Joey & Eddie’s

We went here about a year ago for a pleasant evening of hearty Italian comfort food, and it was pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. I had some meat/​pasta thing. It was simple and tasty.
Went back a couple of months later to find that they had slashed their menu in half, jacked their prices by about 30%, their kegs were ‘out’ so they only beer they could offer was a Bud Light, and when I ordered the salmon gnocchi without the salmon (the only thing left on the menu that looked appetizing to someone who doesn’t eat fish) they brought me a plate of lukewarm gnocchi sitting in an inedible syrup consisting mostly of, I’d guess, two sticks of butter.
Service was shite, and they charged me $ 18 for that dish, which went back almost untouched, reduced to $ 15 after I said that didn’t seem quite kosher to charge full price for what was only half the dish…
Was I being difficult? Maybe a little. If I’d known they’d removed everything that wasn’t seafood from the menu, I might have gone elsewhere, but I didn’t and so I didn’t. Were they running a half-​hearted, half-​assed operation? Yes, absolutely.

Once again, I came here for a work/​going away kinda a thing for a fellow coworker. Never heard or would ever think to come here for a special event or just dinner.
It is located in the Northbeach area in San Francisco. So you know you are in for a real treat when it comes to parking. It took me more than 30 min to find a parking space 5 blocks away. So do plan ahead.
So you ask, is it worth the trouble, time and effort for this all American food? Yes and No. why yes, well, they served family style meals that are decent in taste and presentation. We had two pasta dishes, spaghetti and linguini. Both were very tasty.
The spaghetti had huge meat balls which were seasoned well. Linguine was good that they were light. Now that is a plus if you are watching calories as well as your waist line. I believe I was at the time.
The NO no of it all is that I shouldn’t have come in the first place. I had a rough time personally so I wasn’t ready to be seen in public or any good company. I would think had I been in a better mood i would of given it a higher rating.
The hostess as well as the waiters were very good and attempted to make your dining experience unforgettable. I would have to agree that for me it was unforgettable…
To end the evening with a bang, our waiter was so generous to us by giving another plate of their finest and delicious desserts. When there are 10 people in a table and all of which are women, you know no amount of desserts is ever enough.

**Now only open from Friday — Sunday.
This review is a couple of months belated, but my experience here still bothers me…
I organized a dinner for five people at the restaurant, mainly to take advantage of their $ 7 early bird spaghetti and meatball dinner that they’d been touting all winter. I even checked the Joey and Eddie’s website an hour before arrival just to make sure the deal was still available.
Obviously I should have called and confirmed.
Once we were seated, I was informed that the $ 7 deal was no longer valid. No mention of end dates on their website and didn’t matter that it was still being advertised at that very moment. The waiter was not at all willing to see my point.
We ended up ordering the spaghetti with meatballs, a salad, and chicken parmesan to share. All of it was decent but not really that interesting, served family style… kind of like Buca de Beppo. I’d say the food quality is quite similar too.
And I left completely embarrassed that I’d invited friends out for a low-​priced meal on a Monday evening, and they ended up shelling out $ 40 for pasta!
oh, and the $ 2 per person «health care tax» is ridiculous.
We were one of only two tables being served that night. The entire restaurant was empty.
No…I wont’ be back.

I really like Joey & Eddie’s… and it pains me to see they’re always dead.
Their foccacia is SO salty and delicious. Their ceasar salad is SO creamy and delicious. And their spaghetti and meatballs are SO oily and delicous!
A very yummy meal in my opinion… I just wish you could get all that for UNDER $ 30… a little pricey for sure.

At Home/​A Tourist.
Went to Joey and Eddie’s through a Groupon for a simple meal before a show. I forgot to check ratings ahead of time — North Beach Italian can very often be overpriced due to the location being a tourist spot, and Joey and Eddie’s falls into that category.
The place was mostly empty on a Tuesday night, so service was attentive and professional. Valet parking was $ 11. The ‘valet’ was very nice.
The food was okay. Not great. Better than (name Italian chains here) but way too expensive. The specials are printed on the menu — and I suspect never vary — but they don’t have a price. We ordered one ‘special’ and one pasta dish from the ‘not special’ part of the preprinted/​laminated menu. Food was nice. Nothing great.
We ordered two desserts. The Tiramisu was not very good — too cold. The other dessert was forgettable, literally, I’ve forgotten what we had.
The wine by the glass selection is too expensive for the low quality provided.
The bill came and we realized what made the special ‘special’. A very average ravioli was $ 26. The non-​special pasta item was $ 16. I’ve concluded ‘special’ is just a way of charging more. Don’t both with the specials.
That’s a lot for non-​gourmet, no meat dishes.
I won’t be going back.
Next time, it’s snacks at Bimbo’s.

My husband and I are thirty-​somethings, but we have gone in two weeks in a row to eat like senior citizens: $ 7 all-​you-​can eat spaghetti and meatballs every night before 7p. And a half carafe of chianti for $ 7. We COULD get out of there after eating yummy pasta and drinking good (not great) wine for under $ 40 including tip. How f’ing cool is that?! (The rub therein is explained below.)
And the spaghetti and meatballs are yum. Thick, fresh, garlicky sauce red sauce and two nice, big, tasty meatballs.
Be careful of the menu though. There is really good stuff on there that always tempts us, so we buy that, eat it and have less room for the all-​you-​can eat spaghetti and meatballs. It’s a conspiracy I tell you.
Lotsa complaints from fellow Unilocalers about the service, but we’ve been really happy both times (once with James and once with Nathan).
We think we’ll be weekly regulars!

Strictly Amateur Hour. No, really. My recent visit was truly unreal: Food that never arrived (except on the bill); service that can only be described as glacial in its slowness; a bartender in name only, who kept myself and my friends waiting for drinks even when there was no one else being served; and a guy who was an «owner», who was drunker than anyone else in the place.
If I could give this joint «negative» stars, I would. They’ve desecrated the former Moose’s location, and it’s criminal.
Avoid at all costs.

I guess the people who like it here compare it to Olive Garden or Bucca de Beppo, and in some ways it does compare favorably to them.
You’d think a $ 7 spaghetti-​and-​meatballs special would make for an inexpensive dinner. Not here, and even if the price were low it just wouldn’t be worth suffering the service. The SF health surcharge was per person, and added before tax. Finally, there was a mandatory 20% tip for our group — for the crap service.
I have never seen such an empty restaurant have such slow service. The waiters hung out chatting until I got up to get attention. More than once. At the end of the meal our bill had items on it nobody ordered, and it took a lot of effort to find somebody to correct that.
The wine list is hugely overpriced — especially the reds. We found a white that didn’t make us want to scream, price-​wise, but c’mon guys!
Two members of the group really went for the all-​you-​can-​eat deal. Each of their three bowls of pasta was different — different meatballs, different doneness of the pasta (definitely not fresh, by the way), different sauce. WTF? And seriously, knowing in advance that the group was coming in for the special, don’t you think they could have had some ready so there wasn’t a 15-​minute wait between portions? Or maybe that’s to keep people from actually ordering more?
Anyway, I wouldn’t go back. In a city with so many great restaurants, I can’t figure out why anyone would.

I came here when Opentable had them for 1000 points and they had a good prefixed menu.
It’s a little pricey but with a prefixed menu it’s not as bad. The calamari is good, and so is the food. Big portions, reminded me of Buca. Parking can be a bit tricky but it’s not so bad. The service was a little slow but it wasn’t a terrible experience. I would come here again.

OK! I have to admit this place looked really good at first glance, but as we got our orders, everything fell through! ugh!
We had a table of 16 people and ended up paying a total + gratuity of $ 950!!! $ 60 per person! DAMN! The noodles were super SALTY and we paid too much for quality equivalent to ‘Olive Garden’. The appetizer portions were so small, our order of calamari looked like it was meant for a table of anoretic models on a diet! NOT GOOD for reviews! I love calamari!
I was still Hungry after dinner! The salty food also made me so thirsty…
Meh! I’ve experienced WAY BETTER!

The First-​Down:
Food: Plenty of delicious choices for family style dining at reasonable prices
Service: Our servers were cheerful and made for an enjoyable experience
Ambiance: low key and classic
The Touchdown:
I came here with a group of about 12 for a friend’s birthday and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. We chose the family style dining and the portions definitely feed more than 3 people per plate. We tried some appetizers, many pastas, and some veggie dishes. I was pleased with all of our choices and was not disappointed in any of them. My favorite dishes were the Chicken Parmesan and the Gamboni Mushrooms. The servers were very enthusiastic helping us even though we were a group of young adults. I’m always thrilled when the people of my generation get treated with the respect that we have earned. (Sorry, rant tangent.) Anyhow, I had a great time at Joey & Eddies. I don’t have a single negative thing to say about the place. The food was good, service was amazing, and overall ambiance was lovely.

Ok, so I’ll admit rightnow that my review is a little biased.
I came here for the award show screening of 48 Hour Film Festival. To be fair one of the reasons my rating is so low is because this was a TERRIBLE venue to host this screening. And although I know this is no fault of Joey & Eddie’s there are a couple other reasons I feel they are deserving of this rating.
Took FOREVER for me to order a drink at the bar. After I eventually ordered my one Whiskey Gingerale I didn’t see the bartender for what seemed like ages. As I was getting to the point of resorting to sucking on my ice cubes for my fix, the bartender was back. This time I got smart, and ordeded 2 whiskey gingerales because that wait was ridiculous!
Some people from our group ordeded some appetizers from the bar. 4 appetizers to be exact. And I shit you not over an hour and 20 minutes later, still no appetizers. Granted there were a shit ton of people there, maybe way more than they thought would be here. But even if thats the case. You should have told us how long it would be. And then on top of everything when we go back up the final time to try and acquire or appetizers, we are told lthat they «lost our ticket». What? What do you mean you lost our ticket? Where the fuck is our food? So instead of getting the appetizers we originally paid for and spent an hour and half waiting for, we are instead offered to have them give us our price equivalent of what we paid in drinks. I’m flattered? NO! I WANT FREE SHIT FO RYOU FUCKING UP THIS BAD!
But luckily for whoever was behind the counter I was not the one who went up and dealt with this. The person that did though graciously accepted and came back to out table with a bunch of drinks. Which we proceeded to drink on our empty stomachs. Good thing we won or we would have made some angry drunks.
So although I can’t comment on the food, as to seeing how i never got any, the drinks are good and strong but a little pricey. And Golden Boy right down the street has some pretty good pizza too.

Let’s just say that in a city known for its food, in a neighborhood long known for its Italian roots, Joey & Eddie’s has got a hard road ahead.
The décor’s slick and upscale, but the place is half-​empty. The list of wines by the glass is pretty paltry, something that’s just not excusable in a restaurant of this type. I’m all for al-​dente pasta, but the noodles here are just a bit too far in the tough-​and-​chewy direction.
The Caesar salad? Not bad, if a bit large. I had an order of linguine and clams with red sauce, and the clam shells had been chipped and broken by over-​vigorous tossing in the kitchen. I don’t care about the cosmetics, but I do dislike picking shards of clamshell out of my food. The bread’s good, but my dining companion’s chicken Parmesan didn’t get high marks.
Given the number of empty tables in the large dining room, and the largely vacant bar, I don’t give J&E’s long.

To celebrate the birthday of one of our good friends, L., we crossed the Bay Bridge into the city. For us to go into the city on a weekend is a rare occasion, now that we’re suburbanites.
Family-​style dining is wonderful, especially if you’re not the one having to make all the decisions (and especially if you love to Unilocal). I loved being able to try so many dishes. I didn’t understand the low ratings some people gave this place.
1. Joey & Eddie Salad (iceberg lettuce, mozzarella cheese, salami, and peppers with Italian dressing, natch)
2. Pork Chops (PERFECTLY cooked, juicy and tender. I wish I could make my pork chops this decadent. Perhaps this one was my favorite dish)
3. Spaghetti and Meatballs — 2 orders of the BIG size, as the kids LOVED this dish. (HUGE meatballs, the size of lacross balls, but not tough, as big meatballs sometimes can get. Served over spaghetti that was perfectly al dente)
4. Broccolini (nicely bitter with a squeeze of lemon on top)
5. Osso Bucco over risotto (my husband’s favorite dish, as he’s a big fan of osso bucco).
6. Dessert was a sampler platter
I will be back to this restaurant on Washington square, now that I know it is here.
Final note: valet parking in this area is a life-​saver and well-​worth the $ 11 that they charged.

We took my dad and stepmother there for their respective birthdays. Our waiter was personable and brought our drinks quickly, and took our orders promptly. We ordered the mixed appetizers, which was my fave part of the whole meal — roasted fennel, roasted radicchio, chiaggio beets and this great tuna with oil and lemon. That, along with the very light and tasty foccachia bread, was a great way to start the meal.
The food came out in short order (we got there at 5:30PM — old folks like to eat early, ya know) and we quickly began spooning up the food from the plates we ordered — shrimp scampi, shrimp parmigiana, rigatoni with broccoli rabe and corona beans (we could’ve used more rabe), pork chops with peppers and onions and an order of spinach. Dishes were a little mixed — the shrimp were GIGANTIC, but a tad overdone. The sauce for the shrimp P was excellent, as were the peppers and onions served with the pork chops. The rigatoni was super fatty — tons of cheese, oil and butter, and the pork chops were very thin and had a lot of gristle and fat on them.
Service was pretty good, with the bussers refilling our water glasses, replacing plates and silverware and clearing away used platters. It only slowed down after we finished our dinner. It took an hour to order dessert and coffee, tor receive said items, and to get the bill and pay it. Too long, IMO.
However, the dessert sampler was great, if pricey. $ 26 for single portions of cheesecake, tiramisu, cannelloni and an amaretto chocolate cake. I think they must bring the desserts in from a bakery since they don’t have a pastry chef.
Don’t think I’d go back, but it was an OK meal. My parents enjoyed it, and that’s what counts, right?

I miss Moose’s! Joey & Eddie’s serves up family style Italian food. My recent visit provided more laughs than actual good, dining experience and food because…
— our waiter seemed to be in his own world. He was often MIA, never checked in with us about how our food was, and was constantly getting confused…
— our bread with olive oil, balsamic, and red pepper was alright but we noticed a waiter drop a small loaf of bread on the floor, debate putting it into the trash, and instead putting it back into the drawer… not-​so sanitary!
— the caesar salad was the one really good part of our meal…
— the broccoli side dish tasted bitter…
— the pasta dish with shrimp was really bland (though large quantities of parmesan cheese seemed to help!)
— and the drinks were good but nothing special…
I’d recommend checking out Mangarosa, Joe DiMaggio’s, or El Raigon instead! They might not haver the same entertainment value but at least you won’t leave hungry…

Every since I read Ed U.‘s hilarious review of this place, I had this place on my radar to check out:

We had a late lunch while up in Davis, and by the time we crossed over the Bay Bridge and onto San Francisco, we were in the mood for some something sweet. In a twist of circumstances, the adults wanted dessert, but the kids wanted dinner, particularly pasta. We were already at Caffe Roma, and saw this place up down the block on Stockton, so we trekked on down.
Arrived right when it opened, and were immediately seated along the window facing Washington Square. The 3 kids were hungry, but not the 4 adults. A few minutes after we were seated, warm sourdough bread arrived with little dishes of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and chili flakes.
Studied the menu and placed our order:
–Large Caesar salad: huge, nicely coated with Caesar dressing. Good anchovy taste!
–Small Spaghetti and Meatballs: 3 meatballs the size of baseballs, but very good. Noodles cooked just right. Al dente, with the right amount of chewiness.
–Small Spaghetti with roasted garlic and olive oil: lots of roasted garlic and olive oil. The roasted garlic had a nice nutty taste, and a chewy, caramelized texture. Overall very rich.
–Small Chicken Parmesan: Small was still pretty generous, enough to feed 3 people. Lots of cheese melted over the chicken. Also very tasty.
–Spinach with garlic and lemon. Fresh, whole spinach, not frozen. Well done, garlic did not overpower the spinach, and the the lemon added a nice zest to the spinach.
Even though we ordered the small entrees, we still had leftovers. Too full for dessert. This is family-​style done right. Other places it’s more quantity over quality. The kids loved this place too.
I don’t know if it was because we arrived when the restaurant just opened, and the kitchen wasn’t ready yet, but it took some time for the food to come out. Not just for our table, but for the diners as well. Soon after, however, dishes started streaming out of the kitchen at the same time, and all tables had their orders. The servers were really nice and personable, but there were only 2 of them that evening, and it was difficult for them to catch up.
I was raised in North Beach when I was young, and I have a slight bias towards some of the old restaurants. Although Joey and Eddie’s is a relatively new restaurant in North Beach, I’d check this place out again.

I decided to hold a chowdown here and 5 people came. It’s always fun to eat with the hounds.
First tried to make reservations on Opentable, but originally the group was 8 and when it’s that big you can’t on Opentable. I had to call them. Then for a large group they want your credit card number. Really don’t like that.
This is across from the Washington Square Park in North Beach. It’s a good 20 min walk from Embarcadero Bart Station.
The menus they have is on the walls like Buca di Beppo. Portions are sized family style.
FRE warm bread w/​a side dish of soft butter, red peppers, olive oil. Very nice. We got an additional loaf later that we didn’t finish.
We got:
chicken parmesan $ 25-​just ok, husband liked it.
Pork braciole, pork ribs, meatballs & sausage in tomato gravy $ 27-it’s a huge plate of food that’s kinda messy looking w/​meats everywhere. I thought the pork braciole was fatty, pork ribs not sure I got a taste since it was like 3 ribs & tough to cut. Meatballs were nice & tender, sausage was fine.
baked clams oreganata $ 14-​they were the tiniest clams ever. Didn’t have any taste to them. It was 10 total so we all got 2 tiny pieces. — Skip.
garlic bread $ 6-​small portions here. Maybe 6 tiny slices of garlic bread. Nicely toasted, though not enough garlic for the garlic lovers in the bunch. Skip it.
escarole w/​garlic $ 8-​Leafy green veggies. Nice, still not enough garlic taste for me.
Linguine w/​shrimp in white sauce $ 19-​boring sauce. I don’t think it had enough taste. Shrimps were tasty, but not enough of them. Ended up with tons of pasta though.
Ricotta cheesecake $ 12-​just 1 slice that we all got a small taste of. $ 12 for a slice ppl, crazy Expensive! Just ok, too heavy tasting for us. Nothing like what you can find at Modern Pastry in Boston, MA. Skip it.
Separate bathrooms in the back. There’s a nice bar area & and piano that I’ve read they do live jazz. don’t know when.
Just ok, probably won’t go back.
They charged us 3 orders of spaghetti which was crazy priced at $ 18-​feed 5 w/​leftover noodles
We got a bottle of wine for $ 55 from Italy, big whoop. I hate paying for wine cuz I don’t like wine. Others liked it fine.
Our subtotal $ 184 + $ 15.66 tax = $ 199.66 Before tip split by 5.
Hrs:
Sun-​Th 5:30−11p
Fri-​Sat 5:30−12 midnight
Brunch
Sun 11:30 — 2:30p
Website:

Before she was beheaded, Marie Antoinette said «Let them eat pasta!»
…to which the oppressed peasants replied, «Buca di Beppo for the Bourgeoisie! …Buca di Beppo for the Bourgeoisie! …Buca di Beppo for the Bourgeoisie!» …and Joey and Eddie’s was born.
Just so you know, Joey and Eddie’s is really…“Buca di Beppo for the Bourgeoisie!”…and that doesn’t offend me as much as I would have thought. Taking over the space that Moose’s owned for the past sixteen years, it’s an interesting concept to have a high-​end space and then serve family-​style Italian food… meaning mondo big portions.
Yes, you’re right… that does sound like Buca di Beppo… if you gave it a shower and dressed it up a little. Between you and me, I ain’t a fan of Buca di Beppo… loud, boorish, school cafeteria-​level quality food, checkered tablecloths… did I mention it’s loud? Well, Joey and Eddie’s has a menu that’s pretty similar, but the ambiance is far more urban — dark and cosmopolitan with a big social bar. It was surprisingly quiet for a Friday evening, but Jamie W. and I took advantage and got a nice little booth with a clear view of all the comings and goings there.
We started with the $ 16 Joey and Eddie Salad — which sounds pricey for a salad until you see the huge platter that could easily feed four. It was your basic Italian-​style mix of iceberg and romaine lettuce with salami, Parmesan shavings and tomato bits awash in oil and vinegar. It was nothing special but it served its purpose. Then we tried the $ 23 Rigatoni with Broccoli Rabe, Corona Beans and Sausage. Again, it was huge… too huge even for the two of us… but it was homey, hearty stuff… a carbo-​nanza. The Corona beans are monster-​size and quite buttery while the sausage had a nice kick. You can get this dish for five dollars less if you leave out the sausage.
There was no room for dessert, and I dare you to have some after chowing down such monstrous portions. The service was attentive though a bit on automatic pilot if you ask me. Prepare to leave with a doggie bag. Honestly, the best part of the meal is being able to walk out onto Washington Square, sitting on a bench for a spell to digest the food and watching the elderly Chinese do their laps around the perimeter walkway.
FOOD — 3 stars… family-​style Italian at upscale yuppie prices… yep, there is a niche for that here
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… kinda nice and urban… not what you’d expect with this menu
SERVICE — 3.5 stars… they serve with speed
TOTAL — 3 stars… the food is not that exciting, but the setting is nice

I wanted to LOVE Joey and Eddie’s, mostly because I’d been looking forward to eating Italian alllll week. Italian is perhaps my favorite of cuisines — I love the range from light to heavy, something to meet every mood.
So here’s the thing, maybe if I’d ordered spaghetti and meatballs, my review would have been a five star-​er. I think that’s what I was in the mood for, however, due to the family style serving (read: HUGE portions), it was necessary to choose just two dishes for the three of us (we could have order just one, but we wanted leftovers!). So, the two dishes ordered were on the light side — no red sauce — not so comfort-​foodie. They were tasty, but I wasn’t wowed. I enjoyed my dish (both the 1^st and leftover time!), but I don’t know — I needed more magic, I guess.
The service was good, the meal was relaxed and I loved my glass of wine. The space was also very cool — huge inside.
It’s good, but not wow. I’d like to go back to try some other items. I really do love their neon sign though.