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Plesently surprised when was in mood for Italian.
For those that don't know SD, Hillcrest to me is like there
West Hollywood in terms of restaurants and local vibe.
I had a special that night of osso bucco with blue cheese
and was realy good with a good caprese salad and nice
ripe beef steak tomatoes.
If your staying in the gaslamp this is just a quick ten minute
drive, worth it since most the food in GL district is to clubby
and over priced.. i.e-hard rock hotel
If you want to get me sold to eat at your foreign restaurant, speak in an accent where the food is from. It totallly impresses me.
Example: ****calling Arriverderci****
Italian guy: Arriverderci!
Linh: Hi, I'd like to make a reservation for 6
Italian guy: seeeesx ci?
Linh: Yes
Italian guy: ci?!
Linh: Yes, I mean ci
Italian guy: seeesx people for tonight-ah! Grazie!
omg, awesome! That dude has an Italian accent! This place must be good.
Accents aside, I was fortunate to get a bite from everyone's pasta dish. Needless to say, they were all delizioso! My pasta came out perfectly al dente, salmon was cooked just right, the sauce was perfect. I know I can speak for everyone in my party and say that the pasta was absolutely flavorful and scrumptious.
Dessert time came...."We have the best tiramisu in town!" they said.
Oh sure...right. One bite of the tiramisu, and I believed them. BEST tiramisu...and until I got to Italy, I can say...BEST EVER. It was made with lady fingers soaked in just the right amount of amaretto, layered with mascarpone cheese, cocoa, and chocolate.
Overall, very authentic Italian restaurant (food, dessert, accents and all). Highly recommend.
This is my favorite restaurant in San Diego. I have never ordered anything I didn't absolutely love, and every meal usually starts out with fried calamari.
It's small and loud, but the atmosphere is fun, rather than chaotic. The price is right, too, especially considering the quality of the food. It's a great place to take out of town friends.
The only down side... even though we always make reservations, we end up waiting, sometimes because our reservation disappears between the time we call and the time we arrive.
Love this place, excellent food from the salad to the pasta. Great service. I am a huge Italian food fan, have had good and bad an mediocore. This one is great. Only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because of the long wait, extremely busy place. Parking isn't easy but that's Hillcrest for you.
Great Italian food and good prices for San Diego. The service is pretty good and if it is not too busy they make me my favorite Italian dish that is not on the menu.
Only negative is that it is pretty small inside, so there may be a wait and not much privacy at dinner.
what a gem! one of the best italian restaurants in san diego!
located in busy hillcrest and usually packed full of people.. its well worth the wait. Arrivederci have an extensive wine menu and all the italian essentials like lasagna, ravioli, etc. as well as some nice meat dishes such as stuffed chicken and veal. I didn't feel like overloading myself with pasta and got the norwegian salmon dish. The salmon was a little mushy but still very delicious and cooked very well. Portions are fairly big and everybody was really happy with thier meal. Service was exceptional and the tiramisu really pushed this restaurant to a 5 star for me.
for a thursday night, everywhere else was ho-hum but this place was packed. of there is a wait, head next door to the wine bar for a glass. they even let you transfer the bill.
a friendly faced middle aged man with a thick italian accent greets you and i'm sucked into the seemingly family run joint.
small, cozy, and warm. bottles of vino lined the structures overhead.
the smell of warm bread infused the air. dip it into the spicy marinara sauce and enjoy. however, the sauce would be better if it wasn't served cold.
the specials of the day were so extensive that there is a whole menu.
the artichoke app was 3 small hearts in olive oil and lemon.
but the pumpkin cream soup was a surefire winner! a must order.
the vegetable chicken was juicy and tender. no heavy sauces here.
the lobster fettucine with a red wine sauce was perfect. hearty and filling.
don't go for the usual tiramisu please. instead, try the napolean - light layers of pastry with dollops of cream and slices of strawberries.
deelish!
After our trip to Italy last year, I fell in love with Italian food right away. Not Americanized Italian food but the real authentic ones! I couldn't find anything similar to what we had in Italy until we found Arrivederci! Love this place. I tried most of their food since I come here so often and all of them are yummy. Service also really good. We mentioned some pastas with a unique combination of sauces that we had in Italy and they special made it for us even though it's not in the menu. Portion are big. Will keep coming back to this place. In fact, I'm going there in a bit for brunch!
Real cozy little place - excellent salmon with pesto and black seafood risotto.
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
Fantastic staff... some of THE best Italian food that you can find around San Diego. And the service is spectacular.
This is our new favorite restaurant. My boyfriend and I have been in San Diego for about 2 months now and this is our new favorite place. They have AMAZING daily specials. You simply cannot go wrong
The only con is that it IS a bit noisy inside. Its a smaill restaurant. But the food makes everything else melt away
PLEASE GO EAT HERE!
Yuck and ew defines our experience at Arrivederci this week. They ought to issue every diner a fly-swatter as they enter because these bugs ruled the air here and were quick to find landing on the food.
The scallops, though large, were terrible, grilled to just barely done and drowning in grease. The vegetables were overcooked to goo and the veal scaloppine as chewy as jerky. Trying to get someone's attention as the staff chatted away with each other was near futile.
We were not pleased. Arrivederci ristarante Arrivederci!
Since I moved here from New York, I have pretty much shied away from eating Italian food since everything here seems mediocre and overpriced.
I finally took the dive and went to Restorante Arrivederci in Hillcrest.
The quality of the dishes my bf and I got were on different ends of the spectrum. I had a dish that was chicken made with amaretto and a creamy red sauce and almonds. It was delicious. Such a different flavor; almost a hint of sweetness. 5 stars!
My bf had chicken stuffed with goat cheese and topped with mushrooms. For all the deliciousness that seems to promise, it was absolutely bland. It literally tasted like plain chicken. I'm not even sure how they accomplished that. We actually had planned to do "halvsies" and split our meals but I pouted and he gave me back my red sauce chicken dish (it was my birthday, after all).
Both meals were served with broccoli, carrots, and potato. I enjoyed these a lot (they just happen to be my 3 favorites veggies) and the broccoli especially was nice and garlicky. It was nice to get these as a side rather than pasta or something like that.
The portions were not huge (as someone else said). They were actually perfect sized and we finished both our meals.
They give you bread before the meal and it was ok. A bit chewy in the middle. It came with a very tomatoey marinara type sauce. I think they would do better to simply serve it with olive oil.
Someone else mentioned the flies and I have to agree, the flies were especially bold here. They didn't even give you a chance to shoo them away, they just landed right on our stuff. One landed right in my water! But of course I don't really blame the restaurant for that.
I would go back to take my chances and hope to get another great dish like the red sauce dish.
Another restaurant that I've been trying to get to for awhile and wow was it busy on Friday night! I'm relieved to see that even in this crappy economy some places are still doing well. Went with hubs and youngest daughter and even though we had a reservation we still ended up waiting as tables did not turn over as quickly as they expected. It wasn't really a problem though I'm glad we didn't have to wait any longer than we did.
The decor is simple, rustic and fits the food well. The price point is great and we had three solidly good meals. Started with a simple mixed green salad but the dressing was yummy, although I like less, should have ordered it on the side. My daughter's home made pasta with seafood in vodka sauce was excellent, my goat cheese ravioli were a little over done for my taste. Ravioli dough is very delicate and easy to overcook. My husband really enjoyed his seafood dish. We had a very tasty Chianti by the glass. Had to run to meet some friends so we didn't have time for dessert. For the price a good value.
I was expecting something really spectacular, but honestly I was not that impressed. I ordered the safron lobster ravioli and I was so excited for it. I could barely eat it because it was so darn creamy. My boyfriend ordered the cheese stuffed chicken and it was super bland. We also ordered the grilled polenta appetizer. The polenta was not grilled whatsoever and the toppings weren't that great.. a little too salty. We also ordered the zucchini and calamari appetizer. There were only 5 pieces of zucchini and a whole bunch more calamari. It wasn't crispy (NOTE: we did order it to go) and it just didn't taste that great.
One part I REALLY liked, though, was the marinara sauce. Overall though, I probably won't be going back.
I took my dad to this place on a visit. We sat outside which this night was slightly chilly. A heater turned on wouldn't of been too bad.
After telling the waiter we needed longer, we got longer. About 15 minutes later he returned to take the order.
I got the Pollo Saronno, due to someone elses review. Though, I did find it a bit bland. My dad got the lasagne that had veggies in it. He thought it was really good.
Parking is a bit crappy. Overall the food was decent enough. I'd go back and try something else. Prices weren't too bad either.
You'll get better out of a box of stouffers or a jar of Prego. This place always dissapoints with highly acidic unseasoned marinara that tastes like straight tomato paste and stewed tomatos from the can. No salt, no sugar to cut the acid. Nothing. You can almost always judge whether anything on the menu will be worth getting by an italian restaurants/ristorante (yes, the person who created the page for this restaurant misspelled it).
I've had the pasta, lasanga and pizza and I'd probably say the best of the three is the pizza which should never be said about an italian restaurant. Everything tastes unseasoned with a glop of the tomato sauce on it. Every dish should be worth getting, or you don't put it on the menu. If I had to be frank, I would probably end up making the entire menu blank...
I've only eaten here once but I really enjoyed the pizza that I had. I believe it was the "4 Formaggi" but it was noteworthy because of the mix of mozzarella and marscapone cheese: rich, decadent, delicious. They have a few Italian beers (bottled) which I also appreciate. Pizzas are around $10 which makes it decent place to hit for relaxed lunch if you don't mind spending a little more. Service was adequate. I'll go back to try some of their pastas.
Very small cozy restaurant with excellent service. The wait staff is super efficient and organized. I didn't have a reservation (came late Sunday) and was seated in about 10 minutes.
Grilled Polenta - I really love grilled polenta but this polenta was not grilled. Plus it was very thicky cut and the center was barely lukewarm. The mushroom sauce, however, was quite tasty.
Rigatoni Piccanti - Al dente pasta with good flavor. I enjoyed this pasta but it's nothing spectacular.
Risotto of the day - Squid ink with seafood. The risotto was overcooked but the flavor was good and seafood was fresh.
Tiramisu - Light, not too sweet...I was stuffed but still finished this.
What happens when two UCSB Gauchos who used to have a plethora of italian food at their fingertips in a beach setting get together in another beach setting of San Diego.
Cravings for Italian food.
My best friend has been obsessed with this restaurant all summer during her intership, and having lived in SD for 10 years and never tried Arrivederci, you could say I was in for being tantalized. We showed up early at about 6pm for dinner and were one of two guests in the restaurant. We were given choice seating and a very friendly waiter, accent included.
Started off with burrata, my fav, but was a bit disappointed that it was served warm as I'm accustomed to it being served chilled with some garnish. Tasty, but the spinach was overkill. As for my ravioli, they were wonderfully fantastic - simple cheese filled with mona rosa sauce (creamy marinara). Trying to not smother my white tank top (that also kept showing my bra thanks to the napkin) in sauce was a challenge, but we had a nice dinner with polished service.
No complaints. Just not my favorite so far, and a bit pricey considering that I live near North Beach and have had better. 3.5 stars
I am probably on the verge of becoming a carnivore. That is basically what I told my date and so he took me here where they have a wide variety of meat dishes with extraordinary names like "Vitello Bel Monte" and "Salmone in Umido".
We arrived at 7:30 or so, in time for our reservation. Despite the reservation, seating us took a little bit of time. I don't understand why this always seems to happen. Restaurants usually give you the option of making reservations to minimize, if not eliminate, your wait. Either way, we were sat on the patio, next to the not-so-charming plastic patio cover. Sorry, but I just wasn't diggin' that, but I was a good first date and kept my trap shut.
Our waiter did not appear for a little while. Though this gave my date and I time to talk, I specifically ate less that day in order to maximize my food enjoyment on the date, so I was HUNG-ARY. As in, I could have eaten that entire country. Finally, he arrived with bread and marinara sauce and asked us what we would like to drink. I ordered a Cabernet (the name of which I cannot remember) because I love red wine. It had a nice body to it, and it went well with the veal (Vitello Bel Monte) sauteed in brandy cream sauce with sundried tomatoes). The veal itself was good, but not "Delicious!"
Lastly, and I understand this is on a potentially busy street, right by University and the heart of Hillcrest, but the ambulance that blew by, sirens ablaze, did nothing but annoy me.
So, as you can tell, no part of the experience really had me enamored. Perhaps it was the first date jitters, or whatever work had been like that day, but it was just okay. I feel a little bad for giving it just a mediocre score since so many others seem pretty taken with this establishment. And I feel doubly bad since this was a date and I didn't pay for anything, but I am being honest. I would certainly return if someone else mentioned it, but because I am oh-so-not-affluent, I'll probably just drop my money on a place I know can deliver.
I came here with a large group for my boyfriend's birthday. They seated us promptly and served us bread and tomato sauce. We ordered the fried calamari/ zucchini and baked eggplant appetizers. They came out rather quickly and it was really delicious. Not too oily or greasy like other places. I had the lobster ravioli as my entree is it was . . awesome. Chunks of lobster inside large raviolis covered in a saffron cream sauce. Everyone I went with really liked their food but we couldn't truly enjoy it cause the inside of the restaurant is like an oven. So hot!
Overall the food was great. The service was a lil ehhh..our server didn't check up on us often and he wasn't friendly. The restaurant itself is a little crowded (the tables were too close together) and there is no A/C and was too hot. If I go here again I will definitely request patio seating.
Is Arrivederci my favorite Italian restaurant in Hillcrest? Fo' sho'.
Is Arrivederci my favorite Italian restaurant in San Diego? I'm not completely certain, but it's definitely high up there. (Old Venice in Point Loma is waging a tough battle to earn that distinction.)
My family was in town, so I wanted to take them out to lunch at someplace wholesome, homey, and carb-ilicious. Arrivederci fit the bill perfectly.
We dropped by in the mid-afternoon, when most of the lunch crowd had gone, so we had the restaurant to ourselves. After a quick glance over the lunch menu (while simultaneously scarfing down the complementary bread and marinara), the four of us settled on:
--Capellini Arrabbiata con Pollo (angel hair pasta with chicken and spicy tomato sauce)
--Fettuccine con Caprino e Arucola (fettuccine with goat cheese and arugula)
--Gnocchi Gratinati (gnocchi with cheesy cream sauce)
--Pollo al Funghi (translation is self-evident)
Each dish elicited a serious 'yum' from the person eating it.
"Yum!" exclaimed one.
"YUM!" hollered a second.
"YUM!!!" enthused a third.
"Y-U-M-!!!" projected a fourth.
Those were some serious yums.
Since I was the one with the Arrabbiata, I'll gush about that one in particular. The pasta was absolutely perfect (exactly al dente), the tomatoes were fresh, and the sauce had just the right amount of spicy punch. It was exactly the way Arrabbiata should be, pleasantly spicy without sending you to the emergency room due to capsaicin overload.
Have I sufficiently demonstrated how outstanding Arrivederci is? If you're looking for a delicious Italian meal in a lovely atmosphere, this is the spot to get it.
I really like this cozy little Italian spot. It has yellow and white striped awnings on the outside and a good amount of outdoor seating. The service was good for a busy Saturday night. The hostess was working her butt off to get everyone seated.
The goat cheese ravioli was so yum as was the penne with veggies...oh and the tiramisu.....mmmmmm...chomp chomp.
Last, don't you love when the portions are big enough to have a nice lunch the next day? I'll definitely be going back!
If I could give this place 3 and a half stars, I would. It's another one of those places that could be fantastic, falls short of the mark, but is still a place that I will come back to, and here's why.
The service is always spectacular. Now, by that I mean that the wait staff members are extremely friendly, attentive and always armed with a recommendation or two. This doesn't always mean overly quick, but develop some patience people, good service isn't always about having all of your wants met within nanoseconds of them occurring to you!
The atmosphere is also always fun. There's usually a good mix of couples, families and groups of friends, plus the decor just shouts cozy Italian eatery!
As for the food. It's solid. This is where the star ratings go down just a tad, because obviously, that's the majority of the reason that you head out to eat, right? The food is good. I ate lasagna with meat for dinner last night, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it's not spectacular. Everyone that I was with enjoyed their dishes. The bread with marinara sauce at the beginning of the meal was a nice touch, and the waiter recommended a wine that I absolutely loved. Additionally, I had a forkful of tiramisu, and it might have been one of the best I've ever had.
So, if you're looking for a fun time and a solid dining experience, head over here.
I'll keep this review simple. If you want to eat here and avoid long lines, either come here early or make a reservation! In my case, I did both. Went early and got a reservation...fool-proof!
I ordered a glass of reisling and it was delicious. I love sweet wines and the reisling they had was perfect. The food was seasoned and cooked well. But most importantly, the prices were reasonable!!! Me and my bf had a 3 course meal (with drinks) for under $60 with tax/tips.
The only thing I was particularly crazy about was their tiramisu. It just tasted like heavy cream. I couldn't really taste the lady fingers or the espresso. It was just cream, cream, some sugar and some cocoa power sprinkles on top.
But overall, it is a reasonably priced italian restaurant with good selection.
My apartment in San Diego was literally 3 blocks over from Arrivederci, so we would end up coming here when the craving for calamari and pasta hit. The wait if you go at the right time isn't more than 5 minutes, but I've walked/biked by on weekends and seen a huge crowd.
To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the pasta here. I've never had the same dish twice and perhaps I just haven't found the right one for me, but it's always been a tad too heavy and creamy. Their portions are pretty large, if you've been imbibing and devouring the soft, freshly baked bread, during your wait for the food.
The waitstaff is usually incredibly busy. Again, depending on the time of day, you can either be very attended to, or ignored for long periods at a time. The hostess (same one every time, in my experience), is the nicest, and does her best to get you in on time. I've had waiters here that were also downright rude and forgot parts of our order.
My favorite item to order is the calamari and zuchinni fritti. The breading is very light and fluffy, the pieces of squid are cut to a good width that allows for meaty bites, and the accompanying tomato sauce is delicious and full of large chunks of savory tomato.
All the pasta dishes I've had blur together. There are no standouts, and I'm being perfectly honest. I would always order something to different to try and explore. While the homemade pastas were tender, a lot of time the cream sauces were just too heavy, and the tomato sauces too thin and broth-like.
At a certain point, I would just order the calamari over the phone and then bring it home to eat with pasta I made myself. Saved me money and time, and was a much more enjoyable experience.
The food here was okay. The service was okay. The place is way too hot though and they need some serious ventilation put in. But nobody came out upset about the food.
The food is delicious and the prices are reasonable. I had the lobster ravioli and it was amaaaazing. The place gets really packed, but I got lucky and didn't have to wait. They have a little outdoor patio which is nice. Also, they'll validate your parking, so you don't have to worry about dealing with parking in Hillcrest, which is another plus. I highly recommend this place.
Brought my in-laws to this place and they loved it!
All the servers pitch in to help each other out. You want an extra side of salad dressing or side of marinara sauce, no problem! Ask anyone who passes your table and they'll bring it to you with a smile.
The best part - my quest for finding "OUTSTANDING" meatballs in San Diego is now over! This place has the best around - next time I'm straying from the penne arriabbiatta and getting penne/rigatoni with meatballs, YUM-MM!!
Yum, yum, yum!!!
I almost hate to give this place yet another good review because that just means the…
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Very friendly Italian place in Hillcrest neighborhood but food was unfortunately inconsistent.
Rigatoni Piccanti (4.5 stars) - Rigatoni with italian sausages, bell peppers, mushrooms in a spicy tomato sauce. The sausage and all the flavors were so tasty that I almost licked my plate. But warning, it is a bit oily from the sausage or oil they made it with.
Linguine Mediterraneo (3 stars) - Linguine pasta with clams, mussels, shrimp in red sauce. Looked great and tasty but sauce was not as flavorful as hoped. Clams were ok fresh but not the freshest. Tasted more Americanized than Italian.
The black linguine sounded really interesting but wasn't in the mood for a cream sauce.
Service was very friendly. The male waiter strangely touched my shoulder a couple of times (in a friendly way) when he came to get our order and make sure we were ok but hey, this is Hillcrest neighborhood...
Overall nice neighborhood feel and small cozy restaurant atmosphere.
Bottom line: 3.75 stars. One dish was awesome, the other wasn't. Friendly and "personal" service. Nice environment and would come back.
This place is awesome. Yes, it is very small so if it's a weekend evening you will have to wait if you don't have a reservation and you will feel a bit cramped. However, the food is so good that I'm willing to overlook the tinyness of this place.Although I'm no wine afficionado, I feel comfortable enough to say that this place has a great wine selection. I accidentally ordered white once (like I said I ain't no wine afficionado), but my dining partner got a glass of red wine that was so delicious. More of that please.
Their food is pretty good, I have enjoyed simple dishes like linguine with meatballs to pasta/fish dishes and they have all been delicious. It's not my favorite Italian place in San Diego, but it is definitely a good option if I don't feel like going all the way to Little Italy.
Me and my girlfriend's favorite Italian restaurant in San Diego, hands down. The staff, from the spirited Italian hostess to the waiters, are warm and ingratiating. The food is always delicious. My favorites are the strozapretti with lobster and shrimp and the black linguine with shrimp and scallops. Both are just delicious.
Yes, at times the service can be slow, but for me that is part of the true 'Italian' experience. Put Arrivederci on the top of your list if you have not tried it yet.
Living in Hillcrest just a few blocks from Arrivederci, we had walked by several times, always a crowd of people waiting to be seated... So, we figured we have to at least try it out. I am Italian and love me some good Italian food. The food here is good, I agree with a lot of the reviews in saying it is just good, it isn't spectacular, my grandmother's pasta w marinara, which my boyfriend had, beats theirs out of the water. I had the Lobster Ravioli, and I do have to say it was delicious! Although not my favorite Lobster Ravioli.
The wait staff are authentic and very genuine. Although it was busy, so slow service, it was still good service. The poor Hostess was running around like a chicken with her head cut off, yet she was still happy and upbeat. We waited about 30 minutes for a seat, we wanted to sit out on the small patio, it was a warm evening and they do not have A/C as most Hillcrest places don't, but it was stifling inside, so we opted for a wait to sit on the patio. The good part about having to wait is they own the Wine Bar next door and you can go in and have a glass or 2 while waiting, I brought my glass of wine outside to again continue to wait for our table, yes we drank our wine on the sidewalk, kinda cool...
Once we were seated the bread and marinara was a good starter. The waiter recommended the greatest glass of Cab. The only downside was the patio is so small that we felt we were at dinner with everyone else. We sat at the edge of the patio and the people that were waiting still for their table were basically standing on top of us while we were eating. They kept grabbing onto the railing right at our table and bumbing into my boyfriends shoulder as it was leaning on the railing, so that was very annoying.
But all in all, I may come back if it is a non-crowded time, I would not come back at the peak times ever again. I think during the winter it may be a nicer place to go and eat and sit inside. So I think 3 stars is good enough for this place.
Had a party of 10 for a birthday
The Good: The atmosphere makes you feel like your in Italy versus other places that try. Reservations were on time, bought a cake and they decorated it on a plate and sang (a plus in my book), Calamari was awesome and came out very fast. Get the lobster ravioli my finacee ate it all up in a few minutes.
The Bad: Parking before 6pm (after 6 street is free, restaurant lot is small and fills fast on weekends) but such is Hillcrest dinning. The lighting for some reason kept dimming then going up then dimming again.
The Ugly: Waited almost an hour for our main dishes, short staffed, a bit crowded in terms of chairs being put back to back with neighbors so get ready to be up close and personal. I called our waiter over a few times because we were just waiting either to place an order or to get our food boxed, waiting 4-5 minutes is fine but I was just told "ok ok" only to see my waiter run around the whole place...again short staffed (maybe it was just for the night who knows) it was more of a stressful experience for me watching them run around alarmed by so many people.
Would I recommend this place to others? For a date yes but for a large party no.
Probably the best Italian food I've ever had.
Although this isn't saying much because I have only been to a dozen or so.
Ask for this dish with the pork roast with the bone-in. It was heavenly. I usually don't like pork and to find something that I enjoy is pretty remarkable.
It seems there's always a line at dinner time.
There used to be a cute waiter who worked there but he is no longer there :(
One of my favorite Italian restaurant in town. Food is great everytime I've been there. Parking is a bit of a pain. Would recommend making reservation to avoid the wait
Went back here on a return trip to San Diego. The service was excellent and friendly. The pork ossobuco was spectacularly tasty and well presented.
The gnocci wan't as good as we remembered it from last time, a little disappointing as it was very flour-y and not enough potato.
The tiramisu is excellent too.
The food hear is really really good. Authentic good. Had the portobello mushroom starter which was… Read more »
What a great find! My boyfriend and I got dressed up and headed out to Hillcrest. We happened to park near Arrivederci, and at first, walked down to a chinese restaurant, something in our gut told us to walk out and go over to Arrivederci. We did! And after only about a 10 minute wait on a Saturday night, we were seated! WOW, I am Italian and haven't had better bruchetta anywhere! I do not eat like a true Italian, so I was totally full after that! But I proceeded to order a glass of Chianti, the stuffed chicken with Veggies and mushroom sauce, and my boyfriend ordered the shrimp angel hair pasta. We shared both and wow, I was very impressed with the quality of the food, the veggies were as fresh as you can get in a restaurant without cooking yourself, from the tomatoes and arugula on the bruchetta, to the broccoli on my dish and the zucchini in the other! Not to mention great service, awesome waiters, we had 3 of them checking on us constantly, and it wasn't annoying, as it can usually be
No dessert for us! I have no reason to not give this place the fullest amount of stars! It was a great night, great food! Especially for the combination of fresh ingredients and the natural heartiness of Italian food, I cannot say that I have EVER felt like I have really eaten well at an Italian restaurant, and eating my veggies is important to me! I also left with a nice wine buzz, from one glass of great wine! LOVE IT
ps/ I have lived in LA, if you are reading this and live up in LA, this place is VERY similar to Cafe Bizou in Sherman Oaks, although that is French cuisine, it has the same cozy, crowded atmosphere, with great food and service. I was amazed at the similarities, if only they could both be down in San Diego!
Although I enjoyed this place the first time, it disappointed me during my second visit.
They have so many entrees here which was nice, but kind of overwhelming too. I finally chose one of the specials of the night: Strozapretti with lobster, bay shrimp and mushrooms in a pink sauce. I usually am a huge fan of pasta with any type of seafood but this dish with the double-tubed pasta and thick sauce reminded me of the blue-box mac and cheese. Not impressed. And where were the mushrooms?? I was sad that I paid $17 for this.
On a brighter note, they do take reservations here and service is pretty good (except I got hit in the head when the waiter was giving me my take out box...lame!). And free hot bread and marinara sauce is always nice...but don't fill yourself up on it!
Like Kristina B., this IS the best food I've had since Italy! Every dish served on our table was excellent. The service was fast, efficient, and friendly. The pinot grigio was delicious and only $6 a glass.
If you are looking for Italian food, this is the place! If you are looking for delicious food in general, this is the place!
I will definitely be back, and will take all my friends, and my highly picky parents
Monday Night Steal!
Neighborhood: City Heights
Happy Hour
Neighborhood: Gaslamp
Neighborhood: Hillcrest
Category: Italian
Neighborhood: Hillcrest
Category: Pizza
Neighborhood: Old Town
Category: Italian
Neighborhood: Little Italy
Category: Italian
Neighborhood: Hillcrest
Category: Italian
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This is the part of town where everybody knows…
Some of my favorite dining destinations in the…
I hit these places during my whirlwind…
If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my…
four stars at your door I will enter once again…
Whenever I eat out, I always specifically ask for…
Yes, this list includes *gasp* Northern County of…
