Enoteca Adriano — Restaurant in San Diego

Date of visit: 5/3/2017

Cam and I haven't been here for a few years because both times we had come prior, the service was terrible (they stuck us in a corner and ignored us). However, I really wanted Italian food and they have free corkage Monday - Wednesday, so we decided to make a reservation and head over.

We were about 20 minutes early for our reservation, but the hostess told us it wasn't an issue and we were seated immediately. Our waitress, Ada, came over with some waters and explained the specials for the night. Apparently Wednesday is the only day they do lasagna, so it was more crowded than usual. I'd recommend making a reservation if you want to try the lasagna, not only did it look tasty, it must taste amazing because there were a ton of people there. Having looked at the menu online prior to our visit, we didn't order the lasagna, but we are definitely considering it for our next visit.

Focaccia. For the complimentary bread, they serve focaccia, which is absolutely amazing with their olive oil and balsamic vinegar mixture. We actually asked for another serving of this to go with my bruschetta and Cam more than happily ate the few pieces that remained.

Bruschetta. If you like bruschetta, then I definitely recommend this dish. For $7, it was a very generous portion of tomatoes - I actually needed to ask for more focaccia to finish off this dish. Since Cam doesn't like tomatoes, I actually ate all of this by myself and was extremely full afterwards. To be honest, I might just order this as a main dish next time because it was so delicious. I'd recommend asking for more of the complimentary focaccia though since I had a ton of tomatoes left.

Gnocchi Pollo. Cam ordered this dish because the last time we were here, the gnocchi was absolutely amazing (despite the terrible service). Unfortunately, this was not the same gnocchi, but it was still really tasty. I wasn't a big fan of the chicken in the dish - it was dry and hard to eat, but the sauce and gnocchi were great.

Orecchiette Bosco. I was extremely full after polishing off the bruschetta by myself, but I had a few bites of my dish and was really excited to taste a well balanced and delicious red sauce with sausage. The orecchiette was okay - it kind of tasted like the pasta from Trader Joe's but still good. Next time, I'll probably ask if they can make this dish with gnocchi instead of orecchiette.

Overall, I definitely recommend coming to Enoteca Adriano for some good Italian food. I really enjoyed the bruschetta and am looking forward to eating my leftover orecchiette for lunch. I also recommend coming Monday - Wednesday if you want to bring your own wine since there's no corkage fee on those days. Finally, make a reservation because they had much better service this time than the time a...

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such mediocre hostess in my life. Making the reservation was incredibly tedious and rude, but the waitress’s service was excellent.

I went here twice with my family. We got the same waitress who was kind and friendly with my family (including two young kids) but the service from a different lady- hostess at the front (?) and other staff was the worst I’ve ever experienced in my life.

Originally, we were put in a tiny corner with no views, even though more than 20 seats were empty, and we immediately saw another better seated area for our family. We asked if we could move, and they talked amongst themselves. I saw the hostess shake her head dismissively. Not even seated and already rude to us. We were finally seated and thankfully we got our favorite waitress, who was kind to us. She and the rest of the staff however, rushed a lot. She tried to slow down at one point and tell us not to rush, so I give her credit, but the staff seemed continuously frantically rushed to get customers in and out, never smiling. At one point I overheard the rude hostess (not ours) literally toss a menu at some guy waiting for his date, and say “here you go… oh I meant- enjoy”. Wow, at least I know it wasn’t personal. That same rude waitress gave us attitude the day before as well. I tipped our thoughtful waitress 50% on top of the automatically-included 20% service fee since she was consistently wonderful to us, and of course we had 2 unruly toddlers.

I didn’t want to ruin my 7+ party’s dinner so I waited until after we left to leave this review. I also want to acknowledge our waitress that treated us well, but… don’t come here expecting good service.

So what about the food? Well… the Chardonnay seemed good, so I give them credit there. The desserts were wonderful as well.

Cheesy bread appetizers were pretty good, but that’s hard to do wrong. Lobster ravioli presentation was sloppy (see picture) but tasted good. Wasn’t filling at all though for the person who ordered it- thankfully there was other food. Short rib with ricotta was very decent, but the pasta’s sauce was too bland. Mushroom Pasta was noticeably bland, probably meant to pair with a wine. Nothing noticeable about the cod.

This place seemed like the food was made to pair with a wine, rather than eaten separately.

If you’re not a wine snob, skip this place. If you want to eat good Italian food, ehhh… this place is mediocre. If you want to get good hosting, maybe skip this place.

If you just want a place with outdoor seating and a nice atmosphere, it could be a place to grab a bite.

Just don’t your breath for a good hostess. Nearly ruined my family’s night. Thankfully, the service by the waitress made up...

Oh my gosh. When they said that this was the best Italian food in San Diego they weren’t kidding!!! It was absolutely fabulous. The portions are generous, and even with five of us we didn’t get to taste near the food I would have liked to, but it sure gives me something to look forward to, as I am determined to come back to the San Diego area for many reasons, but Enoteca Adriano is right up there at the top . Then there was our server, Ada. She was fantastic personable, knowledgeable, explained the dishes to the T!!!! You could almost taste the food from her descriptions. Her service along with that of her cohorts that brought some of the dishes to the table was impeccable. I’m sorry to say I forgot how many years she said she was working here. I believe it was at least five, but possibly many more. She is just a gem!!! Our ticket said 3 were dining but there were 5 of us. So we chose two appetizers to begin with, both of them House favorites. Enoteca Adriania was Fresh burrata wrapped with parma prosciutto, arugula, fresh fig jam, baby heirloom tomatoes, crostini. Burrata Special was Fresh burrata with tomato relish and steamed fresh butternut squash cubed and topped with frisée and fig jam-(my recollection prob not as perfect as dish was)served with crostini. 2 of us chose to indulge in a glass of Aglionica Red Wine 🍷 . My daughter really enjoyed her entree of Orecchiette Bosco which was Minced Italian sausage, creamy tomato parsley sauce, bread crumbs, (Gluten free or eggless options on pasta) Our friend Rosa and my hubby both ordered the special which was Lasagne. Fresh sheets of pasta layered with meatballs and fresh tomato 🍅 sauce topped with Burrata. It was truly divine. B. Ordered the Ravioli Rossi which was delectable tender Lobster filled ravioli, tiger shrimp, and a lobster reduction sauce. She commented that she “was in heaven”. I ordered the Gnocchi di Casa which were-the plumpest pillows of Potato dumpling, gorgonzola, spinach, topped with crushed walnuts. It was the best gnocchi I’ve ever eaten! We spoiled ourselves even more with Lattes and Cappuccinos. We ordered Cannolis and Tiramisu- and even enjoyed a Limoncello. It was an exquisite evening and experience-The food and service created the perfect ambiance. I can’t...