A16 - San Francisco

We have enjoyed A16 for years, and last evening was another treat. The Citrus Salad offered great flavors and texture. Gnocchi and Margherita Pizza were the mains and everyone was happy. I don't have great familiarity with southern Italian wines, but the waiter was knowledgable and we enjoyed her recommendations. A16 is a great neighborhood spot.

Incredibly average food and noticeably poor service. My partner and I had a good time, if only because we bonded over how much we disliked the restaurant.

I've eaten at A16 before several times and liked the food a lot. This time; however, the food was just so-so. I had the beet salad and there wasn't much flavor to the beets or the rest of the accompaniments. Same goes for their signature ragu pasta. It was more pasta flavor than sauce flavor and I found the pasta itself to be a bit heavy and overwhelmed the sauce. I'll go back and try again -- maybe it was an off night for the kitchen. Also, the service is great and I like the ambiance though it is a bit noisy.

I went to A16 on a Saturday night and experienced poor service, extremely mediocre food and an unenoyable environment. We brought our own bottle of wine and it took 25 minutes to receive glasses and our first pour. We started with the burrata which was bland and served with crostinis that tasted like they had been made days before. The pizza was boring and lacked flavor, while the pasta dish was tiny and uninspired. An inedible over-salted arugula salad topped off this distasterous meal.

Good food that uses freshest ingredients, but a little pricey, even for SF.

So loud. Slow service

I would recommend A-16 to friends, but I would tell them to make reservations no later than 5 or 5:30 p.m. We had a 6 p.m. reservation, and by 6:45 p.m., we could no longer talk across the table for two because of excessive noise. We will NEVER go again at 6 p.m. or any "normal" dinner hour because of this.

I do not get what all the fuss is about and I’ve eaten Italian food extensively throughout the world, including all over Italy. I ordered the sweet potato gnocchi and I’m sorry to say, it wasn’t good. The consistency, texture and shape of the gnocchi was generally poor. I could barely taste any of the sweet potato. The consistency of gnocchi is soft, but this was more like mush. My husband had the maccaronara and it’s like a bolognese, but he felt it was just average. The pasta selection are minimal and it felt more like an upscale pizza place with a few other selections. I’ve cooked and eaten in Italy and this was not good Italian food in my opinion. Again, I do not understand the ratings at all. I was traveling through San Francisco and heard this place to amazing and wanted to try it.

Food was ok, not worth where the prices are. Service was below average.

Exceptional wood oven pizzas and wine selection. I let the server guide our wine selection and she nailed the choices.

We went to A16 for a Sunday lunch. The dining room I would describe as solemn. It was pretty empty although restaurants either side were hopping. We ordered the cheese and salami plate to start ($27). Only one type of cheese, so salami heavy. Other items included lard spread on toast and a terrine. We actually had no idea what anything was and eventually flagged down the server to ask him, also for some mustard, but they had none. It was kind of depressing so we baled and ate our main course elsewhere.

The setting, ambiance and service were great. However, we were very disappointed with the food. We had been here a while ago and loved it. Last night, our group of four were all in agreement that the preparation of the food was lacking. For appetizers, we ordered burrata with toast and mushroom pizza which were good. But, the brussel sprouts were under cooked. We’ve brussel sprouts from many restaurants, from higher end to casual places, and been happy with the sprouts, but these were terrible - hard, barely browned, and unseasoned. I ordered the fish of the day which was pan-seared, served with fennel and a frisée salad. The fish was fresh but the outside of the fish was barely seared and again poorly seasoned (no salt or anything)- if someone microwaved my fish a little bit, this is what it would look and taste like. By the way, I am not someone who likes very salty food and can’t remember the last time I had to ask for salt at a restaurant. My husband ordered the trout which looked delicious, but again lacked seasoning. His side dish was white beans - again bland! The others guests ordered pasta - they had to add salt as well Who was over seeing the kitchen and forgot the seasoning?

Disappointed with food and service today. Pizza was cold. Coffee was cold.

Great service! The sommelier was very helpful and she recommended a couple great wines. The sweet potato gnocchi was the best. The steak was a perfect medium rare. Great food, great ambiance. Can’t wait to get back

Forgot to bring out my pizza and was not very attentive to our table. Took two hours before she asked if we wanted dessert and we then informed them that the pizza was never brought out. She gave us a pizza to go for free which was a very nice gesture and did make up for it a little.

My husband summed it up: Massively disappointing. Our last 3 visits have ranged from médiocre to really bad.

Today we went in craving pasta and salad. Sadly, we got neither; the menu is more limited than it used to be. There were no green salad options and the bruschetta dish came with a large bowl of hummus, an unidentified green wilted veg, a small amount of tasty onions and two pièces of burned toast. When we asked for more toast after cutting away half of what we'd received the waitress brought 2 more pièces, partially burned. When paying the bill we noticed that we'd been charged for the replacement toasts.

Finally, the wine-by-the-glass prices have become ridiculous. I had 2 glasses of wine, taking her recommendation, and saw when we paid the bill that they were $19 each. I had a better glass of a very similar wine at the Rotunda last week for less than we paid here today.

Service has also gone downhill. Our waitress was inefficient, did not check on us when checking on nearby tables unless we caught her eye, and we saw her do the same to other tables. The "roasted" sunchokes were brown lumps drowning in oil, mushy and lacking in flavor. When she removed those plates the waitress did not ask if there was a problem, despite our each having taken one bite and left the rest as they did not match either description or expectations. The pizzas were fine, but the pancetta on one was almost entirely fat. Overall, today it wasn't awful, but it wasn't good, either. At $150 before tip, we don't think "good" is too much to expect.

Summary: We don't feel we can go back with any confidence that we'd have a good meal, which is a shame as we live in Presidio Heights and eat/shop in the Marina quite often. We certainly won't be recommnding it.

This continues to be one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco. We showed up at 10:40 for our 9pm reservation (we had alerted them we would be late) after my niece's flight was delayed. They couldn't have been nicer (even though they were probably less than thrilled to sit a brand new table!). The burrata and prosciutto, the pizzas (margherita and salsiccia) and the pasta (maccaronara) were all exceptional. And we loved the wine they helped us pick out. What had been shaping up to be a bad night with a very late flight and a missed dinner was saved by exceptional service and a great meal.

I have been going here for years, but the last few times have been hit or miss... The pizzas are always delicious and the wood fired ovens give the majority of their dishes an extra flair. Unfortunately it was especially loud on this visit, our server was not as well versed on the wines as most and did not offer any services by the sommelier in lieu of this. Two of us had the porchetta, which was inedible secondary to the inordinate amount of fat. A simple description or explanation by our server would have steered us to a different dish. There are always several items in many dishes that are foreign, so ask or beware!

It was amazing. The food was perfect, the wine was sublime.

Fantastic white wine Frassitelli from Ischia, with beautiful citrus salad with great Pizza and out standing gnocchi with sweet potato , finish with delicious sweet treat.

Natalia and Senan were excellent. Incredibly friendly, genuine and knowledgable. Great suggestions. Great food. Wonderful experience. One of the best date nights we’ve had since moving to SF from NY.

We have been coming to A16 for years, primarily for the pizza. It has become a tradition for our son’s birthday dinner. The food and service never disappoint. This is one of our all time favorite restaurants.

Really poor service. Our waiter was the worst we’ve had and we waiting a lot time to get drinks and order our food. Food was overpriced.

Loved the service and food. We explained we had a show to get to and it wasn't a problem. Our waiter made an excellent wine recommendation in which a carafe could be shared. Definitely will return to eat more food.

Very slow. Our server was pretty overwhelmed. It took two hours. Very pleasant.

Antipasti, aperitif cocktail, and the wine we chose (with excellent description and information from the server — whose name I should have got so I could thank her here) were the high points for me. I give the pizza a strong “B,” but no real complaints.

A16 has long been a favorite dinner destination until our recent 2/16/19 visit. First of all, the hostess who called to confirm our reservation wasn't very friendly and when we arrived, both hostesses did not smile - simply not pleasant for a high-end restaurant. They seemed bored. Our server, however, was excellent. Both appetizers were expensive and the portions were quite small, even for a venue like A16. The aappetizers (burrata, poloents special) were good but not great, and not worth the price. My entree was ok (pizza funghi with proscuitto) and my husband's fish was just ok. Even the ice tea was in a small glass that the server kept having to fill, and then gave a small carafe. (again, not her fault) The dessert offerings were uninspiring, which has often been the case at A16, but usually the starters & entrees more than make up for that weakness -- but not this time. So very disappointing.

Well matched for Wine Geeks. Fantastic list, mostly Southern Italy (not Piedmont, Veneto, Tuscany) of wines you won't know, knowledgeable staff to help you pair, delicious stuff at good value levels. Wonderful 'rustic' Italian dishes go very well indeed. A bit difficult to get evening tables, not a large place.

Good food, ok service, sad was that once home, OT sent me a note saying that we NEVER showed up & were bad customers, never going or cancelling our resy. BUT we did show, even 5 mins early & the GM herself, “Helen” sat us, with massive bill for 2, $170., that for 1 yummy salad & 1 full order pasta & 2 entrees & 2 desserts & 1 soda & 1 hot tea. With way over generous 20% tip = $210. Not even a drop of fancy wine. Then to say we never showed? Very rude & insulting & sloppy. I guess that’s how they roll nowadays?

Or was it that we were the only 2 there at 10pm who were over 35 (besides GM Helen), not living blocks away in the Marina, not wearing WAY to tight blue jeans with boobs out & the same short booties, not with highly colored & very blown dry very straight hair, not tipsy or drunk or constantly on our iPhones? Not a diverse clientele. Only our kinda distracted main server not a Hollywood Model type & with a kinda messy look & crooked nose & way too many wild tats. Oh well, CAVEAT EMPTOR...let the customer beware.

A16 is our favorite neighborhood spot. Food and service consistently satisfy.

Although the service was good, our pasta dishes were so salty that 3 of the 4 diners in our group found them almost inedible. The wine pour was so pithy that my friend assumed it was a sample and not the full pour. The pizza were ordered for the table as a starter was good. I left the restaurant hungry and embarrassed that I selected the restaurant for our group when no one enjoyed their meal.

We went for Valentine’s Day so they had a prefixed menu. The food was decent but was not worth the price of ~100/person. The service and ambience was great. We will probably go back for the wine and pizza.

One of our favorite restaurants in SF. You can never go wrong with A16.

a16 is normally great, unfortunately the valentine’s day menu was not good, outside of the last dish.

We arrived a little early (minutes before open at 5:30 pm) and waited in the “lobby” area quietly. We asked for water while we wait but the lady that seats people refused because it would be “against the law” to serve someone five minutes before opening... Way too much drama for a glass of water!!

Once we were seated, the food was cold and the waitress forgot to bring us an item so we just ended up not getting it! Bad experience. This place used to be one of my faves but not anymore....

Exceptional Italian wine list and staff who knows the list. Great items to choose from. I would go back and sit at the bar where conversation might be easier. Noise level is high but food, wine and service is worth it!

Service was slow and bad

Great food, ambience, always consistent.
Server was not very polished, kind of diner service rather than a sit down. Splashed wine, water, didn’t think to chill our bottle of white wine, brought trout but without the side. Took away serving spoon when we had need for it, didn’t ensure we had cutlery either. He sucked.

We were put in the back room and it was freezing with a terrible draft. The waiter was quite rude as was the sommelier.

One of the best meals we have had in a long time!