Il Davide

Loved it! My first visit was last week and I have to admit I’m sorry I waited so long to try it. The food was outstanding and the atmosphere was great for a date night. True, we were on the later side and there were no children around. It made for a wonderful night out.

Yum yum yummy! Always go there for special occasions and occasionally for lunch and dinner. Love the ravioli de zuca. Still thinking about it! the food, excellent service. All of them are so nice there!

We love Il Davide. Good food, good service, good times. David Haydon’s 30+ years’ experience with attention to detail as a chef and restaurant owner is evident everywhere. Alina and I have been regulars since we first met and I have been coming here for 20 years. David makes us feel as if we are honored guests in his own home. We highly recommend the Specials and have never been disappointed. Our menu favorites are many but we always try to save room for dessert and a glass of Porto to cap off the intimate setting. The fresh Berry Cobbler with a scoop of vanilla gelato is awesome! We highly recommend making reservations as they are quite popular with the locals. Best is to call 415.454.8080 or go online to the website and use their reservation system powered by OpenTable. David also has a great intimate Private Room great for receptions and gatherings of up to 50 people.
Our recommendations:
Italian Red Wine Flight
Rombauer Chardonnay
Bruschetta
Cream of Mushroom or Split Pea Soups (when available)
Carpaccio
Brussel Sprout Salad (when available)
Orecchiette alla Davide
Gnocchi
Sautéed Sea Scallops
Chicken Marsala
Hanger Steak
Braised Short Ribs
Il Davide Cucina Italiana
901 A St
San Rafael, CA 94 901
415.454.8080

I need to update my review of ⁰¹⁄₂₄. I was very impressed by the response I got from David, the owner of the restaurant. He acknowledged the negative things I pointed out while remaining graceful.
It is hard to get criticized when you work hard and do your best every day. My review honestly expressed the way I felt that day. So I will amend it as follows: Il Davide IS a good restaurant. It is just that Saturday lunch is not the best time to judge the overall quality of the service. So next time, I’ll go for dinner!

Checked out Il Davide for the first time and can say it was pretty darn good! I absolutely loved the burrata plate! So many places serve burrata with only savory elements but they served it with jam and prosciutto and a nice crisp salad that was so amazingly well balanced. Good wine selection, great service and nice atmosphere. Will be back!

I keep meaning to write a review but now I must. Birthday dinner for 8 on a Friday night was FABULOUS. Everyone’s dinner was superbly cooked and presented. I’ve never, ever had better Tiramisou; it was so creamy, light and tasty. My Cioppino was to die for. The fish was delicious and not overcooked. I could have eaten 2 loaves of the fresh bread dipped in the sauce. THE BES was THE SERVICE. On a busy, busy Friday night, our server was wonderful. Not pushy or impatient but always available for more wine, bread etc. Ben, the manager, was very welcoming and personable. A 5 STAR experience (for the 4^th time!).

Yummy yum yum! Still thinking about my sea bass melting in my mouf.
Came on NYE. We had a reso and I’m glad i did cause it was PACKED to the gills. The staff was doing a great job keeping everyone happy while they waited– even got a complimentary glass of prosecco. All in all we only had to wait an extra 10 minutes which is totally worth it.
Started with the burrata app and it was so tasty! We ran out of toast pretty quickly but they were able to bring us more.
I ordered the sea bass special– it came on risotto with a lemon sauce and it had to hold back from licking the plate clean. I’ve seen sea bass go soggy before– but not the case here. it was so buttery– yum! My husband ordered the short ribs on polenta and those were divine as well– really great flavors.
Service was meh but I’ll give the dude a pass– it was New Years and they were slammed. Didn’t have room for dessert with everything else I ate but they looked delicious so maybe save room!

This is such a great place! One of our favorites. They are so accommodating.
GREAT food, great wine list. They took us in when our reservation was off.
They serve at all times between lunch and dinner.
Great servers.
Can’t say enough good things!

Super yummy excellent quality Italian food with possibility of enjoying dairy-​free and gluten-​free options! Good presentation, warm family-​friendly environment, tasty dishes. Had carpaccio as an appetizer and special main – Dungeness Crab & Shrimp Risotto, plus GF penne with butter & cheese for kid (al dente, which he enjoyed completely). Also most tables were filled with family celebrations with mixed generations dining together. Prices were also well worth the quality. Will come again.

Il Davide is my go-​to spot for consistent, delicious food and wine in San Rafael. I’ve taken many friends here and the verdict is always the same — everyone raves about the entire dining experience, from the creative dishes and great wine list, to the dimly lit, cozy ambiance. I can’t say enough about this amazing place!
We always get small plates to share — standouts are the burrata with fig jam (heavenly), the tortellini porcini and the toasted bruschetta. And I cannot leave without having the berry cobbler — to die for!
Il Davide is a little slice of Italian heaven in downtown San Rafael. Highly recommended.

would not return.
1. So many tables packed in the atmosphere is terrible. Loud, cramped. When the waiters are having to crawl over their customers in order to work the floor, it’s bad.
2. Poor service. Waiters are in a huge hurry, forget orders, mix up orders, and all the the rest that comes from being totally understaffed.
3. Food mediocre. Soup tasted like it was canned and watered down. Lettuce was past its prime on several of our salads. courses were very slow arriving. Chicken Rotolini had absolutely no flavor and chicken way undercooked. Vegetables on all of our plates were limp.

I have had this place bookmarked for a while — but since I live in SF, I never knew when it would happen.
We were on the way home from wine tasting and wanted to stop for a fun dinner around 5:30 on a Holiday weekend Sunday. The 3 of us spilt the mushroom, truffle tortellini Appetizer (WAY too small to spilt for three, barely enough for 1). The we also split the roasted chicken and the caesar salad with scallops.
Overall just Meh… the caesar was unexceptional. The chicken was okay and actually a BIG portion for 3 to split.
With a bottle of the cheapest wine the offer it was over $ 120.

We used to come to Il Davide often for special occasions, but we were surprised to realize it’s been 15 years since our last visit. Happy to see the quality of the food is as good as we remembered it. The service was good, but not great. Waitress was friendly and energetic but seemed a bit distracted and overworked (our visit was on a busy Saturday night). For example, she forgot to return to give us a parking voucher, and even though I made a request for an anniversary candle on our dessert, she either missed it or the host didn’t tell her. On the other hand, she offered us complimentary port at the end of our meal.
Noise level was high, and may have been one of the reasons we haven’t been back that often (we actually like to talk without yelling during dinner). Also, seating seemed a bit tight, with the next table about one foot away. Maybe both of these would be less of an issue if we came on a weeknight instead of a weekend.
All in all, the quality of the food carried the evening. We had a wonderful watermelon and tomato salad, crispy calamari with a hint of heat and great dipping sauce, fettuccine with scallops, prawns, fish, and some amazingly good ravioli (Due Ravioli «Combinata» — combo of ricotta cheese ravioli paired with short rib ravioli in Barbera reduction). The Chocolate Three Ways dessert was awesome (triple chocolate brownie, chocolate gelato, chocolate espresso sauce) even though it was missing a candle. We’ll be back, but probably not on a Saturday night.

Fire that host, please!!! A line of people waiting to be seated, and he’s schmoozing with the waitstaff… pay attention kemosabe. And turn up the air, please… it was slightly sauna-​esque in there.
Other than that… hands down amazing! First time in, we sat at the bar, where I think must be the best service in the place. The bartender’s knowledge of the menu combined with their impeccable wine pairings, made our dining experience delightful. The gnocchi with the short rib ragu was stupid good, and the burrata and carpaccio appetizers were mouthwatering. Even the palette firing bread board came with a lovely grassy olive oil that tickled the throat like a dirty dirty porn star.
We’ll be back.

This restaurant is awesome. In despite of the crowd, the waitress welcomed us nicely and found us a table.
We chose the gnocchi marinated in a yummy sauce with ribs beefs. And my friend picked up the ravioli (2 different type of ravioli), it was very good too.
The waitress who took care of us was really nice and helpful.
Everything was perfect !! Thank you !!

We arrived around 7ish 6÷5÷15 sat outside and we were greeted by bartender Montgomery. The owner was very kind and sat us all a group 6. The waitress was so sweet we all truly loved her (Fabiola?) She had to deal w us and we had a few drinks from before lol. The bruchetta shrimp is to die for my fav appetizer! I wanted to order 3! Had 3 bottles of wine lol 4 appetizers and our main dish & had 4 desserts! Wheel me out please! This place is great on the wallet & service is always on point! I may have to order the shrimp bruchetta to tomorrow LOL

We walked in on a Sunday evening around 5:30, we were met and seated immediately, a nice table for two by the windows. The restaurant was not full when we got there but was packed before we left. Semi-​white tablecloth service (they had white paper on top of the tablecloth, which I found odd, as the corner of the paper kept rolling up under my arm) The setting was very nice, but not great.
Our server was very professional and pleasant, and she kept up with us enough to not feel neglected, but not so much as to be a bother.
They have a decent wine list, and we settled on a fabulous Pinot Noir from the Russian River valley, it was quite good, full of fruit, smooth and dry to the finish and a beautiful claret color.
Fresh baked bread with olive oil and balsamic was served complimentary almost immediately once our server took our drink order.
My wife ordered the Ravioli, a mix of ricotta and short ribs with Gorgonzola cheese — a beautiful presentation and a generous serving, and as she stated it was simply delicious.
I ordered the Seared Ahi Tuna over Polenta with capers. At first impression — it was a generous portion of beautifully seared Tuna over warm Polenta in a wonderful tangy sauce with capers, unfortunately it was very under cooked — still ice cold in center — which was a shame as it was such a beautiful cut of tuna. This lack of follow through on the chefs part to ensure that the tuna was properly cooked or at least warm in the middle — left a lot to be desired on my part, and it was just an okay meal instead of a wonderful one.
For dessert my wife decided on the Butterscotch Pots de Crème, a creamy and very tasty butterscotch warm pudding sprinkled with sea salt and shaved chocolate, very good.
This was a nice meal that could have been fantastic, but sadly it was not. We do plan to return and try them again, as there were several small plates on the menu that looked equally a good, and I hope the oversight on my Tuna was just that.
All in all, a good dining experience — but not great. And, for the monies spent — dinner for two with a bottle of wine and dessert 160 $ — one tends to expect a much better meal than received.
3 Stars — not bad but not 5 star great.
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Marin?! North of the city?! Whatever was I doing up here, you wonder? Well, I thought I’d try something new for once an– okay, fine, fine, you got me, it was for a woman. ANYWAY, after super easy parking, and meeting up with my already-​seated date, the two of us ordered their:
* Gamberi Pancetta — Not quite as tasty as the gamberi I had the night prior at Tropisueno, but, also, a much different dish, and still quite enjoyable. Great flavor, albeit a little too well-​done I feel, coming out a bit chewier than I would have hoped.
* Chilean Sea Bass — My date’s dish, and one of the specials of the night. I only took a bit, but not only was it not overcooked and chewy as is the case with most restaurants, there was some pretty good, albeit lighter, flavor.
* Dungeness Crab Risotto — The absolute highlight of the meal (for me, anyway), and another one of the specials that night. It’s hard for me to resist ordering risotto when I see it on the menu now, after finding out how good good risotto can actually be. And Il Davide did me no wrong here, with fantastically rich flavors, plenty of seafood, and risotto that was cooked a bit more like rice than pasta (meaning none of that partially uncooked al dente business).
Our waitress also suggested an excellent white wine to pair with the seafood, based on my requests, which was another big plus.
***Accessibility Info***
Venue — A mid-​size, multi-​level restaurant, with the waiting area and bar comprising the upper level, and the dining area comprising the lower level, with both stairs and a long, gradual ramp to get between the levels. While seating may look to be a little cramped, I had no trouble getting in and out, but I think that may have been because of where they seated us. I certainly wouldn’t say that every table is actually accessible, but there are definitely a number that are.
Bathroom — Didn’t try them.

Fantastic.
This restaurant can be found in Downtown San Rafael, an area that was not known for exquisite cuisine. I am from Southern California and have dined in some fine establishments in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose. I am happy to report that the food here can rank with the best of them.
There is a small bar area that you enter upon venturing into the restaurant. While the bar area may seem noisy, the vaulted ceilings in the dining area seem to let the noise disperse.
A standard affair of fresh bread paired with olive oil and balsamic vinegar greet you. Nothing too superb, but a standard today at most Italian restaurants.
I order an appetizer of prawns and polenta. Very well prepared. The prawns were not overcooked and it was served with a tangy red cream sauce. The textures and taste were really well paired.
We had three different dishes.
Linguine with clams. A generous portion of manila clams and perfectly prepared linguine pasta. It was served with a white wine sauce that had an essence of cream. Very well done.
Salmon with a very thin pasta. The salmon was moist and yet the edges were seared to lock in moisture. Even people who don’t like fish can enjoy this dish. A sprinkling of capers accentuate the pairing. No heavy sauce or blinding red sauce is added. Instead a coating of olive added binds the combination.
Mushroom Ravioli, which had a much fancier name. Shitake, porcini, and truffle flavor can be found. The ravioli is homemade and you can taste it. I highly recommend.
The prices are reasonable with 17 – 35 for an entrée. You cannot go wrong here. Excellent service and a magical journey. I am not sure who authentic Italian this food is, but it was fantastic none the less.
I highly recommend a venture here if you are in the area.

With family still in town from out of the country, we decided to take the opportunity to have a nice dinner out in San Rafael. It’s sort of the halfway point between my house and different relatives. We chose Il Davide based on the reputation and amazing looking meals.
We were seated and ordered various drinks including some very well poured cocktails. Although I loved my first selection, I wanted to try others. My mother, aunt and cousin decided on a bottle of wine to go with thier meal.
For appetizers, we ordered the Burrata plate, this amazing mushroom pasta dish and the beef carpacio. Everything was really delicious and high quality for the price. I absolutely loved the burrata and would order that every time.
The beet salad was a perfect small starter (shown as a split portion) to the rest of our dishes. I went with the crab ravioli and my boyfriend ordered a seafood pasta type dish. The fish dinner was amazingly tender and fell apart, the sauce on it was so delicious.
Although I felt like we were going to over order, the amount of food was perfect and we tried a little bit of everyone’s plate. The food was really great and I still think about how delicious that dinner was. Some of the best italian food that I have had in the Bay Area, really.