Nice and friendly staff. Great food!
Unfortunately there was no option to book reservations online or through Open Table. I did email the restaurant about 3-4 weeks in advance as we were visiting from out of town. I got a prompt response back. When we arrived, they did not have our reservation on file but once I showed them the email, they seated us ASAP. I ordered the halibut, it was mushy but pretty and the sides were good. My niece had the linguine al Pesto and my sister had the lobster ravioli. They both liked their dishes. The service was very slow, we had to ask for things 3 times, and it was about a 2 hour dinner. We were not in a hurry however so it didn't bother us, and at the end our server apologized to us as he had a big party and gave us a free dessert! This was a nice surprise and made us feel a lot better! I don't remember his name but have him as "server 4" on 5/7. We appreciated his gesture and still enjoyed our dinner. We have eaten here before and do highly recommend it. I would just be careful on timing if you have additional plans or somewhere you need to be at that evening.
My friend took me to this darling, apparently popular restaurant. Her being a regular there, they allowed us to sit in the back corner. The food was fantastic. The authentic Italian food was super rich in flavor with blends that cause your taste buds to get robustly excited.Can u tell I fell in love with the food? I love Pesto. Pesto loves ❤️ me. Their pesto is to die for. Not overwhelming salty, but perfectly blended with considerable Pesto taste.We shared their artichoke Appetizer. And wow wow wow. So good. I could have eaten 10 more. You can eat every bit of them. No scraping the leaves with your teeth. Just cut and savor the flavor.Then their amazing beet salad again had such a wonderful blend of ingredients. Fresh arugula, goat cheese, walnuts, maybe another nut...whatever they put in this ? salad was so delicious.Then I had the Pesto Linguini. Oh wow. The dish was perfect. Craving for more already.My friend had a halibut dish and shared me some halibut. I love fish and this dish was PERFECTLY prepared. The fish was light and moist.The dessert was a lemon creme cake that was beautifully displayed. It was truly perfect. Light, enough lemon flavor, and so good. Then we topped it with a cup of cappuccino that gave me the zing I needed after a barrel load of food.Fabio the owner was kind, the servers were quickly serving people going back and forth like mighty ant warriors. They all spoke italian, and I loved the dishes they spoke about which rolled off their tongue. Osteria Romantica. It's a complete experience. They checked on us at least a half dozen times even though it was super busy. Yes we had to wait a little for water refill and extra pesto. But overall....Such service!
We will come back to try the pasta dishes. Today we enjoyed the veal dishes. Service was slow but the house sent out free Tiramisu which made up for the wait for our main courses. Grazie ?
Great food and location. The ambience was perfect.
Delicious fresh Italian food. I highly recommend the artichoke appetizer and any pasta. My mom got the fish (pictured) which she loved, too.
Wow, this used to be AMAZING! Seems that the last 2x we've visited, the portions were much smaller than before.We both ordered Veal masala dinner.The pieces were tiny, with a few mushrooms and 5 little pieces of roasted potatoes, hardly any sauce.Additionally, not that great tasting. ?We love this place and hope it's just a new cook. Will pray and return.before
Attention North County San Diego residents: you no longer need to travel to Little Italy in downtown to get great Italian food! The “Risotto Special” absolutely lived up to its name. Not only was the food excellent, but the staff genuinely engages with its patrons and really seems to appreciate positive feedback related to meal satisfaction.Warning: if you were expecting your typical portion of cappuccino post meal, you may need to retrieve your car in the morning after you choose to run home while totally amped up on caffeine. ?And that’s…Henry’s Take. @henrystake
This is one of my all-time favorite Italian restaurants anywhere! Try the Salmon Ripieno or my husband's favorite, the Penne Vittorio. We also love the melanzana saporita (eggplant appetizer), the salads, the bread (ask for pesto sauce if they don't bring it right away), and really, everything else. We dine here almost once a month, usually outside. Very fun place.
One of our favorite restaurants in San Diego area! Highly recommended!