Isola Pizza Bar — Restaurant in San Diego

A PERFECT DATE NIGHT ! This has always been one of our fav restaurants in San Diego. And it was about time we came back again so I jumped online and reserved a table for 2 at 6pm on Saturday. We planned on arriving in Little Italy a tad early so we could nail a street parking spot...no such luck. When we drove slowly past Isola Pizza Bar just before 5.30pm the length of India St was packed out. Luckily we found a parking lot on the corner of Beech and Union St not too far up the road. We walked down to the restaurant and arrived at the hostess desk at 5.45pm. The young hostess showed my wife to our table towards the rear of the restaurant while I took a couple of pics. IT WAS GREAT TO BE BACK ! Funny enough we were both concerned that given how long it had been since we were last here....we would not know any of the staff. THAT CHANGED QUICKLY ! A sharp looking guy walked out of the kitchen and I recognized him from the Isola Pizza Bar in La Jolla when it first opened a few years ago. Raffaele the manager ( for the last 4 years ) and I had a lovely chat about old times when he was the pizza chef ( a good one too ) at La Jolla. I went and joined my wife at our table. A lovely server named Renata came by to check on us. Renata herself had worked at the La Jolla location also but not recently. I kicked things off with a Harland Brewing Co Hazy IPA and a couple of waters. I asked Renata about complimentary bread and she said no problem. We decided to order PENNE AL RAGU ( slowly braised bolognese ragu, parmigiano ) and a QUATTRO CARNI WOOD-FIRED PIZZA ( fennel sausage, spicy salame, pancetta, guanciale, mozzarella tomato sauce ) for our entrees. The restaurant was pretty much packed out by now. It's a long narrow space inside with a full bar on the left as you walk in and most of the tables are situated on the right side past the elegant ISOLA mural adorning the restrooms ( to enter just push the wall ). My chilled glass and can of ice cold hazy IPA hit the table within seconds courtesy of our server Renata. And then out came our COMPLIMENTARY ARTISAN FLATBREAD with dipping sauce ( balsamic vinegar and olive oil ) courtesy of Kristina the food runner. Now when we first entered the restaurant I spotted the quite tall Kristina who looked very familiar and sure enough Kristina remembered us from our many dinner visits to their La Jolla restaurant. HOW LOVELY ! My ice cold beer tasted very refreshing and the artisan flatbread was el perfecto. WHOOPEE...Kristina delivered our dinner order and didn't everything look MOUTHSATIONAL ! We like to share our entrees so some fabulous pasta to start quickly followed by a slice of delicious wood-fired pizza. OH YEAH....the Ragu sauce had rich flavor and the pasta tasted just right. Our Quattro Carni Pizza tasted as good as it gets....the incredible texture & flavor of the crust was mouthwatering and the fennel sausage / spicy salame really hit the spot. BRING ON THE DESSERT ! Now soon after we arrived I checked in on Yelp and got a FREE DESSERT OFFER. I have never bothered to take up any of the Yelp check in deals ever but on this occasion YES PLEASE ! When Renata came back to see if we wanted dessert I ordered the BUDINO ( Heaven in a Glass ) and my wife ordered TIRAMISU. They came out fast and tasted wonderful....we shared of course. We thanked Renata our server, Raffaele the manager and Kristina the food runner for making our dinner visit...

Verdure Al Forno (wood roasted vegetables, goat cheese, garlic confit, bagna-cauda dressing on the side) I really love how a little vegetables but not oily at all and quite large portion size on there. Be ask for the dressing on the side but didn't really need it after having that garlic and the goat cheese and chicken. Chicken was a little overcooked though so a little bit of a minus point there but love how they actually gave us that whole bulb of garlic and we could squeeze it out which was fun.

Salamino Piccante Pizza (spicy salame, mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil, parmigiano) 10/10 Just the perfect amount of spice and good balance of everything going on. Quite a good pizza to be honest! Crust was nice and thin and sides had good amount of bread (some might find it much though). Some portions were a little less done, but I think they just took this out a little early.

Mozzarella Affumicata. E Peperoncini Pizza 10/10 (smoked mozzarella, spicy cherry peppers, tomato sauce, parmigiano) Damn they actually got this spicy! But a good spicy though. Simple and delicious!

Ortolana Vegetariana Pizza (eggplant, zucchini, broccoli, olives, bell pepper, mozzarella, fontina) 9/10 White sauce pizza that was actually quite loaded with vegetables which was nice. The other vegetarian pizza felt a little empty on top in comparison with this, but this was nice! The eggplant was not very flavorful though.

Ricotta & Spinach Ravioli - 9/10 very flavorful And I was surprised how stuffed and lovely it was! The portion size is fairly small in comparison with all the other food, but that's how raviolis usually are. So definitely recommend getting something else if you're planning on getting this for your entree.

Friends got some olives for the table and it was nice how it came with some bread on the side. That bread was finished even before the olives haha.

As for service, beyond the server, I wound say the lady who was cleaning the table and such was a real gem! She only spoke Spanish and neither of us did, but she really helped us out! Offered us a new table that was away from the door since we were cold, and even got me honey when I asked for some to add...

Isola Pizza Bar is the real deal if you want truly authentic Napoli style, wood burning oven-made pizza. After all, the owner/chef, Massimo, is from Naples, Italy, the city that invented pizza. As are several of his staff and all of his recipes - many of which he says were taken directly from his grandmother's kitchen in Naples.

We've been going to Isola since it opened and it hasn't lost its charm on us or its momentum in gaining new regulars. It is, hands down, the best pizza in Little Italy - and possibly the best Italian restaurant in San Diego. We've brought our friends there and created instant converts each time. Everything there is excellent. There's very little reason to go any other place around that pretends Italian cuisine; this place IS Italian!

And the food doesn't just taste good, the quality of their food is way above average. They use as many farm-fresh, local ingredients as are available. I'd love to say that they're following the current trend of using local ingredients, but c'mon people, this isn't a new thing; this is how food used to be! Massimo and his team are merely doing what he knows is right; use fresh, high quality stuff and things will taste superior. It's that easy! The only two things he imports are 1) the flour for his pizza dough, which he has specially sent from Naples, and 2) the wine, most of which comes from his brother's winery in Italy. Try the barbaresco. Mmm!

The place itself is stylish and modern without being austere or pretentious at all. In fact, I find it downright comfy. It has an overall clean appeal and reminds me of a friend's dining room. But the bar is our favorite place to park it. And if you make friends with Nick the bartender, you'll be in good hands the whole night.

All in all, Isola is rocking Little Italy to a new and well needed level of sophistication and quality. As long they keep doing exactly what they're doing, they...