Petrini's San Diego — Restaurant in San Diego

I placed my order online for delivery by a service. Chicken parm with penne, meatballs, sausage, seasonal vegetables, and Italian wedding soup. I'm not from the area and usually dine out at higher-end or ethnic cuisines when I visit San Diego as the latter are not really found back home in rural Mississippi. Experience had me expecting a half-step above luke-warm cardboard with sour canned tomatoes. I was delighted when I opened the veggies to find broccoli, cauliflower, and zucchini steamed and seasoned to perfection - not unrecognizable goop swimming in liquid margarine (albeit none are seasonal on the summer). The pasta was just the right al dente and salt level. Tasty sweet Italian sausage that had me picking a little fennel seed out from between my teeth - covered in a well seasoned meat sauce. The meatballs taste to be both beef and veal, are the right texture (not the density of lead nor mush), and served up in the same meat sauce. The chicken parmesan was pounded and breaded, tastes as if it were cooked up in a pan instead of the deep fryer (butter flavor was a bit much for me but the dish wasn't spoiled by it), and a very healthy portion. Just very pleasantly surprised - made my evening in very nice after several very long days of work and travel. Don't expect Lupa of NY or La Matriciana of Rome, fussy primi and secondi courses, but great belly pleasing food at very reasonable prices (for San Diego). Bravo! As for photos, well, I didn't think to take any until I was stuffed, nodding off, and thinking that Petrini's earned a solid shout-out from this happy customer....

We went here a while ago as a group, let me tell you keep your money and stray elsewhere. We went here during the evening time, an hour before close. We are from Chicago, and we wanted to try an italian joint in the neighborhood that we were staying in. Mind you, this is also the last place we could get quick seating at. The food was lack luster and the staff slowly paced themselves to the table. I had a chicken alfredo and let me tell you I had better at the Cheesecake Factory. I gave my friends a try, and they agreed. Honorable mention: Their food wasn't the best, but they were hungry. Once we spoke to the waiter about the plate, he graciously took it back. When we received the bill the alfredo is still on there? Why? A reasonable and logical conscious mind might ask. To them a few bites on the plates equals charging you for the entire plate. The manager wasn't on duty that night, the waiter was the only force of defense on their side. So, not only do we have terrible food but also shotty management. In the industry, if you have those two combinations - good luck. Am I surprised they're still open? No. This is a great spot for tourists who don't care how things taste....

I walk bu often, the smells permeating from the exhaust hood remind me of the alleys in South Philly, it just smells like an Italian Restaurant when you walk past. I have eaten here about 5 times in 2 years. I went in last night, grabbed a pizza to go, I have not gotten a pizza in over a year due to the heartburn from the uncooked pizza sauce. I think its coming right out of a can, very acidic. Working and growing up in South Philly, and also being from an Italian family, I think I know sauce. I owned a pizza spot 15 years ago, I always cooked my sauce for 2 hours at the least to reduce the acid. Last night I was up all night, this morning I tossed the rest of the pizza that my Girl was going to have for lunch. I really like the atmosphere, however, never eat outside. The smell of dog urine wreaks and the planters out front are basically a pet relief area. I gave it a 3, but it should be lower, I am just not trying to kill the business for them, but small changes could be made to make this place at the very least "Edible" I think $40 bucks for 2 beers and a 16 inch cheese pizza is extremely overpriced. What is the food cost on a pizza,...