03/26/09

Tosca Cafe featured in new play at ACT The Tosca Project

by SFOperaExaminer

THE TOSCA PROJECT featured in column at

Examiner Dot Com, go to San Francisco then Opera Examiner.

This play will have a world premier next summer, June of 2010 at ACT.

• Pros: Fusion of acting and musical talent
• Cons: Full cast list not announced yet, Muriel Maffre?

10/17/06

Great spot to stop!

by canna

Yes, this is a San Francisco landmark. I've been going there for years. It's the kind of place where people remember your name. You really have to enjoy one of Richie's cocktails, he's one of the bartenders and he will mix you up something unique. Ask him about his "signature" drink. So many things happen around this chic bar scene, from movies being filmed here, like "Twisted" from 2004. It's not unusual to run into someone like Ashleigh Judd, or Samuel L. Jackson just chillin at the bar. I love this place and I have to get my Tosca fix at least once a month.

• Pros: heart of north beach
• Cons: parking

A North Beach mainstay boasting Old-World ambience, coffee cocktails and one of the classiest jukeboxes in town.

by Contributor

In Short
This spot feels like a comfortable, classy 1920s hangout. It's been open for more than 85 years and attracts 30-somethings who chatter louder than the background tunes. The cocktails are diminutive, but the menu is extensive--featuring seven classics (French 75, sidecar), single malts, bottled beers and wines, including a Coppola merlot. Lining the bar are glasses of the spot's signature sipper: a brandy-spiked cappuccino made with Ghirardelli chocolate.

10/28/05

Best in Northbeach

by dustpm

This place is the best spot in Northbeach. It is in the best location and still manages to keep out all the trendy yuppies that frequent places up the road. It drips of class and character; the music plays to the tunes of Duke Ellington and Dean Martin. The best bartenders in the city that will mix you anything from a Dirty Martini to the all-famous Espresso Martini. If you are lucky enough to score a booth and a hottie waitress you can often spot the many celebs that frequent this bar often. And if you are really lucky the owner might let you see the back room, which is reserved for the likes of famous Actors, Writer and Politicians. The stories I have from this place are ones that my grandkids will hear. If you have not been go, and it you have you will be back!

06/15/05

Tosca would be better with different management

by sholeh

I used to frequent Tosca quite often. The bar is beautiful, but the management and staff are poorly efficient. The bartenders are jerks and scare away clients. If you are a girl, movie star, or someone famous, the manager gives you free drinks but is rude to the rest of his customers. Every month the bar gets less crowded. I am sure if Tosca had different owners, this place would be jam packed with customers. But they are cheap with everything, especially in service and drinks. And definitely, if Tosca had a new bar staff, that were friendly, inviting and not short-changing customers, more people would frequent the bar, including myself.

10/19/04

the best in the city

by metallica_gal

There are many reasons everybody loves Tosca. It's a great place to meet up with friends and enjoy a good drink. The place has a great vibe. People do not bother you if you want to be left alone. It's also the place to get the BEST cosmopolitan in SF.

It gets crowded sometimes, but if you'll come there once, you'll understand why.

• Pros: great service, good drinks

08/19/03

Tosca: SF Legend. But why?

by spadwick

I know everyone plus everybody absolutely loves Tosca, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and publicly declare that I have no idea what's supposed to make this place that great. It's a really crowded bar, can barely boast anything that qualifies as an actual decor, yet movie stars hang out there and all the travel guides insist that you simply must go there to get the true flavor of SF. Well, I'm from SF, and I don't get it; Tosca is maniacally crowded, the drinks are nothing special and generally overpriced, and the supposed "opera" themed decor consists of a few posters and photos tacked lazily to the wall. Sean Penn and Sharon Stone, why do you bother? Tosca's reputation is like a perpetual motion machine that needs absolutely nothing to fuel it; once you visit you'll see that it's not very well founded.

• Pros: good coffee, pretty bar, hot servers
• Cons: crowded, noisy, overpriced