by Christine H. on romaine salad with gorgonzola arancini = luxurious caesar like dressing + beautiful golden brown crispy fried rice & cheese balls italian sausage meatballs with rigatoni and rapini = dry + bland + "under a heat lamp for too long" look and taste affogato = too soft and creamy ice cream at the top + too icy ice cream at the bottom + luke warm espresso this place has an amazing ambience and decor. it's truly an ideal date spot. i came for the manga meatball night (3 courses for $14.50 w/o wine), and was sorely disappointed. the salad was by far the best part of the meal, but the portion was rather meager for 4 people to share. we then waited at least 25 minutes for our main course to arrive. i casually said to the server, "the meatballs are taking a while, aren't they?" and he responded with a mere, "they'll be right out" - no apology or even the acknowledgement that the food was taking FOREVER. i may be wrong, but it looked like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for about 15 of those minutes. the meatballs were dry and rather bland. i was expecting a moist fattiness from the sausage, but was dead wrong. there was barely enough rapini on the plate to even include the word in the description. after waiting another 20 minutes for the affogato and watching our server show the 8 top next to us how to fold a fancy dinner napkin, our affogato finally showed up. the espresso was poured over the ice cream table side, which was a nice touch. unfortunately, it was also luke warm espresso poured over ice cream that had been scooped at least 10 minutes ago - melty at the top, icy at the bottom. the flavor was GREAT, but the dish could have been that much better if served promptly. last but not least, our served fudged up our checks. i will admit that it was partially our fault for not being clear enough, but it should have been fixed in 1 go, not 2 with lots of running around between. this only proves my theory that restaurants always have sub par food and service when they run these 3 course specials to get people in the door. after spending over 2 hours just to eat dinner on a thursday night, i probably won't be back.
by Oscar Tombrello on Everyone's been talking about the Academy of Sciences Nightlife being the new hot spot on Thursdays and after checking it out, I can definitely see why. First of all, you really can't beat the price. Only $10 to get in (as opposed to the $25 to get in on any regular day of the week), minus screaming kids running around all over the place, plus alcohol! What more could you ask for? This is a great alternative to hitting up a bar for normal happy hour after work. Plus, it's educational! Drinks do tend to be on the pricier side than they are at traditional happy hours-- about $7 for beer, $8 for wine, $10 mixed drinks and it's cash only! The line does get extremely long right around 6pm (when the doors open) but it moves fast so don't worry. I would suggest checking out either the Planetarium or the Rainforest right when you get in as the wait to see either of these exhibits grows the later into the evening it gets. Both are really awesome! (But you may want to hold off on the drinking before you go to the Planetarium show.) Overall mixed crowd of folks-- I've seen both young and older groups, people who look like they just got off work in the financial district and others who look like they just finished playing drums and dancing around in golden gate park. And of course, there are those who come dressed like they're about to hit up a club. The mix is diverse and there's something for everyone!
by Brandon C. on What the French would call "Derelicte" This place is pretty bad, creepy crowd, cash only (I'm on the fence here as I am a "cash only" person, but I recognize the need for plastic), uninspired interior, etc. However, during the day time on the weekends, my friends and I will occasionally go there to "kill time" with the $1 draft beers.
