Serafina SF

Extraordinary services from the owner and host regarding how busy the restaurant could be. Our group were having a great time throughout the time at Serafina. Thank you so much for the wonderful birthday celebration with delicious fresh food and yummy wines.

Another excellent dinner and wine recommendation tonight. We shared the fettuccine and shrimp as a starter, halibut special (w potatoes, mushrooms, eggplant and carrots) and finished w Tiramisu We split a nice and reasonably priced Montepluciano d’Abruzzo

Authentic Italian food. How do I know? Well the servers/ owners/ managers we met are all Italian. And they ate the food they made when the restaurant is about too close. We got Lasagna, the fish dish, and tiramisu. The fish dish is a bit underwhelming because it is overcooked. However, the lasagna is solid. The flavor of tomato sauce is fresh, naturally sweet and sour. It is quite rare to describe lasagna's flavor as "bright" but this one has that quality. And oh, tiramisu, it is light, smooth, and well-balanced between sweetness, creaminess, and bitterness. The staff is so considerate and let us sit down passed 30 mins after the closing time. We really enjoyed this place. I would love to eat here again.

I got got, but I'm glad I did. The waiter kept on trying to up sell a salad and I eventually relented. It was maybe the best salad I've had in my life. It cheated a little by using honey, but still it was amazing. My main (the squid ink pasta with octopus) was light. It tasted Italian instead of Italian American. It left you feeling satisfied instead of stuffed. Also, maybe the biggest plus was free bread in SF.

So delicious, such a great atmosphere. We came here on a whim for a Thursday night dinner and they did not disappoint! We had several dishes and each were delectable. Such a cute date night atop Russian Hill, lots of locals, and excellent service! Sadly, we ate the food so fast no photos were taken :/

A cute Italian restaurant with excellent food and service. We came on a Wednesday night and the restaurant was packed. Everything from the antipasti to primi, secondi, and desserts were so authentic it felt like we were back in Italy.

located in a quiet and unassuming residential neighborhood, the interiors of serafina comes alive at night. my friend and i had secured a table for dinner and we came out extremely satisfied. although we had to wait 10 min past our original reservation slot it was worth every minute. we ordered calamari, it was crunchy and delectable. fettucine and pesto rigatoni, we both loved the tomato shrimp fettucine it had amazing flavours and we did not get sick of it. pesto rigatoni was a bit creamy but good too! and of course we couldn't leave without the star of the night...the tiramisu!! creamy, coffeey, soft absolutely wonderful. the night i visited it was bustling and a bit loud with all the chattering to hear my friend who was next to me. there were only 2 waiters so it was hard to get their attention for orders/water but food was yummy!

When I say run, don’t walk, to get dinner at Serafina, I mean it. This was everything you could want out of a cozy, low-key, yet intimate neighborhood Italian restaurant and more. From the atmosphere to the wine to the food to the staff, Serafina SERVED. I’m so surprised that not more people are lining up around the corner for seats. We were so torn on which entrees to get between the two of us, we ended up ordering three AND dessert. The eggplant parm - pure comfort food and tasted like perfection; from the fresh tomato sauce to the cheesy crust that’s not too heavy. The gnocchi was chef’s kiss - the short rib was so tender, I almost cried in its arms. And the pinsa - which I understand is newer to the menu - fantastic addition; I burnt my mouth 3 times eating it so fast. We had to end with some tiramisu to really test out if this will be our go-to Italian spot, and damn did it pass with flying colors. Trust me people: Serafina is giving.

The food was excellent and the atmosphere was lively and cute. Our server Zabit was very helpful and hilarious. He definitely added to the experience. Highly recommend for a date night

Serafina’s was a great dinner experience, in a quiet part of San Fran! Great food, staff, and atmosphere! Homemade gnocchi was absolutely delicious! Being able to celebrate my graduation at this restaurant was worth it!

Absolutely wonderful experience! 10/10 highly recommend if you’re in San Francisco. The owners were so friendly and personable and they did all the serving themselves. My husband and I came here to celebrate our anniversary and we are so happy we did. If we’re ever back in the area, we will definitely be back! Romantic atmosphere, quick and efficient service, and delicious, authentic Italian food.

Family own authentic italian restaurant! Food was high end and very delicious !! served by his owner! What else can i ask for?? Very friendly staff and simply atmosphere! The view outside is invaluable! Best spot to view the bay bridge and the best spot to see new years fireworks! Thank You Fausto for your excellent service! It is really a must come Back and a big recommendation for anybody that come to San Francisco!

Just had the most amazing dinner with my family here. I can highly recommend the incredible, authentic food. The burrata salad, salmon with capers, grilled octopus, eggplant parmigiana, chicken with lemon caper sauce and the spaghetti with tuna were top of the line. Just like I was back in Ischia Italia. Bellissimo!!

what a nice place. burn off the calories while walking up the hill. some of the best bread in the city, but i know that isn't much of a compliment for this caliber of a restaurant. well the food, wine and service are up to standard too, so dont hesitate to book a table at this one.

2 years ago was our first visit and today we finally made it back. We flew in from Phoenix just to have dinner at Serafina. Food is delicious and worth the one day trip!

The atmosphere 👌🏻 is like you are in Italy 🇮🇹. The service is superb and very generous with the sourdough bread 🍞 and olive 🫒 oil vinger. The pizza 🍕 was perfect and we loved the pesto pasta 😋. I loved their Tiramisu for dessert. It is without alcohol 🍸 It is a lovely experience

Such a lovely place on top of Nob Hill. It’s quite intimate and the staff is super sweet, and made us feel part of the family. The food is absolutely delicious, probably the best italian food ive ever had in the US. And you should try the rose wine! It was a pleasure to dine here.

Cute small business in nob hill area. We visited during sf restaurant week but ended up ordering a la carte. Recommend the pappardelle pasta and tiramisu. Tiramisu was one of the best! I left my credit card by accident after our dinner but the owner guy was super kind when i called back to pick it up. I recommend this place if your looking for a cute date night craving some italian!

This place is great! A little out of the way and on top of one of the hillier parts of San Francisco, but this place is worth the trek! We ended up getting the Fettucini with Shrimp and the Risotto, with a lemon tart and tiramisu for dessert.I should've taken pictures, but I didn't let the food last that long. Everything was awesome here. Additionally, the owners (?), hosts (?), servers (?) were super friendly and always seemed happy to converse. I will be coming back to try some other menu items; I do not think you can go wrong here.

My favorite neighborhood Italian place. Never disappointed. Fausta (sp?) always takes care of you.

After weeks of disappointing meals in this country, I nearly wept with joy at the first taste of the melanzane alla parmigiana at this restaurant. This is authentic, delicious and fresh Italian food, with perfect European (aka normal) sized portions, and the staff were so friendly.

A cute little italian restaurant tucked in russian hill, served by the kindest waiters! We wanted to do family style and the waiters accommodated for us wonderfully! The food was so good! It is small and cozy, if you are going definitely make a reservation!

Excellent. Food and presentation is outstanding and there is enough of it. Vibe is cozy but not stuffy. A little loud inside the restaurant but a wonderful experience overall. Top 5 go-to spot for me as a sf local for 4 years and tucked into a wonderful corner of the city

The food was amazing and true to Italy, but that wasn’t even the best part of the experience. The two long time friends that own the place are an absolute riot. They are very generous and kind, and made our dinner out special and memorable. I wish this place was near where I live currently because our entire group of 7 would come back every week if we could.

Fantastic food and extremely nice servers. Wish we could go every week! Don’t skip the prosciutto appetizer

On a busy night they had a great central table for us. The food was fantastic, and the atmosphere cool, but the staff were amazing, fun and engaging throughout the evening. Highly recommend!

This is the place If you want an authentic experience and great food. This will take you to Italy. Food is excellent. Service is great and what you can expect from an authentic Italian restaurant.

Incredibly authentic Italian on a quiet street overlooking San Francisco. Everything was excellent - both food and atmosphere. The owners are genuine and friendly - recommend very very highly.

I brought my niece who was visiting from the east coast for her college graduation dinner and it was an amazing experience. The staff was superb and the food reminded me of my trips to Italy! We enjoyed the tortellini and gnocchi with the caesar salad. They even had a nice wine from Puglia on the menu. Love that this small quaint restaurant is located in a nice local neighborhood and seemed like there were many locals dining that evening. I would highly recommend this for your Italian experience while in San Francisco.

I’m in town for a few days and got dinner here with a friend. It was our first time trying Serafina and we loved it! Authentic Italian dishes with fabulous wine! The food was delicious. Fausto and Uberto are the sweetest and they made the experience 3x better!! :) From the service to food, we had a lovely time here and will definitely be back!! (Fausto, this is Christina :) hahaha)

This spot sits right on top of the hill near the tunnel. During the pandemic, we started frequenting local, family-owned businesses, and this is one of our favorites! It has very cozy vibes, though it's quite small and packed. If you are broad-shouldered or have a large frame, the seating might feel a bit tight. It's great for small gatherings, and it seems like many of the customers are neighbors from Russian Hill! (typical tasty Italian food).

Everything we ate was delicious! We got the Caesar salad and the salmon carpaccio for our apps. The halibut and gnocchi were our main dishes, and we got the lemon cake and the tiramisu for dessert. The food was cooked perfectly and the taste of everything was wonderful.

This standalone place with its name tag, Serafina, reminds me of 19th century English novel in which houses had names ; example is Howards’s End. What an unusual location to be at top of hill and patrons climb hills to eat here as if on pilgrimage to receive epicurean salvation and good service ! And I think they do.

Go try and you will know how great the foods are! New taste bud adventure! Staff are friendly and funny, a very cozy place.

This is a great Italian restaurant next to Ina Coolbrith park. It’s a small kitchen but they work pretty fast. We ordered Burratta and calamari grilled for antipasti. And Pense for secondi. We loved the antipasti but the secondi was flavorless. It required some spice literally, so bland. I loved the service and the waiter and the whole atmosphere here and I would definitely come back to try more flavors.

There need to be more people working here.. it is quite popular but there is not enough staff. And not all of the waitstaff is friendly. One person in particular is a bit gruff. Overall I can recommend it with a few notes. it was a busy place. Every table was full. The food was good, although each piece of the rack of lamb seemed to be cooked to a different temperature. It was tasty though. But our large party had to wait a long time for drinks, a long time to give our order, a long time for our first course, a long time for dessert. We were sitting with dirty plates in front of us for quite a while. I will say that we had a large party (10), but if a restaurant can’t handle a large party then they shouldn’t take the reservation.

We were referred to this cozy spot with the great family home vibes. The service was personable and accommodating. You really felt like you were at family dinner. The food was incredible. We ordered the caprese salad and prosciutto arugula appetizers, both were amazing. For our entrees we had the chicken piccata, lasagne, and my son had a pizza. The lasagne was a showstopper...but really all the dishes were delicious. Great place! Thank you for the experience!

Not recommended. Servers were polite and pizza was better than expected due to its crunchy base. However, all of the lasagna, prawn pasta, burrata, clam shell pasta and tiramisu were unremarkable for the price. Combined with notoriously difficult parking, I wouldn’t go back. Ambience was cosy but again unremarkable. If considering Serafina, check out Beretta or Cotogna instead.

This is the typical nice-looking place with good food, of course. I must say the food was actually very good—but that’s not the reason for giving it one star. In fact, this place doesn’t even deserve one. We live in the neighborhood, and our friend, just arriving from his flight, wasn’t wearing the kind of “attire” that apparently is required to eat here. The person in charge—who I believe is the owner, an Italian man with very little manners—looked down on us and treated us terribly. He even snatched the menu violently from our hands when taking the order. Something as simple as asking for a glass of water seemed to be a problem for him. This man, wearing his shirt untucked, is supposed to be the owner or manager. Let me be clear: people expect good service, and this place is the exact opposite—it’s racist and disrespectful. Please, do not visit this restaurant unless you want to be scolded by a rude Italian man. Let’s defend our neighborhood from places and people like this.

If you must come here, try not to come after others arrive late! We waited on the street a solid 15 minutes after our reserved time since so many people were before us. They apologized as expected, complaining about their customers who were late, and then harassed us that we did not look happy when they finally came to see if we wanted water (I was actually hoping for a comp’ed drink as amends but oh well). The experience was not looking promising from there so we left. Serafina, you might cook good food, but good service is the foundation of hospitality. Frascati nearby does it so much better!