Rate-A-Restaurant #179: Uncle Vito's Pizza

Uncle Vito's owner, with the San Francisco Twins

Restaurant: Uncle Vito's

Location: 700 Bush St., at Powell (San Francisco)

Type of restaurant: Pizza/Italian

They stipulated: "Uncle Vito rises early each morning, prepares fresh dough from unbleached flour, cuts the freshest vegetables and grates part-skim milk mozzarella (less fat, but full flavor). All pizzas can be ordered with light cheese."



We stipulated: We were in the mood for pizza. Our hopes were dashed in Monterey, where the joint one of you recommended wasn't, alas, open for lunch. After a day of walking around SF, a pizza sounded ideal. I asked the concierge at our hotel for recommendations, and he noted that many spots were closed -- it was July 4, after all. But Uncle Vito's wasn't -- and that's the spot he sends people ("and I'm Italian, so I know pizza," he said). I knew he was on to something when, as we were waiting for a table, a cable car conductor stopped his trolley right in the middle of the street, leaving people hanging as he ran in to buy his dinner at Vito's.



What we ordered: The Mountain: The house combo - with salami, pepperoni, onion, bell pepper, mushrooms and sausage. (We ordered without salami -- seemed like excessive meat.) Medium was $15. Also: Spinach Salad (mushrooms, croutons and our own poppy seed dressing), $5, Got a 1/2 liter of the House Red for $5.75.

High point: Gotta say, that poppy seed dressing was pretty good. And the pizza was pretty good too -- the concierge didn't lie. But perhaps the high point was our surreal encounter with the Twins. They're apparently regulars at Vito's, so if you're looking for that kind of SF experience, there you go.

Low point: It was the holiday, and with many restaurants closed, the wait for a table at Uncle Vito's was unbelievable. We stood there for at least an hour. After we finally got a table, the owner came over and sheepishly asked us if we could trade down to a smaller table, to make room for some guests after we just arrived. I was waiting for him to offer something -- hey, some free wine, anything -- in exchange. But nothing. So we didn't say anything, and it dawned on him that after an hour of waiting, we weren't giving up our hard-earned table. He told us not to worry about it.

Overall impression: It ain't Casa Bianca, our L.A. pizza of choice. But it's not bad. And it's a great place to both people watch... and cable car watch (a bonus for those of you with 3-year-old boys.) I'd definitely consider eating there again on a future SF visit, if we were in the mood for pizza.

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