Cucina Caprese Pizzeria & Trattoria — Restaurant in San Diego

Arrived here when a friend recommended it, hailed as a gem among grad students. Park on the street or church lot.

You're greeted by a cute stone oven and some very Italian employees eager to serve, joke, and take your order.

I split a "meat lovers" (I forgot the actual menu name) with my friend, but you could easily finish one yourself for a lunch time meal too.

The pizza itself is simply phenomenal.

The dough is extremely light and fluffy, yet the gluten resists easy breakage. Some pizzas require you to brace your neck while you grind your teeth and muscle your arm away in the hopes of ripping a piece of the crust off. You're chewing it because you don't want to waste food, not because it's enjoyable.

This however, is the perfect amount of effort to chew. As soon as your teeth meet, the deed is done, your hands are only there to support the rest of the slice as it falls away. And there's a bit of char to contrast the marinara and subtle sweetness of the meatball, pepperoni, and pancetta.

What's more impressive is how the entire bottom remains crisp during consumption. This is in spite of all the oil, meat, and sauce juices that permeate the top.

I recommend you pick off a piece of pepperoni or sausage and savor it before melding it with the section you took it away from. You can better appreciate how these components come together as a slice. Or just wolf it down, you won't be disappointed either way.

Leave work, leave class, take an Uber, it's worth a try and really...

Total disappointment in food and service. I thought the food was gonna be good because they had a lot of to go orders band they busy on a Friday night.

Out of the 4 dishes, the pizza was the only item we liked. however it's was a cheese pizza topped with meat and arugula. The pricuotto and arugula were not baked in. The server bragged about those pizza but URBN and Siamo Napoli are far better.

For the 2 pasta dishes - I tasted the pasta water they were boiled in. It tasted like they been using the same pasta water for over a week. This pasta water overpowered the marinara sauce.

The gnocchi was horrible. It's the worst gnocchi I've ever had. We brought it home and even the dog didn't like it.

The lasagna isn't cheesy as one would normally expect. It tasted like boiled ground beef and pasta water.

The focaccia bread is just pizza cheese with EVOO on top...what a joke.

The couple next to us also didn't like their food.

Service want great either - but it was a busy night.

They should eat at Siamo Napoli to get pointers on what true Southern Italian food should taste like. Plus their service is outstanding. Never has a disappointing meal with them even if they are busy.

Read the other recent reviews because I'm not making this up.

Also they charged an extra $1 tip for every person in our table without any authorization (see pic). Imagine the money they make on every customer they...

I was looking for some really good authentic Italian pizza and my friend had recommended this place. I must say that it did not disappoint! From the moment we walked in, our waiter was so friendly; He immediately greeted us and also let us pick what table we wanted to sit at. One of the first things that I noticed was how cute the atmosphere was and I really enjoyed all the art on the walls. The waiter told me it was all from local artists, which I thought was super cool. The waiter was so nice and so knowledgeable about all the food. Honestly, it was such a refreshing experience to have a waiter who could actually make good and informative suggestions on the food the restaurant serves. We both ended up getting a pizza because they sounded so good. All the ingredients were imported from Italy actually and I thought that was pretty impressive. The pizza did not disappoint!! I feel like it’s the best pizza I’ve ever had actually. I loved how thin it was but also so cheesy and filling. I was very impressed and so happy with my decision to come here!! I also enjoyed their crème brûlée for dessert!! It was very light and so tasty. Besides the food being so good, the staff were so friendly and welcoming. I would absolutely recommend this restaurant to anyone wanting authentic Italian food or just an amazing pizza because this place is...