Solare Ristorante — Restaurant in San Diego

Located in Liberty Station, Solare Ristorante is an authentic Italian restaurant with a Sicily-born chef who executes southern Italian cuisine. In other words, if you're looking for "chicken parm" and "pasta primavera," look elsewhere!

I am picky about Italian, which is to also say that San Diego's mostly lame Italian options have been a source of frustration and angst since moving here last year. Solare is one of a handful of Italian restaurants in San Diego that could survive in New York City.

I recommend the "Tartara di Tonno," Solare's Sicilian interpretation of tuna tartare: a meaty cake of chopped raw ahi tuna with capers, horseradish, basil, and garlic. The vibrant pink color of this appetizer makes it as nice to look at as it is to eat.

Do you like meatballs? Try the "Polpette al Forno." The smooth texture and delicate flavor of these small Subway-sized veal meatballs are not lost in a thick marinara sauce, as they instead swim in a collagen-rich stock-y sauce that is lightly touched with tomato. The meatballs are topped with crispy arugula leaves and grated parmigiano reggiano.

The "Pappardelle Verdi Salsiccia e Carciofi" is a spicy pasta dish constructed with spinach pappardelle noodles, sweet fennel sausage, chopped artichokes, tomatoes, chilies, and covered in large, thin slices of pecorino crotonese cheese. Solare indicates that all pasta served during the course of a day is made from scratch that morning, and this is evident by the quality and freshness of their hefty and terrific pappardelle. The citrusy crotonese is the ideal cheese for this heavy (and oily) bowl of meat and noodles.

If you're looking for a heavier meal, you'll want to order the "Ossobuco di Maiale," which is very similar to a traditional ossobuco alla milanese, but with a 22oz Salmon Creek pork shank instead of the traditional veal shank. Braised meat rarely ever will be done better than it is here -- the meat was velvety, soft, rich, and had incredible flavor. The marinated cremini mushrooms were also insanely excellent, my only complaint being that there were just three of them on my plate. The shank itself rested on a bed of creamy risotto flavored with a tangy gremolata and a perfect amount of saffron.

The interior of the restaurant is stylish, with teak wood furnishings, stone accents, and a glass-enclosed cube-like wine room that separates the bar area from the dining room. There is also a ton of outdoor seating.

Solare is a fantastic destination in San Diego for Italian, as they have hit all the right notes on taste, presentation, creativity, price, decor,...

We are Solare regulars because they have earned our respect for creative and well made Italian dishes. Their awards and recognition speak for themselves. Always having special event dinners with various wine makers from Italy to CA Central Valley. Tommy and Brian (owners) greeted us on this occasion and made some suggestions were very helpful. We came today for restaurant week here in San Diego. The restaurant was very very busy on this day. The restaurant is a warm and inviting atmosphere. We were seated immediately at our reservation time and received sparkling water and requested bread with olive oil upon being seated. The place was packed and fully booked the entire day. Solare team knows how to take care of you. Chef Denise and Temu checked in on us before the meal , their amazingly creative and personable. Our server was Makayla and filled us in on details for the restaurant week menu or you could scan a QR code and the menu and wine list of the day loads on your phone. Menus are available should you wish. We started with 2016 sassacia and a 2018 Caymus. A couple craft drinks by Mixologist Makayla that hit the spot. Barrata peach salad and Butternut Squash soup were our straters. Both were very good. If you want bread and olive oil you must now request it. It is not complimentary. There were 4 of us so Jumped in and had their Papardelle with lamb, Carbonara, wild boar lasagna. We had Tiramisu, specialty ice cream, and Mira Foilla for desert very fresh. You have to try them all. The Fresh pasta everyday here is hard to beat and the best in SoCal. The portions are what you would expect and more then fair. All recommended entrees are fairly priced for the quality and detail in each dish. Both were great finishes to 4 great Entrees. Their San Diego restaurant week options are really good. Please Enjoy them. This is a superb environment to enjoy family while having award winning food at very fair prices. The team knows how to allow you to enjoy and be pampered at the same time. Really good service all around. They make a special occasion just that. Come hungry and leave happy. A solid family celebration for restaurant week 2025 hosted by Team Solare. A very safe indoor or on the really nice outdoor terraces. Support your community restaurants but get to Solare Ristorante in Liberty Station Point Loma this week, it's great. A shout-out to our favorite noona Marie who adds all the magic you enjoy. Highly...

It saddens me, as a member of the culinary world to write this review. My boyfriend and i decided to try this place out for our special NYE dinner. I guess , quite possibly, based on the reviews and the price of the dinner ($85/plate) we had decent expectation.

Conceptually, i think the food had the right idea. As well the right plating...everything was beautiful. The moment we started to devour these beautiful plates.. my taste buds started screaming. They were begging for more flavor, more salt, more sugar, literally more anything.

I claimed the pork tenderloin as my choice for the evening, and its texture was like it had been boiled. I could barely cut into it. The taste was bland, and the apples served with it were coated in a pan sauce i believe? The sauce seemed like it needed to be reduced. The sauce was watery and tasted just like stock was poured over my plate. The apples that littered my plate had no texture, no flavor, and could have easily been misconstrued for potatoes.

My Boyfriend got enough gnocchi for two people, but again, it was beautiful they were prepared properly but lack luster in taste. The only thing we both liked this entire evening was the soup.

After working in this business, i understand the point of set menu on nights like NYE. I understand the limitations are to keep the night flowing smoothly and expedited on time.

I guess even tho the dessert wasn't bad, i expected more than ice cream. Again the serving size was for two people. I, an avid chocolate lover, felt like it was too much.

The one star is very deserving of the waitress. She was the only thing that kept me calm. She could tell i was displeased and she very graciously added a discount to our bill.

Which brings me to the last point. On the bottom of the receipt, it has a (usually) handy tip calculator, i just wanted to add that it may need to be looked over. It was a tad incorrect ( by about $6).

But, i do feel like the team should be able to understand that at the end of the day , people are choosing to spend an important evening at your restaurant, make it worth their time. Otherwise, why else are you doing it? I guess i'll end this with we were just Very disappointed and felt that we had...