Tommaso's Review

Tommaso's served us decent Italian food in a very North Beach setting. The style was more than the murals on the walls, the long tables and booths, the style of service, and the unpretentious atmosphere. I wonder perhaps if, given that Tommaso's is over seventy years old, the common feel of North Beach restaurants came from everyone copying Tommaso's.

When we were seated (after no wait!), we were presented with a basket of okay, soft, crusty bread. The bread was inconsistently lukewarm: some pieces were lukewarm; some were room temperature.

To start, we had a plate of vegetable anitpasto. It was filled chickpeas, broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers, green beans, red onion, eggplant, and zucchini, all dressed in a little olive oil, garlic, and lemon. It was decent as a whole. We liked the onion ("pickled vinegary yumminess") and the zucchini the best. The broccoli and green beans were also pretty good. The others were mostly okay. The eggplant was unpleasant.

Our Caesar salad, although not amazing, was perfectly respectable.

Our lasagna entree was different from most other lasagnas. First, whereas most lasagnas are heavy, both the sauce and the dish as a whole were light. Second, whereas most lasagnas are baked into an integrated mass, this seemed thrown together, as if the noodles, filling, and sauce were cooked separately, then combined into the dish which was served. Most people didn't appreciate this aspect.

The spinach and parmesan pizza was very good: warm, slightly wilted spinach on top of perfect, slightly charred crust that didn't droop at all. It wasn't as good when cooled.

Our first dessert, cheesecake, was quality, though there was either too much accompanying raspberry sauce or the sauce was too potent and thus overpowered the cheesecake a bit. Still, we quite liked it.

Our other dessert, tiramisu, pleased people less. It was nicely light and creamy, though some didn't like the texture, describing it as "soggy bread." Unlike most tiramisu which have too much rum, this had absolutely none at all. Nor, for that matter, did it have much coffee flavor.

Our house red wine, mild and not bitter, was appropriate for a house wine.

Incidentally, Tommaso's is located in the middle of a red light district.

Over dinner, we talked about recent trips of various kinds and to various destinations. We also talked about vehicular adventures, including the green soccer ball (which we spotted while on the way to dinner) bouncing dozens of feet into the air on 101.

The total was $29/person including tax and tip but not including drinks.

Original Announcement

Since I selected our destination at the last minute, there was no original announcement.

Comments from Other Attendees

Feel free to add remarks here.