Mescolanza

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Chelsea Lin

Joined 6 years ago

Get your fill of home-style Italian fare here.. To truly appreciate this quiet, impossibly friendly neighborhood eatery, you must first get past the fact that certain cheesy details--trompe l'oeil columns painted on pale yellow walls, omnipresent Italian opera wafting overhead--are more like The Venetian in Las Vegas than a veranda in Venice. Fortunately, it's easy to forget your surroundings when there are other things to focus on: your date across one of the tiny two-top tables, thick-accented servers who are eager to please, or the menu full of pastas and classic Italian entrees. Open for dinner only, the restaurant turns out large (yet affordable) portions of chard-filled ravioli, linguine alla carbonara, thin-pounded veal and sweet potato gnocchi. And while the pizzas may not measure up to the likes of nearby Pizetta 211, the Italian-style pies are chewy, crispy, and yes, cheesy, in all the right places.

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Vivienne

Joined 4 years ago

Great Italian Food in the Richmond district!. Mescolanza is a small, intimate, little, neighborhood, mom-and-pop restaurant that serves Italian food located on Clement Street between 23rd and 24th Avenues. It's discreetly tucked under a small pink awning. It's my favorite restaurant in my neighborhood and I've been going there for 20 years!

Please note, parking on the Clement Street corridor is difficult (almost as bad as North Beach) but there is a parking lot directly across the street from the restaurant (as Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing!").

This restaurant is small and seats only 49 patrons at one time so be sure to make reservations.

My favorite appetizers are the Carpaccio and Bruschetta. The plate of Carpaccio is presented with extremely thinly sliced beef draped on the plate. There are small mounds of capers, chopped red onions, shaved Parmesan cheese, and mustard paste. Mix all the ingredients and enjoy!

The Bruschetta is toasted french bread topped with a delicious sprinkling of chopped Roma tomatoes mixed with fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, and sea salt. In this day and age of almost tasteless tomatoes (inbreeding is never a good thing), the tomatoes in this dish are ripe, packed full of flavor, and fill your mouth with a burst of flavor.

The Pear Pizza (Yeah, I know, it sounds kind of strange but darling, it's divine intervention on a plate.) You have got to try this!

The Osso Bucco was excellent. The meat was very tender and flavorful in its rich burgundy-like sauce. I loved the vegetables and that's saying something for a meat eater like me. The vegetables were carrots, zucchini, and yellow squash done just right in that perfect combination of buttery, tender and crunchy at the same time.

We had a veal chop off the "Specials Menu" that was sautéd in its own juices with a blend of slow-cooked root vegetables surrounding it. It came with silky, creamy mashed potatoes that had a hint of garlic flavor and a serving of the vegetable combination I spoke of earlier. Once again, excellent!

We had the crème caramel, the tiramisu and the chocolate flan with amaretto and crushed amaretti cookies. The tiramisu and crème caramel were as expected, delicious. That chocolate flan was EXCEPTIONAL! Sinfully, silky smooth texture on a bed of crushed cookies with the hint of amaretto flavors. While we ate all the desserts, the chocolate flan won hands down.

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daytona900

Joined 9 years ago

A favorite. Parking is difficult at times, but this restaurant is worth the effort. Family run and good comfort Italian food. I never miss an opportunity to dine at Mescolanza whenever I am in the area. Service is efficient and friendly, all the pasta dishes are superb. My favorite is to share a home made ravoli special as a first course.

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writerevie

Joined 8 years ago

Good Italian food, but bad service.. I have been to this restaurant several times, and the food has consistently been very good. The service, however, leaves much to be desired. I understand that the server is unable to check on all tables all the time when it's busy, but to be snappish when asking customers if they're ready to order is not acceptable. Ignoring customers when they walk in the door is NOT acceptable, regardless of how busy it is. I've walked in here twice on two different nights and was completely ignored by 3 different people, although I made eye contact with each one of them. The last straw came about two months ago when I went to the restaurant with a friend on a Thursday night. The place was crowded, and there were two parties ahead of us. I went inside and left my name with the hostess, was told the wait would be about 20 minutes, which I was fine with, so I went back outside and prepared to wait. We waited for 30 minutes, checked with the hostess, who apologized and said that she was waiting for a particular table to pay their bill. Makes sense, so we go back outside and wait again. 15 minutes later, she comes outside and tells a couple who arrived AFTER US and put their names down AFTER us that their table is ready. At this point, we'd waited 45 minutes, and incensed, I walked in and asked why they were being seated first. "They were here first," was the answer. The other couple was aware that they came in after me and kindly offered the table to us, but I thanked them, declined, turned and walked out.

The food is very good here, and I live in the neighborhood, but the repeated instances of bad service has discouraged me from ever patronizing this restaurant again.

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Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Deep in the Richmond, hearty Italian food satisfies the neighborhood crowd.. In Short
Pale-yellow walls with trompe l'oeil columns provide a soothing backdrop for piped-in classical tunes. Veteran servers interact with a quiet dining room full of locals. Pasta dishes include sweet potato gnocchi in a nutmeg-spiked cream sauce and swiss chard-filled spinach ravioli blanketed in spicy tomato sauce. Main courses also satisfy, such as chicken breast topped with mozzarella and prosciutto, and grilled swordfish.

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ieatallthetime

Joined 7 years ago

Good food in a cramped restaurant. Ok, so if you've ever looked for a place on craigslist, you know that "cozy" means, "damn small". same applies here. the food is good and the prices are pretty good, but it's just ridiculously small. I mean, ridiculously! you are pretty much sitting on top of other patrons and participate in their conversations. good luck if there is a loud mouth drunk in the restaurant because you'll feel like he's sitting at your table. there also is no space to wait inside the restaurant, so if you come early, late, or they aren't ready to seat you, you'll be standing out in the cold.

The restaurant isn't bad but it's just uncomfortably small.

If you're anywhere NEAR claustrophobic or big on "personal space", this is not the eating experience for you.

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insearchofyum

Joined 7 years ago

always great. I was told by someone that this was their favorite Italian restaurant in San Francisco. With that high praise, how could I not visit? Although from the exterior it appears to be nothing special, upon entering, things change quickly. The ambiance is quite romantic and pretty and the service has always been perfect-ever present but not intrusive at all. The fresh pasta is prepared al dente and has always been delicious and inventive. The pizza is crisp and has many great combinations of ingredients. Although we usually don't see children in this restaurant, we did sit next to a family with two small children on one occasion (very well behaved children, I might add) The parents requested cheese pizza for one and buttered noodles for the other and the restaurant was also happy to do that. We have since returned many times and it remains excellent on each visit. Although I hate to ruin a surprise, sometimes the waiter will bring you a complementary glass of port to finish off the meal- which adds to the perfection of the evening. I highly recommend this restaurant. You will not be disappointed.

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adject

Joined 7 years ago

solid food, great service at a good price. I eat out a lot and I am constantly trying new restaurants all over town (tried the Blue Plate last week which was good, but soooo overpriced) and I'm glad I went to Mescolanza. The food was not the best Italian I've ever had, but it was still good and very solid. Better yet, it did not break the bank. Also, our waiter was extremely friendly and attentive. They also gave us free port at the end of the meal. I will definitely go back.

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adams_eating

Joined 8 years ago

It's OK - but not excellent. This is the Richmond District, where there are a few very good restaurants. Mescolanza is not one of them, but it is good and at decent prices. If you live in the neighborhood and want a decent Italian dinner, you may want to go. If you live outside of the neighborhood, don't waste your time. The high ratings from other reviewers appear to be skewed because of the limited choices in the Richmond District.

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uhuru

Joined 7 years ago

Very Nice. Great service and good food. Best italian in the richmond. I love their pizzas. The wine selection is not great but passable. Pasta dishes are much better than the meat dishes.