How do you judge a spot where the food is good, but the ambiance belongs somewhere else?
Such is Luna Park, an alluring little place on Valencia and 18th. "Alluring" that is, until you step inside to be met by a crowd 3 deep at the bar, and beyond that a restaurant where everyone seems packed into little sardine cans.
This was an idea festering in my wife's mind: let's go to a few places for dinner! Let's have appetizers at Farina, then move on to another place for our entree, and then a third for dessert or more drinks!
We duly started at the delightful Farina, sitting at one of the bars watching a chef prepare cheese and truffle pastries and having Pansotti di Recco con pesto di noci - handmade Genovese pansotti filled with ricotta cheese, spinach and borage, and walnut pesto, and Seppie del mediterraneo con ceci alla Xenexe - pan seared Mediterranean wild calamari, in Pigato white wine served with fresh garbanzo beans. Just as I was thinking of ordering another cocktail, it was time to uproot and start looking for main courses.
We only had to walk 50 yards to Luna Park, which as I said, looked "alluring". So we went in, to Grilled Salmon and a Pork cutlet served at another bar. This one was very different though. The bar staff were working full tilt preparing drinks for the packed restaurant, and we were helping by interrupting any splashes from the cocktail shakers going off into the crowd.
The trouble is, if you're planning a night out, Luna Park is not somewhere you'd plan for a meal. There are too many "proper" restaurants in the Mission to trouble yourself about Luna Park. However, if you don't plan ahead and make a reservation, you'll be like us, consigned to waiting for a couple of places to appear at the bar, and then getting splashed by the bar staff while you eat your meal.
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