Il Borgo
500 Fell St
(between Buchanan St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 255-9108
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: No
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
64 reviews
Neighborhood: North Beach/Telegraph Hill
"Small cute restaurant with ornate decorations all over the walls. It's a simple menu, but my pasta with vongole was perfect. My friend's…" read more »
161 Reviews for Il Borgo
The food is decent and reasonably priced but the wait staff is rude. Can't decide if it's worth going back. I WANT to love it because its so cute inside but I just don't! Hmmm... I guess I need to decide how important good service is to me. Maybe we'll just do take out from now on...
Il borgo..more like il crappo... what a RIP OFF! I would like this place to be gone and replaced by a used car dealership. Summary: The food is plain and really heavy on the carbs, the service is annoying... It is a sit down dinner restaurant that DOESN'T TAKE CARD!!!! They have an atm that charges a fee in the restaurant. This is a petty trick you encounter in pizza parlors, not something for atmospheric urban dinner restaurants.
The food is really awful. We ordered the eggplant fussili, and got a ridiculous amount of pasta that totally ruined the continuity of the sauce...making what would have been a plain dish HUGE and BAD. Our second dish was the lobster ravioli which came out moderately cold and just as bad....absolutely plain. What they lack in quality, they try to make up for in volume....20 big bright orange plain pasta cubes isn't better than 6 good hot ravioli. The bread was the best part of the meal, and I give it a 5 out of 10. A glass of average pinot rings in at almost $7(the price isnt even listed on the menu)
The place seems inexpensive, but our ticket for 2 came in at $40 after tip and tax...I could have gotten a MUCH better meal for that price, and had dessert, too. Also, the waiter really pissed me off.
Bottom line--don't go here, the atmosphere belies the food, which SUCKS. I feel really ripped off and somewhat deceived right now, and I might just cry. 8-(
Best Italian food in Hayes Valley! Very reasonable prices!!
I've been here on 2 different occasions and left full, satisfied and with extras for take-home. Wait staff is not always polite, but the food is fantastic with a home-style flavor. That means that everything is really tasty, heavy and the pastas are fresh, but everything is probably not very good for you.
If you have the space in your stomach, give it a shot!
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I'll be back. I enjoyed the food, it's not high-end Italian, it's more comfort food place that's fast and reasonably priced. The service is a bit goofy, and the waiter tries very hard to be funny.
We started with the caprese. I wouldn't recommend it. Kind of bland and the tomatoes were the kind that had no taste. It would be more forgivable if it were winter, but it's June, so i expect reasonable tomatoes.
We had three dishes: pizza w/ sausage and mushrooms, lasagnetta, and fettuccine bolognese. The pizza was thin crust with a lot of toppings. Large enough to feed 1.5 people. The fettuccine bolognese was good, but I really like the taste of the lasagnetta. I'm definitely coming back to have more of the lasagnetta.
Food was delicious, but the odd waiter was really, really odd. Had something dripping from his nose when he served our wine. I don't see a reason to go back.
I went in by myself at about 6:30 p.m. on a Saturday night. The waiter didn't seem pleased that I was alone and he put me at a small table off to the side by the ATM machine. I had a glass of chianti and he came with a bottle and filled my glass completely, which I liked. I ordered the lasagnetti which I thought was tasty and a good-sized portion. I spoke to the waiter completely in italian and he seemed to understand me, but hardly said two words to me and when he did, he spoke in English. He was almost surly and barely smiled. He really made me feel unwelcomed. So, I liked the place and hated the waiter. Pasta, wine and tip: $24.00.
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Everything I've ever had at il Borgo was delicious, and I think I've made it about a third of the way through the expansive menu at this point. I actually have to remind myself NOT to go here because 1.) I'm friendly enough with the workers that they throw a glass of wine or some tiramisu my way every once in a while, so I have to make sure I don't wear out my welcome and 2.) it is approximately 15 feet from my front door, and it is a slippery slippery slope towards eating at il Borgo every night. I mean, who wouldn't want to come home every night to a big plate of downy gnocchi or creamy lasagnetta? Sure, the service can be a bit weird at times (especially on weekends) but the woman who works there on weeknights is really sweet and when I walk past on the way home every night she waves and smiles as if she's genuinely glad to see that I made it through another day.
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I went there on a Friday night at around 6:30. Judging by the high reviews for this place, I figured that this place would be pretty full. To my amazement, it was completely empty. We stayed until about 7:30, but even then there were no more than 5 people in the restaurant.
A pity, since the food was terrific. I ordered a pasta of sausage and mushrooms (which was a special, not on the regular menu), and my girlfriend had the lobster ravioli. I can honestly say that I haven't had pasta like that since I was last in Italy (then again, I don't get to explore restaurants as much as I'd like). The penne was cooked perfectly, and the dish as a whole wasn't weighed down with any heavy sauce. What sauce there was consisted mostly of tomatoes and spices. The lobster ravioli was also good, though it didn't have the combination of flavors that made the pasta dish so great. The sauce for the ravioli was a bit plain, but still good.
For dessert, we split a tiramisu, which was wonderful. It was very light, and not cloyingly sweet like other tiramisu I've tasted.
If this place accepted credit cards, it might get 5 stars. The prices are quite reasonable, the service was prompt, and most importantly, the food was delicious.
Popped into this resto last night for a second visit. This place is great in that kitchy sort of Italian restaurant cliche way. I think this place may be more Italianish than many of its counter parts in North Beach. The waitress, perhaps Italian, perhaps not, spoke with an Italian accent and filtered our meal with plenty of Italian phrases, verbs and the like, including bonjourno, bon appetito, etc. it was great.
The piped in music was moving along swimmingly with the Italian restaurant cliche, lulling me into visions of gondolas and the like while we scarfed down our yummy pizza and pasta. I will admit that the caprese salad, eh, the tomatoes were a little tough. Also, my pizza, the Quattro, while extremely yummy, was also very oily and the crust was not too crisp. We ate the whole thing, so no problem there, but just sayin...
This place is great for a casual dinner with friends or on a date, as I happened to find myself. The atmosphere, though campy, is also certainly charming and I suspect I will be back in the near future. Don't expect high brow food, but if you're hungry, this is a great option.
PS - Cash Only.
PSS - As we left the waitress came by to take our wine glasses and noted that mine had a drop left, she asked if I wanted to finish it and I said sure, she told me it was good luck. I like that kind of genuineness.
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I wanted to love this place, I really did. It's two blocks from my house and I'd been looking forward to trying it since I moved in. But in the end we had a mediocre experience: While the atmosphere was nice even from our 2x2 table in the corner, the service was bad. Our water spent most of the meal low to empty, they forgot the appetizers entirely and just brought the entres (and didn't apologize) and our waitstaff just generally gave off the rushed cool feeling. The food was good (gnocchi were perfectly cooked) but the sauces weren't great and there was no parmesean to speak of for the pesto gnocci, WTF? It breaks my heart to say that I will probably not be back to the closest restaurant to my apartment. Sigh......
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I finally found it!!!!!!!
I've been hoping to find an italian restaurant that makes me feel at home. Here it is. Random corner in the Hayes Valley, a place that I've known to be there for a while but never set my foot in there. But I'm SO GLAD that I went and I will be going back very often.
The decor was very cute, casual, but nice enough that we all thought would be a great 1st date spot. Just like the location, things here are just random, the random street lamp standing there right in front of you once you step in, random but artsy candles with melted wax, GORGEOUS italian lady (waitress? wife of the owner?).
Food. Yes. Yes.
Hands down Best dish: Fettucine del Borgo, with sundried tomatoes, capers, and tomate sauce. Very simple, but sooooo delicious, with generous portion. The homemade Fettucine is just perfect in texture, not too soggy, not too tough, just the right right amount of chewiness that you just can't stop eating it. Sundried tomato adds the proper greasiness but finely balanced out by the sourness of capers. Such a great dish for only $13.
Highly recommended by people: Lobster Ravioli.
The sauce is so good, especially with the bread. Our plate was so clean that it looked like someone licked it clean. The ravioli are great, but the whole dish is a little too straight forward (nothing else besides ravioli and sauce). But it's what you get and what you expect in home cooking. So I still think it's great.
Bruschetta was fresh, with very crunchy toasted bread. But I could make better Bruschestta.
Last but not least, the Tiramisu'. If you don't the Tiramisu' here after your meal, you are missing out, your experience would not be complete. The Tiramisu' is SOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!!!!! It is indeed the only one I've tried in US that I've felt: wow!! it's better than the ones I made!! Get it, period.
To the lady who works there: I wish I could be as gorgeous as you are at your age.
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I have given this restaurant two chances now...maybe I just don't get it. I am not Italian nor did I grow up eating Italian food. I just don't think the food here is very good! It's cheap and relatively friendly, but there are many other places in the neighborhood I would rather spend my dollar, or someone else's...!
I wasn't initially impressed with the atmosphere, it seemed kind of cheesy. But it turns out that the food is very authentic and homey. The service is wonderful. Surprisingly, this place delivers great Italian.
A few hints for a lovely time at Il Borgo:
(1)Your waiter is a little off his rocker, just go with the flow;
(2)If you like garlic, we're talking like quarter cloves of garlic, order the Penne Arrabiata -- it is spicy and delicious;
(3)When you arrive: be assertive -- if you linger in the doorway, you's gonna git ignored;
(4)Don't want cheese on your pasta? Better act quick because he'll cheese first and ask later;
(5)Bring cash -- they are one of those shady CASH ONLY places with an ATM IN THE CORNER -- the surcharge is $1.50;
(6)Bring your own bottle of wine -- they've got great food at great prices but the wine is ABSURD -- especially for a place that's cash only (see HINT 5) -- $27 for a bottle of house red!! Not sure what the corkage is -- but it can only be less than $27!
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Basic Italian food from an Italian group of folks. The flavors aren't mind blowing, but they're solid and you gotta love a place that doesn't raise their prices for four years and counting. A good spit to turn when you get an, "Um, hmmm, yeah, it'll be like 45 minutes" when you up at Patxi's...
I'm not sure what all these reviews are talking about, but I've been to plenty of Italian restaurants all over the country and this simply does not stack up. Yes it has a comfortable feel inside, and the staff is nice, but the food simply does not add up. The sauces for all the pasta dishes in my group were bland and boring. Aurora sauce especially weak, but the worst was the tortellini bolognese - literally tasted like hamburger helper. Sorry to say but this restaurant does not get more than one star - and most definitely does not get my business.
Everything here is Italian home style: the decor, the food, and the service. It's very comfortable. The spicy tomato sauce that I had was very fresh therefore very flavorful. It's simple and down to earth food with very moderate prices. So have about 15-20 bucks in your pocket, then you are good for some delicious pasta (cash only)!
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I don't think I'd like this place as much if it were in North Beach, but it's in Hayes Valley--a weird part of Hayes Valley--so it works.
The food is pretty good, and the service for the most part is also good. I'm kind of boring when it comes to Italian food; I tend to gravitate towards the gnocchi, and it's always good here.
They get an extra star for their weird interior and burning candles over and over without cleaning the wax out of the candlesticks. They lose that star because they don't take credit cards.
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I love a little kitsch so I was tickled pink with Il Borgo. The mural on the walls. The laundry hanging from the ceiling. The fake balcony above the kitchen. The only two things missing were red and white striped tablecloths and a schnauzer sharing a meatball with a cocker spaniel .
Despite its (and I use this term without the least bit of pretension) quaint appearance Il Borgo really delivered on the food. The lobster ravioli was neither too fishy nor drenched in a heavy sauce. According to my dining companions the tortellini was delicious. The tiramisu was amazing.
2 bottles of wine, an appetizer, 6 entrees, and 1 dessert came out to about $30 a person and it was worth every penny.
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If I had not been invited to eat at this restaurant with some friends I would have never set foot in the place. The point is of course that the looks of this place are deceiving, and the food is of a much higher quality than the decor would have you believe. The look of this place looks like an italian restaurant in the 70's that went overboard on trying to look authentic, with fake windows, balconies, and god save us fake laundry hanging out to dry, and I'm not talking mural here, i'm talking real string with real clothes hanging off of it.
Luckily the food is excellent, the home made tortellini were fresh, perfectly cooked, and not drowned in sauce. The house chianti leaved a little to be desired but for the price it was ok. 6 of us ate, shared some appetizers, had a couple of bottles of wine and all got out of there for about $30 per head, not bad at all.
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On a whim, went into Il Borgo on Saturday evening. From the minute I walked in, I felt I was transported to Italy itself! Complete with a clothes line strung across the restaurant with clothes hanging on it. The murals were Italian streets making you feel as though you're sitting at an outdoor cafe in Italy.
Our server was an older Italian gentleman who I believe owned the restaurant before he retired to working only 10 hours a week as a waiter. Very nice and welcoming. The service was fast and not overbearing, wine always refilled, and the timing of the food & apps was spot on.
Began with an Italian red, pino nero - deliciously light and from what our waiter told us, relatively rare in SF. Not terribly expensive either. Around $30 - brilliant compliment to the food.
Had the bruscetta - very fresh tomatoes, but it lacked cheese. Not a big deal to me, but a slight disappointment to my dining companion. Although, without the cheese it seemed far more like authentic Italian than the high fat Americanized version.
For entrees: I ordered chicken breast stuffed with cheese & prosciutto with a dark rosemary gravy, veggies, and potatoes, my companion had lasagnetta, which was a rolled lasagna in a light and creamy red sauce. Just delicious!
The prices are completely reasonable, averaging $12 - 18 a plate. Probably my new favorite Italian restaurant in my hood. Parking can be a bit of a problem, but definitely worth the effort.
Love this place!
It is the epitome of an authentic yet quaint neighborhood Italian place.
I've been here many times (I used to live a couple blocks away), and I always felt like I had stumbled upon something great coming inside. From the hand made pasta, to the Italian waitress and cooks, I always want to come back.
It's better than most places in North Beach, and without the annoying paizanos telling you how beautiful you are just to get you to eat at their restaurant...don't get me wrong, a little sweet haggling always does the ego good, but doesn't necessarily make the food taste better.
Minus one star because I thought once that I saw a cook smoking and cooking at the same time in the kitchen before they opened...I could have seen this wrong as I was walking and just glanced in...but I mean, oh well...que sera sera :-) Also, cash only, but they have an ATM machine on site...how convenient...
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There are times when you want dining to be an adventure. You're willing to drive to some distant part of town, fight to get a parking spot, to wait ages to be seated and take big chances.
Other times you want to slip right into a place, start drinking your wine and enjoy the casual, the simple and the comfort of a familiar place. Il Borgo is a great place to do just that. The dishes are good, solid and tasty. The service is friendly and attentive but not cheesy or intrusive. The atmosphere is quaint and a little quirky. Everything about this place says come back again soon!
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il Borgo is awesome, the food is perfect for a rainy San Francisco day and the owner (I assume he is...) is very funny and friendly. How often do you walk into a place with 3 people, take a table for 6, and, when you say "the rest are coming soon", have the owner say "oh, sure, here, have something to read while you wait" and then hand you the menu? Or try to teach your foreign friends how to pronounce the names of Italian dishes? Oh, and the lasagnette is fabulous!
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Good, honest food at a reasonable price. The atmosphere is warm and cozy - A good casual date place.
We had the Insalata del Borgo, the gnocchi with bolognese sauce, the tortellini, and the tiramisu.
The Insalata del Borgo was simple but delicious. It had a light, and slightly garlicky vinaigrette. The gorgonzola and pine nuts paired really well with the bitter radicchio.
The gnocchi was great comfort food. A nice steaming plate of fluffy little pillows, surrounded by a tasty meat sauce. What more can I say? It really hit the spot.
The tortellini filled with sausage was straightforward and light. The tomato sauce was simple and fresh. The tortellinis were tender, and perfectly stuffed.
The tiramisu was light, creamy, and not overly sweet. The flavors of the coffee and cocoa were nicely balanced. We licked the plate.
This is a great neighborhood restaurant that has love in the food. Don't forget to bring CASH.
Handmade fresh pasta in delicious sauces - artichoke ravioli and lasagnetta rolls - held up surprisingly well to being eaten 20 minutes after picking up take-out. Even the bread was tasty. This is the best Italian food I've had in a really long time.
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LOVE THIS PLACE! Good food, authentic Italian guys working there. They even give you flack for not eating your veggies! TOO FUNNY!. Although they don't take credit cards, but they have an atm on site.
Be prepared to wait for a table on busy nights if you get there after 7. WORTH THE WAIT!
I took my ex here once and she really liked it. She was living at my place and we had been living entirely off of food from the Lower Haight and it's various restaurants.
While I see no harm in that, we both wanted Italian food and didn't want to drive (drunk) or take a cab (kind of broke) and so it was that we discovered Il Borgo.
The food is home-style Italian. My Nana's is much better but she lives back east so this will have to do. The lobster ravioli is delicious and there's no shortage of garlic in any of their dishes as I believe was pointed out by someone already. To me, this is a positive thing.
That and cheese. They will give you a lot. Whenever I go back, I will take it from them gladly.
Oh, I don't pretend to be a wine aficionado (or tard, whatever) but I am something of a wino. Suffice it to say, the lady and I enjoyed two bottles of cheap red from across the street, one at the table and one on the way up Fell to Filmore.
Nothing's so impressive as a drunk woman gracefully climbing the streets of San Francisco in crazy high heels without spilling a drop.
One star deducted for the pricing, which though mostly reasonable, does seem sort of arbitrary. The outside is beyond quaint, for those who might be put off by that sort of thing, but it's a nice effect when you walk in.
Good for a date or the beginning to a night out with your boo.
Not cheap.
Little Italy in San Francisco. Traditional Italian without the American flair, very refreshing. Service was outstanding and expected by the friendly atmosphere. Slightly high prices, but the pasta is handmade. Mmmm!
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SF could use more places like this. Good, solid food. Zero pretense. Cheesy decor. The salad sucked but that's my fault. You don't come to a place like this and start dinner with a salad.
This wasn't exactly a foodie experience--very simple menu with choice of pasta and a few sauces, but this place is extremely cute and quaint. Inside, the tiny little restaurant looks like you are eating on a street at night in a little Italian villa--there is "laundry" hanging from a line and a couple fake windows and balconies. It's a place I would go to if I was craving basic Italian comfort food (pasta, pasta, and pasta), in a semi romantic/kitch-cool place.
From the outside you would not be able to tell that this place is a gem of a restaurant hidden just past Alamo Square in San Francisco. The dishes have always been pretty incredible, and the pasta is certainly home made. For many, the down side is that it is "cash-only"...and when they bring you the bill, the total always seems a bit "shady"/made up...but always a fair price. They are also closed on Sundays, unfortunately.
Always worth the trip though. Great place to take a date.
i ordered their pizza. this was a mistake. do not order their pizza. it was soggy & thin, and not the good kind of ny style thin. it was more of a, "oh look, it's an air bubble. (after stabbing your air pocket with your fork) hey, there's nothing but the plate? where's my crust?" so, you can't really hold up your pizza to eat it because there was no crust for the most part, and if you happen to find crust on your pizza, it'd be soggy. also, for some reason, i was expecting a decent sized pizza that i would be able to share, but it's was pretty tiny from what i can remember.
not to deter you from this restaurant, their pastas were pretty decent. my sister ordered the pesto gnocci, which i ended up stealing from her. my bf ordered some sort of lasagna dish that was good too. so overall, their pastas are not bad, pretty good, but not mind-blowing.
one thing i didn't like was that it was really really really really dark. each table had a candle, and that's about the only light you get.
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Best italian (Tuscan) in the city, the dishes are simple, flavorful and nicely priced. My favs are the caprese & carpaccio as appetizers. Best entrees: penne arriabiata, gnocchi & tagliatelle, to die for! Be sure to try their thin crust pizza, they make it from scratch and it's delicious. What a diamond this place is, i've been a faithful customer for 5 years, ain't nothin' mo' better.
Very good Italian food for a very reasonable price! I'm not even a huge fan of Italian but I really like this place. The service is good and very fast!
I really like the ambiance of this place.
Like little Italy. I like the hanging laundry, and awnings, and street lights on the inside. I feel this adds a nice touch to the place. Rather than just a boring old restaurant like many others.
The food is scrumptious. There were six of us that went the other day, and half the group ordered the lasagna, which is something they say is one of their signature dishes.
I had a bit of it and I agree - however, I ordered the lobster ravioli and it melted in my mouth. Delicioso!!! Molto Bene!
We will go back!
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when a group of us coudn't get into suppenkuche (how do you say that anyway---kukka? cooch?) down the street we mosied our way over here and got seated right away. we were immediately charmed by the homey, low-lit interior, adorable waitress (owner?), and cute busboy. this place is intimate without being fancy. a great spot for a quiet dinner date or catching up with the girls. most importantly, they serve really yummy italian food at really nice prices. and that's kinda hard to find in SF.
i was a bad bad girl and went for the carbonara--this is the first place i've had it in SF where it tastes the way i want carbonara to taste: creamy, buttery, bacony good. altho i think they used ham instead of bacon, which would typically ruin things for me. this time it didn't. i asked for extra garlic and they let me have it. i was in heaven. the serving was huge, in fact all our servings were quite hefty. we also had two bottles of italian red here, a barbera and a chianti--both were well-priced and lovely.
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Exactly what a local family-style Italian restaurant should be...
Il Borgo is friendly, affordable, tasty, and most importantly... Cozy. Oh so cozy. I keep hearing and reading mixed reviews of this place, but it is what it is.
I believe the attractive middle aged Italian woman runs and/or owns the place. Just ask her what to eat, order a bottle of the house wine, and have a relaxing meal.
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ITALIAN LIKE MOM USED TO MAKE. I THINK.
but i'm not italian, and that's the problem. my very limited scope of italian food leads me to believe that this place is incredibly authentic, but at that point the food wasn't served yet. things improved, thankfully.
it's another one of those neighborhood diamonds in the rough, you fight for parking next to the projects [sometimes literally, it's like there's a homeless guy on every block demanding tip for "giving" you a space he found] and walk into a building directly across from the old Fell street offramp.
you walk in and see that the decor is very olive-garden-ish. i'm quite sure that most reputable italian restaurants don't need to put fake frescoes of fields and harvests on the walls to assure you that, yes, you're eating at an italian restaurant and not at mcdonald's. but they do. which annoyed me. until the food came.
the food was served very simply, with no strange garnishes or overly decorated glassware. it felt like... north beach. without the assholes. or the high prices. or the acceptance of credit cards. i had to look out at the busy intersection outside to realize that i'm at Fell & Laguna, not Vallejo & Columbus. no Banana Republicans or stripey shirts and blazers and miniskirts here.
you're in hayes valley, biotch.
but the food was incredibly good. and incredibly [well, kinda] cheap. the parmesan cheese is coarsely grated. the flavors are intense and the sauces are rich. the wine is... well... nonexistent for me because i'm not yet old and wise and cranky enough to note the traces of smoke and strawberries and crap that you get by sticking your nose into a bottle for a half hour. so don't test me.
the clientele is the neighborhood, people who live in the better area behind civic center who just want something good to eat without getting fleeced at Paul K or Indigo or Sauce or Absinthe or Jardiniere. or suppenkuche [pronounced soup-en-KOO-ka, not soup'n'cootch, you ineloquent bastard].
[or patxi's, which is disgusting, but i'll get to that later]
if you're from san francisco you'll love this restaurant. if you're not, you'll like it as well, but probably won't have the cojones to look for street parking in the neighborhood.
good luck, but either way it'll take some effort.
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I wish I could say (for the sake of other readers) that I review objectively; that I enter every restaurant as a blank slate. However, the people I am with and the state I am in must have some effect on how I review. For clarification, by state I mean level of soberness.
With that said, I loved IL Borgo. Yes, I may have had two or three glasses of wine before entering this establishment. Yes, I was with many great people and I don't see how I could not have enjoyed this place. But yes, I did love their artichoke ravioli. Great bread and wine selection too!
I agree with Catrinel that the ma and pa way of running things is a huge part of the appeal. If I were like my parents and went to the same restaurant every Friday night, I could see IL Borgo as being that every Friday night type of place. The type of place where you walk in, the servers know you by name, your favorite glass of wine is brought to you immediately, and the owner comes out and chats with you.
The only downside is the cash only part. But in light of all the pros of this place, this is only a minuscule con.
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