With my birthday coming up on July 4th my wife and I agreed that a return dinner visit to this excellent restaurant would be the ideal choice. I made a call to our friend Flavio the owner who was on vacation with his family in Puglia, Italy who said he would be back in San Diego on July 1st. PERFECT ! Flavio recommended Friday, July 3rd for our dinner as the restaurant would be closed on July 4th to give his staff a break. WARM WELCOME ! We arrived on right on time for our 6pm dinner reservation and Flavio gave us big Italian hugs at the host desk. And Flavio let us choose wherever we wanted to sit. FIRST UP ! A couple of iced waters and an ice cold Hazy IPA to kick things off. Without us even asking a complimentary serve of warm Artisan Bread & dipping sauces arrived within seconds . . who does that these days ?
APPETIZERS ! On our first dinner visit here late in 2025 we totally enjoyed the Arancini, Potato Croquettes and Squash Croquettes. So we ordered 1 x ARANCINI ( risotto balls stuffed with cheese & beef and potato croquettes mixed with prosciutto ) and 1 x FIORI DI ZUCCA ( squash blossoms, ricotta, mozzarella, salame, tempura ). My ice cold Harland Brewing Hazy IPA arrived and tasted very refreshing. LIVELY ATMOSPHERE ! By 6.30pm the restaurant was virtually packed out. WHOO HOO ! Our tantalizing appetizers arrived and OMG did they taste amazing . . . as good as any top restaurant in Italy. ENTREES ! We love pasta and pizza so that’s what we ordered . . 1 x FETTUCCINE BOLOGNESE ( fettuccine, 100% grass-fed beef, marinara sauce, rosemary, parmigiano ) and 1 x Wood – Fired PICCANTE PIZZA ( pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, salami, sopressata and calabrian peppers ).
Somehow we demolished all of our amazing appetizers . . they tasted too good to leave on the plate. YEAH BABY ! Our Pizza / Pasta arrived within a short time and looked sensational. FABULOUS PERSONAL SERVICE ! Flavio came by with a huge dish of fresh grated Parmigiana and spooned generous amounts on our pizza and pasta. TOTALLY DELICIOUS ! The perfectly cooked Fettuccine Bolognese tasted fabulous . . . flavor, flavor, flavor ! And the Piccante Pizza lit up my tastebuds . . . loved those calabrian peppers. In fact I went over to the pizza oven and thanked Miguel the talented Pizzaiolo for his fine work. We had to leave room for dessert so Veronica the sweet busser boxed up the remainder of our pizza and pasta. DESSERT ! Flavio promised we would love his house made Chocolate Gelato. A cheerful server named Eduardo brought out our DARK CHOCOLATE GELATO with a lit candle. And sang “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” to me ! Our very rich chocolate gelato was a lovely finale to our spectacular dinner. Thank you so much to Livea, Eduardo, Veronica, Jordan, Miguel, Giovanni, Salvatore and of course Flavio for making us feel so welcome !
