Toscana Cafe & Wine Bar

Visited Gaslamp last minute with family over memorials day weekend, since most of the restaurants we wanted to try had a 30 – 50 min wait time, we decided to try Toscana. Since there was no wait at all — that should’ve been our first warning sign.
The chicken pasta I ordered was severely under seasoned, the chicken was ridiculously over-​cooked! I took a couple bites and lost my appetite.
My mom ordered their sea food risotto. The risotto was crunchy and underseasoned as well. My mom took a couple bites of the fish and couldn’t shake this weird aftertaste. We returned both dishes and the restaurant did take it off the bill.
My mom threw up after we got home.
In addition to my concerns over the freshness of their ingredient. The kitchen clearly does not taste their food before sending it out. They have no respect for «Italian» food or their customers!
Will never go back to this place.

Had breakfast. it was an omelette, very small portions and it tasted awful. The service was also very bad, ignored most of the time and the people that worked there seemed to have an attitude about themselves. I guess they thought they were above everyone else. I had a coffee, it was not very good either and overpriced. The breakfast was not very good and the coffee was gross. And I don’t like overpaying for gross food and coffee. its an upscale area of downtown and they don’t care about customer service at all. just money and a tip. Skip the lines and try 3 bars down. thank you.

Decent food, bad service. One person in our party wanted infused water and another did not. The waiter suggested that we should just share the infused water, and then took forever to bring a tiny glass of plain water when we said we didn’t want to. Odd. There were very few people present at lunchtime and we had to walk around to locate our server to get the bill.

If I could give this place a zero I would. Place wasn’t full. It was barely 6pm. The waiter forgot our drink order, then came back much later to say they were out of Sprite. After 15 minutes came back and said they lost our order. 20 minutes later still had no food and we were only ordering spaghetti. Waiter never came to check back, when he finally did told us 4 more minutes. We gave them 6 then finally walked out. I saw lots of people waiting for food. Hope they didn’t have to wait as long as we did.

My wife and I were all set to head out to Eddie V’s for dinner when one of our friends had to cancel so we decided to try something different. Since we were staying right near this place and I had mentioned it before to my wife, she really wanted to give it a shot since she has traveled to Italy several times and always likes to see how places match up to the real thing.
There is absolutely nothing that I can complain about this restaurant. My wife felt the same way. Very warm greeting upon entering, they were quick to acknowledge us at the bar and our bartender, Peter was excellent. He recommended the Albarino for me and my wife got a glass of Pinot Grigio. Both were good choices.
We usually opt for small plates so we tried the Toscana Mediterranean Dip. It was fresh, perfectly executed and the crostini tasted like it was just made in the oven. A complete homerun over your basic hummus that you get at most places with flatbread.
We then moved on to the Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella. Another fantastic dish. What I liked was that the Balsamic Reduction wasn’t overdone to the point where it soaked the greens. It really was well balanced.
This was quite the find for us and we have already talked about returned when we come down again on the 4^th weekend. It’s hard for some of the smaller, more boutique places to standout in a competitive marketplace like the Gaslamp but Toscana more than held its own in that regard.

Went on a Saturday evening with my coworker. Service was meh! Had to ask for water refill and it took a while before I even got a glass of water.
I ordered the shrimp scampi. To my surprise, the shrimp was battered and deep fried! Not good when trying to eat healthy and never saw shrimp scampi prepared that way. To top it off, the noodles were flavorless.
We both ordered the same salad but my coworker got a different salad (it was really obvious!). She politely asked the waiter if it was the correct salad. He insisted it was. Really? My coworker sent it back nevertheless and got the correct one. Note: We overheard them arguing in the kitchen about a salad that was missing.
My coworker ordered the lobster ravioli on special. She wasn’t that impressed for the price but I tasted the sauce and I really liked it.
They’re worth another shot, but definitely do not want the same waiter!

Date of visit: 5÷22÷2016
After the TriRock Triathlon, I was starving and didn’t have the foresight to look up or make a reservation for any places in Gaslamp for my family (I’ll plan better next year). In addition to the conference going on, there weren’t a lot of great choices, so we just went into the closest area that was serving breakfast.
The prices looked a bit steep, but we were welcomed in by the hostess and seated immediately. This was nice since I know finding a table for 6 would be hard for Sunday brunch. My aunt and I both got mimosas, which were just okay. It was mostly sparkling wine with a touch of OJ. I’ve been in sweet tooth mode lately though and would have liked more juice.
Rise and Shine. For some reason, I wasn’t really in the mood for anything, so I opted for a simple breakfast with scrambled eggs and sausage. The best part of this dish was the potatoes and fruit. The eggs were way overcooked and the sausage was gross. I think they called it Italian sausage, but it was burnt and not tasty. The sourdough was decent, but I let my dad eat it.
My family seemed to enjoy their food enough. Cam and Nangsa ordered the pesto scramble, which was an interesting take on egg scrambles, but it seemed really dry. Anthony liked his dish too, but he said that the portion was kind of small.
Now, I don’t know much about plating, but I was really underwhelmed about the presentation of all our dishes. It really seemed like they just threw food on the plates and moved on.
Overall, Toscana is A-​OK in my book. Since they’re on the pricier side it seems to keep the crowds down, but next time I’ll have to research a better brunch place in Gaslamp.

The food is okay– the service was not good. We ordered Ceasar salad– they put tomatoes and it taste like balsamic! Why would they put tomatoes when I didn’t ask for tomato on my salad! then, the scampi pasta taste like boiled wateron the bottom, they deep fried the shrimp instead of sauté with butter and white wine! We didn’t complain anymore coz they might spit on our food! I ordered the ravioli with toomuch alfredo sauce– so we put them with the scampi to get the flavor! They need to change the cook and train the waiter better! One thing good os the Brucheetts that we got for free from Unilocal

Dropped in here for a late-​ish dinner on Thursday night, and my wife and I were seated right away at a nice table on the patio next to the railing, which was a good spot for people-​watching while we dined.
For dinner, I had the penne with sausage and peppers. I asked if it could be spiced up a bit, and the waiter said that wouldn’t be a problem. My wife ordered a spaghetti dish. We each enjoyed a cocktail while waiting for the food to arrive.
My penne was excellent — just the right amount of spice, and a generous serving that nearly filled the large bowl (see photo). My wife’s meal, on the other hand, was rather meager in size, maybe filling half of the bowl. It was strange to see the difference between our two portion sizes. Perhaps if we had gotten some bread with our meal, her much-​smaller portion would not have been so noticeable. Not sure why that wasn’t the case, since there were two slices placed in the box with my leftovers.
I would definitely return for the spiced-​up penne, but I’m not sure if I could talk my wife into returning.

Horrible service!!! We
Waiting 1 hour for lunch and had to leave before it arrived. The staff was rude and couldn’t be bothered.

Stopped in for lunch while visiting San Diego for a conference. The décor is super cute and feels Italian. It was pretty quiet when we were there (lunchtime on a weekday) and the service was good. We got paninis and a French dip and everyone enjoyed their meal. The ciabatta they use for sandwiches is great.
Overall it was a good experience, though it didn’t blow me away.

What is right with this picture? Italian restaurant in San Diego… #bad-​service #toscanacafe&winebar #italiancoffee #opensugar #bad-​coffee #
5min later lol:
Ok, the update is immediate… The reason? Immediate service recovery response! With genuine interest of the reasons behind the complaint and the ways to improve.
Way to go Toscana café. We will be back :)

Sucked in by the Tiramisu Pancakes. Left with a sour taste. We ordered 6 seperate dishes: Classic Benny, Regular Breakfast, French Toast, Chicken and Pesto Scramble, Tiramisu Pancakes, and the Egg white delight. Only ¹⁄₆ were edible.
–Hollindase tasted like vinegar.
–French toast came with fake maple syrup even though it was $ 16.
–Regular breakfast came with no syrup even though there are pancakes
–Chicken and the eggs were severely overcooked and bland.
–Tiramisu pancakes had nonexistent mascarpone and a syrup with a faint hint of coffee.
–The only thing slightly edible was the egg white delight.
To top it off our service was almost non existent as we had to ask twice for water and took 10 – 15 minutes to retrieve upon the second time asked. The only redeeming quality of this restaurant is the mediocre mimosas.

The drinks were fantastic! Everything else was absolutely abysmal. We were enticed by the promise of Tiramisu pancakes. Sounds good right? Very wrong. It’s meant to have coffee syrup and marscapone cheese on top. All of our meals were served with the same fake maple syrup. Literal corn syrup with brown dye. Absolutely disgusting, like slurping nasal drippings. What kind of $ 20 plate comes with fake syrup? The fruit: dry and flavorless. My pineapple was so white, SpongeBob SquarePants wouldn’t even recognize it.
Next up: the classic eggs Benedict. Served up with enough vinegar to pickle cucumbers. Egg shell included. Absolutely vomit worthy.
Want to add Applewood smoked bacon? That’ll be an extra $ 3.25. Better be some great bacon right? Wrong. What you get is some rubbery, flavorless strip of unidentifiable meat product. More grease than a can of Crisco.
The worst part: the service. What an absolute disgrace. I’ve had better hospitality at restaurants where I can’t even speak the language. Our server was apathetic, lethargic, lazy, and inept. He actually complained, COMPLAINED, that we needed our checks split. For a restaurant in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego with beautiful décor, splitting a check should be child’s play. Except our server even got that wrong. He charged me separately for my plate and my bacon. As in they came in two separate checkbooks. I took it upon myself to consolidate the bills into one. Then the impossible happened. He managed to screwup again: I was charged twice for my extra bacon and not at all for my plate.
I was left absolutely livid. Tell everyone you know to avoid this place like the plague.
Wipe this place from the map. They don’t even deserve your patronage. The local Broken Yolk offered better service in every category.
Drop by Café Chloe which is a few streets north. You will be well rewarded if you do.

In Sam Diego for a conference. Looking for somewhere to get coffee and a pastry. Service was friendly and prompt. Excellent latte and a delicious chocolate croissant.

I hate to give poor reviews, but…
#1 SERVICE: It took soooooooooo long to do everything at this place — ordering, getting drinks, getting our food. Our server was nice, but the overall service was terribly slow. And it was maybe (MAYBE) half full at 7:30 pm on a Saturday night.
#2 FOOD: The food was the biggest problem. I knew from the taste of the complimentary marinara that came with the bread that we might have a problem. Lasagna: flavorless, hard noodles, way too much fennel, too much flavorless ground beef. Sausage and peppers: sausage over cooked to the point of being turned into sausage jerky, pasta over cooked as well.
#3 PRICE: Prices were on the high to unreasonably high side even before we tried the food. After trying the food, the prices just don’t make sense.
This was just a bad overall experience. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but in an area with so many good restaurants, it’s inexcusable to have such poor food. I left upset. When the food you can turn out in your own kitchen is leaps and bounds better than what the restaurant provides, there’s a problem.
Also, wine does not seem to be stored at the proper temperature here.

what a sore disappointment for a place that looks so nice. I ate here today for lunch. (Mind you Im a local). I’ve walked by plenty of times thinking that I’d like to try it out since it looks so nice. Tuscan-​themed Italian flair, clean and cute.
I ordered the $ 19 steak sandwich with side salad. Horrible disappointment. Although it came out looking ok, it was absolutely disheartening how awfully plain it was. The side salad at this «Italian» place was a sad caesar salad. Sad as in Ive seen better at dive bars.
The sandwich was on a ciabatta bread-​good, but the steak, which was described as fine NY strip, looked like the cheapest scraps that they could overcook and slap on a sandwich. The description read grilled onion, But I got two tiny pieces of raw red onion. The tomato, sad sad day for these grilled tomatoes. The waitress recommended avocado as well. I got the two teeniest pieces on one half-​great addition there.
Overall, it was a disappointing lunch in the Gaslamp today. I recommend walking down a block or two to the new fish place or even one of the bars for and for a much much better tasting and priced lunch.

Gorgeous little corner bar/​café. I needed to buy a sandwich to go and this place was about 20 feet from my hotel. Upon opening the menu, I had a little sticker shock as most sandwiches were about $ 15.95, and I thought for a second I was still at the hotel. Guess it’s the high rent district here! Anyway, I had a seat at the bar as I waited for my order, and watched some of the memorial service for First Lady Nancy Regan on the bar TV. I really enjoyed the ambiance here and wished I had stopped in for happy hour the night before. My order – blackened ahi tuna wrap – was prepared fairly quickly, and it was delicious! Sorry no pics, I devoured it as I drove back to my home sweet home.

This is a cute little spot downtown. I had never been and a group of us were coming for brunch after a convention center workout. They have outdoor and indoor seating. At first they sat our group of 10 outside but it was a bit chilly so they made room for us inside. It wasn’t crowded on a Thursday New Year’s Eve morning.
I got the Classic Benny and my friend got the California Omelette and we shared. The California Omelette had some crab in it, which was different. If you don’t like seafood I suggest not ordering it. The benny was as it says in the name, classic. The sides were potatoes and fruit.
I ordered a bloody mary with bacon for $ 2 extra and a strawberry orange mimosa. Both very tasty. The mimosa was a heavy pour. No skinny flute glasses here.
Service was good. The bartenders were tending to the tables as well as the tables so for our big group they handled it well. We all parked in the street and paid the meters.

Rush hour! This place wasn’t my first choice, actually my guest and I was looking for a particular restaurant on Unilocal while walking but realized that we only had half an hour to find somewhere for lunch! I ordered the Italian panini, wasn’t all that great as I expected it to be the fresh mozzarella and tomatoes were tasty but that’s about it. Upon waiting on my lunch I decided to go to Mac Pro cosmetics next door, I quickly noticed the store while sitting on the patio. While I walked out of the restaurant I noticed that the host mentioned the great lunch specials and promotions for the restaurant. My guest and I didn’t hear anything about the lunch specials ;(. After paying for lunch I noticed that I was charged for the wrong dish! First time here not to impressed!