night. Upon sitting down, we were promptly informed that the kitchen was closing and we had t hurry. This set the tone for the rest of the evening, where the staff rushed us almost to the point of rudeness. For example, three separate runners came by to try to take our shared appetizer plates, the first of which came by when we were only half finished. In addition, the tables are supported by a big round foot on the bottom, making it impossible to pull your chair in very well. As a result, I was bumped by at least six different servers as they made their way to other tables, and not once did one of them apologize. The space is so cramped that I almost knocked a tray of water out of a passing server's hands simply by turning around in my seat -- and was a little surprised to be glared at for this. On the positive side, the house-cured meats were excellent, as is the wine list. Pastas were on the down side, with tired noodles and overdone, gelatinous sauces. They tasted like they been under a heat lamp for half an hour. They probably were, ever since the first person tried to take our half-eaten appetizers! My final observation is that there were some very interesting customers; either the female customers in this restaurant have horrible fashion sense or the place was crawling with Ladies of the Night. Given its business district location, I'm betting on the latter. Overall, Perbacco is worth neither the price nor the hassle. Pros: Wine list, house-cured meats Cons: Service, pastas more

Took my SO here on a date. We were seated promptly, service was solid. Maybe it is the over stimulation of living in SF, but I was not all that impressed. Food was good/ great but not memorable. Not much to make this place stand out from the crowd. more

We went with a group of 6 so it was a good thing we made reservations, the wait would have been 30-45 mins! Pros: Great ambiance Cons: Poor customer service, non user friendly menu more

Occasionally it's nice to have a fancy lunch rather than grabbing something quick to bring back to the office and Perbacco is a wonderful breath of fresh air for the financial district. Elegant, relaxing, fine dining among the hustle and bustle of downtown. The anti-pasta appetizer was yummy; the pasta was the best I've had in a very long time, and the wine complemented it all. I will definitely return to Perbacco. Pros: Ambience, Pasta Cons: Parking more

My wife and I recently had a 'date night' here away from the kids. It did not live up to our expecctations and anticipation. The salame sampler is great if you like salame. We didn't love all the choices but it was fun to taste the difference between the various preparations. The Salt Cod was way oversalted. No, Salt Cod shouldn't be so salty you can't eat it. Unfortunately, this was the only complaint we both had - other dishes were also a bit heavy on the salt. Pros: Great cured meat selection Cons: Loud and oversalted more

Pasta was cold when it was supposed to be hot, hamachi was waaay too salty, pork was just decent. I really don't get Michael Bauer and his followers....seems like just a bunch of hype for no good reason. Ambiance was nothing special. We won't be back. more

I want to be fair. but, it seems when a new restaurant opens it is a given it will be busy. So, one cannot judge how good a place is by how busy it is. With this said. Perbacco did not impress. The food was OK. But, the service was bad. Many of the Servers on the Friday night we went seemed running around in chaos. I tried to stop a Server and was told it was not her section, but she will get my Server. This never happened she then did not make eye contact from that point foward afraid she might have to do something for a table not in her section. The food came out after a long wait. And to top it off it was cold. The food was decent, but it seemed the kitchen was just too overwhelmed. Also when the Server was at our table it seemed he was only interested in selling bottles of wine. Even after he was told we would not be drinking. I know it is important to sell wine for a bigger tab, but we were spenind quite enough already. We were a large party who ended spening over 800.00. I guess they weren't happy we didn't buy bottles of wine. Then before we could order dessert we were given the check. I was very unhappy with the bum rush out just because they wanted to turn the table. I guess once we were tagged as not drinkers we were not welcomed anymore. Pros: Nice building, nice hostess Cons: servers, food, too money hungry more

We were pleasantly surprised by the exceptional service. (Top 5 in San Francisco). The food was amazing. Sophisticated and creative and all of the dishes were excellent. Try the raw fish as a starter-we had the scallops and tuna. I am not a raw scallops fan but these were unbelievably good. The pork is amazing and so is the fish. The service sets this place apart, like I said some of the best service we have had in a long time. While we ate with friends, I would recommend it as a great place for a business dinner. more

It's true that Perbacco is a bit loud - the tables are fairly close together - but we found the service to be excellent and the food delicious. We walked in on a busy Friday night and were able to get in right away without a reservation (but were told that the table would be needed in about an hour). Our server was fantastic (and Italian!) and, when asked, provided great recommendations on both wine and food (they have a white wine - a varietal called tocai - by the glass that was very good). The complimentary breadsticks are tasty and everything that we ordered was excellent - the hamachi starter, beet salad, butternut squash ravioli and tajarin pasta (tagliatelle with pork ragu). The espresso was also quite good and we finished up with the ""ugly but good cookies"" - which were melt-in-your-mouth good (and not too ugly). Maybe we got lucky with our server or perhaps the management has made some changes - but overall it was a great experience and we will return. more

We had a networking dinner event so we had been seated in the private room which by the way it is a little to noisy for been ""private"". We had a pre fixed menu' which was good value for money. We had a parmiggiano souffle' (delicious) followed by handmade rveal ravioli very fresh even though the veal was a little bit too mcuh for the delicate ravioli. Last but not least delicious wine ribs and rich chocolate cake. Superb service. Lovely ambiance, noise can be a problem. Pros: food,ambiance, Cons: parking...forget it, use the valet or use the muni,noisy more

We ordered two of everything on the menu, and couldn't get enough. Man, Chef Terje has something AWESOME... more