Taste of Italy Hillcrest

When we first moved to San Diego in ’01, Taste of Italy in Hillcrest was a part of our rotation.

Not for the Pasta(ok), or Pizzas(borderline lousy), but for the Sandwiches, especially the Chicken Pomodoro Sandwich. The sandwich was excellent, served on a crusty toasted roll, with moist chicken, and  provolone cheese, in a slightly spicy tomato, garlic(lots of garlic), and basil, sauce. It was Delici-yoso!!! And priced right, $5.95. After about a year, the price was raised to $7.95, and fries were added. We still thought that the prices were ok. But after about six months the price was increased to $8.95, and we had hit our limit. And so Taste of Italy had dropped off our radar, until last week, when we decided to pay a visit to Taste of Italy in Hillcrest for lunch. Even though it was 1120, there was no one in the restaurant. As we walked in we kinda just waited around, no one even attempted to seat us! How very odd! Finally, someone dressed in "Kitchen Whites" motioned to us, to have a seat. Meanwhile several people were milling behind the counter and just ignored us. We sat, and in a few minutes, a Young Lady, walked up to us, and kinda did nothing….after telepathy ordering failed, we had to ask for our menus, which we finally got:

And Holy Crap, the sandwiches were now 10 bucks! But since we were here, we had committed to this meal, and who knows, maybe the sandwiches were a whole lot better! Next funny thing; the Gal came up and asked us if we were ready to order, which we were. But she then grabbed the menus and walked away without taking our order. How very strange….. She came back about a minute later with an ordering pad and we proceeded to order. We were asked if we wanted soup or salad, and I thought, "hey, adding soup or salad, and raising the price maybe ain’t so bad". So we placed our order. Another odd thing; at about this time we noticed that we didn’t have any napkins or silver, and none had been delivered. We mentioned this to the Gal when she brought our water. Soon our salads arrived; I ordered mine with Balsamic Dressing:

When the salads arrived, I asked for napkins. The Gal apologized and said that the Server for the lunch shift had not come in yet(it was noon), and She’s the Cashier(I guess there’s no cross training). But at least she brought us water. After several minutes I got up and walked up to the counter and asked the Gal for napkins, she gave me a stack of 10 – I guess she wanted to make sure that we didn’t run out of napkins! Back to the food; the dressing waaaay to sour, but the worst thing about the salad, was that there was a rather deep pool of water at the bottom of the bowl, the greens had not been drained properly. When we were through(notice I didn’t say finished) with our salads, the Young Lady came up to use and oddly asked if we were ready for our sandwiches. I thought that was odd, until I heard and realized that she was telling the kitchen to start firing up our sandwiches! She then came back and cleared the salad bowls. So after another rather long pause our sandwiches arrived. The Missus had ordered the long awaited Chicken Pomodoro Sandwich($10):

First thing I asked, was where are the "Italian Chips", the menu clearly states that all sandwiches come with chips. Well, we come to find out, that it’s a choice of soup, salad, or chips, even though the menu doesn’t say that. Oh, and the sandwich was fairly terrible. The former sauce, had been replaced with some mushy sauteed tomatoes, of which only the skin was left, the garlic taste was lacking, there was very little basil. And worse of all they put mayo on this sandwich, which really made everything taste terrible. The chicken was very dry and tough. And still no silver, so anything that fell out we would have to pick up with our hands and eat, but we usually just let them lie in state on the plate.

I ordered the Salsiccia Sandwich($10):

This was an Italian Sausage Sandwich with sauteed onions and peppers in a Pinot Grigio Arrabiatta sauce. Looks pretty good doesn’t it? Well the other half of the sandwich looked like this:

All of the sauteed veggies were placed on one half of the sandwich. Which would have been no problem since I could just move them myself; IF I HAD GOTTEN AT LEAST A FORK!!!!! But I guess they think using our fingers would just suit us….. This sandwich was not bad, the arrabiatta sauce was quite tasty, and the bread was well toasted, and the peppers and onions were well flavored. But the sausage was really not very good, and quite dry to boot. At the end of this so called "meal" we didn’t even get our check; the Missus went up to the counter to ask for and pay our bill. I pity the ONE other table that was there. I wonder what happened with their lunch. I did see one of the Gentlemen actually walk to the counter and get water for the others at the table. Seems like the Taste of Italy had become a self-service institution.

I retrospect this was almost so pathetic as to be funny. I know that the Young Lady is the "Cashier", but apparently common sense was on Holiday. So what happens when your Server doesn’t show? In places I worked, the Manager takes over, or someone is called in. Or maybe, God forbid, she was the Manager!!!!! I almost told the Young Lady not to quit Her day job, but then I realized, it was Lunch, and this could possibly be her "day job". In the end Taste of Italy, became a waste of time and money. We won’t be back.

So here’s the info for Waste Taste of Italy:

Taste of Italy Hillcrest
1013 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92103