SPQR

My wife and I recently went to SPQR for the first time, a long overdue visit, and we were both very pleasantly surprised. The food is delicious, the ambiance is chill, the service is great, and the prices are fair, considering the entire experience. We are definitely going to come back.

Note to the team: It would be great to have non-alcoholic drink options besides water and soda. We're in 2024, and there are plenty of options (beers, mocktails, wine) for people who don't want to drink alcohol but still enjoy a good drink with their meal.

I've heard a lot of buzz about this place over the years and finally got a chance to try it. Kinda feels like they're walking a fine line between tasting menu and prix fixe. The portions are kinda small, like a tasting menu, though you only get 4 courses in the prix fixe. I found the pasta course very innovative, definitely the highlight.

Focaccia alle Erbe: Super fluffy with a nice salted herbal top. Way fluffier than I'm used to for focaccia; I'm here for it. A nice way to start the meal.

Octopus with Panissa: A single tentacle, charred just right so every little suction cup is crispy. A lot of other little things on the plate that pair nicely with the main attraction. The pasty panissa was memorable; not sure if I've had that before.

Plum Stuffed Potato Gnocchi with Duck Agrodolce: My favorite dish here. The gnocchi was cylindrical with the plum in the center. It kinda looked like candy. Lots of personality with the sweet and sour plum. The duck existed in a few mounts of shredded meat, so you get a taste of duck with the gnocchi.

Wagyu Beef Due Modi: One bit of rare wagyu steak and one bit of well-done short rib. I definitely liked the steak more. Lots of nice veggies in the mix to pair with the meat.

Toasted Panettone: Pretty substantial dessert. The panettone isn't made in-house, but rather ordered from Italy. The waiter really pumped up the panettone when I asked about it; it was ok but not earth shattering compared to other panettone I've had. Kinda felt like something I might put together at home after Christmas with leftovers. I had a bit of buyer's remorse since the other desserts people ordered looked more intricate.

This is a review for their weekend donuts.

I've walked by here a bunch of times and noticed a line of folks ordering their fresh made donuts/beignets and we finally gave it a try.

They have multiple flavors: powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, mushroom, apple cider, and maybe another one that I can't remember. Each order is $7 and comes with 3-4 in an order.

We went with the powdered sugar and mushroom. The powdered was delicious, especially hot n fresh. Would order again. The mushroom one was supposed to be savory, but the filling inside was just too sweet for my liking. I ate one, and ended up giving away the rest.

. I do wish they offered a sampler option, so I can try em all without having to make individual orders. $16 for two orders, While good, it's not something I'm gonna crave all that often

Dinner at SPQR is an incredibly special experience. My family doesn't live in SF, but we travel there often for good food and good times. We try to plan scheduled events around someone's restaurant pick and with a concert at the Fillmore, my dad chose the perfect spot a block or so away.

We made reservations around 3 months out (FYI) and chose the $88 4-course menu, which seemed like the more valued option than a la carte ~ plus, we were able to try more menu options from everyone's plate!

This spot is small and cozy, but made for an equally intimate tasting evening. Every item on the menu was so unique, full of flavor & if I could sum it up in two words: Innovative Italian. Like a foodie dream straight from pillow to plate, to highlight a few of our tasting offerings: warm focaccia the size of your fist to start with creamy whipped butter, salad with a mulled red wine vinaigrette perfect for anyone's Fall/Winter fix, grilled octopus over a bed of pistachio cream with brussels sprouts, bucatini pasta served with crispy kale, sage brown butter, walnuts and blue cheese, larger than life raviolis served with delicate pieces of squash & topped with seed-nut crumbles, and buttery sea scallops that swam in a chili-yuzu foam! (Say what!?)

Highly recommend chatting with the well~trained servers to describe the dishes and flavors you're tasting. Also, ask recommendation wise of what to wash each course down with! SPQR is beer/wine only, but the wine list is extensive.

And for dessert, the hot chocolate torta was something alone I would go back for. But quite honestly, this menu was nothing short of liquid (or chocolate) gold! It's no surprise they have a long list of awards and accolades, Michelin stars and even a pretty sweet cookbook you can find online.

Outside of their tasting menu, they also offer coffee & donuts on weekends and fried chicken on Sundays. Either would be fun for the next stroll in the city!

Bravo, SPQR!

This review is specifically for just their weekend donuts & coffee offering!

I love that on weekend mornings, I can just pop by and order freshly made donut/beignet-lookalikes at the door and enjoy the outside.

The donuts are reasonably priced for the neighborhood and being in Pac Heights, and come in a couple different flavor offerings. Recently tried their mushroom one, and it was interesting! Very balsamic vinegar reduction-y.

The donuts come in a set of 3.

Workers are always super friendly when taking your order and calling it out.

There's limited seating outside, and you might have to wait a bit for a table to clear before claiming the seat as your own, so you might have to take your donuts and coffee on a walk.

Summary:
Tasty donuts at their weekend popup

Details:
This review is specifically for their weekend-only Accarrino's coffee and donuts popup in the morning, as I haven't been to SPQR itself. Having sugar overdosed just the day before at Magic Donuts, I was a little hesitant to swing by when my friend suggested we add this stop, but I'm glad we did!

Having not looked into it at all, I was really expecting what we ended up getting here: smaller, freshly made-to-order donuts with some fancier and unexpected flavors. Even more unexpectedly, the savory mushroom donuts ended up actually being sweeter than their spiced apple sugar ones, with the former having a mushroom jam-like quality to it, and the latter having a wonderfully savory one to it.

While I wouldn't get the former again (and would absolutely get the latter), it was an interesting experience to try at least once, and is something I imagine many a mushroom fanatic would enjoy.

Accessibility:
No comment on the interior, but there were plenty of accessible outdoor seating options.

Came here for Mother's Day dinner. They had a special tasting menu to celebrate the big day. The chilled pea soup was incredible. The brightness of the pea was balanced perfectly with the olive oil and citrus. It was refreshing, bright and simply magical. The pasta dish with mushrooms was ok. The sauce reminded me of beef stroganoff, minus the beef. The dish was very rich. The beef dish was ok but the star on the plate was the mushrooms that had a nice creamy sauce and bright acidity. The dessert was a lovely bite and not overly sweet which I appreciate. They also have us doughnuts which were dusted in rose and hibiscus and they addicting. The texture was perfect and the floral, sour and sweet notes from the sugar blend was unique and something that definitely would get anyone hooked!

4.5 stars. SPQR dinner tonight! It was delicious! been years since I've been here. They blended a wine for me on the spot to my taste (Italian varietal of Cab Franc + 2 other wines to get a complexity, low tannins, dry with a little sweetness... no tobacco or char)! Thank you SpQR Sommelier! Had 2 antipasti: octopus Brussels and Broccoli Hen of Woods Panchetta. Both absolutely delicious! Not a crumb left on plates. Broccoli leaves as well as the Brussels were airy, savory, and crispy! Squid ink spaghetti with octopus puttanesca and bottarga was rave worthy as well! Nothing left on that plate either. The bacon wrapped pork was juicy and tender and full of flavor for not being brined. Need to go back more often now that tables are easier to get when you show up at 5:30.

Almost forgot about the compliments of chef ‍dessert bites... mini chocolate chip cookies from those sister bake shop around the corner (soft and delicious), and these little cinnamon sugar beignets!!!!! Hot off the fryer!!!!

SPQR it if you're in SF. They are super friendly and chat with you if you are chatty like me. And they take your coat as you walk in.

The special mushroom mushroom mushroom pasta fell flat because the pasta when it's pinched up and sealed as a sail/ fin was undercooked.

Everything else was devoured.

Seating is tight squeeze. Lighting could do with a revamp to enhance food colors to tantalize better (the bite before the bite). Perhaps usb bronze table lamps so lighting is above the food and below the eyes?

Perhaps it's a bit unfair that Italian isn't quite high on my list of favorite cuisines, but SPQR did little to change that. That being said though, the food here is quite solid if you're really into Italian, but given my biases, I simply wouldn't go out of my way for it again. However, the ravioli and desserts were pretty good honestly.

Service was quite good, no complaints here.

Good table to chair height ratio, nice seating options, pretty dining room, good for dates.

Hi Yelpers

I saw SPQR on instagram with their pop up breakfast vibe going on. Cute concept. Cute donuts. It sounded and looked awesome and with my newly freed up weekend I wanted to get out to check out this spot. Mind you - I haven't been to SPQR for any other meals. Its a bit difficult to find, at least on my bike with no smart phone.

The service was great. Wish they had a sampler of donuts because I myself couldn't finish all the donuts I'd get if I ordered every flavor. Given that the donuts are cooked to order, I get it. I ordered the apple cider donuts and a capuccino. The donut itself was good. The apple filing was absolutely amazing and didn't outshine the pastry completely. I was impressed. My capuccino was just a latte and I can not lie, I expected more from a restaurant with high esteem. Overall worth the try with a few friends for a quick bite. Dip your donuts in the coffee, for sure. Enjoy your morning.

3.75/4