Tuesday, July 12, 2011

delfina pizzeria

location: 2406 california street (at fillmore), pacific heights

delfina pizzeria has two locations in san francisco. on this trip i had dinner with l at the location on california street. the other location, on 18th in the mission offers the same menu and a longer wait.
delfina offers traditional italian fare and neapolitan style pizzas. the atmosphere is warm, friendly and loud. all of the food tastes extremely fresh and is cooked to order. the kitchen area is open so you can watch the food preparation from the bar area or from your table. the california street location is really open but can feel like a tight fit because the tables are pretty close together. the line here can be very long with waits up to an hour, but i definitely think it's worth it.
we started with the stretched mozzarella/belfiore burrata ($10.25) which is a very generous portion of warm, creamy burrata served with toasted bread. it's enough to serve probably 3 or 4 but it's so good that l and i finished it with no problem. we shared the insalata tricolore ($8.50) which is a fresh bed of lettuce sprinkled with lemon and grana padano, a delicious semi-hard italian cheese. for pizza we went with the traditional margherita ($12.50) with tomato, mozzarella and basil. each pizza is about 6 slices and the margherita at delfina is pretty fantastic, it's one of my favorites in sf.
the staff at delfina is friendly, attentive and they're happy to explain the very italian menu without being condescending. the food is well priced and great for sharing.

tastiness: yay!
food vs. price: yay!
service: yay!