I had a nice meal with a group of friends tonight at Bocca Rotis, One West Portal (on the corner, across the street from the West Portal tunnel), San Francisco. Everything is a la carte. When you sit down, you get a dish of olives and bread and wonderful sweet butter. Wine and beer are available. There is a bar in the same room, but I didn't pay any attention to whether it is a full bar or not. Their specialty is roasted chicken. It appears to be done with lots of rosemary and garlic, and is served with herbed potatoes. The people in our party who had that enjoyed it. 1/2 chicken is $7.25, a whole about $11.50. Most of us had pasta. I had spaghetti in cream sauce with spicy sausage and a mixed greens salad with balsamic vinegar dressing. Very nice, a good contrast in flavors. Dessert was a sort of frappe made with espresso, gelato and whipped cream with a cherry biscotti. They have their own bakery, which is probably why the bread and biscotti were so fresh and tasty. Portions were adequate but not huge. The entrees ranged from $8.50 to $13, the salads and appetizers were mostly around $6 apiece. With alcohol, you could run up a fair sized tab here. My 3 items were $22.50 with tax and tip. The tip was a bit of a problem. For our group of 13, they added an 18% tip, which I wouldn't begrudge them, as the service was good -- attentive but unobtrusive. However, several people had left early and left only a 15% tip. That meant those left had to kick in extra. One of the hazzards of group dining, I suppose. But I don't recall seeing mention of that 18% group tip on the menu. Enough of the things my companions were eating looked and smelled so good that I wouldn't mind returning there when I'm in the neighborhood again. Especially that chicken.
San Francisco, CA