Word of mouth and a quick search led us to Cucina Italiana Illando and it did not disappoint. We…read morecame in search of a great carbonara (my husband's favorite), and it absolutely delivered. The meal was outstanding from start to finish, but what really elevated the experience was our server, Luca. He was attentive, knowledgeable, and paired our dishes with a fantastic wine (Pian delle Vigne Rosso di Montalcino by Antinori) that complemented everything perfectly. If you're looking for authentic Italian flavors, excellent service, and a memorable dining experience, this spot is a must. Highly recommend!

Great little place with relaxing service & excellent food. We love the ambiance. Rustic, casual…read moresurroundings. Luka and Mauricio (we've been twice on this vacation) are excellent. Our favorite place.

Have been here a few times, the food quality is amazing. It's truly the only place I've been able…read moreto find where the pasta tastes exactly like the one I had in Italy! Along with that when we went, we were celebrating my mom's birthday and the service felt extra attentive and kind! Overall, this place is amazing, it has a great ambiance for going out with friends or family to enjoy some great food!

Beautifully decor and great management of busy traffic that visited during my dining experience…read more Management was attentative, checking on patrons as they waited to be seated. One seated, we were approach to get beverages ordered, and informed that our assigned server would take over to get our food orders. The menu consisted of authentic Italian appetizers and meals. The ability to learn about different types of noodles, and select for our meals, added to the experience. In addition to noodle selections, we were also able to select the sauces that would accompany the dish. They all sounded unique and delicious. The Impepata di COZZE was our appetizer selection and had fresh mussels, white wine and garlic amongst other fresh ingredients. Serving size was more than enough for our party of 2, and was not able to finish in anticipation of our meals. For my meal, I ordered the Malfalde pasta with Funghi sauce. Sauce consisted of creamy fresh Cremini, shiitake & Porcini mushrooms, parmigiano, crispy Parmigiano, crumble, parsley. Added shrimp to complete the meal. Mafalde pasta was long and had a ribbon appearance similar to lasagna noodles. The ingredients spoke for themselves. Freshness throughout each and every bite! Will definitely return the next time. I'm in the San Diego area. The bar for Italian cuisine has been raised substantially!!!

Had a great lunch at Bencotto Italian Kitchen in Little Italy. We originally came because we read…read moreabout their pasta served in the cheese wheel and wanted to finally try it for ourselves. Got there right when they opened at 11:30am and were seated promptly. Really liked the ambience, lots of natural light coming into the restaurant with a nice street view that made the whole experience feel relaxed and lively at the same time. We decided to order the pasta in the wheel with mushrooms, and our waiter also recommended the eggplant with bread as a starter. Both dishes were amazing. The pasta was rich and comforting without being too heavy, and the eggplant dish was honestly a lot better than we expected. Since everything was so good, we wanted to try one more dish and the waiter recommended the squid ink seafood pasta. That absolutely hit the spot and was the perfect way to end a wonderful meal. Definitely a place we'll be coming back to because there are still so many dishes we want to try. Our waiter also mentioned the restaurant next door is run by the same owner but focuses more on pizza, so that's now on our list too.

On a Monday evening in San Diego, we stopped by Bencotto Italian Kitchen for dinner. Located in…read moreLittle Italy, I was surprised by how busy this part of town is. Restaurants and bars filled to the brim. Lack of street parking availability. With that being said, after circling around for a while, I found a free parking spot on the street five minutes away by foot. Ambiance (4/5): While Bencotto has a nice interior, I went with some al fresco dining on their front patio. There are 20 or so seats available right off the street, so it's not a large patio by any means, but it's nice. The weather was a little chilly by San Diego standards, so they had some heaters out there. It always reminds me of Europe when I'm dining al fresco. Service (3/5): A little slow at times, but overall, pretty good. My waiter was friendly, he just could have stopped by a little quicker. Still solid though. Drinks (4/5): They have a nice selection of wine. I ended up rolling with an Italian beer I had never had before instead. It was a lager and they served it with a chilled glass which is always a nice touch. Food (4/5): The reason I came delivered. Their most popular entree is pasta cooked in a cheese wheel. The pasta is in a creamy truffle sauce with mushrooms. No protein but you can add some for an additional charge. I added grilled chicken. What's awesome about this dish is that they cook it for you inside by the hostess stand. So you can go there and see it happening. My server didn't give me a heads-up (shame on him) but luckily, someone at a table close to me did after me, so I joined to see their food being prepared. I also ordered the gnocco frito which is puffy fried bread. You get four pieces and I had never had this type of Italian bread. Not amazing, but it complemented the pasta well. All of their pasta is made in house and you can taste the difference. The cheese wheel pasta was absolutely delicious. I was pumped to cross this bucket list item off my list.

Legit Italian restaurant right in the heart of little Italy in San Diego…read more We came on a weekday night but it was already bustling around early on. We were fortunate to be seated within a few minutes at their outside patio. Overall plenty of seating and good ambiance inside and outside the restaurant. Excellent service. We ordered the garlic bread, pollo parmigiana, and frutti di mare. All were exquisite! He garlic bread was perfect. The parmigiana was a good blend of chicken and pasta. The frutti di mare had a generous portion of seafood. Would definitely come again!

Someone told me they once cried (of happiness) after eating here so I had to go check it out for…read moremyself. We got the: - Lollipop chops: lamb was good, sauce was AMAZING - Dolce e piccante pizza: crust was well baked and loved the sweet, spicy, and salty mixture, very heavy though. - Frutti di mare: seafood wasn't fresh unfortunately Overall came to a conclusion that this is an okay spot, not my first choice in Little Italy. Maybe if I try the pesto gnocchi i'll change my mind since that looked pretty good.

Delicious food and great espresso martinis. Our server Nathan was amazing and took such good care…read moreof us!! 10/10

We had dinner here the other night (compliments of my sister as a birthday gift). Neither of us had…read morebeen here before and we were excited to try out a new venue. One thing we learned: if you decide to make a reservation here, especially on a weekend night, arrive early to accommodate the time it takes to find parking. The restaurant does not have its own parking lot, it's street parking-only and space is tough to come by. We circled around for at least 15 minutes before securing a spot and wound up a little over 20 minutes late for our reservation. Thankfully, we still had a table set up and waiting for us. It was very busy when we walked in, it appeared as though the restaurant was near-capacity. The restaurant has a nice, rustic charm to it, but I'll admit some of the charm is taken away by the crowd of noisy people. The restaurant space is small with as many tables and chairs that can possibly fit, which inevitably means tables are very close to one another. It would help if the restaurant acquired a much larger space, or if it got rid of maybe 30% of the tables/chairs so that seating could be more spaced-out. Service was initially slow, but understandable considering the completely packed venue. Our servers were incredibly friendly and provided exceptional service. They were patient and informative in answering our questions (particularly about the "cheese wheel"). We ordered the house specialty bread with 3 different spreads as an appetizer, the lamb shank was my date's entree choice while I ordered the pappardelle pasta with short rib. The bread was truly excellent, we both devoured it. My dish was also excellent, the short rib was very rich and flavorful and the pasta was cooked well. I tasted my date's lamb dish, which I felt was bland compared to mine and I wasn't crazy about it. My date seemed to enjoy it, though. We were too full to order any dessert, so I can't speak for their desserts. The food I did try was mostly amazing. We will likely be back, although we might try coming on a Monday or Tuesday night to avoid the crowds and have an easier time with parking.

I've been coming to this Buona Forchetta for years and it's always amazing! The food is delicious,…read moreflavorful and perfectly cooked. The pizzas are my absolute favorite thing on the menu - I recommend the Juna & Regina Margherita. Don't forget to try the panna cotta, it's to die for. The staff are so friendly and the service is fast (even when they are extremely busy)! The outdoor space is so cozy- whether out with friends or on a date, this Buona location is perfect.

My husband originally ate here and brought me back some leftover pizza. The pizza was so good that…read moreI had to come in person! I got the pepperoni pizza, lasagna, and Piemonte salad. Everything was so good! This restaurant is tucked away in a small community with a few businesses to walk around before or after. The staff was very friendly. Ill be back to try the dessert!

Siamo Napoli is great! I always try a different dish and so far all of them have been delicious,…read morebut their pasta is my absolute favorite! I always enjoy their specials, and although it's always difficult to order because everything is so good, when in doubt, just ask your server.

As always this place is amazing. The food is just simply that good…read more The gnocchi is always my favorite and my new second favorite is the lasagna. The calamari is always a good option and the the artichoke blossoms just as good. The staff is always on point and amazing. These guys really know what they are doing. The food here is better than when we were in Italy!!! Indoor seating and very friendly and knowledgeable. The decor is nice.

This is my favorite resturant okay I said it. Great times here, what a great vibes…read more What Great staff here, so happy & kind too they are amazing here! I had pasta Orecchiette We raviolis with crab and shrimp Chicken parmigiana And a smoked mozzarella ravioli with eggplant Di Melazame everything was delicious And we had Caprese to start with a large heirloom Tomato slices the was so tasty too We all enjoy every bite until we couldn't And they bought out a dessert Nutella cheesecake That was sweet of them Plus tiramisu we ordered It was funny there was 2 ladies celebrating by our table their birthday's too same day also It was a perfect birthday

Came for a late Mother's Day lunch. The calamari was really good. Perfectly cooked and crispy…read morepairing well with the marinara sauce. I got the Orecchiette Con Salsiccia ($24) with ear shape pasta finished with sautéed garlic, olive oil, Italian sausage, pesto , chopped tomatoes, parmesan and mozzarella cheese in white wine cream sauce. It was very savory, creamy, and cheesy. It's one of the heavier pastas I've had but it's probably because I removed the rapini because I don't like the bitter taste. I thought the sausage quality was just okay and not the best. I loved the Al dente pasta. I would probably opt for a tomato base sauce here because I think they do the flavors so much better. My family got the Taglierini Neri Ai Frutti Di Mare ($27). Plenty amounts of seafood with really well cooked pasta. The portions here are massive! All of us had to take our dishes to go so I highly recommend coming here if you want to bring home seconds. Service was also attentive and I appreciated that the kitchen plated the panna cotta to celebrate Mother's Day. I never get panna cotta but this one was creamy and not too sweet with the blueberry sauce. Highly recommend.

Our family would definitely go back to this spot the next time we are in San Diego! Kid friendly…read morewhich is so perfect when you and your spouse want to enjoy a more sophisticated meal and not have the usual burger and fries that the kiddos usually want, although I'm sure they do have if that's what you are wanting and I am pretty sure that the burger would be amazing too! Ambiance was great with good vibes. Grilled octopus was so delish we had to order two because our kids (5 & 7) ate up the first plate all to themselves. Italian chopped salad, Butternut squash ravioli, and goat cheese mushroom pizza were all so good! Kiddos both enjoyed their own pepperoni pizza. Oh, and can't forget to mention that we also enjoyed our cocktails. Can't go wrong with the pitted martini and the Mezcal cocktail. Making me hungry just telling you about it! Yum!!

Large, inviting, high ceiling, dark dining space that always seems to be busy. Came here to try…read morebecause it's Michelin bib gourmand. roasted delicata squash + farro salad: deep fried delicata squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese and served with a cilantro salsa verde. This was the most unique thing we ate and quite good. red wine short rib mafaldine (short rib pasta): this dish is kind of a mess and there's a lot of things going on. I like short rib, but I think it would taste better not in this pasta. Nothing stood out. roasted half chicken fra diavolo: a well done dish cooked to perfection. Flavorful but chicken can only be so good. Service was excellent and very attentive.

While visiting from out of town, we decided to spend Mother's Day at this amazing place, and it…read morehonestly felt like we were back in Italy. We were greeted with warm smiles from every employee, asked which open table we preferred, and the staff did everything they could to make us feel like weekly regulars. I loved seeing the hugs they gave their regulars, and I completely understand why people keep coming back week after week. My definition of a great restaurant is simple: great service -- attentive, anticipates needs, and does everything possible to take care of guests -- plus solid food and drinks. This place was a home run, and we will definitely be back when we are in town. We started with the artichoke, and everyone loved it, even our kids. We ordered the chicken parm 10/10, bolognese 10/10, spaghetti with meatballs 9/10, and Pappardelle Al Brasato 7/10. With the brasato, there were a few questionable pieces of meat/fat, but overall it was still a solid dish. The highlight of the meal was the tiramisu. Damn -- it was light, airy, and full of flavor. It wasn't heavy, nothing was dry, and all four of us dug in and devoured every last bite. Loved the place, loved the service, and loved the food.

We died for the first time with Parma Cucina Italiano for Valentine's Day…read more They had a nice price fix menu that you can choose from. We loved Barbara our waitress. She had a lot of great energy and excellent recommendations.. We started with the artichokes in Lemon for our appetizer. It was tender and flavorful. For the pasta , we had the boar Papperadella Ragu, which we really liked a lot and we had the squid ink pasta with seafood, which had a really light sauce that wasn't fond of. I have squid ink pasta with a lobster reduction sauce elsewhere which I prefer. We also had the brasata as a main course which went well with the paparedelli.... A few glasses of wine and the profiteroles with Nutella were a wonderful finale for the meal. I would love to try their fish some other night. The ambience is charming, but the restaurant is quite small and it was packed on valentines so it was a little hard to get around the tables. We will be back.