Ended up here randomly on the recommendation of a bartender at Gino and Carlo but found myself in for more than expected! We were too full for a big meal so we skipped the antipasti and ended up getting two Primi courses: the veal and prosciutto stuffed tortelloni and the lamb ragu papardelle. Both were above and beyond expectations! The sauces complemented the homemade perfectly cooked pastas masterfully. We were impressed with the wine paring suggestions of our waiter and the good/prompt service. Between all the other delicious sounding antipasti, pizza, and housemade pastas on the menu and all the amazing looking/smelling dishes we saw go out that night, we are definitely going to make a return stop to Restorante Ideale. Thanks for the suggestion, Gino and Carlo! :) read more

Still the best, the most authentic Italian restaurant. First off 3 glasses of wine plus 4 dishes cost us $100, reasonable. Pears wrapped in prosciutto and burrata cheese with arugula is finger licking good as well as tortellini with veal and other staff in light cream sauce - light, fluffy and cooked to perfection. Mushroom pizza needed some Parmesan for saltiness and Caesar salad I am not a fan of that version. And portions are a good size. Still delicious, still worth the wait. Yummy. read more

If you don't mind the long wait for food or drinks this might be the best restaurant in California.

My Italian friend loved the gnocchi here - "The best gnocchi I've had outside of Italy!" We found this place by accident when I said that I wanted a good Italian North Beach experience without the loud, without the trendy, without the "Prego, bella!" shouting on Columbus. Excellent appetizers (anything with their proscuitto is amazing). Wine selection is quite good, too. read more

Ideale is an unassuming restaurant situated just outside the heart of North Beach, where Italian joints aren't known for subtlety. I'd like to be able to award three and a half stars, but given the mostly good feeling this place evokes, I'll round up to four. J. and I had eaten here once many years ago, and I vaguely remember having a positive experience. We were in search of a nice, not-too-expensive place to take my parents to in the north part of the city, and based on Yelp and Chowhound reviews of Ideale, it seemed to fit the bill. We weren't disappointed. The food was generally worth four stars. We shared a crisp, flat margerita pizza to start, definitely not in the thick, oozy American vein. And we all had pastas for entrees. My papardelle with lamb was delicious, if perhaps slightly salty -- the homemade noodles were excellent. J. and Dad also liked their bucatini all'amatriciana, although J. commented that there was too much sauce, definitely in an American vein in this case. Mom liked her pumpkin ravioli, and I did too, based on the small taste I had. No wine tonight, and we were too full for dessert. Service was inconsistent -- three stars, on the whole. On the one hand, the owner was quick to greet and help us, and the bussers efficiently cleared and reset the table. On the other hand, the waiters seemed more inclined to hang around and talk to each other than help us pay our bill. Still, the mellow vibe and tasty food nets out in a good review. read more

Sooo good! The restaurant is quite charming with a nice art selection but the food is what set this place apart. The bread that they bring out is melt in your mouth goodness and the salad was very tasty as well. I had the pasta with scallops and it was perfect - the right amount of scallops, delicious, flavorful sauce and perfect pasta portion...I did not want the meal to end. The service was also excellent, very friendly. My only complaint is that there were only a few fish options and the menu was mostly meat. That said, I can't wait to go back! read more

I'm rounding up because I just can't decide if Ideale deserves 3 or 4 stars. The restaurant was recommended by hotel staff who made reservations for us at 6:30pm. We arrived exactly on time. The man who greeted us was disheveled and seemed scattered, but finally agreed that we had reservations and seated us, but then moved us to another table. It was an odd start to the evening, but things went pretty smoothly after that. Everthing on the menu looked good, so it was hard to decide. We shared the carpaccio and grilled calamari appetizers, both of which were well executed and tasty. Hubby had the spaghetti & clams; I had the gnocchi with beef ragu. The spaghetti was perfectly al dente with great flavor--a little skimpy on the clams, but the sauce was delicious. My gnocchi were delicious and unique. I had never had ricotta gnocchi before--they were like fluffy pillows of pasta instead of the usual dense and heavy potato variety. The beef ragu was rich and savory. We skipped dessert. The only service issue (aside from the initial reseating) was a small thing. Hubby ordered a Coke and was given a glass of ice and an unopened can of Coke to pour himself. As far as I'm concerned, that's just plain lazy. It takes away from the dining experience when you have to pour your own soda and the can is hanging out on your table--I can have that at home. The atmosphere is lively and fun. This seems to be a locals hangout vs. tourist destination. Just be aware that it gets packed and noisy--you are practically on top of the tables next to you. Prices were reasonable for North Beach. We would go back when in the neighborhood. read more

Very swanky place...little, so make a reservation or expect to wait. Modern & colorful motif. We tried the fennel salad..I was unsure, but it really worked. I now am a fan of fennel!! Make sure to eat a bite with all ingredients together. The mozzarella salad was also really good. I tried the lasagna, risotto with seafood, and the pasta with pancetta and tomato sauce. I thought the lasagna was the best...although the smallest portion of the 3. The risotto was large enough to share with someone else. I would come back and try some other things. read more

If you're looking for a comfortable authentic Italian restaurant, then this is your place. I took a history of North Beach class in college, just a fun one month class, where we learned history and ate at a few restaurants. My teacher was from Italy and extremely knowledgable on Italian cuisine. This was one of the restaurants we went to. The chef was incredibly nice and made something for us that was off the menu. I really wish I remember what the dish was called, it was an extremely tender meat with pancetta. I think I died when I tasted it. Ever since that meal I've come back several times. The waiters are incredibly friendly and a little flirtatious. I introduced my parents to this place and every time we have family in town this is the place we take them. I don't think you'll be disappointed. It highly recommend this place. read more

Shoot. The moment of boyfriend panic when you realize that you misread the time your girlfriend would be "ready by" as the time she wanted to make a reservation. I realized this about halfway through the day on Friday of Labor Day Weekend, and made a frantic dash to find a new reservation with only a couple hours notice. Every place on our wish list was full due to the holiday weekend, and some little spot in North Beach had exactly one window open (8:15), so I said screw it, booked it, and figured "at least we have something". Best last minute decision I've ever made, because we both fell in love with this place from the second we walked in. A little off the beaten path, this is an absolute gem. Everything we had was impeccable. Between the two of us, we split a half bottle of Syrah, the special appetizer (scarmoza with mushrooms), two pastas (she had the gnocchi with beef ragu, and I had the papardelle with lamb ragu), and we split dessert. Everything was top notch -- rich, complex, and distinctive. And ultimately, even with 20% tip (because the service was top notch, if a little hard to understand due to thick accents), all of that (half bottle included) came out to less than $50 per person...great value for a "special-er than average" date night. We will definitely be back. read more

Great Italian food served by a great staff. Maurizio is an amazing chef and super nice person that chats with you all the time. Favorites are Carbonara, tortellini a la paesana , any seafood he cooks he does just amazing. Also his Italian wines are really good, let Maurizio recommend, we have only been surprised by amazing wines from Italian regions we didn't know and reasonable too. Don't miss this place if you come to North Beach in San Francisco. Also his COVID protocols are really good and following all rules appropriately. read more

I can't believe I forgot to write a review about this place!! It is so amazing and definitely my favorite pasta in all of San Francisco. I studied abroad in Rome for 4 months so I have very high standards for pasta, and Ideale definitely has the best in my opnion. My boyfriend and I have come here a few times, both with other people and just on date night. We are now BFFs with one of the waiters, Diego, and he recognizes us now. All of the pasta is homemade and it's amazing. My favorite is the cacio e pepe which my boyfriend and I get every time. After that, I love the tortelloni alla paesana, then the tagliarini con gamberetti, then the spaghetti carbonara (from what I've tried). I've heard the lasagna is also good, so I want to try that next. Dessert- The tiramisu is AMAZING! The only not amazing thing here is the bread they give you at the beginning. It's fine, but nothing exciting. The cacio e pepe definitely makes up for it. The prices are also great, not too ridiculous, which is amazing in SF. I just love this place so much. read more

So writing this to hopefully see if people have experienced a similar issue. I would not give a 1 star for the food, it is actually quite good. HOWEVER, I have experienced 2 issues of theft/fraud while eating at Ideale. The first, my future sister in law had her purse stolen about 10 minutes after sitting down. Within an hour of when it was stolen there were charges on her cards at a gas station in Oakland and BART charges of $90. A few weeks later, my fiancee had a charge for a hip hop dance fest in Oakland on the same night she ate at Ideale on the card she paid for dinner with (and did not order tickets of any kind for a show in Oakland). While the first instance has resulted in an arrest of the perp, the second such issue raises a concern. It could just be a coincidence, but it does make me question the staff of Ideale and probably will cause our group to never eat here again, which is a shame. We are going to call the manager to express our concern and hopefully he/she will look into this for us. But if anyone has had similar issues, please let me know! read more

A friend who had lived in the bay area for a while recommended this place to me. This is a cute little restaurant that is a little more fancy that we usually go with, but it was a special occasion so we thought we'd splurge. I liked that it was fancy in the sense that it had a fancy menu, but the actual restaurant didn't really feel fancy. We had a reservation for 6pm and when we showed up, we were seated right away. By the time we finished dinner, was was packed. We started off with grilled calamari with arugula and it was really good. The calamari was cooked perfectly. For my entree I had seafood spaghetti. It had clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops and the sauce was a pinot grigot reduction. It was delicious! The only thing I didn't like about this place was the bread. It was bland and blah...Italian restaurants have to have great bread so I was a little disappointed in this department. I definitely would recommend it to friends. read more

My new favorite Italian in North beach. I had their tortellini, home made and stuffed with prosciutto. Boyfriend had gnocchi. Place is not pushy like some of the restaurants on the main strip with staff trying to lure you in. It's smaller and easy to overlook, but cozy inside. Tiramisu was excellent too. Will be back to just get that to go on days I want good dessert. read more

Such amazing hospitality. "These Romans are the real deal and know how to make grandma's pasta" says my Italian husband. We had a lovely meal here, my husband got the carbonara and I had the pappardelle with beef ragu instead of lamb. Perfectly cooked and very flavorful, we also had the seafood arugula salad to start and that was very refreshing as well. Generous pours to their wine glasses, great atmosphere overall. We came on a weekday, which was much better to get away from the weekend crowd. Definitely coming back to try more dishes. read more

We had a birthday party at Ideale that went so smoothly I had to write about it. It was large (15 people) but the staff handled it effortlessly. They timed the dishes so we would be sure to finish up in time to get to a show. And the food--wow. Crowd favorites included the prosciutto and pear appetizer, Nonna Serafina's lasagna, and the grilled fish. From planning with Paolo to enjoying the night with our guests, our experience with Ideale was stellar. Grazie mille! read more

I went to this place last night with a friend and his family. We initially called and were told we couldn't get a reservation until 8:30. We showed up at 7:15 anyway and were seated by 7:30. I ordered the papardelle with lamb ragu which was delicious. My roommate ordered the lasagna which was definitely the best thing I ate (I sampled everyone's entrees). I'd definitely go to this place again. If you don't mind a lot of people around it's in a cool area. We walked around for a while after dinner and were treated to the excellent smells coming from other restaurants. There are also some characters around there since the area is saturated with strip clubs and bars. read more

This place is one of the most authentic Italian restaurants I have been to in SF. I went here on a recommendation from a CHOW board, and it surpassed my expectations. Every element of the place is straight out of Italy. It's family owned and run, and the extended family was in the restaurant that night. The little girls were running around giggling and playing. Wine bottles on the walls, terra cotta floor, murals, etc. Almost all of the pastas are housemade and so delicious. I had the proscuitto and mushroom tortollini in cream sauce. Wife had gnocci, also housemade and small and mouth-melty. All the dishes were simple and spectacular. I can't believe I've never been here before. Definitely going back, many times. Very impresses. read more

The best Italian restaurant I have been to!! The food is out of this world and the ambiance and service is so romantic and outstanding! I believe that it is run by family and they are from Rome! My husband and I are from SD and decided to go to SF for our honeymoon. I wish I could remember the dive bar that we went to a few blocks away from our hotel in Fishermans Wharf. The bartender there referred us to Ideale and raved about the place and her friend that is the bartender at Ideale. The best recommendation... I forgot her friends name but she was awesome and the owner was great too! I believe the bartender and owner are married or soon to be married. We sat at the bar because we wanted to chat with the bartender. She was so kind and gave a good recommendation for my husbands entree. I chose the seafood risotto and my husband chose the manly entree - Maiale Ripieno, which was pork chop. Both plates were outstanding! We then had dessert and she gave us a honeymoon shot. It was delicious! She said it is a must after a rich Roman meal! It was a lemon liqueor and did the trick! We love SF and this will be a place that will be a must eat at whenever we are in town! Ciao! read more

You know, it is not the fanciest restaurant in town, but they make amazing pasta. Ideale was recommended to me by the owner of Speccio as one of the best, most authentic Italian spots in North Beach. The pasta was really fresh and light, so no heavy feeling after finishing a meal. The ambiance is fun and homey and prices were very fair. Great experience all around. read more

Wow! Wonderful authentic Italian food. Started off with the burrata. Ordered the tortelloni alla paesana and it melted in my mouth! I sampled my love's orecchiette, which by the way, the staff was more than willing to add prawns into. Between sips of pinot grigrio, we finished the night with tiramisu which was covered in coco powder....just enough "pep" to get me out the door. Great service, they allowed us to really take our time, in true European fashion read more

We had our first dinner here last night and the food was incredible. The gnocchi and tortoni were beyond perfect. Will definitely return. read more

My North Beach favorite. Great food, wine list and waiters. My favorite meal is the zucchini with truffle oil and then the veal chop. The pizza's have cracker thin crust and lots of flavor. Great seafood specials daily that are always fresh and innovative. The wine list has great selections including my favorite, Pellegrini's Olivet Lane Pinot Noir. The waiters and chef are true Italians with friendly attitudes and service. read more

This is the second time we have been to the Ideale. The lamb pasta was excellent . We had pizza as an app and it was, in my opinion, done perfectly with a cracker like thin crust. read more

We had a great dinner here on a Friday night recently. We were very early for our reservation (like 1/2 hour early!) and they accommodated us right away anyway. Our server was nice and gave us a list of the specials for that night. We ended up trying their special appetizer, prosciutto and figs. It was very good! Our entrees were good as well, though my vegetable orzo didn't seem to match the exact vegetables mentioned on the menu. Nice atmosphere as well! read more

The food wasn't awful, which makes me want to give Restaurant Ideale, two-and-a-half stars; but, seeing as that option isn't available and the service was slow, I'll stick with two. This restaurant is off the main drag in North Beach, which lead me to believe it would be less pricey and of higher quality than the tourist-stuffed fish tanks on Columbus Avenue. Neither expectation was met, even though a group of Italians (speaking Italian) auspiciously left as we arrived. [Note: opinions of my date are suspect, as he was trying to be sweet.] Service was slow, friendly, and strongly accented. We ordered a reasonably-priced bottle of Barbera, which wasn't too bad. I had the Fennel salad, which was incredibly bland. My companion had the Carpaccio, which was apparantly good, but too too thin. For my main course, I had the Pumpkin Ravioli, which were almost as bland as the Fennel. Some salt or spice would have been much appreciated. My companion ordered the rack of lamb, which was either an anemic lamb or a a very, very young lamb. He said that it was tasty, but fatty (read: cheap meat). We finished dinner off with the profiteroles, which were tasty, but traditional. Did I mention the service was slow? There are surely better restaurants among the many Italian eateries in North Beach. read more

Very good non-tourist trap Italian restaurant near North Beach. Enjoyed both our apps - a Burrita mozzarella that was very buttery and a Proscuitto w/ pear and marscapone where the meat was great but the pear/marscapone wasn't as good of a pairing as the usual melon. The pasta dishes all looked great. Went with the Orecchiette alla Pugliese which matched the shell-like orecchiette with spicy broccoli rabe, grated pecorino cheese, and an olive oil-based sauce. Really nice. Tried two fish dishes and was impressed with each. Also liked the two desserts we tried - a Tiramasu and a Chocolate Tartuffo. The wine list offers up a number of options in the $20-$40 range. Definitely a place I'd go back to... read more

This place is amazing! Everyone's so friendly that it feels like being part of their family here. Food is as close as being really authentic, it almost seems you're having a dinner date in Roma. Came here with my friend who is an Italian. The chef + owner happens to be his good friend (who is also from Rome). Wine list is excellent, serve is really prompt. We had their chef's special appetizer of the day which is the Julienne zucchini with truffle oil. So good. We ordered their special entree of the day as well, which is a pasta with broccoli rabe sauce. Tasty! Would definitely come back! read more

New fans here. After a disastrous attempt at dining @ the eatery across the street (odd preferential seating, teeny tiny tables and too loud club music), we came here and were welcomed warmly by the maitre d'. We choose as courses: calamari e rughetta, grilled and smoky calamari with an arugula salad gnocchi alla ricotta, potato gnocchi with hints of beef in a ragu sauce agnello allo scottadito, grilled lamb with vegetables and some potatoes It was delicious. Pleasant atmosphere where you can take your time to enjoy food and your company. Just enough food for two hungry people. We originally ordered the branzino (whole fish), but they were out, but when we asked for the check, the waiter brought us a big piece of tiramisu as a consolation, which was a nice surprise and appreciated. It was delicious! Note: They have half bottles of wine too. Thank you, Ideale, a new restaurant favorite. A grown up but casual atmosphere where you'll be treated well. We'll be back. read more

So my family decided to eat in little italy, except there was no problem, we neither knew exactly where it was or where to eat once we got there. So we followed a few signs and there we were......hungry and now surrounded by a plethora of italian places while waiting for my family to slowly get out of the car, we wandered into a shop and this place was recommended. the door is a lil small, but the service is highly attentive even without a designated host. I ordered the torelloni alla peasana, which i think is stuffed with veal. It was delicious. Prolly the best italian i've had in some time. The portion was generous but not overwhelming, something that often occured at many italian places. I'd highly recommend this place, and will definitely return read more

Excellent Italian food. The bread is made in house and really tasty. As an appetizer we got the grilled calamari with local arugula. Now I've only had calamari fried, or in soups or pasta, never grilled. I must say it was tasty, if they had cooked it any more it would have been rubbery, but as is it was pretty good, and after squeezing a little lemon on top it was great. The arugula was good as well. I got the saltimbocca as an entree. The veal was amazingly tender and the prosciutto complemented it well without overpowering the flavor of the veal. On the side were some thick sliced potatoes which were pan fried perfectly and delicious. My mom got the tortellini which was stuffed with prosciutto and mushrooms, served in a hearty mushroom sauce and topped with parmesan cheese. It was good tortellini, but the mushrooms overpowered the other flavors so the dish could have been slightly better balanced. My pops got the striped bass chef's special. The fish was cooked perfectly and had a wonderful flavor to it, and a savory garlic butter sauce in which it was served. They gave him some potatoes and garlic spinach on the side. The italian guy who was our server was friendly and gave good service, but was overworked. He explained everything well but had so many tables to take care of that he wasn't really able to give every table the attention it deserved. Thus when I ordered another beer from the dude pouring the water, if the message was even passed on, this server had so much else on his plate that I never recieved this beer. Overall though, this place is a good spot, with great Italian food. read more

Delicious authentic Italian cuisine. I'm from Seattle and unfortunately there is a lack of such charming, inexpensive little places. We came here two weeks ago and it was delicious. Service: 3 stars. They waiters are italian and oh-so-cute. However, they didn't follow up with us when my BF wanted more olive oil/vinegar for our bread, but maybe because it was so late at night? No biggie. Food Quality: 4.5 stars. Not 5 stars, as I've been to Italy and am pretty picky about it. But this place was pretty damn close. The BF got the sausage pizza; the crust is thin and crispy, yum; and I got the lasagna and loved it. Price: 4 stars. I felt like the price to quality ratio was pretty good. Not a steal, but not terribly overpriced like so many italian joints. We also went to Firenze by Night and liked this place much better. The ambiance, service, and food selection is MUCH better. read more

Decided to walk in for a late dinner passing by as it is tucked away in a small alley and looks lively and fun from the outside. With no reservations, ended up sitting by the bar, but it turned out to be great as we were able to have a wonderful conversation with the owner who has a true passion for his restaurant and its food as well as great patience liatening to our broken and very limited Italian. The gnocchi was light and tasty. The pizza was nicely thin and crunchy. The wine portions are extremely generous. Definitely coming back! read more

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Tiny little place but it felt very authentic. The waiters practically speak Italian to you. Half the night, I was trying to figure out what "Prego" meant. I got the fish of the day, quite tasty! The squash on the side was so perfectly seasoned- I loved it! The potatoes, not so much. I tried some of my friend's pork chop and seafood risotto as well. Both quite good. Great place to grab a bite and catch up with friends :) read more

We went here for Mother's day since it is close to the gallery and my dad was working until 5. This place came with high recommendations from my mom's cousin who is a North Beach local, and knows most of the businesses in the neighborhood very well... At the suggestion of one of the reviewers, we shared the pear and proscutto appetizer and calarmari (which i hate so I passed) to start. The pear was very tasty, and I wasn't disappointed! I was having a very tough time deciding what to order, and ended up having lasagna which isn't really something I normally order out, but I am so glad that I did. This place has the ability to take simple and traditional Italian dishes, and make them just that good without deviating from the traditional flavors you would expect. This was some of the best lasagna i've had outside of Italy! And being that I am so indecisive, it was great to have 6 other people at our table, so I was able to sample the spaghetti al carbonara, the tortelloni alla paesana, and gnocchi alla ricotta as well. Everything that I tried was fantastic. I would definitely return here again! read more

I am surprised it took me a few years to finally go here. The pasta was fresh, flavorful and delicious. Had the classic caprese salad, gnocchi and lamb ragu. I think this place is way better than Trattoria Contadina (where I used to frequent). It is a different style of Italian cooking, but I think better. Only minus is it was a little weird how one half of the restaurant was empty and theother side was full, so we had to wait 5 minutes to get seated on the filled side. They could have asked us our preference... read more

Came here for a friend's birthday dinner. After reading the reviews, we ordered their grilled calamari, pumpkin ravioli, papardelle with lamb ragu, and their veal chop topped off with a nice bottle of wine from the Umbria region. The food was very well prepared with nice texture and flavor. We finished the meal with a very nice piece of tramisu, which was light, creamy, and fluffy. I am not big on Italian food, but this was pretty darn good. Ayyy, "That's Italian..." Only bad thing is parking is a pain in North Beach. Took us 30 mins to find parking, since no valet or parking lot near by. read more

Food ok... Had the carbonara (was ok), BF had the spaghetti and clams... (Clams were apparently delicious, but not too much spaghetti) Service was good... When it came. Even though there were empty tables, took a while to be seated. Once we ordered wine and food, no one really came to check on us... And where was the extra ( fresh)Parmesan that most Italian places offer? I missed that :( There was a guys who looked like he was going around to do this, but never came to our table. Lovely atmosphere... Cozy... read more

We've come here for dinner for a few years now and the place is getting worse every time we come for dinner. The waiters are not interested. I ordered a beer, no glass was given, when I asked for a glass he says use your wine glass. The bread was old, when asking for fresh bread there is no excuse, just 'the bread is all the same' as a response. When asking for a spoon, he takes the spoon away from someone else at the table and gives it to you. Why does this guy even work here? The food? Inconsistent. The pizza was still raw and could have used a little longer, never seen such a white pizza. The pasta sauce was watery, the oven dish was burned, the portions are getting smaller and smaller. We're done with this place. A pity because in such a bad economy you don't want to rely on just the tourists who happen to walk on Grant, you want to make sure your neighbors are happy too. read more