Vesuvio Food Truck

So sad this truck is out of business. These guys rocked the Italian food side of the food truck world. :(
Their eggplant sliders were my personal fave and I was even hoping to get them to cater my wedding!

Not bad, but it’s not gourmet by any means.
I’ve always pondered why there wasn’t a food truck that served pasta, until I spotted this one at SB Din Din a Go Go a few weeks ago. They are really friendly, but their food is just kind of ok. I had their cheese ravioli– the portion was a little small, and the parmesan on top didn’t look fresh. It tasted good enough, but I wasn’t blown away or anything.
Maybe this is why they don’t do pasta on food trucks.

I think I ordered incorrectly… and I certainly made bad food choices as far as «healthy lunch» goes.
$ 10 for Combo #1 gets you a sandwich (meatball, chicken/​eggplant parm, sausage+peppers, chicken caprese) + arancini + drink. This combo is HUGE and way more than I could possibly take down in one sitting. I vacillated between meatball and chicken parm but finally settled on the latter. Great big portion for the sandwich. I liked the bread and the marinara but about half of the chicken breast in it was really dry and kind of tough with very few bites being moist and tender. The rice balls were also more on the dry side although with 3 balls per order you do get a nice sized portion of ooey gooey mozzarella cheesiness. After all of that cheese and marinara and carbs I was not feeling too good… I only ate half of my sandwich too. I should have taken a tums to avoid the indigestion!
I’ll still give this truck another go some day in the future for lunch as they are a good deal for portion vs price and I’d like to try the chicken caprese skewers at least and see if that’s a little easier on my tummy.

After volunteering at Franklin Canyon Park clearing up the hiking trials one Saturday morning, Vesuvio came to the rescue to re-​energize me.
I had the chicken parm sandwich. The foccacia bread was fresh and nicely toasted. The marinara sauce was tasty and not overpowering. The breaded chicken was cooked perfectly and topped with a slice of provolone cheese. Great sandwich.
I was bummed that they weren’t doing the rice balls though. I heard from a buddy of mine that Vesuvio is Debi Mazar’s husband’s food truck. I’ll definitely hit Vesuvio again when I see it parked… I need to try those rice balls!

Bummer the rice balls were gone when we got there.
We had the Cheese Ravoli and the sausage pasta and in our opinion it didn’t taste that special.
Tasted like Pasta any where else unfortunately.

3.5 stars edging towards 4. I’ve eaten at this truck twice, and they’ve improved a lot since my first outing.
I ordered a sandwich, riceball and drink combo. The sandwich came out nice and hot. The bread was buttered and toasted and 75% of the sandwich held together well (the bottom was a bit thin on one side and turned soggy). The flavors were solid, but not memorable.
The rice balls were good, but what fried food isn’t? Nice, fried flavor on the outside and enough seasoning inside to keep your mouth interested.
I would eat again if they are in the area.

Oh. My. Goodness. Where did this truck come from?! I had not heard of it, but here was this green, white and red truck at the end of the row of trucks along 26^th and Pennsylvania. There was no line so I walked over to check out the menu. Okay, so based on the colors I guessed correctly that it was Italian. They offer a daily pasta dish, plus sandwiches and sliders with a choice of meatballs, chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan or sausage and peppers. But, these were not the things that caught my attention. At the top of the menu was their signature item: RICE BALLS! I may be the last person to know that this is a popular Italian treat.
ARANCINI is a ball of rice and cheese that’s breaded and deep fried. Vesuvio’s version has diced salami, parmesan, eggs and a mozzarella core that comes all melted. You get three balls (about the size of Porto’s potato balls) on a bed of marinara sauce and more parmesan cheese. I loved them so much I told everyone at the office how good they were and then failed to offer a bite to anyone. Haha!
I also ordered a couple of their SLIDERS, one with MEATBALLS and the other with CHICKEN PARMESAN. I liked both of them. The meatballs were well-​seasoned and moist, as was the chicken.
Yes, very exciting. But, Vesuvio needs to keep their truck schedule updated on their website! It’s like a month old!

RICE BALLS!!!
The crispy bits of salami in these cheesy fried up balls made me weak in the knees and an immediate fan.
The Aranicini (rice balls) hit the spot at first super hot cheesy ricey crispy bite.
Will return for sure for some more mobile mangia mangia.

I was so excited to see a REAL Italian option amongst the food trucks Tuesday night at the Santa Monica Victorian Lot. I went for the 2 sliders for $ 5.50… meatball and chicken parm. Both were delicious, soft bread and tasty marinara sauce and a portion that was not too big or small.
My grandmother loved Arancini’s aka rice balls, so I had to give them a try. I am use to a big ball but really enjoyed the smaller trio version Vesuvio serves. Cooked to perfection, lightly fried on the outside but perfectly cooked rice and gooey mozzarella in the middle.
Highly recommend skipping the «usual» asian fused this or that and trying out Vesuvio.

There’s a new food Truck Zone in the West Valley. It’s at the Harman Business park Campus on Balboa just north of the tracks. Today’s special guest truck was Vesuvio. Today, I had a Meatball Sandwich and Arancini (rice balls) for lunch, and while I loved the concept, I felt they could have done a bit better of a job.
On the positive side the $ 7.00 Meatball Sandwich was a winner. A nice big hunk of Ciabatta that was lightly toasted and strong enough to hold the sandwich without being tough. They also added the perfect amount of meatballs and both provolone and parmigiana cheeses. The chef obviously prefers a sweeter marinara than I do, but for a sweet sauce it wasn’t bad,
I do find fault with the $ 4.00 rice balls though. I liked the added salami and parmigiana flavor, but I couldn’t tell if the rice was over cooked or under-​cooked. Perhaps it was a little of both. the deep frying was perfect, so I imagine the rice was not cooked evenly before they made the balls. It was a little disappointing because these just looked so good,
All in all this wasn’t a bad truck or anything, but next time I might skip the Arancini and try their garlic bread instead.
«Gourmet Food Truck #56 on my never-​ending quest to try every truck in So Cal».

Ted’s favorite food is Italian so I knew when we saw this truck that we would be trying it for sure. He read some reviews while we stood in the short line and that was how he chose his dishes.
The Arancini was supposed to be a big hit. Ted thought it was great. I found it a little lackluster.
The meatball sandwich my friend ordered was very good. Great balance of ingredients.
The cheese ravioli Ted ate was delicious. The cheese had a very distinctive flavor and it didn’t taste like it had been reheated over and over.
My favorite part of this truck was the garlic bread. It had the best garlic schmear on it. It was perfectly toasted and truly delectable. I inhaled this. It was amazing!
Ted will be eating from this truck again very soon. I will eat the garlic bread.

as a proud sicilian i was very excited to have the opportunity to try this food truck at a food truck festival in marina del rey. unfortunately i wish i could give this truck a more positive review but i’m already being nice by giving it 3 stars. i tried three items on the menu:
Arancini: deep-​fried balls that are a mixture of rice, parmesan, salami, salami, parsley, mozzarella and breadcrumbs. such a disappointment. the rice overwhelmed everything else and where was the salami?!? this was a bad and dry introduction to vesuvio.
sausage and peppers slider: good enough, not great. it was pretty standard but a vast improvement after the arancini.
eggplant parmesan slider. delicious! the eggplant tasted fresh and was cooked to perfection. both sliders were placed on good bread as well.
the staff was very friendly and the eggplant parmesan was delicious and because of that vesuvio earned one more star than what i would had given based on the other two items of tried.

Saw these guys at Taco Cinema down town last week-​end and was happy to finally get a chance to try them.
I decided to have the Sausage and Pepper slider. The meat was a sweet sausage that paired nicely with the Pepper.
The staff was very nice as well and it was like $ 2 or $ 3, I can’t remember. But it was pretty cheap. I would order this again from them.
After reading the reviews below, now I want to try the rice balls from them. So maybe next time I will try one post an update.
Not sure if they ever really come to my area though.

out of the 10 trucks I sampled at art walk, this one is #2.
Arancini Rice balls rock!
Fried Risotto, inside cheese, outside nice little crunch
the sauce that they come with is really good, very hearty .
The other stuff on the menu does seem a little pricy for a truck but then again its Italian and I don’t think you can make it any cheaper for profit.
$ 3 for the rice balls
I would try again
VZ recomended

Generous portions, great pricing, not-​quite-​esoteric but still lovely soda selection…
Food itself is only okay, though. Chicken parmesian sandwich is good sized and pretty tasty, but after you’ve finished your meal and your bag of chips, you’re merely satisfied. There’s no groan of deep, persuasive satisfaction issued from your belly… your taste buds were never excited enough to jump for joy… and to some of my coworkers, well, they were still kinda hungry.
So, good, but not 4-​star good. Maybe 3.5 stars.

This truck is good. I had their chicken parm sandwich $ 7 and the rice balls. The rice balls are $ 3 for two balls. They were tasty.
The sandwich was just average. I think it needed something in it. Maybe some oregano. I’m not sure what. Some kind of kick.
Great guys though. And real fast at giving you your food.

Currently UCLA is bringing a lot of street food trucks on campus to feed the hungry South Campus students which is a crazy cool idea.
Decided to try out Vesuvio because I was craving some Italian after sitting through two hours of lecture about rubber bearings. In general I feel like food truck prices are a little on the higher side ($ 7 – 10 for me is considered high for a lunch) but in the end I get the feeling that they usually serve decent-​better quality food than say the Taco Bell where I can get full on on $ 3.89.
Went with a Chicken Parm Sandwich with drink and chips for an even $ 7. Pretty good for a combo meal. Truck people were friendly and got my order out in less than 5 minutes even with the usual lunch rush over. Sandwich looked like your run-​of-​the-​mill Chicken Parm with sauce and cheese. Unfortunately it was acutally a bit cold when they served it to me and there was nothing remarkable about the chicken or sauces. I’d say the best part of the sandwich was actually the bread; soft inside with yummy crunchy outside.
I’m definitely not in the habit of finding food that is a-​ok, but Vesuvio definitely fell into that category for me. I would definitely like to try their meatballs the next time they’re on campus, but I’ll probably be staying away from their sandwiches.

Just coming near this truck makes my mouth water!
That’s right… I start to salivate! The delicious aroma of tangy marinara sauce permiates the air. I simply lose my senses. All I can think of is the delicious parmigan I am about to devour.
Vesuvio knows their stuff! They keep their menu clean and simple. Flavorful and satisfying Italian parmigan, meatball and sausage sandwiches and the always tempting arancini are the daily fare. Oh my, are they good! My favorite is the eggplant parmigan. Vesuvio understands that most of us who order eggplant actually enjoy the taste and don’t need it to be over-​breaded. It literally melts in your mouth!
Manga!

I had this for lunch with some coworkers today. I ordered the Arancini (rice ball) appetizer and the Sausage and Bell Pepper Sandwich, which came out to $ 10. The appetizer was very tasty, though the accompanying marinara sauce was just okay. The sandwich was average, good but not anything special. My coworkers all had the Chicken Parmesan sandwich and all thought it to be average as well. We all agreed that the wait for the food was too long to make it worth its while. I did like that they accepted credit cards since I was short on cash.
I don’t think this is a truck I would go out of my way to try again. But if I were to happen upon it I would get the rice balls again.

I tried Vesuvio today with a original New Yorker. She always has great stories about the food she had growing up – many of which involve special Italian treats that for some reason, we don’t get out here. Last year we went on a special quest for spiral shaped sausage (see Bob’s Market on Ocean Park Blvd.) and so this time when we heard that Vesuvio had rice balls we were psyched to check them out.
The arancinis (rice balls) were warm, cheesy, and GOOD. You get two per order which also includes some marinara on the side. Even though I’m not a big fan of marinara sauce, I may have been converted because this sauce tasted like what my old Italian grandma would’ve made (if I was italian instead of filipino and believe me, we really know how to f*ck up spaghetti sauce).
Anyway, my friend thought her meatball sandwich was awesome and it almost brought her to tears thinking of home. I had the sausage and peppers sandwich. The combination of green, red, and yellow peppers was cooked perfectly – sweet and slightly crunchy and the sausage was nice and tasty. I’m keeping track of these guys on twitter so that I can try the chicken parm and have more arancinis.