Brindisi Cucina di Mare

Seafood Rosotto was fantastic! And the dessert was fabulous too. This place might be in the top three Italian restaurants in the financial districts.

I took my mom here at the end of the lunch time on Friday, the 5^th of February. We had wonderful food here, and our server, Lisa, took great care of us. We ordered two starters from the seafood menu and she recommended a seafood rice dish to go with the seafood. We also had a glass of house white wine, and it was absolutely amazing.
Definitely will be back again when they are not too busy. I think we had great food because the kitchen wasn’t in a hurry, so they cooked the food with care. They do real Italian food, just check out the pictures I have.

I worked down the alley way of Belden street and my team and I came here for lunch.
We sat outside which was not the best idea because it was kind of windy and their umbrella seem like they were going to fall on us. But anyways, I ordered the Roasted King Salmon. Pretty good, it was cooked well and perfectly. It also came with olive tapenade, warm lentil salad, sun dried tomato pesto, it went very well with the salmon, gave it a little more tart taste. For dessert, we got the cheesecake of different flavors, LOVED IT. It was very good, I was satisfied: D
Definitely another good place in the Belden alley and worth checking out!

Yet another business lunch took me here last Friday. I did not have an appetizer, just a pasta entrée and I was happy with it. The Mezze Maniche is half rigatoni with a shrimp cream sauce — yeah I know not the lightest and healthiest choice — but it was good! Service was fast and in the background, soft bread and pesto sauce was on our table almost immediately, and the wine by the glass cold and refreshing.
I’ll be back to taste more.

The last time I came to Brindisi Cucina di Mare was in 2007 for a rehearsal dinner for my daughters wedding. At that time we had a picture perfect evening with fabulous food and excellent service.
I was in San Francisico this past week and along with several members of my family we came to Brindisi’s again. The result — Perfection. Three of my group had never been here and were delighted with the food and service. My son and daughter and I had our memories of this gem validated as we enjoyed another evening of great food and service that went above and beyond.
My sister wanted cannoli for dessert and it was not available this particular evening but magically our waiter appeared with two from who knows where that absolutely made her evening. Now that is above and beyond as far as I’m concerned.
Thank you once again for making our evening together so memorable. We’ll be back.

Fun outdoor seating. Delicious food. I highly recommend the Salmon & Moscow Mule combo.

Similar to Claude street, Belden Pl has a row of restaurants with outdoor seating and Brindisi is one of them! I am a huge fan of Alley Way restaurants and Brindisi is the best place for intimate and outdoor dining with a heated patio and attentive service.
Since they bring out as much bread and pesto sauce to your heart’s desire, I usually order one of their seafood dishes. The seafood linguini and linguini vongole is kind of on the liquidy side and wish they used less oil and pasta water as it could be thicker, but I would totally suggest these dishes:
Risotto Fruite de Marre — Perfect and flavorful/​thick sauce compliments the risotto and seafood combination!
Sword Fish and/​or Sea Bass — They season their fish very wonderfully that you get the subtle yet tasty flavors of the fish.
I also ordered the Veal and the steak previously and notice that their steak is very tender and flavorful.
Pair one of these dishes with their wine or one of their sides ($ 9) and you got yourself a full meal. None of the dishes come with sides for the most part so I suggest sharing a salad or appetizer beforehand if you are truly hungry! The servers and hostess are super super nice and accommodating as well and are very attentive to whatever you are feeling! Can’t wait to come here again for a date or another special occasion!

Great spot in the alley for traditional Italian in the city. Ask for the ‘special’ which isn’t on the menu but is a wonderful array of seafood and pasta.

Randomly found this place one night after deciding we didn’t want to wait for a restaurant down the street. It is tucked away down a small alley way like street with a variety of other similar restaurants. Reminded me of Little Italy in New York City. As you walked down the street all the restaurants shove their menus in your face.
Brindisi Cucina di Mare seemed the most friendly, had seating outside and the food looked good. I ordered what the waiter recommended, which was a seafood soup, and I added half a lobster. The food was okay but nothing special, but for ~30 $ I would have expected a little more. Plus, the lobster was on the smaller size.

Love alleyways restaurant, the hostess was lovely as she introduce the happy hour menu and regular menu. We were sold on that. Sat down, offered water to us. What was great was that we could order off the happy hour menu and the regular dinner menu. Our server was nice but he never introduce the specials. We ordered drinks and appetizers off the happy hour menu and entrees from the dinner menu. We were never given any bread nor were we asked if we wanted any. Drinks are on the stronger side, mussels were ok. Would’be been better if I had bread to sop up the sauce. I had the liguine with clams, it was alright. My gf got the cod and she like it. Dessert was ok, service can use some upgrades. I would come back and try other things on the menu but later rather than sooner.

Dropped by here for a quick «let’s talk business» lunch with a friend. I got the warm chicken salad which was exactly that. Warm chicken served with a mix of grilled veggies. It was the perfect fall dish with squash, zucchini and peppers. More meal than salad, really. Which I loved.
I LOVE the patio here. It’s such a random mix of folks. From the FiDi suits, to the art school hipster types. Great people watching and nice to sit outside on a warm, sunny day.
I’m definitely going to have to come back here soon to try more of the menu.

I went here on a whim, without checking reviews on Unilocal.I initially wanted to eat at one of the other restaurants on Belden Lane but there were no seats available. I figured it had to be at least decent. It couldn’t be worse than Olive Garden, right? Nope.
First, I ordered a Belini. A simple Prosecco and peach juice cocktail/​mimosa of sorts. Now I’ve had my fair share of plain Prosecco and mimosas. Never have I had a warm glass of Prosecco or a warm mimosa. Here it was served room temperature or in other words warm. I added ice cubes to it.
Next I ordered a spicy grilled shrimp salad. The sauce was good but the greens were limp and soggy and the shrimp was very fishy. I know it’s seafood but it just wasn’t appetizing. I also ordered a bruschetta appetizer. I don’t know how you mess up bruschetta because isn’t really just chopped tomatoes, basil, olive oil and balsamic on a toasty piece of bread? There were no tomatoes and in place of tomatoes were some tangy bell peppers or onions and blah burrata cheese. I also ordered the spicy meatballs. They were not spicy and the meat just tasted like ground beef shaped into bed. No other spices or herbs. Lastly I ordered a pistachio pesto ravioli. The pesto was bland and the ravioli was bland and soggy. The whole dish was just meh. To be perfectly honest I think I would have preferred a jar of tomato sauce from the grocery store on spaghetti.
The best part of it all-​the food is so expensive. My meal cost 80+ dollars.
Two stars for the atmosphere. None for the food.

$ 10 for linguini with fresh clams and garlic butter with Eat24 and I can order ahead and walk in to pick up my meal, sold!
Everything looks tasty and amazing, and for a fancy Italian restaurant in the fancy Italian/​French alley near Fidi, there are some lunch dishes that are absolute steals.
May be heavy in butter and cream, but fresh al dente pasta and clams for $ 10 with great service, sold. Eat24 it ahead of time for pickup.

I love how this Italian restaurant is tucked in an alley and you can enjoy the outside air while dining in a bit of a solitude.
Their raw oysters starts up your appetite — especially on a warm, sunny day! Their red tuna sashimi with avocado bruschetta was a must as an opening appetizer!
When they presented their puff pastry seafood linguini pie onto the table, it was a stunner! They have this freshly baked, buttered up crust and when the waiter popped it open, there lay the seafood linguini inside on a platter. It is a homely and signature entrée here. Nothing I have seen anywhere else.
I would suggest their seafood broth Cioppino if you want all kinds of tasty seafood in one dish.
For the non-​seafood lovers, their rack of lamb was grilled well. However, seafood is their specialty.
Time for desserts. I liked their special pineapple crème brûlée. It was unique as well as their shortcake.
Wonderful staffing. Whenever I want to just hide away from the side, bustling city streets, I come here as a refresher.

I came to this place tonight with low expectations because of the seemingly lukewarm Unilocal reviews, especially for their oyster happy hour, but I have to say, this place is surprisingly great! I would definitely come back!
The only negative thing is that I think they have a limited number of oysters for their happy hour. We arrived shortly after 5:30PM, and they told us that they only have 3 dozen happy hour oysters left. Note that their happy hour is supposed to run from 5−7PM, so having so few oysters left before their happy hour is even half way over is not cool. I was hoping to over 3 dozen oysters for myself!
Anyway, the oysters aren’t «tiny,» like some reviewer had said previously. They’re decent-​sized. The sauce that came with them are good too. I liked the oysters here and would come back for them.
Anyway, we ordered one of every happy hour dish, and most of them were delicious! The best ones, in my opinion, was the scallop with the beans (for some odd reason, this is written as ‘shrimp’ with pinto beans on the menu), and the sausage dish (I think — it’s the dish with 2 balls, crispy on the outside, and meat on the inside). It’s too bad that only 2 small scallops came in the happy hour dish, but for the price, it’s acceptable. The shrimp dish was decent. I normally don’t like burrata because I think they’re bland, but this place’s burrata was the most flavorful one I’ve tasted — they put a lot of toppings on it, like caramelized onions. Their meatballs are just okay — not hard like someone said, but just okay in taste. Their pizzetta is just a small pepperoni pizza, but very good; even the crust is good. The mussels were pretty good too.

Love this place ! Their homemade pasta is so tasty ! I had mixed sea food grill one of the best I’ve ever had. The service is great too!
Danka

The ahi appetizer, risotto, desserts and fresh baked bread is very fresh. The grilled octopus is the most delicious and tastiest I have ever had anywhere in the world. Great wine and desert selection.
Service was impeccable and prices were very reasonable for San Francesco. Loved dining AlFresco in San Francisco. Centrally located with a great little cigar bar next door and in a cool Belden street corridor alley with Southern European cuisine all around

The Alley… how I love this location of amazingness. We had an awesome lunch with friends at this location. The service was above and beyond. I had the clams and linguini. It was so good and a little on the spicy side, which made it even better!!! My bf had the raviolis, shrimp, and veal which he was very pleased with. We were served a complimentary dessert which was a pleasant surprise. We will be back to the Alley again to drop into Brindisi. Thanks!

First of all, I love the restaurants in the little alleys of SF. They’re so cute and it’s great to be able to sit outside on a nice day.
The prices here are comparable to most Italian restaurants. The portion sizes are smaller, but they’re probably a «healthy» portion size.
They serve bread before your meal with a pesto oil that is AMAZING. Honestly, I probably could’ve just eaten that for my meal instead. So good.
I ordered the SAUTEED KALE AND GRILLED SALMON SALAD ($ 16). The salmon was cooked really well — soft and very flavorful without being too salty. The kale was delicious too. It had a slight spiciness to it that I’ve never had in a kale dish. Even the mushrooms were yummy! There was avocado as well that went well with the dish. I’d definitely recommend trying this and getting it without the honey mustard vinaigrette. I ordered mine with the vinaigrette on the side and didn’t need it at all because the dish had so much flavor.
Not sure if I’d come here that often because of the price, but that doesn’t mean the food isn’t good!

Why offer a happy hour when you’re going to be so half-​hearted about it?
Randomly stopped by Brindisi one weekday evening as a friend and I were looking for a spot to catch up over a couple of drinks. Picked Brindisi because they were the first one on Belden and happened to have happy hour specials including $ 1 oysters. Meh. The oysters are by far the smallest I’ve seen for dollar oysters in the city and they weren’t well shucked either. We also ordered meatballs, and while yes only $ 5 for happy hour, was a really sad serving of just three balls. Compound this by the fact that they were really tough and over salted, this was a pathetic showing for an Italian spot. Scratch happy hour and just serve normal portions at the regular price. Scratch that, I don’t want to eat those meatballs ever again. Would’ve stayed for more drinks but the bites, which we weren’t even looking for to begin with, made us move on to another place to continue our catch up.
On the flipside, our server was really attentive and friendly. It’s a pity though because the menu and specials are beyond his control. A lackluster happy hour in a part of town teeming with MUCH better options — no thanks, we won’t be back. Ever.

Nom.