Sorella, San Francisco - 11/11/2022

Sorella meaning sister in Italian is a casual Italian restaurant located in the Nob hill neighborhood in San Francisco.  Sorella is the younger sister of Acquerello, which I have the pleasure of dinning there for my birthday, and is the acclaimed two Michelin star restaurant and treasure of San Francisco since 1989.

Sorella is a lot more approachable and affordable restaurant with great food that you can back and dine here all the time without breaking the bank.  Sorella opened their door in December 2021 and very rapidly got listed under " a guide of Michelin" meaning that the inspectors have discovered quality food.

The corner restaurant exterior with neon sign and dark modern exterior can’t be missed among the Nob Hill neighborhood.

Glass windows from floor to ceiling so you can have a really good view inside the restaurant and vice versa.

The entrance

Hoa waiting at the bar area while our table is been set up.

The interior is lighthearted, lively and neighborhood friendly. The kind of place that checks the box for a weeknight dinner as well as Saturday night cocktails and bites.

The bar is well equipped and they also serve cicchetti (small plate) and I was told the cocktails here are excellent (will give it a try another time).

  The bar was full of people hanging around in a convivial and inviting and warm ambiance.

A handmade partition separate the dinning room from the bar.

Our table.

Simple wooden table with gray napkins and white and gray plate.

The Menu is divided into 4 sections: Antipasti, Contorni, Primi and Secondi.

Hoa brought a bottle of Caymus for the evening.  Carlo our waiter from Rome and he is very friendly, fun, but he was also very knowledgeable of the food and wine.

Cheers!

The space is pretty sleek and bright and as soon as we sat down we all like the environment and the ambiance of the room.

View of the kitchen from our table.

Cool Neon sign inside the dinning room.

Antipasti

We decided to order 3 appetizers to be shared amongst the 4 of us.

Grilled calamari "Diavolicchio"

Grilled calamari is stuffed with prawns, scallop, nduja sausage, zucchini, mint, red wine colatura (aged fish sauce)

Lovely dish, very tasty with a semi sweet sauce that is really delicious and perfect with the grilled calamari stuffed with shrimps and scallops.

Crudo

Hiramasa, pickled kumquat, gochu chilli, earl grey pear puree, sunchoke crumble

Hirasama (yellowtail Kingfish) has a nice firm taste with a sweet a rich flavor is paired with the sweet & sour kumquat peel,the sweet pear puree, and a bit of heat from the gochu chilli is simply delicious!

The sunckoke crumble added a bit of crunchiness to the dish.  A must order dish.

Artichoke & Stracciatlla (cheese)

Crispy marble potatoes, walnut pesto, olive chips, sherry vinaigrette

We all love this dish too, especially the crunchy potatoes.

We also ordered an order of Potato leek Focaccia which is really good (middle of the picture) and an order of a sourdough bread.

Hoa is the only one that prefers the sourdough over the focaccia.

Primi and Secondi

I selected the Squid Ink Linguini with lobster, spicy broth, and tomato confit.

Excellent choice for me.  The broth was light, spicy and flavorful, the pasta was al dente and cooked to perfection and they were also generous is the lobster meat.

Kevin selected the egg yolk tonnarelli with fort bragg sea urchin, salmon caviar, green onion, and pink peppercorn

What a beautiful presentation.  This is probably the best pasta that we ordered.

Everything on this plate is yummy and a must order dish.

Hoa selected the Grilled Llnao Seco Pork chop with spiced honeynut squash puree, roasted root vegetables, speck jus, red mustard.

The pork was juicy, moist and cooked to perfection.  I also like the spiced honeynut squash puree, roasted root vegetables, speck jus, and red mustard sauce.

If you like meat, this is the dish for you.  

Kristie selected the short rib agnolotti with black trumpet mushrooms, yam, cultured butter, black garlic.

Beautiful fall colors on a plate.   The agnolotti stuffed with short ribs were definitely flavorful but out of all the dished we ordered this one is my least favorite but it is still a wonderful dish.

In any case we all enjoyed our food and we ate everything on our plate.

Ending our meal with 3 scoops of gelato: Vanilla, Pistachio, and Acquarello biscotti

We really enjoyed our meal here at Sorella!  Convivial ambiance in a casual and warm surrounding.  As soon as we walked in the restaurant we felt pretty relax and the food is also delicious and very affordable.  Service is also very good so overall we had an excellent experience dinning here.

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