Revisits to Places I’ve Never Done Posts On – The Godfather

We've been doing this little blog for almost 12 years now. And while we've done almost 3500 posts over the years, we've been living in San Diego for almost seventeen. There are many places that we've tried out that we hadn't had reason to return to for various reasons. Last year, after looking back at my Karihan post, I decided to do the rounds on places that had been struck from our eating lists "BB" (before blogging) or even places where I need to drop by for convenience….yes, I do have a regular job with long hours. So I'm going to start a series on "Revisits to Places I've Never Done Posts On".

Starting with, well, the place where the Missus made me an "offer I couldn't refuse". Jokes aside, for some reason the Missus wanted some rather old school Italian food one evening. So I suggested two places in the neighborhood, super old school Old Trieste or Baci. The Missus said, "why don't we go back to The Godfather", we haven't been there in a while. Well, that part was true….like in over thirteen or fourteen years….I'd say that would qualify as "a while".

So cue up the music…..

The décor is quite old school and many of the staff look like they've been here for years. Our Server was the nicest, most gracious guy, and his demeanor really matched the formal, but not stuffy atmosphere.

The Missus had a glass of red; a Pinot Noir….. I heard a voice screaming "you need a martini"…..so I had one. A pretty stiff one too……

From what I recalled about my previous dealing with The Godfather; portions were large, I remember not enjoying the proteins too much….and the large plate of fried zucchini you get to start dinner.

Simply seasoned….the good pieces, well after the initial "crunch" would almost melt away….other pieces were a bit dry.

The Missus ordered the Meatballs to start.

A bit too much filler for me and I prefer my sauce a bit more tangy. This in itself was fairly heavy and filling. The Missus really enjoyed this.

Soup or salad (of course) with your dinner here. We both got the minestrone, which was very tasty.

Hearty and rather thick, this hit the spot on a rather cold evening. Again, a straight forward dish, but quite comforting.

By this time the Missus and I were pretty full……and then the main courses arrived!

The Missus got the Ravioli Portabello ($19.95).

I thought the sauce was a bit on the sweet side and was too thick, like a béchamel. The pasta was fine and that mushroom filling quite delicious. We both noticed that up to this point, some of the items needed a bit more salt. In fact, I noticed more than one customer salting their food. Perhaps that's the way it's supposed to be here?

I thoroughly enjoyed my Penne Puttanesca ($17.95).

The pasta was al dente, just enough anchovies and basil to keep me interested, it could used more tomato in my opinion, but even with capers and olives, this wasn't too salty. It was way too much food and I barely put a dent into it. On the good side; the pasta held up well and I had dinner the following night.

In the end, I think we found our secret to the Godfather and no, it's not "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli", nor is it going to get me a gift of a bulletproof vest wrapped fish. It's keep it simple, minimize the proteins. It ain't cheap, but he portion sizes are pretty large. Not a place we can go to often…..but perhaps more than once every 13-14 years from now on.

Nice service, large portions, very old school.

The Godfather Restaurant
7878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111