Sociale-Italian Restaurant in San Francisco

In late December while we were in San Francisco, we felt like trying a new restaurant. We also felt like eating Italian since lately all we’ve eaten is Asian Fusion. We decided to browse through Zagats and see what we could find. We ended up making a reservation at Sociale which is located in the Presidio Heights district. With our new Garmin GPS system it was no problem finding the restaurant.

It was located in a small business district and surrounded by beautiful residential homes. If it hadn’t been for Garmin alerting us that we had arrived outside the restaurant, it may have taken us a little longer to find it. There was a sign at the street level indicating that we were at the right place. To get to the restaurant you have to walk through a narrow alley between other businesses that lead to the patio and the front of the restaurant. The patio was really cozy. There were many heating lamps (they are definitely needed in San Francisco on a winter’s night as well as on summer evenings.) There were candles on the tables and soft music playing. We were lucky and got a table inside by the window even with the last minute reservation we made. I must confess I was a little concerned when I received the menu. Boar and rabbit wasn’t quite what I had in mind when I had wanted Italian. However, there were other options on the menu as well for the less adventurous (that would be me.) I would describe the menu as something more like that which would be served in the Italian countryside than the Italian American meals that some might be used to in the U.S.A. You will not find any spaghetti with lots of meat sauce at Sociale. I thought the menu was interesting. It may not have been my favorite Italian food, although the dessert was out of this world. I would go back just for the dessert. I ended up ordering Fettuccini with lobster in a lobster sauce for my main course. My husband ordered lasagna with ground veal.

The atmosphere was outstanding. People seemed to linger and enjoy themselves while eating there. The music was very relaxed and subdued, which was wonderful because a few days earlier we had eaten at an Italian place where you could barely hear what the person across you said. We have mixed reviews on this restaurant. Ian really loved the food. I not so much. We both loved the atmosphere. It is a great place to bring a date (if he or she is the kind of person who likes boar and rabbit.) The wonderful thing about this restaurant is that it is so far from all of the tourists. Tourists wouldn’t even be able to find the restaurant (unless they too have Garmin.)

U. R. Rong