TRATTORIA ITRULLI — Restaurant in Encinitas

I guess I'm surprised this place is still in business. My wife and I went for dinner with another couple some time ago and 3 out of the 4 main dishes were absolutely tasteless and simply not worth eating let alone paying $60+ for. One of the dishes in question was the lobster ravioli that tasted like paste packets floating in tomato sauce, and the other two dishes were chicken and so unremarkable that I have forgotten the name.

We called over the waiter after sampling our dinners and told her to take them back. She returned with the same plates a short time later saying that the chef said there was no problem with the food and proceeded to put the plates back in front of us. I have eaten at many high-end establishments, and the proper thing to do when a customer sends food back to the kitchen is to apologize and offer something else. This didn't happen. Instead, when we decided to call the evening a total disaster and just move on (still really hungry), we got the bill and found that we were to pay for the 3 rejected dishes.

We called over the owner and asked her to fix the situation, to which she responded "you don't get to tell me how to charge at my restaurant, I'll give you 1/2 off" Frankly, I just don't get why she opted to handle it that way because by now, most of the restaurant was staring at the scene at our table. We calmly informed her that we had sent the food back to the kitchen uneaten and we simply would not pay for any of it. In the end we got our way, but I suspect after the details were explained to several adjacent tables, we're not the only ones who won't ever go back there.

Very...

Let me start by stating that this review is by no means a reflection of the service or the quality of food we received. It is a reflection of this establishment not vetting their new hires more thoroughly, thus causing a very stressful atmosphere for my wife's birthday dinner. On Feb. 4th, 2024, my wife chose Trattoria | Trullia as her go to for her birthday dinner, as she has many times in the past. During those visits the service and food was always top notch. However, this visit was different. See, my wife works at another restaurant over in Cardiff, which sits right on the beach, and she as well as some of her fellow co-workers were the victims of sexual harassment. A fellow co-worker had been under the influence of drugs and was grabbing his fellow female coworkers inappropriately. This person was immediately fired. Imagine my wife's distress when we arrived at Trattoria and he was now employed there. She sat through our entire meal, while not saying anything to our group for fear of ruining her the dinner vibe and causing a scene. This was HER birthday dinner. He had even come to our table and bussed a couple dishes in close proximity to her and then promptly, kept his distance. She only informed me of her distress after we arrived home. I am sure you can only imagine how absolutely infuriated I was upon learning of this. Having grown up in Leucadia and patronized this establishment many many times, its saddens me that I can no longer recommend this establishment to my friends or family until this new hire no longer works here. I would ask that this establishment vet its new...

I made reservations at this restaurant based on the high ratings and reviews. We are frequent Del Mar and Solana Beach visitors, and we are constantly trying new restaurants in the area. I was excited to try this place, what a disappointment. We arrived on time, were seated within a few minutes. Our server came to the table with bread and marinara, and asked if we wanted water- “yes” we replied. He brought a pitcher of water, and super aggressively poured it into our cups. We don’t want ice in our water but we didn’t really have a choice, he continued to pour it after we asked for no ice. He spilled the water all over the table, into the marina and bread plate, onto my husband’s hands and sleeves! And walked away. I got up and took the plate of bread and sauce and gave it to him by the kitchen and told him “ you spilled water all over the plate and the table” he took the plate and a few minutes later brought back the same exact plate I gave to him- with water all over it! I couldn’t believe it, we took our coats and left. Horrible service and horrible attitude. Not a single person from the front of the house approached us as we were leaving, they all saw us leave, made eye contact with us- one even smiling! Train your staff better, you are in the service industry. Your quality of food can only take you so far, if it’s even that good. Comments form my 9 YO son, “This waiter was a bad experience. So if you have reservations here, let this be a...