I don't even know where to begin on this one. Pranzi, an Italian restaurant in San Carlos, was one of the most abysmal restaurant meals I have had in many years. Given how widespread our issues were, from service to ingredient quality to utter lack of seasoning, I find it hard to believe it was just a fluke or off night.
There was little about the meal that went well. Not the service. Not the food. Not the drinks. I guess it was at least a restaurant able to seat a group of 17? So there is that.
I tried several appetizers. I tried several entrees. I had dessert. Not a single dish left me satisfied. I was not alone - our group of 17 had a lot of unfinished dishes, and a lot of "meh" comments. I had a wine by the glass that was very over priced, and those who ordered basic cocktails commented on how bad they were.
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"Great food comes from quality ingredients. Products that are raised and harvested locally, in a sustainable manner, will not only taste better, but will also be better for our environment, our health and our future."
Pranzi sounds like it should be decent. Like so many Bay Area restaurants, they pride themselves on sourcing locally. The slogan is "Individually Italian". I don't know much more about the restaurant, as their website is devoid of details, certainly no known star chef or rich family history.
But anyway, for a work event, I went there with a group of 17, for a mid-week early (5:30pm) reservation. We were seated on time. And that is where the positive notes end. I truly don't have anything more positive to say.
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| Unsatisfying Meal. |
I tried several appetizers. I tried several entrees. I had dessert. Not a single dish left me satisfied. I was not alone - our group of 17 had a lot of unfinished dishes, and a lot of "meh" comments. I had a wine by the glass that was very over priced, and those who ordered basic cocktails commented on how bad they were.
Service was pretty much haphazard and a disaster from the moment we entered. Examples include: 4 of us ordered appetizers, and no one else was asked if they'd like any. It wasn't until after the 4 of us who did order appetizers had them in front of us, that someone else at the table flagged down a server to take appetizer orders for the rest of the table. They simply did not offer or ask the others, even though we made it clear when we ordered that our order was just for us 4. Salads were aggressively pushed on some folks later when main dish orders were taken. Our main dishes arrived entirely randomly, not based on order in which we ordered, where we were seated, nor what the dishes were. It took 50 minutes from the first main dish hitting our table to the last, which meant lots of awkward time with some people with food and others not, and all the food getting cold fast. Many of the dishes that weren't delivered to the table were actually ready, and were just sitting up in the pass, with confused servers not taking them, so they just got cold there, rather than at our table in front of polite diners. So I guess, nearly everyone had cold dishes. Tableside garnish arrived after people were done eating. The list goes on and on. It was comically bad at some level.
The restaurant looks classy enough, with neutral tones, seasonal decor, and candles on the tables. There is additional seating outside on the sidewalk patio. The kitchen is semi-open, with a open pass connecting it to the main dining area.
"Grill caibata (sic) bread, burrata cheese, cherry tomatoes, basil EVOO, balsamic reduction."
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| Interior. |
Appetizers
Pranzi has a rather huge appetizer menu, 22 dishes strong ... not usually a good sign. It contains several fried things (calamari, artichoke, shisitos), several cheese dominant dishes (caprese salad, several burrata options, a cheese plate), some cold dishes (ceviche, bruschetta, antipasti platter,), and then some heavier dishes that really seemed a bit much for appetizers (lamb meatballs, polenta with mushrooms, clams & mussels, a big skillet of shrimp with other goodies, etc). There are also salads and flatbreads available. They normally serve warm focaccia with a compound butter people like, but our group was never offered any.
Our adventure began with the appetizers. Once we had all been seated, and all had our drinks, the server came and took the appetizer order for the very end of the table where I was seated. We selected 3 dishes for 4 or so of us to share. The server asked if we were ordering for the whole table, and we said no, just for our section. This concerned us slightly as we thought perhaps these were huge portions and we had just ordered enough for 17 people instead of 4, but, we assumed the server would then go on to take the appetizer orders for the rest of the table. Um, they did not.
Our appetizers arrived about 20 minutes later. The rest of the table looked at us kinda confused. "Did you order for the table?", they too asked us. Sigh. We had our dishes for a while before anyone else was able to track down a server to order appetizers for them. We, uh, had far more than we needed it turned out, or, really, than we wanted, given how lackluster it was, so we did share some with them while they waited for their fresh appetizers, but, that was the second major service fail. They didn't get their appetizers until another 20 minutes had passed.
The server came back and tried to upsell a few people on salads. It was quite odd, she just approached certain people and sorta pushed them into ordering a salad, pointing at them on the menu. My neighbor felt pressured and ordered one, thinking that he'd just missed that everyone else had and he hadn't, and was then confused when he got a salad about 15 minutes later, and only one or two others did too. It was very odd.
Also, the appetizers set the scene for what was to come: very mediocre, below average, cuisine. Much went unfinished, as we all felt pretty "meh" about them.
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| Calamari Fritti. $20. |
"Crispy lemon, harissa, truffle aioli."
"Crispy lemon"? That description on the menu drew me in, but, I am still not sure what they were thinking. This did have a wedge of lemon, and it wasn't raw, but, it was just lightly grilled, and certainly not crispy. Still, good to have to add a bit of needed flavor and acid to the dish.
I wouldn't really say the calamari was particularly crispy either. It wasn't soggy exactly, but certainly not that crisp. It wasn't chewy at least. It was entirely rings, which was disappointing, as i really like the tentacles and bodies too. The coating was not flavorful, and was entirely unseasoned, a theme that would continue through our meal. It really needed at least some salt.
The two sauces, I guess harissa and truffle aioli, mostly just tasted like mayo. Neither had a very strong flavor, and didn't taste like housemade sauces.
Lackluster, on par with a mediocre buffet offering. **.
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| Burrata & Prosciutto. $15. |
"Bosc Pears pear, basil oil, balsamic glaze."
I really thought the burrata and prosciutto appetizer would be a safe bet. Assuming they got reasonable quality ingredients, this should be decent enough. And of course, secretly, I was hoping it would be as good as the version I had from Fleming's Prime two weeks prior in Houston. I really had been craving both great burrata and prosciutto since then.
Alas, this was below average quality, all around. The burrata was not ripe, and certainly did not come spilling out to reveal all the expected creamy burrata goodness. I've had much better burrata served on airlines in the past few years (e.g. a quite good version on Delta, or a decent version on JetBlue) and they weren't exactly setting a high standard. Unripe burrata always makes me sad, as burrata really can be so glorious.
The prosciutto was fairly flavorless, which surprised me, as I at least expected it to give a nice salty component, which the completely unseasoned dish needed. It also really just didn't taste like much at all, no cured porky goodness here.
The pears were pears, not much to say about them, and the drizzle of balsamic and basil oil were definitely needed to amp up the flavor and accent the other elements, but there wasn't nearly enough. I had to work hard to drag a bite through the little bit on the plate.
Overall, just, highly lackluster, and not worth a second bite. **.
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| Special: Burrata Bruschetta. $15. |
The group also ordered a special bruschetta appetizer, that featured was I assumed was the same burrata, and same drizzles, just on top of bread and with tomatoes rather than with prosciutto and pears. Given that the burrata was so lackluster, I didn't try this, and I was hoping to save my carb cravings for the upcoming tasty pasta.
"Asparagus, tomato, mascarpone cream sauce."
Entrees
Moving on, to the next giant section of the menu, another 25 dishes, the menu has a slew of pasta dishes, both fresh and dried, ranging from classic bolognese and lasagna to some signature dishes like a bourbon & cream tagliatelle with scallops. They also had a large lineup of segundi, with red meat (fillet mignon, ribeye, burger, veal picatta, osso bucco), white meat (chicken parmesan, grilled chicken, pork chop), and seafood (salmon, snapper, mixed seafood, branzino special).
It took quite a while for our entree orders to be taken, but eventually we placed our orders. The group ordered a wide range of items. This is where things went from just kinda mediocre to really quite bad, ranging from the service to the food itself.
First, um, the delivery of the dishes. Granted, we were a party of 17, so it does take some coordination to serve such a group, and we expected to not necessarily get everything all at once. But I don't think any of us were prepared for how the dishes did come to us. The order plates came in seemed entirely random. It was not in order around the table. It was not in the order in which we placed our orders. It was not by the dish, e.g. not all the people who ordered ravioli, then people who ordered lasagna, etc. It was not women first. There was seemingly no order to the delivery. It was also very, very drawn out. As in, it literally took 40 minutes for our table to get their main dishes, with some people getting theirs at the start of that window, with those seated around them waiting 20-30 more minutes. #awkward.
The staff seemed very flustered, and I was observing the whole ordeal, as I had a great vantage point of the open pass, and, no food to occupy me. The issue was not that the kitchen was backed up. I'm fairly certain all our dishes were ready within less than 5 minutes of each other. The pass was loaded with plates. And our server, and one other who was assisting her, would go up, look at the plates, look at their order pads, gesture, and then just pick up the water and go bring another table water. Eventually they'd take one or two plates, and bring those over. This process repeated for 40 minutes. I'm still confused what was going on, particularly when two people next to me ordered the same exact dish, and got served 25 minutes apart.
The person who was supposed to come around offering us grated cheese for our dishes also seemed confused, and waited until the whole table had plates, which meant, most had finished all they wanted by that point. So, service-wise, definitely a disaster.
And how was it? Um ... not very good. Probably the worst food I've had in a restaurant in a long time. Most people seemed to feel similarly, with most not coming close to finishing their dishes, and no one opting to take leftovers home. Yup, even me, who always takes the leftovers, had literally nothing I wanted. I sampled several other dishes besides my own abysmal dish, including a signature dish, the special ravioli, and including a great looking truffle mac and cheese, and although they were better than mine, they were still mediocre. I think the mac and cheese, which was just the side with a steak, was the best thing I had all meal.
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| Squid Ink Spaghetti. $30. |
"Mussels, Clams, Bay Scallops, Prawns , White Wine."
I'm going to cut to the chase on this. Somehow this dish, composed of so many different elements, still managed to have not a single one that was even moderately decent.
The dish was dry and bland. There was no sauce to speak of, so the pasta was just quite plain. It did not taste of squid ink, which usually imparts a reasonably strong flavor. If I was not able to see the color of the pasta, I certainly would have thought it was just plain regular spaghetti. The pasta water seemed to also not have even been salted, as the dish was just so lacking in seasoning. It didn't eat well, and desperately needed sauce or liquid of some sort, maybe some cheese, and definitely some seasoning.
The seafood did not help things.
The shrimp, three of them, were over cooked, simultaneously rubbery and too soft, all at once. They tasted fishy in a not good way. I should have known just from looking at how tightly curled they were that they weren't cooked properly.
The bay scallops, also just three, were similarly over cooked, and were entirely flavorless and bland.
The clams? What clams? Yeah, mine had no clams.
The mussels were perhaps the best part, only in that they weren't noticeably bad.
The dish was also barely lukewarm, and clearly the service falters were part of that issue, as it had been sitting in the pass for quite some time before reaching me. 30 minutes after I was served, a staff member came by with parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top tableside, but I had given up at that point and didn't get it. I think it would have just made the dish even more dry.
*+, only for the mussels not being awful.
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| Special: Homemade shrimp & crab ravioli. $28. |
A number of people at our table got the ravioli special. I knew from my research that this was always on the menu, a signature dish, and that reviewers seem to love it. I was pretty tempted by this dish, but obviously opted for the squid ink pasta instead, once I had an agreement with another diner that I could have one of his ravioli.
On the positive side, his dish was better than mine. No question. But it certainly wasn't noteworthy. The ravioli tasted like any ravioli I could buy at the grocery store, and I could barely detect the seafood, I mostly tasted the cheese filling. The pasta was a bit softer than I'd like, no bite to it. It didn't seem homemade, although it was literally the only item on the menu that calls out the homemade nature.
The sauce was a cream sauce, and it was fine, although not particularly flavorful nor noteworthy either. I'm a big fan of cream sauces, but there was nothing about this one that made me want to lap it up.
As for the tomato and asparagus mentioned in the description, I saw one small piece of asparagus.
Overall, highly mediocre, tasted like any store brand, and on par with what you'd get a chain Italian restaurant. But I think the best dish of the night. **+.
"Stuffed with Porcini Mushrooms, Sage, Brown Butter Sauce, Hazelnut."
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| Porcini Gnocchi. $24. |
The other dish I nearly ordered was the gnocchi. I love good gnocchi. Pillows of goodness. And I liked the other elements here too - sage, brown butter, hazelnuts? I'd didn't get a chance to try it, but the person who ordered it said it was fine. Not good, but fine.
This person sat across from me, and was also was the first to get their entree, a full 20 minutes (!) before the person next to me, and there were still several others that didn't get their meals until another 10 or so minutes after that. The lag on the entrees made for such awkward table dynamics, as it was clear things weren't coming and those with food should just eat, but, yeah. Very poor execution on the restaurant's part on timing our entrees.
"With Strawberries, Marsala Wine, Mascarpone Mousse & Mix Berries Sauce."
I went for what I thought was going to have the highest chance of success. The napoleon. Not because I thought that they'd make a great napoleon, it was pretty clear at this point that the skill of the kitchen and quality of ingredients wasn't at a good level, but, I thought it was a good choice to hedge my bets. Surely, one of the puff pastry, the cream, the sauce, or the fruit would be good, right? It seemed like the kind of dessert that I'd be able to salvage something from (which, was the same mentality I had towards my main dish, and failed me then too).
Dessert
After such an abysmal meal, much of my group just gave up and left before the servers even came around to offer dessert. I'll admit, even though I'm such a dessert girl, I was pretty tempted. I had no hope really. Still, I wanted something sweet, and convinced two others (out of a party of 17) to order dessert.
Options were pretty basic: tiramisu or chocolate mousse if you wanted caffeine, crème brulée or a napoleon if you didn't, and store brand gelato or sorbet for something lighter. I'd normally get the crème brulée, no question, particularly has I'd recently had a great one from Brasserie du Parc in Houston just a few weeks prior and had been drooling thinking about it since, but, I decided to hedge my bets more.
We should have known better, really.
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| Affagato al Cafe. $10. |
"Espresso poured over two scoops of vanilla gelato and topped with fresh whipped cream."
My neighbor agreed to join me in the desperate hope to redeem our meal with getting dessert, but he clearly wasn't very trusting of the restaurant, and just went for an affagato. The other just got sorbet.
Both the gelato with the affagato and the sorbet were Vila Dolce brand, two scoops. The affagato version came with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, and espresso on the side for him to pour over. I've had Vila Dolce many times before (review here), and it is fine, but not that great. He said it was fine, but not exciting, as did the person who got the sorbet.
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| Puff Pastry Napoleon. $12. |
It was as underwhelming, and lackluster, and just not very good. The puff pastry layers were a bit soft and spongy, and weren't buttery, flaky, or interesting in any way. They seemed a bit stale, or perhaps like they had been defrosted.
The real shocker for me though was the filling. Mascarpone mousse said the menu, but I didn't taste mascarpone. I also would not consider it a mousse, it wasn't light and fluffy. I thought it was just a thick cream, and *unsweetened* cream at that. I didn't expect this to be a super sweet dessert, but, I did expect the cream filling to be at least lightly sweetened? This was just thick plain cream, that tasted like it might have a bit of orange essence in it. It was so oddly not sweet, that I ended up finding a sweetener packet in my bag and sweetening it myself, which made it considerably more palatable. Basically, the lack of seasoning in the form of salt and pepper in the main meal translated into lack of sugar in the dessert (besides the light dusting of powered sugar).
The sauce was fine, not particularly berry forward, nor sweet either, but it wasn't bad in any real way. There also wasn't really enough of it to taste. The strawberry an average out of season strawberry, juicy, but not flavorful.
So, um, pastry that tasted day old, unsweet non-mousse, and a tiny bit of mediocre garnish. Sigh. I'm not sure why I tried, other than that I was so unsatisfied by the meal!
**.
