Thanks for stopping at mmm-yoso!!! and reading about food. Right now, Kirk is enjoying life with His Missus, Ed (from Yuma) and Tina are treasuring moments together and Cathy and her Mister are sharing a memory with you.
If you live in San Diego, you've seen it in passing. Perhaps when exiting the PCH going toward Liberty Station/Point Loma/Rosecrans. Note the second floor- the family owns and lives in this building.
Maybe when heading South toward downtown/the 5, this signage on the other side of the building made you mildly curious. It doesn't look fancy, seems to have always been there…
Walk in and take a step back into time. That newspaper article is dated May 1979 and it's about this 'new' Restaurant which had opened in 1978, run by two brothers and a sister. The brothers moved back to Sicily in 1998 and the sister and her family have been running Volare ever since.
The interior decor is dark, music from the soundtrack of the movie The Godfather is subtly playing in the background…nice and clean. Tablecloths, as always. Nothing fancy: just good.
Yes, those whiteboard specials are inexpensive. If you arrive here around opening (11 p.m. M-F) the entire restaurant will be filled with employees and their visitors from the nearby SPAWAR building as well as people from other offices and nearby businesses waiting for a seat. The 'locals' start arriving around 1 p.m. as the lunch crowd is leaving. Evenings/weekends can be similarly crowded. Know that the kitchen makes each item to order, not much is pre-made. If you are very hungry, order an antipasto or salad to munch on while waiting for your food to be prepared.
The antipasto ($4.50, small; large is $5.95). A mild and a spicy salami, cheese, two types of olives, marinated celery and carrots and the usual lettuce/onion/tomato are topped with a balsamic. This (and almost everything here) is accompanied by fresh/warm bread.
This day had me craving the 'cazzerola' ($5.95) from the white board at the door (especially since I read starting at the bottom)-both lasagna and eggplant baked casserole style (I enjoy every type of baked pasta when given a choice). You can see in the cross section that the items were stacked. Excellent flavors of each item separately, crispy eggplant, the sauce, the cheese. Seriously good.
This was a Friday meal and The Mister ordered from the lunch menu (Click onto the small photo at the bottom of this post). This is a 'small' Cioppino ($7). Sicilian style, served on top of fresh cooked al dente noodles, the seafood selection cooked in a slightly spicy garlicy tomato sauce was perfect. Yes, you see mussels, shrimp, scallops, squid rings and baby squid.
This truly is a great 'old school' place with great food. We've had other meals here and I'll be sharing more menu items…know all the food is good and not fast food at all, no matter the time of day.
Volare Italian Family Restaurant 3528 Barnett (between Midway and Jessop Lane)San Diego 92110 (619)224-0030 Open M-F 11-10, Sat-Sun 4-10
Noticing that I tend to blog about places no other food blogger has reported on, I was so happy to find this post from Mary 2008 and notice that Dennis had this on his menu blog in 2009, which means he's also been here.
I have a coupon for this place and plan to use it before the year is through. Volare has been here FOREVER and I’ve always wondered what it was like.
This place is also next to an adult XXX store, haha.
I love this place. It’s not fancy and it’s pretty much a hole in the wall but the food has always been really good here. My favorites are the lasagna and this chicken and mushroom pasta (I don’t remember what they call it on the menu). Yummy!
It’s not hipster, they don’t advertise ‘hand made’ or ‘artisnal’, cc. It’s like having a meal at someone’s home. Sort of the movie/TV cliche generic Italian places, with great flavors and care taken to prepare your meal to order. (The business where I took the second photo is a bait and tackle shop that was renting out a ton of lobster traps; lobster season started September 27; I guess the XXX store is on the other side…)
I was so happy to see you had been here, Mary! You do understand what I’m talking about: just nice. Cacciatore or the penne pasta with chicken and white/alfredo sauce?
Oh yes, the penne! I don’t know how I forgot that. I really should do a repost of this place. I also love their calamari plate. It’s cheap and really tasty.
Prices here are very fair, Mary. You’re talking about that alfredo sauce – butter, cream and garlic…it’s just wonderful, even though I do adore the chunky marinara…and the creamy red Romesco. The calamari, shrimp and other items that are fried (and on the Seafood Combo platter) are properly fried; I do appreciate properly fried items. Can’t wait to see your post.