Allegro Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in San Diego

Unacceptable Service and Disappointing Experience

I had high expectations for Allegro in San Diego, but unfortunately, the entire experience was a disaster from start to finish. We were in town celebrating a dear friend's bachelorette party, and this was supposed to be a special night. Instead, it turned into a huge disappointment.

From the moment we sat down, our server, Benjamin, was visibly rude. He rolled his eyes when we ordered our drinks, setting a sour tone for the evening. But the worst part was still to come. I had ordered the clam linguini, and after my very first bite, I found a sharp object lodged in my throat. I became panicked and ran to the restroom to try to get the object out. It turned out to be a large broken piece of a clam shell, about 2 inches long. After a few attempts, I was able to force myself to throw up the shell. I stood in the bathroom stall in tears over what just happened.

I immediately notified the manager, who shockingly asked why it was even an issue and suggested I take a shot of limoncello to alleviate the pain. This response was incredibly disrespectful and dismissive, considering how dangerous the situation could have been. We then asked if they were going to comp the dish, and instead of addressing the concern, our server argued with us, raising his voice and saying it wasn't a big deal. When we asked to speak with the manager again, Benjamin reluctantly agreed, only after more arguing.

The manager returned and told us that pieces of clam shell in the pasta were "normal" and that was how the dish was prepared. Both the manager and the server said "that is the risk you take when ordering this dish", somewhat saying "order at your own risk!" The manager seemed annoyed that we were even asking for compensation for what was clearly an unacceptable mistake. After much back and forth, they finally agreed to comp the one dish--out of a $700 bill.

To top it off, we later discovered they had added a $50 bottle of wine to our bill that no one ordered, likely trying to make up for comping the dish and hoping we wouldn't notice.

For a restaurant that charges premium prices, the service and handling of this situation were beyond unprofessional. What was supposed to be a special night ended up being a stressful and disappointing experience. I highly recommend avoiding Allegro if you're looking for good service and a quality...

Had dinner as a party of seven to celebrate my daughter's graduation. Service got off on the wrong foot when they tried to squeeze 7 of us into a table meant for six, including my 88 year old handicapped uncle. We had to ask for another chair to be brought over for my uncle to sit at the end of the table, where we were all now cramped for table space on that end.

Then came the "sparkling or still" water question, to which I say, "still is fine". And then, haha, jokes on me, you got me Allegro! The waiter starts pouring $7.50 a bottle water to all of us. Before I realize what has just happened, I'm $15 in to a cost I did not intend. On top of it, the server leaned right into me to reach across the table, attempting to pour water to the other side of the table, spilling quite a bit on the table in the process (and not cleaning it up). I had to pull the waiter aside and confirm that he was charging us for water. I said ok, you got me, but I don't want any more bottles. I would like our water refilled when needed, but with tap. He says ok. Then about 20 minutes later a different server comes with another new $7.50 bottle. I tell her that we said we do NOT want any more bottles and she mumbled something about ok, but then it was on the bill at the end. I felt completely swindled, but figured I would take it off the tip as the waiter was complicit in this deception. But joke's on me again...the tip is already set at 18%. And what's this? A bonus 3.95% "service charge" that was not listed on the menu as far as I could see. Now we're entering into theft territory. The new California law starting July 1st banning these shady practices can not come soon enough.

On top of this, the restaurant was so noisy that conversation was difficult and the table next to us (indoors) had a dog at their table (on their laps at times) which just seems like it can't be in compliance with health code. But they seemed to know the owner or manager by the way they were interacting with him.

So, why 2 stars and not 1? My family all enjoyed their pasta dishes and the oysters were good. The ossobuco was just ok.

Overall, this is clearly a tourist trap place and they obviously don't depend on return customers. They took me for a ride, and there's nothing I can do about it but leave this review and hope I save at least one person from choosing this restaurant...

The absolute worst service we have ever received at any restaurant. We were visiting from out of town and saw this place pop up on our TikTok for little Italy and called to make a reservation. We had a weird experience calling to book, they made it out like they were squeezing us in and barely accommodating us when their OpenTable had reservations open every 15 minutes for the entire evening. We had requested outdoor patio seating but were sat in an indoor patio space with windows open instead surrounded by large parties. Sheylyn was our server and was frankly terrible. We ordered a coke, garlic knots, and cheese wheel pasta. Our soda came in a glass that was filthy, crusted on food coming off the rim of the glass and food remnants in the drink. It took about 20 min to get her attention to get a new soda. We sat with empty glasses for 90% of our meal service and had to beg for her attention in between her giving stellar service to the birthday parties around us. The indoor patio area we were seated in was so crammed the cheese wheel pasta could not really be served to us and there was absolutely 0 presentation aspect to it. The server “presenting” the cheese wheel pasta dumped the pasta from a skillet into the cheese and made no attempt to stir it or toss it around as the pathway was so narrow he was blocking the other servers trying to walk by and instead used the opportunity to keep touching his wig that he was wearing with no hair net. The proteins were served on the side unseasoned with no sauce and in an ice cold bowl. More than 1/2 of our pasta had no sauce on it and was so stuck together from being cooked poorly that it was impossible to eat. In an hour and a half we were able to track down our server 1 time for a drink refill, and even when we managed to do that, she took drink orders for a big party AFTER us and brought them 10 drinks from the bar before our soda. The server never asked how our food was, if our dinner tasted good, even when we left with 2 practically untouched plates of food. Literally the only redeemable part of this meal was the garlic knots. They were good but not good enough to justify the headache of an evening we had for the whopping price of $108! Shockingly we were still charged for the soda served to us with someone else’s food visibly all over the glass. Definitely would avoid this place...