Overall a good experience. Very nice decorated space inside, pasta is ok, nothing special. Mot a lot of other choices.
Gregg
The service was phenomenal from the host to the servers. Outdoor patio was warm and quieter despite it being a rainy night. Portions were large and our party of four shared the bruschetta, arugula salad, cheese wheel special pasta, a short rib pasta and a pizza. For the ambiance and experience and portion sizes, we felt it was a good value. We took home plenty of leftovers. We will be back. Would work well for a large party.
Tori
This is my fourth time dining here and the food is always delicious. My favorite is the short rib pappardelle, but all the pastas are fresh featuring delicious decandent sauces; the trio of bruschetta was quite tasty as well. Excellent service and the staff is very nice and professional. I'd recommend to anyone looking for a romantic yet casual and most importantly, delicious Italian dinner.
Dillon
Really enjoyed Rusticucina. I had the Carbonara which was great! Went there on a casual date night and it was perfect for us. A couple glasses of wine appetizer and meals all for a little over $100. Couldn't ask for a better value in San Diego.
Catherine
Amazing service and food! We were a large group of 15 but did not feel rushed and pastas all came out at the same time. Super sweet staff! So thankful!
Anthony
The service was excellent--timely, friendly, and helpful. The food was better than average. Prices were a bit high for what we got. The ambiance was quiet when we arrived at 6:00pm and grew louder as the place filled up but was never a real problem. We were glad we hadn't gone to the restaurant two doors away, when the "music" was "BOOM-BOOM-BOOM".
Opentable Diner
Exceptional as always. Rusticucina remains one of our absolute favorites - great staff, service and food!
Beth
Absolutely fantastic experience. It was not very crowded on a Monday night. The portions were huge. My friend and I shared the artichoke appetizer which was lemony and delicious. Then we had the carbonara—fantastic. I'm sorry I missed restaurant week to try more but we loved every bite of what we ordered. Wonderful wine pricing and options for reds. Our total was nearly $100 for two, still pricey but probably normal for these times. I will definitely return, and I already recommended it to friends.
Xristian Gonzalez
Such a cute atmosphere with a perfect picture aesthetic. The staff were extremely attentive and nice. The food is nothing short of amazing. Didn’t do the cheese wheel but that whole experience looked amazing.Try this place out is you’re craving pasta you won’t be disappointed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Leslie
Well-intentioned but missed the mark here and there. We'd been meaning to visit for a while given their farm-to-table reputation and decided Restaurant Week was the perfect opportunity. We were given regular menus when seated and asked about the $36 Prix Fixe Restaurant Week menu we'd seen online. The waiter said in hushed tones that it was only available on request which felt kind of shady. The two entrees with protein were $5 extra. Again not cool but not totally uncommon either. My husband bailed on the Restaurant Week menu, favoring the lasagna from the regular menu. I paid the extra $5 for the salmon. The lasagna lacked structure but was otherwise good. The salmon was fishy at first but got better. My (wintery) roasted vegetables were delicious. We both had the caprese salad, which was a bit pedestrian with too much cheese, tomatoes that were just okay and sliced too thinly and not enough basil or pesto to give all that cheese some flavor. It was nicely styled however. My husband asked for a piece of bread to scrape up the extra sauce but when it finally came it was a massive quantity when he was otherwise finished. And cost $10!!! The place got incredibly busy after 7:30 (good for them!) and our waiter abandoned us at that point. Fortunately, others picked up the slack and helped us finish the meal and get the bill paid.
While the food was still good, I am disappointed with the menu change. We truly loved the option to mix and match pasta and sauce to our preference on any given visit. You were all 5 stars for me from the beginning, but the experience has changed. 
Mena
Decent restaurant, but for sure don't know how it has the rating it has. Food was decent, and that's me being generous. The vibe of the restaurants is cute but the food is not worth the price nor the ratings. The food alone is 2 stars, but the look of the restaurant makes it a 3 stars.
Dennel
Our server was very attentive and great the whole time. The food came out hot and was very delicious fresh and very tasty. We got the charcuterie board the zucchini blossoms and a couple pizzas would definitely come back again.
Steven Michel
My husband and I were seated promptly. Our waiter came and asked if we knew what we wanted. We asked if we could order drinks first and he took our orders. When he returned, my husband ordered lasagna & I ordered the gnocchi. The both of us ordered Caesar salads. My husband asked if he could have some bread and the waiter said sure.
Our waiter returned with our salads and informed us he was going on break and another server would cover. Our salads contained a lot of limp lettuce rather than crisp lettuce heart. The dressing was good. The lasagna portion size was small. The gnocchi was good. I added sausage. We asked for the bread & was told it was being prepared in the kitchen. Halfway through our meal a plate of sliced bread was brought to the table. The waiter put down a cup of oil & vinegar for the bread. The vinegar was really non-existent. The bottom of the bowl was discolored black. I tried to mix the liquid but the vinegar would not scrape off the bottom of the bowl. My husband asked for butter and the waiter said the restaurant had no butter 😳. Will we return to RustiCucina? Nope...we have another favorite Italian restaurant in the area on University.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
Shaniya
Everyone was amazing!!!! Nathan was great as a server he passed the vibe check. Food was amazing 😍
Overall a good experience. Very nice decorated space inside, pasta is ok, nothing special. Mot a lot of other choices.
The service was phenomenal from the host to the servers. Outdoor patio was warm and quieter despite it being a rainy night. Portions were large and our party of four shared the bruschetta, arugula salad, cheese wheel special pasta, a short rib pasta and a pizza. For the ambiance and experience and portion sizes, we felt it was a good value. We took home plenty of leftovers. We will be back. Would work well for a large party.
This is my fourth time dining here and the food is always delicious. My favorite is the short rib pappardelle, but all the pastas are fresh featuring delicious decandent sauces; the trio of bruschetta was quite tasty as well. Excellent service and the staff is very nice and professional. I'd recommend to anyone looking for a romantic yet casual and most importantly, delicious Italian dinner.
Really enjoyed Rusticucina. I had the Carbonara which was great! Went there on a casual date night and it was perfect for us. A couple glasses of wine appetizer and meals all for a little over $100. Couldn't ask for a better value in San Diego.
Amazing service and food! We were a large group of 15 but did not feel rushed and pastas all came out at the same time. Super sweet staff! So thankful!
The service was excellent--timely, friendly, and helpful. The food was better than average. Prices were a bit high for what we got. The ambiance was quiet when we arrived at 6:00pm and grew louder as the place filled up but was never a real problem. We were glad we hadn't gone to the restaurant two doors away, when the "music" was "BOOM-BOOM-BOOM".
Exceptional as always. Rusticucina remains one of our absolute favorites - great staff, service and food!
Absolutely fantastic experience. It was not very crowded on a Monday night. The portions were huge. My friend and I shared the artichoke appetizer which was lemony and delicious. Then we had the carbonara—fantastic. I'm sorry I missed restaurant week to try more but we loved every bite of what we ordered. Wonderful wine pricing and options for reds. Our total was nearly $100 for two, still pricey but probably normal for these times. I will definitely return, and I already recommended it to friends.
Such a cute atmosphere with a perfect picture aesthetic. The staff were extremely attentive and nice. The food is nothing short of amazing. Didn’t do the cheese wheel but that whole experience looked amazing.Try this place out is you’re craving pasta you won’t be disappointed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Well-intentioned but missed the mark here and there. We'd been meaning to visit for a while given their farm-to-table reputation and decided Restaurant Week was the perfect opportunity. We were given regular menus when seated and asked about the $36 Prix Fixe Restaurant Week menu we'd seen online. The waiter said in hushed tones that it was only available on request which felt kind of shady. The two entrees with protein were $5 extra. Again not cool but not totally uncommon either. My husband bailed on the Restaurant Week menu, favoring the lasagna from the regular menu. I paid the extra $5 for the salmon. The lasagna lacked structure but was otherwise good. The salmon was fishy at first but got better. My (wintery) roasted vegetables were delicious. We both had the caprese salad, which was a bit pedestrian with too much cheese, tomatoes that were just okay and sliced too thinly and not enough basil or pesto to give all that cheese some flavor. It was nicely styled however. My husband asked for a piece of bread to scrape up the extra sauce but when it finally came it was a massive quantity when he was otherwise finished. And cost $10!!! The place got incredibly busy after 7:30 (good for them!) and our waiter abandoned us at that point. Fortunately, others picked up the slack and helped us finish the meal and get the bill paid.
Restaurantji Recommends
While the food was still good, I am disappointed with the menu change. We truly loved the option to mix and match pasta and sauce to our preference on any given visit. You were all 5 stars for me from the beginning, but the experience has changed. 
Decent restaurant, but for sure don't know how it has the rating it has. Food was decent, and that's me being generous. The vibe of the restaurants is cute but the food is not worth the price nor the ratings. The food alone is 2 stars, but the look of the restaurant makes it a 3 stars.
Our server was very attentive and great the whole time. The food came out hot and was very delicious fresh and very tasty. We got the charcuterie board the zucchini blossoms and a couple pizzas would definitely come back again.
My husband and I were seated promptly. Our waiter came and asked if we knew what we wanted. We asked if we could order drinks first and he took our orders. When he returned, my husband ordered lasagna & I ordered the gnocchi. The both of us ordered Caesar salads. My husband asked if he could have some bread and the waiter said sure.
Our waiter returned with our salads and informed us he was going on break and another server would cover. Our salads contained a lot of limp lettuce rather than crisp lettuce heart. The dressing was good. The lasagna portion size was small. The gnocchi was good. I added sausage. We asked for the bread & was told it was being prepared in the kitchen. Halfway through our meal a plate of sliced bread was brought to the table. The waiter put down a cup of oil & vinegar for the bread. The vinegar was really non-existent. The bottom of the bowl was discolored black. I tried to mix the liquid but the vinegar would not scrape off the bottom of the bowl. My husband asked for butter and the waiter said the restaurant had no butter 😳. Will we return to RustiCucina? Nope...we have another favorite Italian restaurant in the area on University.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
Everyone was amazing!!!! Nathan was great as a server he passed the vibe check. Food was amazing 😍
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