Figaro

I thought this place was great. Around 7 on a Sunday not too packed and great personality. I dunno if the two guido guys upfront are the owners but they sold me on it right away. He was very prompt to giveaway free wine and bruschetta and the place was all around OG. It really is authentic and probably owns the title of «best gnocchi in the west». Service was ok and the tv is massive… or it’s a projector. Nonetheless great food and great experience. Thanks guys!

From reading many reviews, they seem to have an awful rep. Glad that their closed, but I really hope they do something very nice to this place.
I remember that they have a outdoor seating in the back with nice white lights. The first time I was here (many many years ago) was a decent experience and I remember it being fairly busy. Good luck to the new restaurant at this location.

Thankfully closed. This place served okay food, but their professionalism was out the window. We bought appetizers, multiple courses, dessert, and wine, and they literally kicked us out as soon as we paid, hadn’t even finished our last bite… b/​c they had customers waiting. I have never had that happen before!

Gotta say I felt dissapointed when I left. The prices just don’t line up with what you’re getting. The service is really slow and the manager seemed like a slime ball more interested in packing seats than ensuring his customers were satisfied. This is probably the reason all of the other eateries were packed while this one wasn’t. The food wasn’t bad but I agree with the other Unilocaler that it’s on par with olive garden.
My parting shot: when I asked for a beer the manager said «sorry, but we’ve been too busy to stock up»… ummmm WTF, you’re a restaurant, it’s your livlihood. I don’t see this place staying around forever.

On the first sunny day all week, my friend and I walked to North Beach looking for a restaurant with outside seating to enjoy the beautiful day. Figaro arguably has the best location for people watching, right smack in the middle of North Beach. They have 5 tables under a cute little awning with heat lamps built in making it very easy to linger for hours; and linger we did, from lunch to happy hour, it was a record for me. The service was very friendly and the other patrons were equally kind. If only I wasn’t rating them on food… it was terrible.
Bread was cold and chewy. Bruschetta was cold and soggy. Carpaccio wasn’t as pink as I would have expected. After two disappointing appetizers, we stuck to alcohol.
Their wine selection is decently priced and they have happy hour on the weekend (well, at least when we went on Saturday). That with the great service gives it a 3. The food is a 1. Average it out and you’ve got 2 stars = Meh. I’ve experienced better.

Since when did pasta become sooooo overpriced?! you’d think with a bunch of italians speaking italian and dining on their sidewalk tables, the food would be fabulous. surely this is not authentic italian, or is it? Plus either the service was REALLLLLLY slow OR they thought we were dining european style with a 45 minute wait in between each course. plus try and not get seated underneath the broken outside heater.
Apps:
The Meatballs: they were dry! but the tomato sauce was pretty good!
Bruschetta: i like mine on warm bread, but it was super chilled, and there was way too much garlic in it. you know so much raw garlic that it’s a little spicy.
Carpaccio: my new fave italian app. esp if you put some lemon on it.
Entrees:
The pizza was OK.
The spinach ravioli, the tomato cream sauce was really rich. but there were like 6 thumb sized pieces of ravioli. which would fill you up, only if you cut each ravioli into four pieces and chewed really slow.
Dessert: mmmm. tiramisu. cold and creamy and delicious.
Beers: they didn’t even have PERONI! ?? what is that all about?

A 4-​star rating for Figaro is for the gnocchi alone. I ordered the one with prosciutto + truffle oil, and it was delicious. The pesto + spinach one is quite good, but a little on the heavier side.
Everything else [calamari appetizer, service, water] was A-​OK, not great or terrible. The restaurant is right along tourist trap row, and while I would avoid it normally, if you’re looking for some good gnocchi, look no further.
I thought that I didn’t like gnocchi.
I was wrong.
There, I said it.

My dad took me here when he was in town last week. The food is just alright. We ordered bruschetta to start. It wasn’t the best bruschetta I’ve had, it was too crunchy. Like, almost chipped a tooth kind of crunchy. We also got some spinach salad which was really good. Probably the highlight of the meal.
I ordered a pizza. I said no olives yet there were olives all over it. Annoying! The waitress reimbursed me with an extra glass of wine for the inconvenience which was nice. The pizza was pretty good, my dad thought it was too salty, but I like salt so I thought it was fine. It might’ve been the pancetta, but I thought it was delicious. My dad ordered the shrimp risotto, he said the shrimp was overcooked.
He got some chocolatey dessert which was ok and he asked for a side of espresso and the waitress didn’t bring it until he was already done with the dessert. She kind of seemed like the were inconveniencing her the entire time we were there.
Probably not the best restaurant in North Beach but definitely not the worst.

Even though I’ve long since learned my lesson about North Beach (lesson being, don’t ever eat there), every so often you are bound to end up in this cornball neighborhood around a meal time and find yourself unable to leave before the time when you must eat. These are the times that try men’s souls. In a recent such situation, I ended up at Figaro.
Let me keep this review short and sweet by doing what I usually don’t do — making a list:
Dirt (or some other mysterious brown substance) in both of our glasses of water.
Bread brought to the table was so stale it seemed like they must literally be playing around. No one would serve bread that stale.
Appetizers: the crostini of the bruschetta was soggy and brittle (not good), while the french fries were passable.
Entrees: two pasta dishes, each of which were perfectly forgettable in every way. Not bad, but the french fried at an Italian restaurant should not be better than the pasta.
Service: Seemed competent for the most part, but definitely not good. He also forgot to give us the lunch special price for the bruschetta on our bill, which I had somehow known would happen and caught before being overcharged.
As always when in North Beach, a completely lame dining experience.

I’m shocked that this place doesn’t boast a higher rating.
I came here with my mom on Saturday to carbo-​load before running in the San Francisco Marathon the following morning. While they were busy (as any decent restaurant on Columbus is on a weekend), the servers were attentive and incredibly friendly. The food? Oh, the food. While I could have lived without the crab ravioli, both the burrata and gnocchi with pancetta and cream sauce were out of this world. I’m going so far as to say that this might have been the best gnocchi I’ve ever tasted.
Is it touristy? Of course. And if that’s not your cup of tea, you’re in the wrong neighborhood for starters, and should probably venture elsewhere. But if you can handle the crowds and are up for a hearty, delicious italian meal that won’t break the bank, then Figaro should definitely be on your list.

This place is very cute and pretty casual. Classic Americanized Italian cuisine. I like the calamari very much, and great cocktails! This place is perfect for a snack after a Giant’s game, or a nice lunch or dinner as you stroll through North Beach. Someone else mentioned how the host lured them in with the menu, and thats how I first ate here as well, which is funny to me. I was walking by with friends, looking for a quick bite and the host smiled and offered me a menu to look at.
I recommend trying to get one of the tables outside in the front so you can people watch while you eat.

My friends and I left happy hour pleasantly inebriated and were starving. As we were walking down the street, the door man was enticing us to come dine at his restaurant. He offered a free bottle of wine so how could we (being that we were already inebriated) resist? Well we should of!
The service was terrible. We sat forever before our order was taken and we had to ask repeatedly for our check. The bread was dry and cold. My gnocchi was too doughy and the sauce, tasteless. The only thing I liked about the meal was the wine.
Next time before I pick a restaurant in North Beach I will make sure I am sober.

Funnily, I meant to go in to Calzones right next door but got it wrong. Before I realized that I was in the wrong restaurant, they had already set up a table for us so I felt bad saying, «just kidding!» at that point.
I’m giving 1.5 stars for accommodation; we wanted to sit outside and all the tables were taken so they physically brought another table outside for us. Another 1.5 stars to the cheesy risotto balls. I wish we had ordered three plate fulls of those little balls of heaven.
The rest of the experience was not memorable. We ordered the grilled artichoke which we barely touched and the drinks were standard. It was nice to try it out but I still wish we had made it in to the right restaurant. Oh well, live and learn!

I deeply regret giving this place a 5-​star review in the past. I apologize for anyone who gave this place a shot based on my previous review.
The service has gone downhill and I had one of my worse dinning experiences ever on my birthday last weekend.
We walk in and none of the staff acknowledges us. This short little man in a red shirt who is the manager is running around like a mad man with a chip on his shoulder. After standing around for almost 5 minutes, another customer walks up behind us and the manger decides to greet him instead!
Luckily he was courteous enough to tell the little man that we were first. He looks at as tells us to go sit at any table. He didn’t even bother to give us menus.
After sitting for almost10 minutes, I had to ask one of the staff to give us menus.
Our waiter was actually a decent guy but he couldn’t do his job because that little man (his boss) kept chewing him out and pulling him aside.
It took 1 HOUR for our meal to arrive!
You read that right, 1 HOUR!
We were just about to get up and walk out as our plates arrived. The server quickly ran away after he left our plates. We had to ask another staff person for parmesan cheese and pepper. The food was good. I had their lamb chops. The calamari was average and very small for the price they are asking. I had asked one of the waitresses what the delay was. She told me that there was a large party in the patio in back. When I went to use the restroom, I took a look on their back patio and didn’t see any large party. Even if there were, there are much more professional ways at handling those situations.
There were TWO occasions in which our waiter came to our table to check up on us and basically do his job and that little man would immediately pull him away and yell at him!
When that little man wasn’t yelling at his staff and attending to his friends, he was busy looking at the ‘Bellas’ (as Spanky M. before me noted) that was passing by on the sidewalk. They were smart enough not to eat at this establishment.
I hate to leave a bad review, especially for an independent establishment. This place SUCKS! I could care less if this place goes out of business. Their quality of service has gone way downhill. I used to bring friends from out of town here when they wanted to visit our famous North Beach.
Not anymore!
Not sure if that little man who was manager last Saturday night (May 16^th) owns this place or not. He shouldn’t be in charge of ANY establishment.
We could have got better service at the Sbarro in the food court at Stonestown.
Figaro is a disgrace!

WTF? Yes I did. The service was SHITE! Hey Italian guy, ebough with looking at the bellas walking by and serve my table. MF, you job is to wait and make money. OH wait, waiters here get paid $ 10/​hr so why should he even care. Anyway the service was between crap and cdecent. Having to get up to address our empty glasses which had been empty for 20 minutes and having to stand up to get my cheque as the waiter avoided eye contact for anothr 5 minutes is crazy. Oh yea I walk in and our waiter is chatting up a table of old ladies as my girl and I wait for him to stop talking and get served.
Yo, tall actor/​model wanna guido mutt… move your ass and work!
About the food, the Calamari Fritti was average, not excepetional and not $ 12. The beef ravioli was gonna be served in a white sauce, thank god I changed to a red sauce, it was way better. The pasta was abit under cooked but the sauce and meat filling were OK good.
Also had the Gnocchi which was OK good. Had a glass of Sangiovese which was pretty good, probably the best part of the meal.
for $ 53 I expected more but as everyonementioned this place is half empty for a reason, unexpectional food and dismal service.
The ambiance is OK, and if you are in no hurry whatsoever, and never seem to be thirsty, and maybe think Olive Garden is a decent night out. Then this place is the spot.

Beyond horrible. Shitty food and shittier service.
NEXT! :P

Alas, I mistakenly referred to this as a «great spot» after not having been for oh, six years or so. All I really remembered was having a good time and liking shrimp for the first time here. That must mean it’s good right?
Or not. Or maybe it’s changed. Or something. What a bummer; I wish we had gone to Panta Rei. Unless that’s changed too.

I have no idea how one makes a seafood risotto that consists of OVERcooked seafood and UNDERcooked rice. Every part of every bite was chewy.
The mussels were alright, and the pizza was fine, but the pasta we had was lousy. The service was adequate, but there were only two beers on the menu.
I just can’t see myself ever going back with so many options a stone-​throw from Figaro.

The reviews for this place are making me wonder if I’m reviewing the right place. I had absolutely no problems with the service here – we came here on a Thursday night and they were beyond friendly and welcoming to us. I was mildly amused when they started telling me about the fine wines that they had.
Me: …Actually, I’m too young to drink. Thanks anyway, though.
Guy: o_​o …Oh, I’m so sorry. How about him? Is he old enough?
Me: Yeah, he is.
Guy: I’ll just put this here then. Take your time!
Anyway, we ordered an appetizer (I forgot the name, but they were slices of tomato with mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar, pepper… it was reallyreally good), tortelloni (filled with veal and chicken in a porcini mushroom cream sauce), the salmon special they had, and cannoli for dessert. My tastebuds were extremely happy. :]
All in all, I really loved the food and the service here. The only thing I’d complain about would be portion sizes. I really like food. They need to give me more (especially considering the price!). :[ That’s the only reason for the –1 star.
There’s a heated outdoor patio in the back that apparently seats 53-​ish people. :O

Like most of the reviews here, I am personally mixed on this place. Being here many times, I have yet to experience any of the horrible service that people describe. It’s usually OK.
But yes, what makes this place? The Gnocchi. They lure me like Sirens except without the dying part. I love coming here to get a bowl of these deliciously soft little morsels. Do you hear that? I have a serious craving for the Gnocchi Ai Funghi now.
I have tried the other pasta dishes and they’re a little meh. People keep telling me to get the Lamb Chops though, so I might have to try that next time.
I’m hungry now.