Trattoria Fantastica

Great coffee. great ham and eggs. great service. very reasonable price and al fresco patio.

Just came to stay in little Italy with my wife for a mini vacation. Walking down India street noticed a whole row of restaurant. Stopped here for dinner because the patio seating looked very nice with living plants in planter boxes along the sidewalk and a very pretty charming greeter.
Food and service was very disappointing. They served garlic bread was the worst I have tasted. Asked for plain bread, were told it was fresh out of the oven again no flavor. We were told they make their own fresh pasta, again not good even the Parmigiana cheese had no flavor what so ever. Any way, even the wine was mediocre.
Just a tourist trap. I would never go there again.

We had the best night here!!! We went to seaport village all day and decided on Italian food for dinner. Two of us being on a diet we were extremely difficult customers and our waiter Pietro was an absolute gem. He made our experience so enjoyable and made us feel like we were in Italy on vacation. He was so attentive to all our annoying needs and so pleasant! We can’t wait to recommend him and this restaurant to all of our family and friends and come back on a regular basis!!! Thanks so much

Food quality is subpar and service is horrid. This is Little Italy — go one door down in either direction and you’ll find a good meal.

Cute spot, but the service was lacking at times. It was busy and super cute, but I was hoping the food would be a bit better. The presentation of the food was a little strange as well. I ordered the mussels & clams appetizer and it came in a huge pot with no side bowl. The pot was super deep instead of being shallow as I’ve seen before so I had to dig deep to get the seafood out. It tasted good but I think they should figure out an alternative way to serve it (maybe a smaller pot or a shallow bowl?)

Had a nice meal here on a late saturday night. A nice Caprese salad, some good wine prices and nice meals. The carbonara was a little oily but that’s often the case. My husband’s pasta was very tasty (the server assured him that the capers noted on the menu were VERY minimal, and she was right).

Trattoria Fantastica is our favorite restaurant in
Little Italy. Great food! Great Service! We are treated
better than family, more like royalty everyone saying hello to you. I recommend this restaurant if you want to be treated like ROYALTY.

No complaints! Great omelets, delish coffee, and love the michael buble and frank sinatra music going on too.

Came here with 4 friends and upon leaving we all agreed that both the food and service was terrible. The food tasted like mediocre leftovers, and the servers were: rude and missing in action. I say this with no exaggeration, we actually couldn’t even figure out who our server was. This place has below 4 stars and a short waitlist for a reason. Its horrible.

This is a must visit spot. From the service to the food to the music to the scenery. Vincenz was my server and he was the absolute best server I’ve had in a while he knew when to show up and when to stay away and let us enjoy this hot spot restaurant has a café on one side that has music and the world best desserts. I’ll definitely be back for now you’ll have to roll me to the car cause I’m stuffed.
Thank you Vincenz for the amazing experience the best part was your smiling face and dancing me to the dessert you know the way to a girls heart –dessert that is–
Xxx Nani thoughts xxxx

Our meal was amazing. We started with the bruschetta, amazing 4 large pieces and fresh shaved Parmesan. My wife had the «cloud» soft gnocchi with Gorgonzola amazing. I had the butternut squash stuffed rolls, again amazing. You will be thankful at the end, and full of great food.

Made a reservation and was seated right away. Back patio area is adorable and we got a cute two-​top up in the corner. Our server Eddie… Was incredible. We took all his recommendations and they were all superb. Best meal and service I have received in a long time. Well done guys! I’ll be back!

Can I relive my experience here every day for the rest of my life please?
Erin and I wanted to do something fun for dinner. As I live in North Park on the border of NP and UH you can imagine I don’t leave the area too much for fun. Other than La Jolla and trips to my office in North County, I’m usually in the 92 104 doing work.
Debating on cuisine we decided Mexican or Italian. I’ve been craving some fresh mozzarella and some home made pasta so that being said… I went looking. Decided to check out Little Italy and make a reservation. While looking I saw that this place had been reserved 40x that day and the reviews were pretty good. The main thing I saw was authentic which was what I was looking for.
Leaving the bubble we get to TF and are about 10 mins late for our reservation. Hostess comes back and says «all I have open is the back patio». No prob. I asked if it’s covered and heated she said yes so it’s a wrap. We get to walk thru the kitchen en route to our table. A gorgeous two top on a platform looking down.
Our waiter comes up sweet as can be. Ask about wine, and tells me about this killer bottle that’s 65.00 (nice mid range) and is from Toscana. The grapes are a little stronger but the blend assist in it being strong yet subtle. He also informs me that since I have Unilocal I can get 50% off any bottle. So now we go with his recommendation. Winner! Best wine I’ve had in 2016.
As we are looking at the menu, Erin and I debate on our app. We ask again for a recommendation and he says he Caprese. The mozzarella is the best you’ll ever have right now. He was right. Blew out anything I’ve had out or in the country.
Dinner wise we decide to mix it up. Split a pasta and a pizza. Got the procuitto pizza and a rigatoni with sausage, peppers and olives. Unsure of the name off the top of my head. Both were so good. We couldn’t even finish taking half the pizza and a third of the pasta back to her place.
It’s nice being me. After our meal my dude comes up with the greatest cannoli you’ll ever have. On the house per usual.
After the meal I notice our to go came in a bag from the Bussalacci family restaurants. Mind you I went to school with the younger part of the family and our waiter yells at Vince «You know this guy?» Go up and get a huge hug from him and PJ. That’s the type of love you’ll get when you go into any of their restaurants.
Overall, you need to get your butt here. I’ll be here Tuesday drinking a Barbera that I passed on and enjoying some top quality food.
Thank you to everyone who made our experience so memorable and magnificent.

Let me start by saying little italy has many great dining options so it’s tough to chose just one. Normally I make a selection based on Unilocal,but in this case I went with 4 years of italian experience (lived in Rome) and had an incredible authentic lunch at Trattoria Fantastica. We split the Ceasar salad (an entrée) and had the buffala caprese sandwich and pasta vongole. The Ceasar salad with homemade dressing and lightly battered fried calamari was wonderful. The caprese sandwich on a sesame bun was to die for. The bread is made in house by their own baker and their pastries next door are worth a try. Cannoli’s! Crème Brulee! My stomach is so so happy. What a find and such a cozy unassuming atmosphere with very fair pricing

My extended family and I have been eating at Trattoria Fantastica for years, so it is about time I wrote a Unilocal review for my favorite restaurant in Little Italy. I live a good distance away, in Carlsbad, but my husband and I make a point of stopping here anytime we are downtown.
That being said, this typically means we arrive after a long day at the zoo or other museums in Balboa Park… and we have a hungry/​cranky four year old in tow. We are always enthusiastically greeted by the hostess and our server. Our crabby daughter is smiling in no time, as our server (who I believe is also a manager) engages her and promises gelato after she eats all of her dinner. She is usually provided with crayons and a dough ball (to play with and «make a pizza»), which allows my husband and I to relax and dine in relative peace. Tonight, she was even brought to the back and allowed to peek in to the kitchen.
All waitstaff (as always) was attentive to details such as plate clearing, making sure our water carafes were full, and we were given as much parmesan as we liked. Our server suggested a wine to go with our meal, and it was very good. I don’t eat it, but my husband had the osso bucco and said it was the best and most tender he has ever had in his life. I had the snapper special– also amazing and perfectly breaded and cooked. Our older kids happily demolished fettuccine bolognese and a cioppino special. I have had numerous items on the menu over the years, and can’t think of a single time that I have ever been disappointed.
We are usually too full for dessert (but can’t pass up the excellent espresso and cappuccino), so we order a few cannoli from Café Zucchero (connected to Fantastica) to go. Perfect ending.

What a great day at the zoo, walking and gawking, then a follow-​up late lunch here at TF!
First off Maria the greeter/​hostess (what a pleasant young lady) happily greeted us and seated us. Then I ask after a few minutes for another seat, without hesitation she accommodates our request. This was such great change in some prior hostesses and a very welcome experience to a pretty fabulous establishment.
Joseph our server was great too giving us just the right amount of attention. Thanks TF for another great experience, that’s what keeps us coming back (well the copping does not hurt any)!!

This is hands down my favorite restaurant in Little Italy. The service is always fast and the food is so delicious and authentic! I recently had my wedding rehearsal dinner at Trattoria Fantastica and I’m so glad I did! We had 28 people including myself and my husband and we were so thrilled that we choose this restaurant. They have really great pricing on their part menus and alcohol selections. They were so accommodating to ask of out needs! Everything was amazing!
Also, I recommend having their tiramisu… it’s the best Ive ever had!

The service was great. The staff was very friendly. The chef came out to greet is and helped us choose what to eat. The décor was cute and had a warm feel to it. The food took a while but was worth the wait. Everything from the bread to the dessert was perfect. Definitely thinking of bringing my mother here for her birthday.

The location to Trattoria Fantastica is right at the heart of Little Italy in San Diego. If you choose to sit outside, the outside patio offers a nice view of the street and activity going on throughout the day. We chose to sit inside, which was very nicely decorated and made it seem romantic. From the get go, the staff and manager were very friendly and welcoming!
We started with some garlic flat bread and oil/​vinegar, and the olive oil they use is excellent. The Caesar salad we ordered was very tasty and flavorful with lots of shaved Parmesan cheese and fresh romaine leaves. For dessert, we ordered the Cannoli, and it was a great way to cap off the meal. All I can say is the food is very flavorful and plentiful! I really enjoyed our dinner. This place has great dishes and is reasonably priced.
I’m definitely glad we found this place and would recommend!

This place is really good — even for a late lunch, around 2pm, the service was great and the waitresses were extremely friendly.
The garlic bread was really good, perfect with some olive oil as a starter. Ordered the lasagna — was good, but it could be more seasoned, I felt was lacking salt and some kick also, to match with the amazing presentation.
They have espresso, so thumbs up!