Old Venice Restaurant

This evening was a fail, staff lacked in experience and their attitude was insincere. The meal was underwhelming at best. I will choose wisely next time I’m in that area.

My boyfriend and I always turn to Unilocal for our date nights. This restaurant had good reviews so we decided to try it.
We walk in and literally stood there for a good two minutes. There’s no sign saying «seat yourself» and no one even acknowledged us. We decided to just sit at the bar because normally bar seating is open seating. However, it took awhile for someone to even acknowledge us at the bar. When they finally gave us menus there was literally no greeting, no conversation, no real hospitality. It was one of the most awkward restaurant experiences of my life. We felt completely unwanted. Also the music playing throughout the night was so old and dated. Although you could definitely tell this place was not catering to a younger crowd. I think that quieter more classical music, or even jazz would be a more appropriate.
We both ordered a «Back Home Lemonade» thinking it’d actually have some sort of refreshing lemon flavor. It was honestly the worst cocktail I’ve ever had. It was so strong, and not refreshing at all. The basil in it was horrible and didn’t look fresh or appetizing. It wasn’t even mixed well. It was just bourbon and lemon cello. My boyfriend drank his, but mine was practically untouched. In this situation I normally would ask a bartender for another drink, but I felt so awkward and unwanted that I didn’t. I will admit that is on me for not asking for another drink. Also it wasn’t until I had already gotten my food that I was able to get someone’s attention for a cup of water.
So after we are sitting there awkwardly we get approached by the other bartender who didn’t greet us (again) and just asked what else we wanted. I was confused and asked if we could order food with him. He gave me attitude and just said yes. So we ordered. I ordered fettuccine alfredo with shrimp and my boyfriend ordered the Rigatoni bolognese. In the mean time we watched as the bartenders and staff happily greeted people as they walked through the door and were way more friendly with other customers.
When we got our food It was not that great. I expected higher quality food because paying $ 20+ fettuccine alfredo makes me feel like it’ll be worth it. My boyfriend thought his was ok but expected more as well. We were offered «garlic bread» after our meal was given to us and it was burnt sesame bread with no garlic on it.
One of the bartenders asked if everything was fine once after we were already done. Pretty much the only sentence that was said to us the entire night. If we hadn’t gotten anyone’s attention after we were sitting there for awhile after we finished, I doubt we would have even gotten the check.
Our bill was $ 70+… We were very disappointed in the service and quality of food for that amount of money. We were just looking for a nice night out, and it turned into one of the most disappointing and awkward experiences ever. Will probably not be back again.

Food and service here is absolutely delish! I was impressed by our server… wish I could recall his name. He was more than accommodating today when my fiancé and I went in for dinner.
I got the half and half plate (half ravioli half spaghetti with meatballs) and my fiancé got the pizza flatbread app which was amazingly delish as well.
They have good deals for happy hour 4 – 6 on select apps, salads, and beverages. So definitely a good place to go to if you’re in the area.
I’d recommend!

We love this spot! The food is great and the staff are lovely.
The only downside is the noise. Inside, when it’s packed, the noise is almost unbearable. I really wish they added something to absorb the sound so it didn’t echo around the dining room so much. It’s too noisy to be a good date night stop, in my opinion.
BUT go when it’s half full, and you will thoroughly enjoy the experience.

This is a dining experience that is a well kept secret among travelers. Food is delicious, service is very attentive and the atmosphere is warm and appealing.
The food is as good and better than many 5 star restaurants. While they can accommodate parties of various sizes, the hustle, bustle, and coldness you come across in the major restaurants cannot be found at Old Venice.

Food was amazing! My husband is from Boston area and we came here during the week of our destination wedding. It was the perfect calm, romantic intimate dinner before our big day.

The atmosphere and design of this restaurant is so cute and romantic. My boyfriend took me here a day after valentines. We ordered a pizza and shared a marinara pasta dish. I recommend going on Mondays because all of the marinara dishes are half off. They even split the dishes into our own little portions. It was very filling and yummy authentic Italian food. I’d go back anytime.

LUNCH SPECIAL. I got the $ 12 lunch and it comes with half basic salad and half size pasta and the most AMAZING free bread. Omg. I got the Salmon Marscapone pasta and it was an absolute dream. I wouldn’t mind getting that every time I come here

I love Old Venice! I have had some wonderful meals and events here over the years. The food is consistently excellent and fresh. The bread is irresistible.
I appreciate they are always so accommodating with last minute reservations. Plus they have parking. This place makes me happy!

I really enjoy this place. I’ve been here probably 2 dozen times for lunch and I’ve never had a bad experience. The service, food and lunch specials are 5 stars! My favorite thing on the menu is the Cajun shrimp with black linguini. It’s not too spicy and has a ton of garlic which I love! The lunch special comes with a salad or soup and I always get the walnut Gorgonzola salad. It’s a good size salad and the Lettuce is crisp, plump ripe tomatoes, perfect amount of cheese and walnuts! Garlic bread is ok, not my favorite but still good; I personally like more butter and garlic.
They have great lunch menu with lots of choices of pastas, salads, and sandwiches at a very reasonable price!
I’ve heard they have a good happy hour too but I haven’t experienced it myself.
Only a few parking spaces in the front of the restaurant on Canon, but they have a parking lot in the back.
Highly recommend you try this place — you’ll be glad you did.

I have been here twice and both times have been excellent!
They have an amazing menu. I tried all their appetizers and love the spicy shrimp focaccia bread. Also their Bolognese pasta dish is unreal! I definitely recommend this place for their lamp chops also! They are prepared excellent. And the house bread is addicting so be careful not to get full of that. The service is great also. Very friendly people! Our waitress was janellaaa… not sure how to spell it but the waiters helping her were awesome also! Thank you for our amazing meals!!!

As the story goes, «it was a dark and stormy night,» when we arrived in San Diego. It was wet and windy even by the standards of this born and bred Oregonian. We had just arrived in San Diego after a week in the Borrego desert and didn’t feel much like venturing too far from the hotel where we were staying. Enter Unilocal for some recommendations. We decided that since it was a wintery day, comforting Italian food was what was called for and we narrowed it down to three choices of which this was the winner.
The dining room is decorated in all white and has a shabby chic rustic elegance to it. Since the weather was so bad out, there were not a lot of reservations so we were seated immediately as walk ins. The wait staff was all very nice and attentive, but not overly so.
We started with an order of the magic mushrooms that we had read about in a number of other reviews. Not quite sure why they received so much play in those reviews. They were good, but perhaps a little oversold. We also split a house salad. Combined, it was a very nice starter.
For entrees, I ordered the scallop and shrimp fettucine and my husband had the chicken fettucine. Both were very good and they did not skimp on the proteins in either. We also ordered a Greek pizza to take back to our room to have the next day for breakfast/​lunch. It was very good and the small was the perfect size for two people.
This is one we will recommend to our friends when they are visiting the San Diego area.

Everything was just delicious! Lovely service and ambiance, but the best part was the dinner — EVERYTHING about the dinner. The warm bread, Magic Mushrooms, cheese board with a scrumptious fig jam (!) and a dynamite bruschetta. We had a table of 12, so we got to try almost everything on the dinner menu, including the outstanding Greek Goddess pizza.
This place has been in San Diego for a long time, and certainly deserves its longevity… BRAVO!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this restaurant! The food is so good. The set up is the cutest. I’ve came here for quite a few occasions and have loved every single one of my experiences. Although sometimes it gets a little crowded… The patio is gorgeous. If you’re in for an evening meal you’ll get the real treat. When the lights are all lit it’s almost magical. Did I mention the food is amazing? Also, suuuuuper awesome customer service. Have had a lovely experience with every server I have had. A tad pricey. But so worth it!

Nice little Italian restaurant in the Point Loma area. We would have never known it was there if it wasn’t for Unilocal!The inside was clean, spacious, and nicely decorated. Our waiter was very nice and had a good sense of humor.
We ordered from the lunch specials which included a house salad with your choice of dressing and a half order of pasta. We started off the meal with their complimentary garlic bread — fresh, soft, and delicious. We dipped it in their olive oil and balsamic vinegar and couldn’t stop eating it. Then came the house salads in which the dressing came on the side in a cup. The Ranch was your basic Ranch dressing, nothing special. The Pineapple Balsamic Vinaigrette was pretty tasty. Our entrees were very good and portioned well for lunch. The first was the Meat Ravioli with Pesto Sauce. The lunch serving came with four large pieces of Ravioli and lots of pesto sauce. The Cajun Shrimp was a good sized bowl serving of shrimp, garlic, onion, and sun dried tomatoes in a cajun cream sauce over black linguine.
Their menu has a lot to offer. We’ll be back to give some other items a try. This place is good for lunch. And, looks like it’d be a romantic date night spot, too.

I was privileged to be at my best friend Vanessa’s wedding and her wedding reception was held here. I haven’t been to San Diego in years so being able to check out a new restaurant in that area was a treat. The restaurant is gorgeous and the courtyard was the perfect venue for an intimate reception. The servers were all very attentive and Winston you rock dude! The food was delicious. They served a spinach lasagna and one other pasta dish that I did not have a chance to taste along with veggies. Overall, it was a beautiful and well put together event. I definitely want to come to try out their regular menu items!

I have a special place in my heart for this restaurant. I had my wedding here five years ago, and they did a wonderful job the day of. We hadn’t been back since our big day. So on our anniversary we decided to go back.
We made a reservation for 7:30 but were running a bit late so we called and they were able to move it to 8. We showed up and had our pick of where we wanted to sit. We decided on the back covered patio. it was very romantic, with the candles and music. the bead was super fresh and warm. For an appetizer we got the brie and garlic bulb. It was very good! I got the aurugla and pear salad, the size was large but i wasn’t wowed but it was tasty. I had the cilantro and pesto shrimp. it was very good and the amount of shrimp was plenty. my husband got the cheese ravioli with meat sauce. he said it was tasty but noting extremely out of the ordinary. the best part of the meal was the tiramisu the portion was huge. and it was divine.
The service was excellent. The staff was very friendly and attentive. I hope to be back but we won’t wait 5 years next time.

I have wanted to come here for years and finally had the opportunity to this past weekend. Old Venice was everything I was hoping it would be. It’s beautiful, the food was delicious and the service was outstanding!
We ordered the garlicky shrimp for an appetizer and loved it. The garlic bread was yummy, too, but it was served in huge chunks.
For our entrees, we shared Rigatoni Bolognese and Chicken Florentine. They were both fantastic and we would definitely get them both again. We were too full for dessert, but I look forward to trying their crème brûlée next time we visit!

This place was fantastic. Thanks fellow Unilocalers! First off, the dining room at patio are super cute and intimate, which I love.
Came here with the family and they let us have our dog on the patio, no questions asked. To start they gave us delicious garlic bread for free, yeah! Hate when they charge you. Then I had the organic argula salad and the hubby had the caprese salad. Both were amazing, with very light dressing. The caprese had the best mozarella and beefsteak tomatoes, which are hard to find.
For my entrée, I had La Reina, which has New Zealand mussels (the best kind in the world!), scallops, shrimp, and fish. I could only eat half of it after my giant salad but it was so good. Everyone in our group loved their entrees too, which included the lasagna, bologense, and chicken florentine. Plus our server was very nice and attentive. I will definitely be back.
Also they have a happy hour with ½ off salads and appetizers from 4 to 6, even on weekends :)

Old venice has some of the best pizza in San Diego! Wonderful dining ambiance, me and my wife enjoyed every minute being there. The service was top notch and so was the win selection!
Next time we are in San Diego this will definitely be our choice for dinner!
I suggest you try it for yourself!

A Secret Lies Within
Whether you enter from the front or thru the back, you will be pleasantly surprised («that’s what she said?») of the cozy décor and amazing outdoor courtyard as you sit beneath lightly covered patio with lights all around you. The ambiance of the space is quite telling of Italy. They were able to capture the italian experience to the ‘T’.
The Table Bread — Say No More.
I wish that could be made into a song. If I had all night I would write about how the table bread changed my life. If it were a cottage, I would buy it, live it forever, keep it so clean, have people over on weekends. So warm, with its crunchy crust and gooey insides. It needs absolutely no olive oil, BUT if you choose to add it, it adds magical depth of flavor. Wow.
Threes Company
Three dishes we got were the cream of the crop (Why do people use that saying? Weird. Cream doesn’t grow on crops. If it did, what kind of cream would it be?).
First dish was Magical Mushrooms. I know why they call it Magical Mushrooms, but I can’t tell you, you’ll have to experience that for yourselves. I am always down for a tasty stuffed mushroom dish, although they could have been bigger for the price.
Second was meat lasagna. Can’t ever go wrong with those babies. Unlike a lot of places that overcook their pasta and cheese, this place cooks it perfectly so there are no burning crusts and hard pasta.
Third and best was La Regina. Regina must have been an italian goddess because this dish is absolutely amazing. That is if you aren’t allergic to shell fish or seafood. If so, please stay away or else you will look like Will Smith in Hitch. The dish had so much flavor and depth. The more you ate the more you got all the flavors of the clams, mussels, squid, scallops, crab, and shrimp at the bottom with the pasta.