the food was sooooo good & for the price, it's worth it with how big the portions were! we were so full & still have so much food left to eat at home. a great place with good vibes to celebrate my boyfriends birthday. 💫
Tom
Having been here often we are impressed that the quality is consistently high. We sat in the bar side where the live music was delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed the Lobster Ravioli with a smooth tomato sauce. my wife loved her fresh Sea Bass which was cooked to perfection. She chose to have it over sautéed vegetables instead of the Pesto Risotto. The vegetables were cooked perfectly and seasoned just the way she likes. If you looking for a good date night with excellent food you should go to The Red Door.
Angela
Absolutely wonderful. The lobster ravioli should be on any ravioli lover's list. The Ribeye & Gorgonzola risotto - excellent. Yes, Chef. Molto bene!
Nita
My husband and I celebrated our 29th anniversary with Chef Luciano's as he delighted us with his delicacies at the bar at the red door! For starters he prepared the most delicious raw Japanese scallops with grated wasabi and micro greens. Followed by thinly sliced mortadella layered on 67 year old starter light and airy flat bread with an essence of Parmesan. For the mains we shared a dish of scrumptious risotto under herbed sea bass and a plate of lobster raviolis with vodka cream red sauce. We were in food heaven along with a lovely selection of Italian reds with a dessert of chocolate truffles, strawberries, cream and a cheesecake with fresh fruit compote! Meanwhile we were enjoying live music and being treated like great friends! Absolutely recommend Red Door especially anything Chef is raving about! 🧑🍳💋
Jane
Our party of 6 enjoyed impeccable service and personalized attention by owner/chef Luciano. Appetizers, salad and main courses were fabulous with generous portions and superior ingredients. A truly enjoyable dinner!
RICK
Absolutely amazing dining experience. We enjoyed a long Sunday lunch at The Red Door. Kevin & Robin were most welcoming, very kind & helpful. Chef Luciano was delightful to chat with. His dishes are unique, visually appealing & absolutely delicious. Portions are very generous. Every dish from appetizers to dessert were amazing. Must try Veal Meatballs, Fried Calamari & Kale & Carlsbad Mussels. Must have the Lobster Ravioli, the Lamb Shank, Beef Wellington & The Chilean Sea Bass over Risotto. The Risotto is absolutely perfect. Please do save room for the Banana Cream Pie & the Tiramisu, all made locally. Best we ever had. Could not have had a more perfect lunch with truly great service too.
Kim
Master Chef and Owner Cibelli greeted us at our table and made sure we had a lovely birthday celebration for my friend. Our server Mario gave us great recommendations for dinner. The kale caesar salad was a very shareable portion as a starter. We had the scallops and the beef wellington, both of which were fabulous. Highly recommend the Red Door. It is an lovely gem in this neighborhood and so relieved that you can find parking.
Jonathan Cane
I wanted magic. I got microwave.
Family flew in from the East Coast to celebrate a double graduation. One college, one high school. Proud moment, big energy, and a perfect excuse to book a table at what I thought was a San Diego gem.
We ordered five apps and a spread of entrées, including the pappardelle ragu, beef wellington, lobster ravioli, and the surf and turf special.
The appetizers were fine. Not inedible. Just sad. We chalked it up to a busy Saturday night and kept smiling.
The mains? Worse. The pappardelle was salty and soupy, with a Chef Boyardee vibe, which is fine if paired with a Capri Sun and not a $20 cocktail. The Wellington looked deflated, literally - like it had been stepped on. The risotto was gummy. The steak, ordered medium rare, arrived gray and overcooked all the way through. Like leather. Like well beyond well done. We debated sending it back. I wanted to just let it go, but my family pushed. I gave in. It took twenty minutes just to flag down our server. To his credit, he agreed that the steak looked nothing like medium rare. He took the plate away. That would be the last we saw of it. No replacement came.
They took a third off that dish. We didn’t argue. We just wanted to leave.
What stings most is that I really wanted to love this place. I had been excited. I had read the reviews. We had made the reservation weeks in advance and even planned our orders ahead of time. We arrived full of anticipation and left full of disappointment.
Maybe we caught a bad night. But for $500, bad nights shouldn't be on the menu.
Not coming back.
Hazel Barasa
I was expecting a decent experience at an upscale resturant, what we got was an unforgettable night with incredible people, food, and ambiance to celebrate a now even more so, memorable birthday. Luciano the owner and chef, greeted us at the door right before our reservation. Took a picture with my fiancé when I was attempting to film content 😅😂
He treated our first interaction as if he was welcoming us into his home, so we were already so amazed by his hospitality and charisma. Upon the rest of our party's arrival they moved us to the bar, so we could enjoy the live music next door and disco ball! They cleared a table for us so we could enjoy the jazz music and amazing food.
Our server jessie, bartender che', and the musician rick harris were also such a joy. From Jessie being attentive, che making the absolute perfect espresso martini, and Rick singing Aretha Franklin and other jazz hits; and Luciano consistently asking us between each course how we enjoyed everything.
The night was one to remember for sure! Considering we had just visited Italy in March, The red door made us feel like we were in middle of Milano again. I have nothing but positive things to say about this resturant and the people who curated our experience here!
Do yourself a favor and experience this place for yourself, we'll definitely be back!
Shari Kha
Very disappointing. We went for my husband's birthday and they don't offer anything special. We went especially for their eggplant parmesan- we heard it was good, but it was not for us- it has egg and flour, and it's fried like we like, but then it's layered with a lot of sauce which makes it soggy- apparently it's supposed to be like that- but why would you fry something crisp just to cover it with a soupy sauce? And it doesn't come with pasta, you have to pay extra for that. The veggie salad we got was good- it really shouldn't be in the salad section- because it is hot and it doesn't have anything like a salad. We didn't get any drinks or dessert, and our bill was still over a hundred dollars, which is pretty pricey when you're just getting vegetables and one side order of spaghetti. And of course, they don't bring any bread. If you're gonna get a $30 dish, it really should come with soup or salad and bread. You are paying for the cute neighborhood and the cute restaurant, and the attentive staff.
I love this restaurant! Food is always great and the bar area with music is always fun. One of my regular go-tos.
Kimberly
Everything was wonderful, the food was delicious, we had the seabass risotto- best ever! Our server was excellent, Robin made a lot of great recommendations and took very good care of us- we will definitely be back
Thomas
The meal we had was absolutely amazing and we would go back just because of that. The service was ok and they seemed overwhelmed. I called before arriving to see if we could move up our reservation, they answered the phone and asked me to hold a moment. Fifteen minutes later we decided to just walk in to the restaurant, while I was still waiting for them to come back to the phone. After being seated we explained that we had made the reservation to celebrate birthdays and the wait staff congratulated us and told us they would bring us truffles after our meal. No truffles and no dessert because they never returned after bringing us the dessert menu. Although I'm sure it would have been amazing. As I said the food makes it woth giving them a try, hopefully you will have better luck with the service.
Kimberly
The service was excellent, only to be exceeded by the delicious food. The chef came out to our table a few times. He also made a special mushroom risotto for my husband that was amazing. My lobster ravioli was so good I didn't even let anyone at our table try it. The pasta was homemade and perfectly al dente. Our guests had the lamb over risotto and scallops. We will definitely return!
Stephanie
Wonderful birthday dinner with a friend. Chef and wait staff are personable and food was excellent. We will be back!
the food was sooooo good & for the price, it's worth it with how big the portions were! we were so full & still have so much food left to eat at home. a great place with good vibes to celebrate my boyfriends birthday. 💫
Having been here often we are impressed that the quality is consistently high. We sat in the bar side where the live music was delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed the Lobster Ravioli with a smooth tomato sauce. my wife loved her fresh Sea Bass which was cooked to perfection. She chose to have it over sautéed vegetables instead of the Pesto Risotto. The vegetables were cooked perfectly and seasoned just the way she likes. If you looking for a good date night with excellent food you should go to The Red Door.
Absolutely wonderful. The lobster ravioli should be on any ravioli lover's list. The Ribeye & Gorgonzola risotto - excellent. Yes, Chef. Molto bene!
My husband and I celebrated our 29th anniversary with Chef Luciano's as he delighted us with his delicacies at the bar at the red door! For starters he prepared the most delicious raw Japanese scallops with grated wasabi and micro greens. Followed by thinly sliced mortadella layered on 67 year old starter light and airy flat bread with an essence of Parmesan. For the mains we shared a dish of scrumptious risotto under herbed sea bass and a plate of lobster raviolis with vodka cream red sauce. We were in food heaven along with a lovely selection of Italian reds with a dessert of chocolate truffles, strawberries, cream and a cheesecake with fresh fruit compote! Meanwhile we were enjoying live music and being treated like great friends! Absolutely recommend Red Door especially anything Chef is raving about! 🧑🍳💋
Our party of 6 enjoyed impeccable service and personalized attention by owner/chef Luciano. Appetizers, salad and main courses were fabulous with generous portions and superior ingredients. A truly enjoyable dinner!
Absolutely amazing dining experience. We enjoyed a long Sunday lunch at The Red Door. Kevin & Robin were most welcoming, very kind & helpful. Chef Luciano was delightful to chat with. His dishes are unique, visually appealing & absolutely delicious. Portions are very generous. Every dish from appetizers to dessert were amazing. Must try Veal Meatballs, Fried Calamari & Kale & Carlsbad Mussels. Must have the Lobster Ravioli, the Lamb Shank, Beef Wellington & The Chilean Sea Bass over Risotto. The Risotto is absolutely perfect. Please do save room for the Banana Cream Pie & the Tiramisu, all made locally. Best we ever had. Could not have had a more perfect lunch with truly great service too.
Master Chef and Owner Cibelli greeted us at our table and made sure we had a lovely birthday celebration for my friend. Our server Mario gave us great recommendations for dinner. The kale caesar salad was a very shareable portion as a starter. We had the scallops and the beef wellington, both of which were fabulous. Highly recommend the Red Door. It is an lovely gem in this neighborhood and so relieved that you can find parking.
I wanted magic. I got microwave.
Family flew in from the East Coast to celebrate a double graduation. One college, one high school. Proud moment, big energy, and a perfect excuse to book a table at what I thought was a San Diego gem.
We ordered five apps and a spread of entrées, including the pappardelle ragu, beef wellington, lobster ravioli, and the surf and turf special.
The appetizers were fine. Not inedible. Just sad. We chalked it up to a busy Saturday night and kept smiling.
The mains? Worse. The pappardelle was salty and soupy, with a Chef Boyardee vibe, which is fine if paired with a Capri Sun and not a $20 cocktail. The Wellington looked deflated, literally - like it had been stepped on. The risotto was gummy. The steak, ordered medium rare, arrived gray and overcooked all the way through. Like leather. Like well beyond well done. We debated sending it back. I wanted to just let it go, but my family pushed. I gave in. It took twenty minutes just to flag down our server. To his credit, he agreed that the steak looked nothing like medium rare. He took the plate away. That would be the last we saw of it. No replacement came.
They took a third off that dish. We didn’t argue. We just wanted to leave.
What stings most is that I really wanted to love this place. I had been excited. I had read the reviews. We had made the reservation weeks in advance and even planned our orders ahead of time. We arrived full of anticipation and left full of disappointment.
Maybe we caught a bad night. But for $500, bad nights shouldn't be on the menu.
Not coming back.
I was expecting a decent experience at an upscale resturant, what we got was an unforgettable night with incredible people, food, and ambiance to celebrate a now even more so, memorable birthday. Luciano the owner and chef, greeted us at the door right before our reservation. Took a picture with my fiancé when I was attempting to film content 😅😂
He treated our first interaction as if he was welcoming us into his home, so we were already so amazed by his hospitality and charisma. Upon the rest of our party's arrival they moved us to the bar, so we could enjoy the live music next door and disco ball! They cleared a table for us so we could enjoy the jazz music and amazing food.
Our server jessie, bartender che', and the musician rick harris were also such a joy. From Jessie being attentive, che making the absolute perfect espresso martini, and Rick singing Aretha Franklin and other jazz hits; and Luciano consistently asking us between each course how we enjoyed everything.
The night was one to remember for sure! Considering we had just visited Italy in March, The red door made us feel like we were in middle of Milano again. I have nothing but positive things to say about this resturant and the people who curated our experience here!
Do yourself a favor and experience this place for yourself, we'll definitely be back!
Very disappointing. We went for my husband's birthday and they don't offer anything special. We went especially for their eggplant parmesan- we heard it was good, but it was not for us- it has egg and flour, and it's fried like we like, but then it's layered with a lot of sauce which makes it soggy- apparently it's supposed to be like that- but why would you fry something crisp just to cover it with a soupy sauce? And it doesn't come with pasta, you have to pay extra for that.
The veggie salad we got was good- it really shouldn't be in the salad section- because it is hot and it doesn't have anything like a salad. We didn't get any drinks or dessert, and our bill was still over a hundred dollars, which is pretty pricey when you're just getting vegetables and one side order of spaghetti. And of course, they don't bring any bread. If you're gonna get a $30 dish, it really should come with soup or salad and bread.
You are paying for the cute neighborhood and the cute restaurant, and the attentive staff.
Restaurantji Recommends
I love this restaurant! Food is always great and the bar area with music is always fun. One of my regular go-tos.
Everything was wonderful, the food was delicious, we had the seabass risotto- best ever! Our server was excellent, Robin made a lot of great recommendations and took very good care of us- we will definitely be back
The meal we had was absolutely amazing and we would go back just because of that. The service was ok and they seemed overwhelmed. I called before arriving to see if we could move up our reservation, they answered the phone and asked me to hold a moment. Fifteen minutes later we decided to just walk in to the restaurant, while I was still waiting for them to come back to the phone. After being seated we explained that we had made the reservation to celebrate birthdays and the wait staff congratulated us and told us they would bring us truffles after our meal. No truffles and no dessert because they never returned after bringing us the dessert menu. Although I'm sure it would have been amazing. As I said the food makes it woth giving them a try, hopefully you will have better luck with the service.
The service was excellent, only to be exceeded by the delicious food. The chef came out to our table a few times. He also made a special mushroom risotto for my husband that was amazing. My lobster ravioli was so good I didn't even let anyone at our table try it. The pasta was homemade and perfectly al dente. Our guests had the lamb over risotto and scallops. We will definitely return!
Wonderful birthday dinner with a friend. Chef and wait staff are personable and food was excellent. We will be back!
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