Capannina

Amazing place, small cute not too loud. Every single dish was really good !!! Like every single one. Soup, salad, oysters very fresh, mussels yummy. The best dish was lobster dish wish seafood.

No vegetarian menu. Bad service. The server was so rude… didn’t give any options. He got a wrong order and when we said that is not what we ordered, he left shaking his head and rolling eyes. 3 of us confirmed that it was a wrong order .
Food reviews were mixed. We were 10 of us. Some liked some of the dishes. Arugula salad was good. Vegetarian pasta I got which was pretty much the only option was average… very dry. Won’t be coming here again .
Ambiance is good but packed tables… too close to each other and one was too close to the entrance.

What a great restaurant. Great food, friendly staff and attentive management. Capannina has a vast array of wines and Italian food. Dined here last night and I was not disappointed. Cioppino was divine and well worth the price, and it’s not even expensive for the serving you get. Strongly recommended!!!

I recommend:
1) the Burrata. I’m always a sucker for a good burrata drizzled in good olive oil.
2) the Tonno alla Griglia con Risotto. Absolutely delicious! Great play on flavors with the ahi tuna and sauce.
3) the Super Cabernet. Solid cab.
4) the Lemon Pannacotta with Mango Sauce. I’m also a sucker for a good pannacotta… and anything fantastically creamy, really.
Overall great neighborhood spot, good food, nice wine list, super friendly staff, and excellent service.

This place is AH-​MAZING. Literally the best Italian in SF and I’ve tried it all. It’s always packed. The short rib tortellini is orgasmic. I have no other words other than please go eat here. You can thank me later.

Not a family friendly establishment. I pulled in with a stroller and the first thing I hear from behind me is «close your stroller» not welcome or what is your party’s name etc. Simply rude. Not exactly customer service oriented. You are much better off down the street at Pane e Vino if you have kids in tow. Decided to cancel my reservation then and there. Not giving my business to people who don’t want it. As for the food, ate here a while back and thought the place was average. So three star food one star attitude to families.

I can’t say enough great things about this restaurant! From the atmosphere to the food to the owner, Michele’s charm and graciousness… it is a special place to us! The wine, dinner, dessert was spectacular as always and we were taken great care of! I recommend the tortelloni and the veal entrée. Can’t wait to come back! Thank you for everything!

Awesome Italian food, absolutely fantastic service… visiting San Francisco, definitely a gem to remember during our stay… highly recommended!

Love this place. Great for dinner. Lively, warm, and attentive atmosphere. Authentic Italian.

Better then expected, grilled seabass was done well, arugula salad was also decent. Unique way to serve ice cream.

The $ 30 three course prefixed dinner was the draw for the four of us. Offered daily between 5p-​6p.
I made a reservation via OpenTable. Arrived a couple minutes past 5pm. We got the best table in the house. The corner table to your left as you enter.
Plenty of diners as everyone who were there wanted to take advantage of the prefixed. As a result our server was very quick and rushy rushy.
The meal was evenly paced though. We ordered a bottle of wine, and he came over sporadically to refill our wine glasses.
Food wise — i ordered the pappardelle with wild boar. Too much red sauce and the pasta could have been more al dente. Hubby got the deep fried pork cutlet. Good size portion. Our friend had the brick chicken. Very generous entrée. Her hubby also got the cutlet.
We all started with the Caesar salad with shredded Dungeness crab meat. The romaine was fresh.
When we went to order our desserts, he literally took my friend’s menu out of her hands as she was verbalizing her selection to him. Rushy rushy.
The desserts was good size portions. My pannacotta was very smooth and creamy.
We dined in 1 ½ hours.
Overall 3.5 stars.

Been meaning to write this review for two weeks now, but I took my girlfriend here for Valentine’s Day (she loves Italian food, and so do I), and they couldn’t have given us a more perfect evening.
First of all, my girlfriend has recently had surgery on her torn ACL, so she is on crutches and has a giant brace on her leg, and despite the small-​ish size of the restaurant, they were more than accommodating and gave us a comfortable little booth in the corner.
The food was excellent, the atmosphere quaint and private — perfect for a romantic meal — and our server, Sergio, was the perfect waiter. He was attentive without being annoying or intrusive, provided a small-​but-​not-​obnoxious joke every time he came to check on us, and our courses were spaced out perfectly. We started with the arugula, prosciutto and mozzarella antipasti, which was delicious, then shared a lobster ravioli and linguine carbonara (with black truffle shavings) for our main course, and finished off with a tiramisu. We savored every bite and loved every moment. We also shared a moderately priced bottle of wine, and weren’t rushed in the slightest, allowed to enjoy our romantic evening together.
I don’t write many reviews, and I feel that a lot of people are only compelled to leave feedback when they’ve had a bad experience, but we had such a perfect evening at Capannina that I had to recommend it to others. Please patronize this lovely little restaurant if you’re craving Italian!

Ordered the octopus. Took 45 minutes to come out! Delayed our entire dinner. Waiters couldn’t care less. And it wasn’t even great. We love the octopus at Lolinda and Kokkari. This one at this place is crap in comparison.
Wife had the penne. Honestly nothing special and we can make it better at home. I had something clearly not so memorable since I cannot even remember what I got, it was that forgettable. Oh yes, I now remember. It was the seafood soup. Doesn’t hold a candle to the same dish at Tadich Grill.
2 words
Totally
Overrated
Ok 2 more words
Terribly
disappointed

I tried this lovely little Italian place on a recommendation from a friend. Not only was the ambience and service wonderful, the food was excellent. My waiter Gaspare gave me great insight on the menu items and the wine selection. Everything I tried that night was delicious and I tried all new dishes. Usually it’s chancy to try all new things at a new restaurant, you never know what you will get. I had a glass of Rosato to start and for my Antipasti I had the Polipo (barbecued squid) and polenta. The flavor and texture were amazing. Very fresh but bold and very enjoyable. It paired beautifully with the polenta.
For my Primi– main dish, I tried the Parpadelle with Mushroom and Boar Ragu. There aren’t words for the taste and texture of this dish. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the sauce was the perfect thickness. It was savory and robust with plenty of boar and tomato.
Love love love. There are at least 6 other things I will be back to enjoy.

One of the best dining experiences I’ve had in a long time. Taking off one star for service: we felt rushed by our waiter — our appetizer plates were removed although some of us were still finishing up. Our request for a bread refill seemed to be a burden for the waiter.. . now on to the good stuff:
The complimentary bread and pesto was a delicious start to the meal. I kind of wish that the bread had been served warm, but it was still delightfully chewy and buttery.
We split two appetizers between four people: the squid-​ink risotto and the lobster salad. Portions were excellent. The squid ink risotto was rich and complemented perfectly by the lobster bisque and sweet scallops. The lobster salad came with a whole lobster tail. Some of the best lobster I’ve had. It was paired with avocado, prosciutto, and a bed of arugula. Usually, I’m not such a huge fan of arugula, but the dressing was so delightful that I didn’t mind it.
I got the homemade prime rib tortellini — hands down, mouth open, 5 stars. Served with a delicious marsala sauce; I would have mopped it all up with the bread if I had had room at the end. Very generous portion, which was great because I could not get enough of the chewy pasta with the cheesy meat filling. The fried garlic pieces were a great touch. Best tortellini I’ve ever had.
I also tried the gnocchi with crab meat. Served in a wonderful cream sauce, although the dish was not as dynamic as the tortellini. Did not try the ravioli, but I did observe that there were only four pieces. The cioppino was also good. Flavorful broth. It seemed to be heavy on the calamari and lacking on the lobster and fancier fish. Overall, I wish the food had been served a bit warmer. Still a fantastic dinner — highly recommended!

I came here for dinner for my birthday and it was great. It is a perfectly quaint place that provides an intimate setting for a small group. The service was fantastic as all the of the wait staff was friendly and informative. I ordered the shrimp pasta (it has a fancier Italian name that I can’t remember) and it was very tasteful. It had a nice amount of spice and flavor.

Restaurants like these always make me feel like a fraud. I’m a simple guy, with simple tastes. I like my guns loud, my beer cold, my coffee black, and my women also black. I curse often, I dance badly, and I don’t understand modern art. I long for the day that I can buy a truck and then use it to carry lumber for the cabin I am building with my bare hands deep in the mountains, where the only music that can heard for miles around is the wind whipping through the tops of the mighty oaks with which I am surrounded, trusting nothing but my instincts and the hammer that hangs lazily from my toolbelt, and spending the nights staring directly into the heart of the fire that nurtures my body and my soul, coming to terms my own insignificance in the face of the gaping, craven maw of an uncaring universe.
I am, for all intents and purposes, a meathead.
So when I take a date to an upscale, authentic Italian restaurant like this, I’m pretending that I’m something I’m not. I’m pretending that I know how to spell «pappardelle» on the first try, or what it means, or its significance in fine Italian cuisine. I’m pretending I don’t drink wine out of a box. I’m pretending to be the debonair, discerning gentleman everyone in San Francisco thinks they are. And I love it.
The pasta here is perfectly cooked and perfectly proportioned. The lamb and the fish entrees almost stole the show. All of this is served in a cramped, friendly space, with wine so nice it pours itself. Come here if you want to feel like a fraud — a happy, slightly drunk, extremely full fraud.

If you really want to have a great Italian meal in SF without braving the throngs in North Beach, Capannina is a great choice. If it’s good enough for Woody Allen (who we spotted there!) then it’s good enough for me.
If you come between 5−6pm, they have a reasonably priced prix-​fixe menu that includes starter (salad or soup), choice of entrée, and any dessert from the menu.
I ordered from the prix-​fixe menu: mixed greens salad with goat cheese & walnuts, fresh pappardelle with wild boar and mushroom ragu, and tiramisu for dessert. Everything was really delicious and good portions. The salad was really fresh, the ragu on the pappardelle was flavorful and the noodles fresh, and the tiramisu was delicate and well-​prepared. All for $ 25? You can’t go wrong!

So… the first time I came here, I fell in love! The food was amazing and the service was excellent. We called in on a Saturday and they were very full, but they said if it was outdoor seating and we could make it in a half-​hour they could get us a table. So we made our way over. Surprisingly, the outdoor seating was not very cold and we sat next to this adorable older couple who told us they’d been coming here for years and they recommended the Veal Scallopine. We ended up ordering:
— The Squid-​ink Risotto with scallops and lobster bisque.
— Veal Scallopine
— Rack of Lamb
— Gnocchi al gorgonzola
It was all amazing and authentic too. The Italian owner came out a few times to check on the tables and make sure everything was alright: An A+ Dining experience.
But then… the second time I went there was for Mother’s Day. I wanted to take my family there, so I called to make a reservation 3 – 4 weeks in advance. They called me to confirm my reservation a couple of hours in advance on the same day!!! They scared me when they left a message on my voicemail. But that ended up being okay. We arrive at the restaurant, and we get this awkward middle table. I mean, yeah… it’s still a table, but it’s in a weird spot and the waiters kept having to dive in and out of the walkway to serve us. Very uncomfortable, but that’s okay, I know everything here is good!
So we’re browsing the wine list and I’m not sure what to get, but I know my mom likes Chianti with Italian food. So I ask the waiter for a recommendation. I specifically say, «I’m wondering if you have any suggestions for a Chianti.» And he proceeds to say, «This Sangiovese is amazing. Great flavor, good price.» I say, «We’re looking at Chianti.» He, not really listening to the request, says, «You won’t regret it. Try it. If you don’t like it we’ll change it.» So we get the wine, my mom doesn’t like it. But it isn’t like it’s not really drinkable and we feel bad, so we keep it.
Then for the food, we pretty much order the same things as the time before, I ordered the rack of lamb cooked medium-​rare. Once again, not sure if the waiter is really listening…
Guess what came out? Rack of Lamb, well-​done. Noooooooo! I usually don’t like complaining at restaurants. But I had to send it back. It was not what I ordered. It took another 25 minutes or so to get the new rack of lamb. It was beautifully pink on the inside and every bit as delicious as before. But I can’t say the second dining experience was as good. At the end of our meal, the waiter brought us a free Tiramisu (I think he felt bad).
I just hope that next time I go there I get a different waiter. I don’t think this guy and I work well together.
Long story short: Food, gooooood. This one particular waiter, nope. The end.

A great neighborhood spot with good but relaxed service. The food was all excellent. The antipastas Carpaccio di Tonno and Mozzarella di Bufala con Prosciutto e Peperoni, while both very similar were fresh and delicious. The Risotto looked excellent but i can confirm the Orecchiette con Salsiccia & Broccoli and Linguine Alle Vongole e Porcini were very good. I probably would not order the Linguine again as it was no better here than other places. The Orecchiette and the Ravioli however are reason alone to come back.
The olive oil spread is delicious starter but I was not in love with the bread. It’s not a major let down but it was the one thing that could be improved.
Great spot to come back to over and over again!

Une merveille !
On est arrivé à plus d’une dizaine (après réservation) et les employés ont été adorables. A parler mi anglais mi italien, on se sentirai presque en Italie.
Et que dire des plats, c’était merveilleusement, fabuleusement bon et j’en passé! On c’est partagé les plats entre «jeune» afin de goûter à tout et aucun des plats de m’a déçu c’est pour dire !
Du début à la fin du repas, tout a été parfait. Les portions étaient vraiment imposante et j’avoue avoir beaucoup trop manger mais je n’ai aucun regret !
Et en plus de tout ça, nous avons pu apporter notre propre vin et un dessert sans problème (et oui, on fêtait quelque chose si bien que le vin de 1990 était de rigueur). Pensez tout de même à demander l’autorisation lors de votre réservation.
Mon coup de cœur va quand même à l’entrée (qui pourrait être un plat vu la taille) «Risotto à l’encre de sèche et aux St Jacques». Je n’ai jamais rien mangé d’aussi bon je crois !