A16

01/06/09

OVERRATED

by chrishemphill at Citysearch

Tried this place 4 years ago and haven't gone back until last night - same thoughts - Overrated!!

If you want pizza, there are plenty of pizza places around - Pizza Orgasmica, etc

Italian food - go to North Beach

• Pros: Good atmosphere
• Cons: Food is just ok, Hard to get reservations / Long wait

10/16/07

Average, if anything!!!

by rluerra1 at Citysearch

Had dinner on Friday 10/12 and the place was buzzing, I've heard so many great things about A16 and how if you get a chance to get in to the restaurant do it... Well with that said; I was less than impressed with the food, I ordered the Tri-Tip and it was so over cooked that I felt like I was eating beef jerky. My wife ordered the pasta and she like the family next to us refered to it as "PASTIE", and the sauce that lacked flavor. They mentioned on the menu that the sausage is housemade with fennel, they need to add that it also lacks in flavor too. We won't be back to give this place a another try as we were very disappointed with the food. The service was great, promptly seated and great staff, to bad the food isn't as good as everything else in the restaurant. Sorely disappointed...

• Pros: Staff, Service, Prompt Seating.
• Cons: Food, Lacks Flavor, Pastie Pasta.

10/07/07

Throwing away money for food that's over priced

by foodielover at Citysearch

Sorely disappointed with the inconsistencies at this place. Look at prior reviews ranging from praises to warnings to stay away. It's favored by Yuppies who want to be seen throwing away money for food that's overpriced and not all good. Our server, Hannah, was very nice compared to prior reviews on service, but the bus boy was rushed, thus making it an uncomfortable experience. The sm salumi was very good with a variety of thin slices of meats and one serving of pate on a sm toasted bread slice. The salsiccia pizza came soggy on a thin flour crusted pizza, the sausage (a few pieces) were good but the pie was a disppointment ($15). The roast lamb was tasty as was the chicken meatballs. Both came with a choice of sides - the best was the olive oil roasted sweet corn, everyone raved about it. The romaine salad was passe'. At $20 for the meatballs(with side), you got 5 golf-ball sized meatballs and if you deducted approx $5 for the salad, each meatball would be $3-4 a piece! There was no pasta , just a mound of stewed tomatoes in the middle. The beef tri-tip was the most generous and very good. The large maccheronara ($28) was the smallest portion for the price. This pasta was quite good, like chewy udon but that's all it was, pasta with sauce and not much of it. Our bottle of Casavecchia was really good but expensive at $47/bottle. Dessert didn't fare better. The banana gelato special was very flavorful, but again, the portion ($3) was just larger than a golf ball. The apple crostata was a crunchy flat cookie-like tart, couldn't taste much apple, it came topped with a sm scooop of gelato. The blue cheese plate was most generous, served with slices of bread, plate of honey and sliver of almond cookie. The coffee came in a stainless steel European coffee press which impressed us more than the food! We don't understand how it made it in the SF Chronicle's top 100 restaurants. It's a very noisy restaurant to boot.

• Pros: Salumi, banana gelato, roasted corn side dish, Italian wine selections
• Cons: Parking, Yuppies, overrate/expensive, small portions, noisy

03/29/07

Overrated!

by mlopes at Citysearch

I found this restaurant's reputation to be largely undeserved. Too loud to have a conversation without yelling, the service was excruciatingly slow (2.5 hours for a 3 course meal) and the food was average at best. No wine list, no matter how good, makes-up for these drawbacks. There are much better places to eat in San Francisco - unless you absolutely must "see and be seen" in the Marina.

• Pros: Good wine list
• Cons: Noisy, crowded, dark and slow service.

12/28/06

Disappointed yet again....

by kattc at Citysearch

Unless a restaurant is horrible I'll give it a second shot - I did with A16 and won't be going back a third time. The service was just okay - she was nice enough but slow and would disapper for long periods of time. The food was mediocre. Pizza was overly sauced and the crust was tough. The salads were nothing to write home about - as a matter of fact my beet salad had no flavor. It was a large serving, too bad it didn't have any taste (our waitress didn't bring the pepper until we were done w/our salads even though I asked when we ordered and again when she brought the plates to the table). A friend of mine had the chicken - I took a couple of bites and thought it was moist and delicious - he said after about 5 bites it was too salty. The wine list is impressive and our server did know her wines. Not worth the money - would rather eat at Fuzio or D'Angelo's down the street.

• Pros: Wine List
• Cons: Food, service

06/30/06

CHEF BOY ARDEE TASTES BETTER THAN THIS FOOD

by kokonut at Citysearch

I WAS SO EXCITED TO FINALLY GET A RESERVATION HERE AND WAS SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED. I SERIOUSLY DONT KNOW WHAT ALL THE RAVE IS ABOUT. ALL 4 DISHES WE ORDERED WERE VERY BLAND. THE RED WINE TASTED LIKE VINEGAR. THE MARGARITA PIZZA TASTED LIKE THEY USED CAMPBELL'S TOMATO SOUP FOR THE SAUCE; ACTUALLY CAMPBELLS SOUP WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER THAN THE MEAL I HAD HERE. IF U LIKE BLAND TASELESS FOOD THAN YOU SHOULD DEFINATELY EAT HERE!

• Pros: GREAT SCENE
• Cons: BLAND TASTLESS FOOD

02/02/06

Got a Reservation? Be Ready to Wait!

by paulbmcdermott at Citysearch

WOW, my fiance and I have been there half a dozen times and have only sat inside the restaurant twice (this last visit we did). I can tell you that if you sit at the bar its great. The bartenders are great (Brooke was very helpful in selecting wines by the glass) and the food is the same. BUT PLEASE BE READY TO WAIT TO SIT AT YOUR TABLE REGARLESS OF YOUR RESERVATION!! WE WAITED AN HOUR! Yes, a full hour! A glass of Prosecco does not make up for it. I will think twice when bringing friends to dine here. Unfortunate, because the food is excellent.

• Pros: Great food, Good Service , Great help with wine
• Cons: THE WAIT, THE WAIT

07/16/05

Not worth it - at all

by kkalps at Citysearch

My wife and me have been dining out in the city for years now and have eaten at scores of italian restaurants and have also eaten Neopolitan food in Napoli itself. This place definitely came in below par. The female bartender was quite unfriendly and cold. When my wife requested a non-alcoholic beverage she poured her a pint of orange juice as if she were doing her a favor. The pasta I ordered was pedestrian, at best. I could whip up better fare using a bottle of pre-packaged pasta sauce. Both the pasta and the pizza were dowsed in very bitter olive oil - either made from unripe olives or was just stale. This pretty much killed both the dishes. The fava bean appetizer was probably the saving grace, an indication that somene here still cares about the food. Avoid this one, there's lot better stuff in the city.

04/04/05

Big Let Down....

by mare528 at Citysearch

The food was ok, nothing spectacular. While fooseball is one of my favorite games to play, it was obnoxious having one in the middle of the restaurant next to dinner tables. Our server was cold and acted as though we should be lucky to be seated at one of her tables where she paid zero attention to us. In fact, no one from the restaurant stopped by to see how our dinner was going. Our server suggested a dessert which turned out to be a bitter and tasted awful. After we very nicely told her why we barely put a dent in it, she was clearly offended and became even more hostile. Our already dissapointing dinner ended with glares from the server as we left the restaurant...this despite of the tip we left that she clearly did not deserve. Needless to say, I won't be returning to this "hot spot."

• Pros: Wine List
• Cons: Long wait, Pretentious Staff, Bad Service

02/15/05

Long Wait For Average Food

by sabinosupra at Citysearch

My wife and I had dinner here a couple of months ago with no reservation and the wait on a Wednesday night was a ridiculous 2 hours. I can understand waiting for a long period of time for food to die for but I wasn't impressed at all with the menu. It didn't help that the two hostesses caved in to Marina locals with no reservations and often got seated before others that were patiently waiting. Come on, 2 hour wait for just average food? Sorry will never do it again.

• Cons: Long Wait, Average Food, Sub par service