Caffè Calabria — Restaurant in San Diego

FIRST CLASS ! Now that dine-out is back on the table around San Diego my wife and I had to have lunch at our favorite place asap ! So we jumped in the car and headed down to San Diego on Saturday morning to tick off a few boxes on our list. After parking our wheels at the Ace Parking Garage ( only $1 an hour ) on 29th St we walked the short distance to Caffe Calabria and arrived around 12.45pm. There were a few people enjoying coffees at tables on the sidewalk patio out front and of course no dine-in. It was great to see Paul the manager and Tony the barista again. I had a 1 lb bag of Calabria Organic Mexican whole roasted coffee beans waiting for me which I ordered by phone on Friday. Paul took our order for 2 x Cinques ( slightly taller than Cortados ) with 2% milk & Hazelnut Syrup and 1 x Rubino wood-fired Pizza ( Speck, Caramelized Onions. Gorgonzola, Grana, Mozzarella Fior di Latte & Thyme ). We had never tried the Rubino before but it sounded great ! Just a note that every time we order pizza from Paul we are reminded that we can get 2 pizzas for $19.....WHATTA DEAL ! Tony the barista did a superb job making our Cinques ( in glasses by request ). We sat at a little table on the sidewalk and totally savored our deliciously rich tasting Cinques ( 2 shots in a 7 oz glass with steamed milk ). Pizza Chefs Blake and Jake were manning the pizza oven and within a few minutes our delectable looking Rubino thin crust pizza hit our table courtesy of Jake. Trust me.....it can't get any better than the best coffee on the planet and an amazing tasting pizza right here. Blake the barista ( there are at least 2 Blakes here ) who we have known for some time came by our table to have a friendly chat. There is something about the melded flavor of Gorgonzola & Caramelized Onions that sends our tastebuds into sensory overload. Needless to say every single morsel of our Rubinio Pizza disappeared from the plate. Lately we have been treating ourselves to some desert here....like the decadent Chocolate Temptation but we made a promise to ourselves to try a new gelato place around the corner. We took our soiled plates & glasses inside and ran into Arne the owner who was looking very chilled out. I mentioned to Arne that our Rubino pizza tasted awesome and we were now heading to Gelati & Peccati for some gelato. Arne gave their gelato a huge endorsement so we knew dessert was going to be special ! There is no other cafe like...

It pains me to write a negative review about Caffe Calabria, but I unfortunately had a terrible experience at a spot that has long been one of my favorite coffee shops/pizza spots in the neighborhood. While the food and beverages are still really great, a man who (I think) was the owner was incredibly rude during my visit there today.

Since I moved to San Diego in 2005, I have visited Caffe Calabria countless times. Sometimes, it was just to pick up a cup of coffee during a weekend walk, other times it was to work/study while eating lunch, cookies and lattes, or to stop in for pizza and cocktails. On one occasion, I reserved the back patio for a group for dinner and drinks for a nonprofit I volunteer for.

Until today, service from the staff has always been kind and efficient, and it's been a place I frequent on at least a weekly basis (sometime more frequently if I was really craving a bicerin).

Cut to this afternoon, when I was there on a very slow Monday around lunchtime. I was there to eat lunch, meet a friend and to do some writing around 11 a.m., but after ordering and sitting down, I realized my laptop was starting to die. I looked around for a plug and didn't find one near me, so I moved to one of the only three tables that did have one under them. I did see that they had signs saying the tables were for eating only and no computers or crafts could be done at those tables (other tables said no computers after 3 p.m.), but since more than half the tables were empty and I had just bought a sandwich and two coffees for myself, I thought it would be OK to sit there while my laptop charged for a bit while waiting for my friend to arrive.

Then the owner came over and rudely reiterated the rule to me. He kept saying "it's fine today because we're slow, but for future reference, we don't allow computers at these three tables." I tried to apologize as I explained my situation, but he kept being very rude toward me, adding that computers were banned at the only tables that have plugs "by design" because he doesn't want people working on computers in his cafe.

I understand having rules, and explaining these rules if you're busy and need to turn tables, but it's quite another thing to berate someone about it. I am not sure when it changed from being a welcoming place, but this lack of decency was unacceptable. I'll miss the pizza and coffee, but unfortunately the way he treated me means I...

My wife and I stopped in on Saturday December 1 at about 3:00pm. We were the only customers there at the time that required service. A couple of other people were there sitting at tables and already had their food and drinks. Anyhow, we ordered a couple of drinks and a danish. We took a seat. The danish came right up. Tasty. Danish gone. No drinks. Hmmm. Walked backed and forth in front of the service counter several times, thinking that the drinks would be up soon. Wrong. No drinks. The two girls working the counter were just giggling among themselves doing nothing. As I stood there looking at them, one of them said "Oh". She then pulls a receipt off the printer and hands it to the other giggling girl. They had somehow overlooked the only order they had in front of them. OK, whatever. I go back to the table and sit with my wife for awhile. Still no drinks. So my wife goes up to the counter and the girls are now giggling because they have spilled our drinks. At which point my wife asks for a refund. Now the girls are no longer giggling. They are just simply rude to my wife. They first claim to not know how to process a refund on the POS. Somehow they manage to come up with the cash. Throughout this entire ordeal there was never a hint of an apology from either giggling girl. Just more giggling. Wow. But don't feel bad for me or my wife or any other customers subjected to this treatment. No. There are plenty of other local shops that deserve our business. And will get mine. I just feel badly for the owner of this business. These two girls are "earning" at least $11.50 an hour while they waste the owner's product and turn away customers. What a deal. It really is a shame that such a nice place can be ruined by employees that...