Piazza Market Catering and Events

For this past month’s company lunch, we had food from Piazza. I found them to be, overall, a little too salty for my personal tastes but not bad otherwise.
I was a personal fan of the sweet chili-​lime salmon and thought that their veggie cannelloni was pretty decent as well. Their beef bourguignon though was unfortunately too salty for me and their orzo salad and mashed potatoes were nothing to write home about (not bad, just nothing special).

Our kick-​off event last night delighted all who attended and Piazza Market Catering was a big reason why. The food was delicious, the presentation impressive and the service entirely professional. Thanks so much to Beale and crew for working with us. We look forward to working with Piazza Market again soon!

I recently ran a complicated two-​day event at a business venue on the San Francisco waterfront. The staff at Piazza Market helped plan every detail, and put together a very reasonable price quote. Most importantly, they provided excellent, almost ‘invisible’ service during the event. With no hassle, everything was ready exactly as planned, the arrangements worked as promised, and the food was great!
What else could I ask for?

They are incredibly nice, the ordering process was quick and painless, the breakfast hot tray set-​up looked great and the price wasn’t outrageous. Will definitely be ordering from them again.

I am shocked (let me repeat that … SHOCKED) at how this place has earned anymore than 2 stars…
I am a north beach resident, and like most of us here, we dont really have a local market to call home… yeah there is the nature stop, but its often way to expensive, and Trader Joe’s and Safeway are both out of walking distance…
That being said, when this place was about to open, there was a buzz in the neighborhood. Now the only buzz you hear is that of their neon signs illuminating the cavernous insides as tourists shuffle by outside amazed at the expanse of wasted space now known as the «Piazza Market».
We so desperately needed a real market here, and this place sucks soo bad at doing anything remotely like that, that i truly wish i could give it a zero star rating…
I expect it to last another it 8 — 10 more months before it goes belly up… Hopefully what moves in will serve both the tourists and the people that call this neighborhood home…

My friend and I were walking around it was her first time in SF and it was about my 4^th. I had been wanting to buy some wine to bring back to Philadelphia, something different, something California based perhaps…
A staff member saw me looking and asked if I needed some help, I quickly said yes and she was very helpful! She listened to what I like and make recommendations based on my liking.
I ended up leaving with 75 and Copain. They were amazing! Got back to Philadelphia, had it with a nice dinner and was so heartbroken that I didn’t get more. Maybe next trip I will order some and have them delivered, if they do that.
Can’t wait to go back.

I didn’t spend much time in the rest of the place as I was concentrating on their pretty decent selection of wines. I had been looking for the Friulian Quattro Mani Toh Kai which hails from Slovenia. Low and behold, there it was. I’d had it at Delfina a while back and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I know where I can score some in a retail format and enjoy it at my own leisure.

Went to the wine tasting Wednesday event and they had Batasiolo wines that evening. All the wine was delicious, they really had something for everyone. They even had little appetizers to go with the wine tasting and they were pretty tasty.
A great white: Gavi
Superb reds: Sovrana & Barolo
Yummy dessert wine: Moscato — seriously one of the best I’ve ever had
I’m definitely coming back to buy more Moscato!
Overall: A great place to go and enjoy some wine especially if you’re a big wine aficionado.

I’ve never been inside the market, but I have ordered catering from Piazza for the office. Their catering people, Francesca and Nicole, are both awesome. I’ve worked more with Francesca, and she is probably the nicest person I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing business with. She really goes out of her way to make you, the customer, feel appreciated. She also works really hard to get you what you want — if you want something that isn’t on the menu, she can usually make it happen.
We had a standing weekly breakfast order with them that I was constantly tweaking — one week I would want more orange juice, the next week I wanted a different entrée, the next week I wanted to move the order to a different day. Not once did Francesca flinch or say no, every time it was «happy to help!» You just don’t see customer service like this much anymore so when you do it really stands out. On the rare occasions where something was not to our liking, I would provide feedback and she was always gracious and the kitchen would always fix the problem the next time.
I probably sound like an employee of Piazza but I swear I have no commercial interest — I’ve just had great experiences with their catering staff.
As for the food, their ceviche is delicious. Their chicken caesar is very good as well. Their sandwiches are huge, one could easily feed two people. They were also one of the only places I could find who were open and doing deliveries on Monday Dec. 28, when it seemed like half the city was closed for the holidays.
I also like that they change their menu to reflect the seasons.

[ ] Gourmet self-​serve Italian — 3 different buffets!
[ ] $ 8.75lb with nice plates or classy to-​go boxes.
[ ] Kitchen is open so you can watch the (handsome) chefs cook!
[ ] Food is fresh from the kitchen, still in the cast iron skillet!
I was visiting San Francisco over Thanksgiving weekend, and my friend and I stopped here on the way to Fisherman’s Wharf (we wanted to avoid the typical tourist restaurants) from Union Square. This place is located right in «little Italy,» so for us it was fun to see the painted Italian flag on the street pole and the Catholic church across the street as we ate our lunch.
As for the food, I ended up taking a small portion of everything hot (minus the beef or pork dishes). I uploaded a photo of my dish, so take a look, because listing each item probably won’t be as appetizing — the food looked & tasted amazing!!! Surprisingly, the carrots were actually my favorite!!!
My friend and I also shared a small to-​go box of fruit (which we finished, so it wasn’t really to-​go anymore, haha) and focaccia bread and tomato soup. We weren’t looking to have dessert in the afternoon, but when we complimented the (handsome) chef on the food, he offered us chocolate chip cookies he had just took out of the oven! YUM!
As for the rest of the place, the décor and cleanliness were impeccable… I don’t know why people are comparing the décor to The Venetian casino in Las Vegas — maybe the sky painted on the ceiling? While we ate lunch, they were putting up their holiday decorations (wreaths, lights, etc.) which were nice and very classy. Overall, I was really impressed with the open, clean and uncluttered interior. Also, I wish we had come back at night, or for the Wednesday night wine-​tasting, because the wine bar looks so nice!
I definitely recommend this place if you’re going to visit North Beach or «little Italy» while you visit San Francisco and you aren’t up for the typical sit-​down, expensive, touristy Italian places. And if you’re a local in The City, you need to give this place a try — I’m jealous I can’t go here as often as you could! :-)

Our office ordered a very large amount of food for our Halloween party and honestly, it’s a little sad that it fit in with that theme because their food was just flat out scary.
The pasta was dripping in watered down flavorless sauce. I’m not talking one dish; I’m talking ALL dishes. We literally had to pour salt on it to make it taste remotely decent. The bread was flavorless too; it tasted like flour.
I’m not the only person who felt strongly about this food. I heard many complaints from my office mates. Most importantly, our receptionist (who does all the ordering!) found it repulsive. Guess we won’t be ordering from them again…

Discovered the wine bar today and was pleasantly surprised to find a new wine bar in Northbeach because there will never be enough places to drink wine in SF for me. Hey, I’m only human.
I was thrilled at all the different regions of wine represented and definitely feel it’s nice to walk around and check them out while wine tasting.
So for me the wine bar experience as well as the servers were excellent, 5 stars no problem.
For the dining area.
The dining area consists of a large space of tables and chairs and a buffet style food line that is self serve.
While self-​service buffet style eating is fine in sit down restaurants during lunch time, for Sunday brunch or in school and/​or office cafeteria why would you want to sample nice wine at a wine bar ten feet from a cafeteria?
Whoever thought this was a new concept perhaps didn’t think this through because this place is basically a cafeteria/​wine bar. Ouch
It should become a full service restaurant as so many others have mentioned here on Unilocal and forget the whole buffet idea.
Now fasten your seat belts because we’re in for a rough ride .
Does anyone remember the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when she brings her boyfriend and his parents home to meet her parents in the quiet suburbs of Chicago?
Remember the Parthenon-​like greek columns and numerous crazy greek statues and fountains on the front lawn… so this is the sad Italian version of that !
First of all, why would anyone paint clouds on a restaurant ceiling when every mother in the midwest has been sponge painting clouds on their kids bedroom ceilings since the 80’s?
Second — Get rid of the buffet. Put in seating that is much more comfortable.
With this enormous space, large round booths would be really nice. Full service dining would definitely be more appropriate in this space.
And for god sake please donate those fountains to the nearest cemetary.
Hire a real designer. Good Luck

I was quite impressed with this place! Their polenta & gnocchi is delicious… wow, yummy!!!
Can’t wait to go back and try the wines

Seen this place a couple times since I work around the corner, had my first visit today.
The inside is pleasant, lovely fountain the middle of the store… feels tranquil and serene. It’s located right off Columbus which can be a good or bad thing, in my case it’s a good thing. The place was empty when I visited (1pm on a Thursday lunch period).
The food itself was pretty good, although one of the pasta dishes I chose (I’m a one-​scoop-​of-​everything type of person when I see a buffet) did taste like it had been sitting there for over an hour. The presentation was alright but there was a lot of almost empty dishes, which didn’t make me want to scoop up the last, lonely fillet. Because of this, I was limited to only a few choices of ‘hot’ (aka lukewarm) foods, which is disappointing in a salad bar scenario.
Overall the food was alright, the selections were original and pretty grub worthy. I just wish there was more of a selection and the food was brought out more often.
Because of the price ($ 9/​lb), I probably wouldn’t return here but I would recommend it to someone who wants choices and something different for lunch.

This is a attempted fancy up place (way modern décor and slightly commercialized looks) but great if you want to pick up a few bottles of wine or accessories in North Beach. I came by picking up a wine pourer /​stopper and a wine saver. Both were reasonably priced. They also carry some good import wines at okay prices, obviously no K&L but definitely good enough for the convenience!
They also have wine tasting on Wednesday evening, something to check out when they pour the import wines.
Have not eaten so the review does not cover the food.
I told you I am in love with everything about Italian!

I visited the Piazza market for the first time during a corporate party. The food was excellent, as was the wine. I did not purchase anything as this was an event, but I would return.
The location in North Beach is very convenient and they have outdoor seating for those perfect San Francisco evenings.

It looked like something out of Las Vegas, with the building facades, a bubbling fountain, and the ceiling painted to look like the sky. I wasn’t sure what to make of this place, as the «Market» really only seemed to have wine and pre-​packaged Italian foodstuffs (pasta, marinated vegetables, olive oils, dried soup mix). It seemed more touristy than actually USEFUL.
Apparently they serve food here as well, but there was something very off-​putting about the way the place smelled… I had to leave immediately.

In the month or so since my original review, I’ve found myself dropping into Piazza Market once a week to pick up hot food; not only that, I’ve found myself actually looking forward to seeing what they have that day. They were also a lifesaver over the holidays when I needed to pick up a few bottles of wine here and there for various parties but didn’t want to break the bank. As such, I think it would be unfair to leave them at 3 stars.
A tip regarding the food: They haven’t quite mastered meat. I’ve found it to be rather tough, and while the accompanying sauces are good, they are sometimes on the salty side. But their side dishes are invariably winners.

Yes… I read all 23 mixed bag reviews, but I gotta weigh in on this new entity in North Beach. You were expecting a grocery? Dude… walk up Stockton and buy your veggies already. I live in the Mission and understand small markets with local quirks and personality. I loathe chains and big box stores, and was not prepared to like Piazza as much as I do because I am a «buy locally» snob and Lucca’s is a 10 minute walk from my house. I took a lot of photos — judge for yourself.
I saw this place as more plaza than market. The interior is mostly marble and granite, and feels like outside. I went 2 nights ago for a quick bite with my buddy the light eater. The food is sold by the pound in smallish cast iron skillets so it’s refreshed constantly. I had tri-​tip, mashed potatoes, broccolini and beets for $ 4.51. I am Danish — we are P.I.G. hogs and I was really happy with my meal. The light eater buddy had 2 tablespoons of mac and cheese with his greens, and then after we’d finished, he went back for seconds on the mac. I have NEVER seen this particular behavior in the species McKinley.
Annette, who works there, dropped by the table and asked if we’d like to sample their featured wine with our meal — a Quattro Mani Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. Is it my favorite Italian red? Check. Is it under $ 10? Check. I couldn’t carry anything with me, so I went back a second day intending to buy 2 bottles of that wine. I walked out with 6 varieties for $ 50. Including a couple of Sardinians. Well yeah I would have rather had THOSE Sardinians, but they had visa issues. Ya take what ya can get.
It’s a very large space that I hope adjusts the stock to the surroundings as they sort out their North Beach branding. Add some breads and more cheese. Package what you make frozen or in some format where I can take it home non-​take out style.
A tad Disneylandish with the fountains, but the water noises are soothing. Mebbe pipe in a little opera with out pretending you’re Tosca?
This could have been 4 stars, but the staff earned my business with their gushing love of the place and their offerings. They are out there and looking for the same food and wine experiences I am. They swoon over the fabulous Noe Valley Sardinian restaurant La Ciccia and try and emulate that impressive wine list. They think pasta sauces are at the top of the food chain. They will name their first born after a brand of breadstick. Think of this as more of a meal option than a traditional market, and I think you’ll keep coming back. I intend to be a regular as they are open until 10 on Sundays. Namaste.

I didn’t realize they just opened on Wednesday. I wanted to grab a light dinner in North Beach prior to attending the Unilocal holiday party, and I noticed the new market. They didn’t seem very busy so naturally I walked in to take a look. The employees smiled a lot; I smiled back. Nobody ever stopped to ask if I needed help or whether I was looking for anything in particular.
On the right side of the market is a big wine section well organized by the type of wine. I headed straight to the varietals section to look for a couple of mid range wines that I consume often. They only had one, and it was a bit pricier than I normally pay so I just browsed and moved along. Next to the wine section towards the back you will find some unique gifts associated with wine or the region.
There is a three part fountain right smack in the middle of market. It seemed kind of weird that it was there, but I guess if you’ve got nothing else to do while in the area you can always walk in, toss a coin into the fountain and make a wish. There is table and chair seating on both sides of the fountains.
On the left side of the market you can purchase iced down cold drinks, salads or hot food. The salads and hot food are pricey at $ 9.50 per pound, but some of the choices actually looked quite good. All of the food sits there open to the public with only a sneeze guard above the display. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I’ve never been comfortable with that type of set up. The kitchen is a big open space that you can actually look in to. There is also counter seating on the left side of the restaurant closer to the entrance.
The place looks very trendy but incorporates a lot of wasted space. I hope business is better than it was when I was there.