it's september

Emmanuel and I went out for a post-birthday dinner last Saturday with some friends. we went to Ristorante Milano in the Russian Hill area. parking was a bitch, we circled around for 15 minutes until we chanced upon a parking lot that charges $10 (what a deal!). the attendant asked us if we were headed to a particular restaurant and we told him, he said it would only cost us $7 (an even better deal!). when we got to the restaurant, our four friends were already seated but where we were to seat, our section was not ready.

we shared the sardines as starters - worth every bite. for our entrees, emmanuel ordered the lamb chops and I ordered the pork medallions with soft polenta. the others ordered pasta dishes. food was good overall but the portions were on the small side: emmanuel had two chops with one polenta triangle, two cubes of roasted potato and some other vegetable; the pasta in cream sauce looked gooey but good; the vegetarian pasta dish was somewhat lackluster. the rosemary focaccia that they serve with olive oil was excellent. service was good though a little harried. as each person finished their meal, the plate was whisked off the table. I like to take my time eating so this kind of service was a somewhat disconcerting. I tried to hold on to my fork afraid that if I set it down, my plate would disappear. the place is small and they were quite busy and they obviously want to turn their tables quickly, but service like that was a major turn-off to patronize them again. I would recommend but I won't be back.