Caffe Puccini

According to the Hoodline, it burnt down :(

http://hoodline.com/2017/10/north-beach-s-caffe-puccini-gutted-by-1-alarm-fire

I stopped in here because I was drawn to their custom-designed cappuccinos. But to my unpleasant surprise, they only do custom designs in the morning time. We happen to walk into this place in the late afternoon.
I get a cappuccino anyway, and sit down to rest a bit. The cappuccino was ok, nothing over the top. The coffee shop itself was alright, a great stop in this Italian enclave of San Francisco. There is plenty of seating on both the inside and the outside of the shop. The decor is rather outdated, but it is a pretty pleasant stop.

What a great little spot! We came in for cappuccinos. What I like is their laid back, friendly, "we're not making pretty pictures in your foam" attitude. We just needed a caffeine pick-me-up! Oh, and the Puccini playing in the background was really nice!

Grazie!

Ate here twice within one weekend. Why, you ask? Here's why:

There's so many options in The Little Italy neighborhood, but if your looking for a real Ma N' Pa kinda restaurant, this is the place for you.

The restaurant offers get indoor and outdoor seating. Outdoor advantages is to experience the wonderful hustle and bustle of Columbus Street and of course the chance to people watch. The advantage of sitting inside is the huge flat screen that plays the popular sports game of that day, great options.

The menu offers options with sandwiches, pastas dishes and pizza. I must say the pasta and their homemade sauces are where it's at.

Day 1:
-Lobster Ravioli with carbonara sauce instead of the marinara sauce. ( 5 Stars)

Day 2:
-Spaghetti carbonara with extra sauce and add chicken. (5 Stars)


The carbonara sauce here is AMAZING. Order extra just so can dip your bread in it.
You won't regret it.

Went here for breakfast -- Service is good, but it's very standard and not worth the money.

Think they're going for the tourist crowd and not aiming for quality.

So today is New Year's Day and we didn't know what was open for brunch in North Beach today. Walking around Columbus and we found Caffe Puccini packed. We got lucky and a table just opened up so we took it.

This is a small little place with inside and outside seating but it's too cold to eat outside today. The tables are small and the tables are pretty close to each other.

I ordered the omelette and you get your choice of one meat and one cheese. So I got the Prosciutto and provolone. Never had a Prosciutto Omelette. It was really good. Very fresh. The potatoes were really good too and it came with French bread. The bread was so fresh. So soft. So good. To top off my brunch I got a cappuccino. Everything was so good.

My wife just got the eggs and potatoes which came with the French bread too. She enjoyed it too. Really good.

My daughter got a bagel sandwich with egg. I got a few bites and it was really good too. It just came on a plain bagel but it was so fresh. So soft. Really good. My son got an Italian Sausage Omelette. It had sausage and tomatoes with cheddar cheese. He liked it too.

Overall, the service was pretty good, food was good and I just love the Caffe vibe. Love these small Italian Caffe. As I walked outside they had a menu for dinner displaying outside and it looked really good. I really have to come back here for dinner to try their handmade pasta. Enjoy.

Cute and cozy Italian cafe. Old school type of feel.

Hazelnut latte was actually strong but sweet. Came in at 930pm and was still open which was a plus!

It's a cool chill place to hang out and talk while grabbing something to drink.

I've been going to this cafe for the last 30 years. Less now that I don't live in North Beach anymore, or San Francisco for that matter, but it's consistantly been my favorite. And I can tell you why: the quality of the mocha never changes. It's great every time. I don't drink coffee often so I might be getting that cherry high every time. One of the main factors is that they whip their own whipping cream fresh every day. Ask for it. I'm not sure they put it in automatically. One time they didn't, I think, so for the following 2 decades I've asked for it. The depth of flavor that real whip cream ads is indefinable. It almost tastes like raw milk it's so good! They could be sugaring the milk but whatever it is, I love it.
They have good food there too, and pasteries but I really go for the coffee. But try the food. They take equal care in that as they do the coffees.

I went here for breakfast with my parents. It seemed like a good option because there was no line, and I knew going down Columbus further would be a waste of time. It also had outdoor seating, so our dog can sit with us.

My dad ordered an omelet, my mom got a lox bagel, and I wanted just eggs and toast. The eggs were scrambled a bit too hard to the point where it burnt. And for the price of the lox bagel (around $8), my mom felt she could've just done it herself at a lower cost.

But the restaurant is located in a high-traffic area in a pricey neighborhood, so I wasn't surprised about the cost of our meals. My meal and my dad's were around $10 each.

Since there wasn't anyone else in the restaurant, we got our food quickly. And the waiter was attentive. My dad and I ordered orange juice, but they only had enough oranges for one glass. I wasn't upset because it was nice to know that they're using fresh orange juice instead of buying bottles.

After reading some of the other reviews, it seems like dinner is the way to go when dining here. If you're here in the morning, I suggest ordering a light breakfast and coffee.

When entering this place, I felt like the ambiance was geared towards the older crowd! The waiters, decor and majority of their customers exudes that vibe.

One of the waitresses got my order wrong. I even asked her which soup she would recommend me on ordering and she got the wrong soup - it was suppose to be clam chowder! Instead, I got the minestrone and it was too thick to my liking. I did like the onion flavored focaccia bread that they provided with the soup, but not enough for me to go back to this Caffe.

The other waitress spoke Italian! That is a plus since this place is located in little Italian town of SF.

Their cappuccino was alright. Nothing special to rave about.

They are old school. No Wi-Fi here! I had to borrow Wi-Fi from Calzone - a restaurant right across from this one. It is unsecured, but it's Wi-Fi, nonetheless.

Final say - Not my kind of caffe to enjoy a cup of coffee and get my work done here.