Mona Lisa Italian Foods — Restaurant in San Diego

I literary had the worst Italian food in my whole entire life and I have ate in Italy and here in the US a few other times in Little Italy Sandiego. I never fuss or complain as I worked in the rest business but I can’t let this one go. The dish I always have is veal sorentino which is a veal medallion dish with prosciutto,eggplant, cheese and a light marinara sauce. You really can’t mess it up . I called 3 days prior and asked if they could make that because they carried all the ingredient in the menu and the guy in the kitchen told me it shouldn’t be a problem. Well once we sat and ordered the food the server had no idea what the dish was ( no problem) and asked the kitchen and they said no they can’t make it ( no problem again) so I asked for the veal scallopini for me and my son and my other son had the veal piccata and my wife the fettuccini chicken Alfredo . Number one rule if you are going to batter the veal or chicken like a schnitzel you don’t douse it with sauce because it gets saggy!!! Also the sauce had so much wine and was so alcoholic I couldn’t eat more than 2 bites !!! My wife’s dish the pasta was so over cooked and mushy and so much cheese that made it gritty that she had one bite and could not eat it neither !!! I didn’t even mention my dish the server took hers off the bill which I didn’t even ask to do and he mentioned that dish is his least favorite and never good (perhaps should be mentioned when ordered 🙂) !!! Great food is hard to make and requires great ingredients and passion for cooking but good food is not hard to make and just needs some common sense and a bit of care and basically this place doesn’t care and I can tell that from many things I saw there . From the crooked lights and pictures on the wall to the server not bringing enough utensils to the table and bringing desert when dinner plates are still on the table and many other !!! Those little things give away how much the owners and management take pride in training their kitchen and floor staff. Will never go back and goes to show you 4.6 rating does not mean a...

Don’t get your hopes too high. We went at 8 o’clock on a Sunday night and there was only one other table (a 3 top) in the restaurant. They sat us right next to the other table that had a toddler that was having a hard time, later a 4 top came in. The waitress was terrible. She took forever to check on us, I ordered a beer and she never brought it out until I reminded her 15 minutes later. She had nothing else to do that night but she hung out behind the bar. Our table had two soups and two salads, she brought out the two salads then she brought out one soup with nothing else in her hands, a few minutes later she brought out my soup, I have no idea why she didn’t bring the two out together. The two bus boys were fine, Trey was very attentive and kept checking on us. The food was mediocre at best, but I expected that for little Italy in San Diego. It’s not world renowned. Everything was well portioned, had lots of sauce and a ton of cheese. Unfortunate for them I lived in Italy for six years and this isn’t the mark of a good Italian place. I had the cannelloni and it was OK, my wife had that Caesar salad with chicken and she really enjoyed it, the price of this was very reasonable, but she wasn’t impressed with her garlic bread. There were a couple of chicken marsalas on the table and my mom got the linguini with white clam sauce which was filled with clams. I probably would’ve given them 3 1/2 stars if the waitress was better, but the fact is the service can affect the...

Initially, I liked the authentic look of the place and the meau seemed diverse at the door. So I decided to stop in for the first time to this little italian spot that I hoped might be a hidden local secret. The resteraunt had a look of potentially being a genuine Italian food, but sadly a left a very unsatisfied feeling is what I found.

The service was very fast getting us seated, but took a long time to get served all though the meal. Food was not all that good either. The place was very dated to the point i think my grand parents would have fashback here. Stall seating was tight.

To be fair, you get a very old school dining vibe, which works for the type of food. But onCe i got my food, i found the overly cheesey dish was a bit much, and the dish very basic and not tasteful. Also, I do not recommend the taramazo dessert either. It was very dry, and reminded me of an old cake. I don't like leaving bad reviews, but I honestly don't see myself going here again, or recommending it to anyone. I stopped in to try something new, and left with a memories of me laughing at my daughter's face and expressions of her trying to eat her favorite dessert and rethinking her choice.

I wish no ill will towards this place,. I just think this place has a lot of room for improvement. I had the veal, and it reminded me more of a flat dried chicken fried.steak..

I hope you have a better experience than I did, if you decide to stop...