Authentic Italian flavors in the heart of Little Italy, where every dish feels like a family recipe.
Buon Appetito Restaurant offers a warm, casual dining experience with exceptional Italian cuisine in San Diego's Little Italy. Known for rich, layered tomato sauce and dishes like lobster-filled pocket pasta and pork shank with risotto, we serve generous portions in a relaxed atmosphere. Our friendly staff ensures every visit is memorable, from complimentary garlic-basil bread to decadent desserts like pistachio cheesecake. Perfect for dates, family dinners, or anyone craving authentic Italian flavors.
Handmade pasta with rich sauces, including lobster-filled pocket pasta and linguine in vodka pink sauce.
Slow-braised ossobuco, salmon risotto, and tender calamari, all prepared with traditional Italian techniques.
Starters like Rucola e Bietole with beets, arugula, and feta, plus complimentary garlic-basil bread.
Homemade tiramisu, pistachio cheesecake, and other sweet treats to complete your meal.
A relaxed, comfortable setting ideal for unwinding with friends, family, or a romantic evening.
Outstanding food and service. I know that getting great pasta in Little Italy is no surprise, but this place is definitely in the top echelon. We left so stuffed, and didn’t even get a chance to try their tiramisu, which I’ve heard is very good.
We had dinner at Buon Appetito at 5 pm on Sunday evening. Pretty seemless to get a table right away. We started with Rucola e Bietole (Baby beets, and arugula tossed in our house dressing with caramelized red onions, walnuts and feta cheese). For the main course we ordered the Borsettini di Aragosta (pocket pasta filled with lobster and cheese finished in champange cream sauce with asparagus and sun dried tomatoes) and the Ossobuco di Maiale (Pork Shank, Ossobuco braised in a Marsala mushroom sauce and served with a four-cheese risotto).I really enjoyed both dishes, tons of food and great flavor. I also am not a risotto person but I really liked this risotto. Would definitely recommend!
I can’t believe how incredible the tomato sauce was at this Italian restaurant — seriously one of the best I’ve ever had. It’s rich, full of layered flavors, and tastes like it’s been perfected over generations. Every dish that used it just popped. The environment is casual and comfortable, the kind of place where you can relax and enjoy your meal without feeling rushed. The staff were super friendly too, checking in often and making sure everything was perfect. Overall, a fantastic experience. I’ll definitely be coming back.
Excellent service and very delicious food. The complimentary bread comes with red spaghetti sauce with garlic and basil seasoning which I have never seen before. Not butter but like pasta sauce. Love the garlic flavor. The Calimari was one of the best that we've had, so tender and juicy. Had Linguine Boscomare was very very good. The Vodka Pink sauce was out of the world, very unique flavor. Must try. Definitely will go back to order that again.
Second time eating at this restaurant, the first time I liked it and now I love it. The food is delicious and deserts are great as well. The service and ambience was very good. My husband and I planned to have lunch and after that go to another place to have cafe and deserts but the atmosphere at this place was so nice that we decided to stay there a bit longer. I am glad we did because the pistachio cheesecake we had was very delicious. I had linguine Neri and my husband salmon risotto. Both delicious.
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