Pesce

2227 Polk St. (and Vallejo)
(415) 928-8025

Italian/Seafood in Russian Hill

i thought that the food here deserved more than four stars, but the friend i was with didn't like one dish, so it must not be a five star restuarant. it's a small little italian seafood restaurant that serves both small plates and regular entrees. (i've decided that i really like small plate restaurants because you get to try more more dishes.) because of its small size and really good food, i would have expected it to be more crowded than it was. most likely it wasn't as busy because of the weekdayness of our reservation. i actually went there on a saturday night, and it still wasn't that crowded. it wasn't empty; just not packed.

the service is okay (i thought the hostess was HORRIBLE! she didn't even show us to our table! she just said "you can sit at that table right there" and pointed. if our waitress wasn't so nice, i would've skimped out on the tip =P) as is the ambience, but the food is great. i would recommend every dish that we tried - oyster shooters with a cool hint of cucumber, braised octopus salad with potatoes, celery, and garlic-lemon vinaigrette, seared day boat scallops in a creamy sauce (the scallops were the best i have ever had!), swordfish rolls (these were just ok... a bit dry), and a smoked platter of salmon, sturgeon, and another fish. the only questionable dish was the squid-ink risotto which i really liked but my friend did not enjoy (this was pretty good - not too cheesey like most risottos, which was nice). (i liked this place so much i was almost tempted not to add that there was a questionable dish, but i guess i must warn other non squid-ink risotto fans.) we also had a main dish - sole - which was ok but nothing special.

come eat here (and bring me along too, i still want to try the crab cakes). This is also a good area to walk around before or afterwards (around Polk and such in Russian Hill), so you can work off your meal =)

- s - k