Pizzeria Delfina - Mission
Craig and Annie Stoll opened Delfina on 18th Street in 1998 and put the pizzeria next door to it. The original is a takeout and pickup window at 3611. Max Child, reviewing for The Infatuation, found the same pie excellent some nights and stale-crusted others.
Why go
The order that works is the Panna with sausage added, known as the magic pie. It runs cream, basil and parmesan, and the sausage guarantees the toppings will be good. Child gets one every time.3
Dianne de Guzman at Eater points at the salsiccia instead. House-made fennel sausage, tomato, bell peppers, onions and mozzarella. The crust under it comes out charred and puffy.4
Delfina, the trattoria at 3621, is the reason any of this exists. It is No. 28 on the San Francisco Chronicle's 2026 Top 100. Its critics write that the Stolls set a new bar for Italian cooking in the city when they opened it in 1998.5 Craig Stoll took the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Pacific in 2008.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Panna, with sausage.
- Order: the margherita if you want the baseline.
- Avoid: the clam pie. Child says it does not stand up to New York or New Haven.
- Avoid: turning up expecting a table. This door is a window.
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation SF (Max Child, January 2022), 7.7:
It's nice that we live in a city where you can plop down at Delfina and have pretty solid pizza sent your way, any night of the week.
3 The Infatuation is owned by JPMorgan Chase. - MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, on the trattoria at No. 28 in March 2026:
When Craig and Annie Stoll opened Delfina in 1998, it set a new bar for Italian cooking in the city.
5
Good to know
- This door: 3611 18th Street, takeout and delivery only.
- The other doors: 2406 California Street in Pacific Heights, plus Burlingame and Palo Alto, all of which have dining rooms.
- Next door: Delfina, the trattoria, at 3621 18th Street, dinner nightly and bookable on OpenTable.
Verdict
could-visit — A weeknight is a better bet than a Friday. If you want a table, the trattoria next door runs its own pizza section.