Terie Scerbo

We had been to SPQR a long time ago and had really enjoyed the authentic pasta dishes and service -- long before the Michelin star. We decided to have our special New Years Eve meal this year with them. The set menu absolutely was delicious. Had the steak with black truffles for main dish, accompanied with lovely side dishes. Couldn't be happier with the food and service, despite the crazy business of a holiday meal.

+4

Michael Chu

Excellent place to enjoy a weekday pasta tasting menu for much less than $100. Their pastas are exquisitely prepared and sauces so good, I kept asking for bread to soak up every last bit. If pasta isn't your favorite, that's okay - their octopus appetizer is one of the best preparations of that protein that I've ever had. It's a definitely must order. The broccoli and hen of the wood mushroom appetizer is also a clear winner.

+2

Wook Chung

SPQR is inventive and progressive. Californian and Italian creations come together in a harmonious and modern way. I had a the opportunity to taste pretty much everything on the menu thanks to the four of us ordering differently and eating family-style. Absolutely fresh ingredients put together with care and passion. Commensurate to a Michelin caliber joint. And yes, we had a fabulous meal. But I'd like to focus on a few areas that caught me by surprise. Overall, all the dishes have a moderately bland tint to it. It's not like the food doesn't have character. It absolutely has structure as well as shows intentions of new creations and interpretations. But somehow, there's a 2% lack of confidence that is distinct. Every dish plays it "safe" to push the palate gently. Perhaps other than the wild spinach casarecce which had a salt punch (which we absolutely loved). A few times eyebrows were raised as traditional fares were fused with unusual tastes. Sometimes it worked marvelously like the filo custard pie with arugula pesto and grana padano. Other times, it was a bit confusing such as the plum stuffed potato gnocchi or the king salmon with red wine butter. Even the green tea cheesecake tasted more like a quiche than dessert. I loved the twist and the attempt, but it didn't make up for the lack of confidence. Either push it properly or let's get the basic flavor profile strengthened, whether salt or sugar. All in all, SPQR holds a special place. It is progressive and takes you on an adventure. This isn't your "tasty pasta" shop. Rather it is a culinary lab and yes, most are hits but there's also some misses. And again, that's okay. Continue making bold statements with the mix of ingredients as well as bring the confidence into the taste. Finally the price is relatively reasonable considering a Michelin star in the Bay Area. Fabulous for a date night. Will return.

+14

Zhuo Z

The food is pretty good. I went to try their New Year’s Eve menu. The fried potato ball appetizer is pretty good, very aromatic. The winter vegetable dish is good but not in particularly impressive. I love their seafood pasta dish. The homemade pasta has a great chewy texture and the sauce has a nice acidity to it which is appetizing. The seared salmon is good. The skin is very crispy but the fish is too “fishy”. I’d prefer if they could make the sauce to better complement the fish so that it tastes less oily and “fishy”. And they forgot put the salmon roe as promised in the menu. I do enjoy the smoked short rib dish. The smoky flavor is very subtle and savory. There is one pasta dish I couldn’t stand which has an overwhelmingly cheesy flavor. The dessert is superb. It is like a molten lava cake, but much better. The cake has a slightly crumbly crust and a hint of saltiness. Unforggetable!

+4

Fred L

Top marks to the staff, they're helpful, friendly and professional. Back in 2010, this was a place for democratically priced high marks Northern Italian fare in solid portion sizes. Fast forward to today (December '25), it's a very different animal. You spend minimum $50 a person and still come out hungry. There's a dichotomy between this place's original intent / vibe and the food /pricing it serves,... the somewhat informal setting should imply "affordable" (in relative terms), but doesn't. You find the same dichotomy in the food. The prices are high, however, the quality is questionable and quantity is definitely not there. For example, at $35 for a carbonara, I would expect top quality fresh pasta and perfect sauce. Obviously perfection in food is subjective, but for me a carbonara should be gritty, meaning that the egg yolk should help the cheese stick to the pasta. There was a nice touch of complexity with fennel flavors in the sauce, but it was overly liquid and so it wouldn't stick to the pasta. The pasta, to be honest, was a disappointment, it didn't taste fresh or sweet, it was dead on the palate. The portion was about half of what I would need for a full meal. The meat was tasty and appropriately portioned for the amount of pasta we got... but overall this was not a satisfying dish. Example #2: tortellini en brodo, braised duck leg, thumbelina carrot, amarosa potato, dill pollen. Our waiter was quick to warn that the duck was complemented by turkey meat .. ahem, the amount of duck meat in this dish was essentially reduced to perhaps a tablespoon in total, for $33. It's mostly carrots, potatoes, and five small tortellinis. ... Compare this to imperial treasure in Palo alto, a high end Chinese restaurant where a full duck can be had for $60. This is not exactly good value. Personally, my preferred type of restaurant is high quality without the fuss (eg Gotts), that's what I was expecting to get here but didn't. If you're going to ask for a premium $50-$100 per person, you need to have exceptional food quality and this is far from it (Nopa is a good example for me that warrants this level of pricing). ... my $0.02 ...

Ryan Chang

Really enjoyed the ambience and the service was excellent, extremely friendly and attentive staff. The food was also pretty good overall, presentation was creative and taste was good. We enjoyed the risotto w/ beef a lot, and the focaccia. Have to rate it down simply because the portion sizes were ridiculously small. Each entree was about the size of a dish you would receive as part of a fine dining tasting menu, but the food itself was not at that level. Was a bit shocked at the sizing to be honest.

Reed Zimmermann

Pretty overpriced, food didn't really blow us away. The shrimp pasta was quite sweet. Romesco on the bottom was nice though. The salmon was really nice, especially the skin, but the vegetables accompying it were nothing to write home about, the zucchini was especially bland. Pork seemed undercooked. Dessert took a long time to get served. Matcha cheesecake was pretty nice. Clafoutis was nothing special but the bay leaf icecream was interesting.

Karen Zheng

Disappointed… food not that tasty and restaurant seemed short of staff. Favorites are the wagyu steak and short rib pasta. The amount of jam on chicken liver toast made the whole piece taste weird/too sweet. The other pasta (forgot its name) tastes salty and spicy in an unpleasant way. Restaurant also seemed short of staff - there seemed to be only 2 servers covering the 10+ tables, and while our server was helpful and did his best, it just seemed very chaotic and we had to wait some time for the food to be served and order to be added. ~$100 pp post tax and tip

Ashton Teng

good food, just not great enough to justify the price. chicken liver mousse, spinach pasta and triangoli pasta were a hit, fried pig ears, agnolotti (very expensive), and pudding dessert were a miss.

+1

Wilson Tsang

TLDR: service was awesome but food left a bit to be desired: We came for the set menu on Valentine’s Day and our server was excellent, she was friendly and welcoming, helped explain the menu. Since there were only two options for each course, we got one of each to share. Overall nothing stood out for me except the carrot ravioli , that was really outstanding. The steak had way too much peppercorn on it that became spicy and it was supposed to be a ribeye but was so lean it had almost no fat on it. The ricotta gnudi had truffle on it but the sauce was so strong we couldn’t even taste the truffle For the set menu, the price was about 20% cheaper than ordering the items individually but the disappointment in the protein decreased the value for me.

+4

Olga Knauer

We dined at SPQR in San Francisco for the $165 prix fixe menu with wine pairing, which included Antipasti, Primi, Secondi, and Dolci. There were four of us, including vegetarian, so between the group we were able to try nearly the entire menu. The staff was friendly and professional, and special thanks to Ivan for the attentive service. The food itself was pretentious and, quite frankly, not delicious. Our group genuinely enjoys good food across the full spectrum, from a simple baguette with cheese to Michelin-level dining, but not a single dish made us want just one more bite. Most plates were either bland, or overcooked, overly sauced, or strangely over-spiced. It honestly takes effort to ruin focaccia and dessert - even that was disappointing. Portions were microscopic, but the heavy sauces left us feeling uncomfortably full rather than satisfied. The wine pairing was also a letdown and felt like an afterthought not a thoughtful complement to the dishes. When you are faced with such a high bill, you hope there is something to balance it out, but aside from the nice staff, there really was not. As we walked out, the unanimous verdict was that grabbing ramen next door would have been a better choice. No recommendation, and we will not be returning.