Long time between meals here but delicious and home cooked feel still remains. The Caterinelli is the house special — Kobe beef ragu and hollow pasta. Very tasty indeed. Our daughter loves the flatbread. The price is slightly higher than the average pasta joint but the food and friendly service is worth it. Be back soon!
Carolyn S.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Carlsbad, CA
We’ve been coming here for years. To tell you the truth, this restaurant has gone downhill. They’ve raised the prices on their menu. Too high. They’ve also done away with kid’s meals pricing for children. Be prepared to pay upwards of $ 15 per plate for your child’s pasta. Service is uninspired, disinterested and grudging. Trattoria Trulli is right across the road and down the street — superior food, better sized portions, adorable ambiance and much better service.
Jen a.
Rating des Ortes: 5 San Diego, CA
I had essentially given up on Italian food, being gluten free and vegan. Can’t have wheat, can’t have cheese, why bother? But I met Jorge and Laura and everything changed! They made me the most delicious meal tonight with gluten free pasta, fresh veggies, & a delicious garlic and basil sauce. Absolutely incredible! I can’t wait to come back! Incredible service, you owe it to yourself to try this place.
Minou S.
Rating des Ortes: 4 San Diego, CA
We decided last minute to have Italian food and so glad to find this place. We started with the deep friend calamari which was deliciously fresh and then had the veal entrée also delicious. They have a traditional Tiramisu which a must to try. All in all, we will definitely go back …
Robin R.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Encinitas, CA
I really love this little Encinitas restaurant. We love the family feel of the place, the ambience and the food is always fresh, and delicious. I just had the paella, and was not disappointed! Delicious!
T. S.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Los Angeles, CA
LOVED this restaurant! The food was superb, the Chef and owner was delightful and even shared cooking tips with our 11 year old son. So nice to find a non touristy authentic restaurant with a view of the ocean. This will definitely be our«go to» restaurant when we are in the area.
Ashley A.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Carlsbad, CA
Charming little restaurant with fast and friendly service. We found this place for my birthday and I was quite pleased our choice. I had the lobster ravioli and my partner had the Farfalle del Campo. I preferred his choice over mine, but both were tasty. I was also please by the lighting and ambience of this place. The wine prices aren’t too pricey either. All in all, it was a very positive experience.
Zoia H.
Rating des Ortes: 4 CARDIFF, CA
It was our first experience at Trattoria Positano, and I have to say it was pleasant. We came here for family dinner and ordered some salads and entrées. Salads were tasty, especially the one with the duck. I ordered lobster ravioli and they tasted good as well. My mother in law said that seafood linguine was delicious, she really enjoyed it. There are, however, two downsides. First of all, the food was too salty. The owners should address this issue, it ruins the taste and raises blood pressure. Second, there is no kids menu. I get the idea that this is a fancy restaurant and maybe it doesn’t get many kids around, but maybe adding some spaghetti and meatballs to the menu would do. Overall, we had a good experience at this restaurant.
Ophelia B.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Oceanside, CA
The location is nice, the décor is elegant, however the tables are too close together. It was so uncomfortable because I could hear the conversations of BOTH tables next to us. I was so self conscious that we started speaking French, hoping that our conversations would not be understood. It was not intimate in the right way. The man next to me was about 12 inches away. We had the carpaccio, salmon salad, minestrone soup, and veal ravioli. The carpaccio was very good, the minestrone didn’t have much flavor, but it wasn’t awful — just tasted like a vegetable stew — and the veal ravioli was OK. The bread was good and served with a marinara sauce — we didn’t like it very much as being French we asked for butter instead. We didn’t drink any wine, but they do have a large wine list. It was distracting for me to read the menu because I can understand the italian titles and then seeing the english description underneath made it hard for me to focus .That’s just a personal thing, though, but worth mentioning. The waitress was very good. The young man who filled drinks, added pepper, etc. was very prompt and professional. These two were the best part of the staff. When I looked at the rest of the staff and the woman running the register, there was no smile to be found. When a couple walked in, she just waved them to the tables and told them they could find whatever table they liked and seat themselves. It irked me. I didn’t like that and this is was affected me the most.
Keyan C.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Encinitas, CA
The food is pretty good, better than the standard italian fare and i wood love to come back to this cozy neighborhood restaurant but the service is very sub-standard. Not that the staff isn’t nice enough but they cheaped out and understaff the place. Although busy, there was no host and it took 7 minutes for anyone to acknowledge us even though we were standing right in front of all the tables. Only one women was taking orders for the entire restaurant so there was no attention. We had to ask for water after waiting to catch someone’s eye then another 10 minutes for the poor woman to come by and take our order. No bread ever came by and after seeing the staff occasional drop a basket of bread for new arrivals I causally asked for some at our table well into our entrée which elicited a pained frown from the server(are they told not to bring bread if they can avoid it?). All in all good food, popular with Cardiff locals however a classic case of «penny wise but pound foolish.» Good service is everything to a successful business and you can tell here that they are too frugal to hire, and train enough staff.
Carl S.
Rating des Ortes: 5 San Diego, CA
This place is surprisingly good… Cute old italian ambience, food very tasty and quality seems much better than average… Marinara sauce on point(which I kinda use to Gauge italian places)… Definitely worth a visit if you are nearby…:)
Juan D.
Rating des Ortes: 2 San Marcos, CA
5 of us went to Trattoria Posittano for my daughter’s birthday and of the 5 only 3 liked the food. Unfortunatelly, my wife’s chicken tasted like fish, as if cooked on the same grill without cleaning that area in between both. My fettucini was delicious but the chicken in it was hard and cold. Clearly cooked ahead of time and not heated prior to placing over the pasta. For dessert, they asked only one of us at the table and before I could say Crème Brûlée the server was gone without asking the rest of us. Believe it or not, when she returned I asked for the crème brûlée and again she bolted from the table without asking the rest of my guest. When she returned I told her she was in way too much of a hurry and had failed to ask the rest of us if they wanted something for dessert. She responded that we needed to speak up if we wanted dessert because she did not have time to linger asking each one of us. The point is that we were relaxed enjoying ourselves and as pricy as the place is, we did not want to rush through our meal. The location is nice and so is the décor. Other folks seemed to be enjoying themselves, it also seemed as if seafood was their specialty and we might have ordered the wrong thing. For the price I could think of several other Italian restaurants with better food and service. It’s all about the attitude!
Mary M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Solana Beach, CA
Wow! Had a terrific dinner here in December. Our company Christmas party was held here and everything was terrific. Fresh, hot and imaginative dishes. Great service and I felt like I was in Italy!
Jerry P.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Santa Monica, Los Angeles, CA
Ate delicious food at this friendly, unpretentious restaurant last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not a big restaurant, but it was bright and cheery, and the waitress and servers were very professional and patient. My wife and I are vegans, so the chef was very accomodating to our special requests. We had the eggplant salad and the capellini positano cooked to perfection. We also enjoyed the flatbread appetizer. Our friends had linguini with scallops in pistaccio pesto. All the deserts looked great — they are made on the premises, and our friends settled on an apple tartin with ice cream. This was a great find.
Steven t.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Solana Beach, CA
Had dinner last night the 17th of January. Outstanding on every level. My son who is the Executive Chef for the Dodgers was my guest. All of the pasta is home made and delicious. The dishes are all served very hot which I love. The salad selection and variety is incredible. I had the one with prochutto and dates and chese. I am not the only one who realizes what a find this restaurant is as the place was full. I encourage all readers to give it a try. Another fact is how clean the restaurant is. My Dodger Chef son also complemented the chef owner.
Lindsay B.
Rating des Ortes: 5 San Diego, CA
Great wine selection with a larger than average menu for the size/type of Italian restaurant that it is. I had the Linguine Mediterranee and it was absolutely devine. Their cesar salad was outstanding and to top it all off for the full and complete experience I tried the tiramisu. BOMB! This is definitely a great place to take the parents when they are in town or a romantic night out with your partner. Meal price is between $ 18 – 28 and the cheapest wine was $ 55. All in all great experience only negative is the tiny tables and the massive menus. We had a party of four and it was a struggle to read the menus and wine list all at the same time.
Woody M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Cardiff, CA
Great food at a reasonable price. It was filled to the rafters when were were there and the owner took care of our table — «do what it takes to care of the customer» seems to be the mantra here.
Bill G.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Carlsbad, CA
Terrific Food! Repeat, terrific food! Rolls are great, house mades. Scallop salad is perfect. And pasta was about the best I’ve ever had. We had our company Christmas party there, and can’t think of a better choice for 6 – 8 people to have dinner. You feel like you’re in Italy!
Pilar M.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Carlsbad, San Diego, CA
We sat at the bar and really enjoyed the stuffed baby calamari spaghetti. Excellente! I’d recommend this place
Elizabeth M.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Carlsbad, CA
My boyfriend and I had a great experience the first time we visited Positano. It was quaint, great service, nice ambiance, and also wonderful food! So, last night we suggested to go with 2 other couples after enjoying such a nice dinner the first time, although we didn’t have the same experience :(. They had a sea bass listed as a special, yet they were out! It was 7:30 or so, and the place wasn’t full, so where was the sea bass? Also, the service wasn’t as friendly. We all got the awkward feeling it was time to go. I can’t say I’d want to go again.