Restaurant Review
Cesarina’s
4161 Voltaire St.
Point Loma, CA 92107
619-226-6222
By Judi Curry
It has been some time since I ate at Cesarina’s. The pandemic, new restaurants opening, etc., but Steve and I had something to celebrate and I wanted to go to Cesarina’s for their octopus and other authentic Italian meals.
A great many of the their recipes come from Napoli, and each of my three daughters spent a year in that city and raved about the food so I wanted to try it out again and see if it was as good as it was three years ago. In case you don’t want to read any more of this review I can honestly say, “It is!”
We had decided to make reservations, and it took us three weeks to get the day of the week we wanted, and the time to mesh with the day of the week. If you want to eat there on a special day, I suggest that you get your reservations well in advance. The place was packed; people without reservations were trying to get a table, but I only saw people with reservations being seated.
Steve’s favorite food is Pizza and he was disappointed to hear that that is not on the menu. (They will be opening a pizza restaurant across the street in the near future.) So he was stuck with selecting a true Italian item for our celebration. The menu is extensive with many items for all people’s tastes, medical problems, vegetarians, etc. There is even an extensive selection for the “Bambini” of the family! The wine, beer, and other beverage menu is so large that it is printed on a different menu entirely!
While Steve and I were deciding what to have we each ordered a glass of house Rose, which was brought to us in individual carafes. And it probably isn’t too soon to say that the service was excellent – for every part of the meal. Our server was “in training” but she must have had other training somewhere because there wasn’t anything she didn’t catch before we did! She answered all of our questions and I had many of them. If you have not been here, you should know that you pick the kind of pasta you want; you then pick the sauce you want over it; and you pick any additional topping you want over that. And, of course, there are other items that are already put together – Lasagne, for example, that many people are familiar with.
Judi’s order.
We asked a passing waiter to tell us what the specials of the day were and without hesitation explained each of them – and there were a lot, beginning with the soup of the day and listing 6-7 other items. I was intrigued by a ravioli that had clams, mussels, shrimp and octopus in it. I originally wanted to have their appetizer of octopus and the ravioli would handle that very well. Steve was interested in another special of Tortelli, filled with a Calabrian pork sausage – “Nduja”, topped with a Bolognese sauce.
After we ordered and sat back to enjoy our wine, our server came to me with a sad look on her face. She told me that the special that I ordered was already sold out, but she had an alternative – I could have the spaghetti/scoglio –spaghetti, clams, mussels, garlic, fresh tomato sauce, with Peperoncino and two large shrimp. I liked the ingredients but the one thing I came for – Octopus – was missing. No problem, said our server, the chef would make me a special side of octopus. I jumped at the offer and I am so glad that I did. It was excellent. All of the flavors blended together so well it was like they were all hatched from the same egg. I would order it again with or without the octopus.
Although there were only 5 of the Tortelli on Steve’s plate, they were large and he was full at the end of the meal. We were served bread and butter at the beginning of the meal, and when we finished that another plate was served to us. The bread is made there, daily, and was fresh and tasty.
When the server heard that we were celebrating a milestone, she told us that we would be served a Tiramisu, compliments of the restaurant. All of the ingredients were brought to the table and prepared in front of us. Can’t get much fresher than that.
When the Tiramisu was served, the manager came to our table and congratulated us on our celebration. Most of what he said was in Italian – but we knew what he was saying. I mentioned to him that so many restaurants were short staffed; one on Shelter Island didn’t even have a cook on Saturday for lunch. I asked him what he was doing to have so many wait staff, so well trained, and so available. He said that “we treat them right”, and our server, later in the evening vouched for that.
It was a wonderful experience; I think that Cesarina’s has become my “go-to” place when I have out of town visitors, celebrations, and just want a well cooked tasty meal. I am so happy to see that it has survived the pandemic.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Because I had made a reservation, following the meal I was sent a questionnaire asking about the meal. I filled it out, and later received an answer to a question that I asked on the survey from the restaurant manager. Another nice touch.