Cucina di Zucchero

I’m not quite sure how this restaurant has five stars on Unilocal.It wasn’t awful, but it was nothing more than mediocre. The marinara sauce tasted like it was out of a can and the bruschetta tasted like the bread was slightly stale.

Whent here for the first time a couple of weeks ago. The place was clean with a cool relaxed setting. The staff was very welcoming and helpful. The food was very good. Me being from NYC my Italian food bar is set very high. I would defiantly come back to this restaurant. The only thing I could say bad is the food is a little pricy for quality and what you get.

Food is pretty good here. the bread knots are awesome especially if you love garlic like I do.
We had spaghetti and a plate of mushroom ravioli. both were good. their marinara sauce is really good, It went well with the tasty chianti we had Place looks very dated and a little dusty, but hey I don’t come here to lick the walls. Basically like a hole in the wall authentic Italian place.

This place is a gem in the rough on South Sante Fe. It would be better suited in downtown Vista or Vista Village.
We had a scheduled group dinner there with about 50 people. The food was good but not great. The Chianti they had was good, but I am not very knowledgeable about wine. I am not sure of the wine list, but they only had two types of beers. The bread they served was very good.
Like I said, we had a group dinner and the food was to be served at a certain time, it arrived almost 30 minutes late.
I like the ambiance, but it is dated. The staff was very pleasant, but I believe they were short handed for the size of our group.
I would like to return to try different foods.

Service is excellent, food was delicious, ambience is pleasant. All in all, I’m coming back and recommend it to others. I got the carpaccio di manzo, to die for. Beautiful cuts of filet thinly sliced and draped over my arugula. My son got the lasagna with beef and marinara. Celery in the marinara, who knew?! He’s currently inhaling his food. My mother got the linguine with clans. She loved it but said it was missing something. I’m pretty sure it just needed a hit of salt. The garlic knots at the beginning were heavenly. I could live off those things! Found my new Italian restaurant in Vista!

I am very surprised by the high rating of this restaurant. The restaurant was absolutely filthy, so filthy I was scared a cockroach would crawl on me if I leaned my back against the wall. My hands were sticking to the table because it was so dirty. The booths are very uncomfortable too. Very thin padding and very hard. Me and my boyfriend are average to small size people and we felt that the table was really close to our chest. The wine glasses were dirty as well. My boyfriend, who never complains, as he was raised poor and is a tough Marine, was even scared to put his mouth on the glass. The waitress, while the highlight of our dining experience, was clueless to types of wine, as we requested a full bodied red and received a very mellow weak wine. The wine tasted water downed too. To her benefit, she did let us sample many wines.
The bread, which seems to be what they are known for was very flavorful but it was hard (not made to order like the waitress claimed). I asked the waitress what her favorite dish was on the menu and I ordered her recommendation. Chicken Pesto Lasagna. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, I’d say it was a 6. My boyfriend ordered a chicken and vegetable dish which was very flavorless. He opted out of having pasta with it but was left hungry so he ordered Fettuccini Alfredo later in the meal. I’m Italian and fettuccine has 3 ingredients in it so it’s pretty hard to mess up. But they did! It was flat with no flavor at all and the worst thing we had there. But at least it was al dente.
After our meal we ordered dessert. They were out of the two desserts we wanted so we chose a cannoli. That was actually very delicious. Overall, the only pro about the dining experience was the waitress. She did forget to bring out our appetizer but she was so friendly and funny, that we didn’t have the heart to complain. She did ask how our food was and I’ll admit, we liked her so much we lied! I would not recommend eating there and would not go back. I hope the lovely waitress gets a job elsewhere so she can make better tips.

Pros:
Friendly server and attentive service
Great flavors
Cons:
Dirty-​I found a piece of food? on my wine glass and the menu
Located in the ghetto area in Vista

Garlic knots were so delicious. We ordered two more orders.
Calamari was fresh and cooked to perfection.
Meat ravioli was the best I have had by far. Pasta thin enough and overstuffed with very well seasoned meat. Boyfriend had linguine di zucchero (hopefully spelled correctly)
And he officially calls it his #1 spot for italian food. His words «it’s by far the best Italian food I have ever had». We were so stuffed we couldn’t get dessert but next we will for sure.

Ok… Now I’m done eating… I think. I want another roll! This place is now my favorite Italian place. The chef is so friendly. People are nice here!!!

I was in the mood for Italian, and I immediately thought «shudder» Olive Garden??? Nah, there had to be better options. I’ve visited Spirito’s, and although it was good, it didn’t have the ambiance I was in search of. I wanted the whole package.
Enter my trusty Unilocal reviewers. I don’t know how many times I’ve driven by this place, and never even noticed it. It’s a little hole in the wall cozy spot that’s really just perfect; picture Lady and the Tramp.
We had bruschetta to start which was fantastic, and shared the house green salad. The salad is your basic mixed greens with tomato quarters and croutons, but was fresh, and good.
My fiancé had the fettuccine primavera, and it was delicious. He didn’t care for the mushrooms that it had in it, but I ate them up. I had the eggplant parm, which came with bowtie pasta with red sauce. So good. I was hoping for spaghetti, but pasta’s pasta. The sauce was fantastic. And those warm garlic bread knots… forgetaboutit OMG so stinkin good. Portions are large, so we really could’ve shared an entrée. We each took half of our entrees home.
For dessert we shared a crème brûlée which was also tasty; custard consistency was a little runny for my taste, but had wonderful flavor, complete with fresh bean vanilla specks.
Frankie’s greatest hits serenaded us in the background which made me love it all the more.

Wife and I went for our anniversary after a restaurant we had planned to go to was no longer there good price food was amazing chef came out checked on us garlic rolls and veal was amazing.

Amazing service and very homely feeling! Food good! Tiramisu was great and fresh.
we tried the gnocchi and chicken marsala. Food tasted good and homemade.

My wife and I popped in for a lunch date on a Friday. I had a bit of trouble finding it at first but the staff had someone wait on the sidewalk to flag me down (bonus points). We got a table for two in the dining room to the right. There was a group of about eight ladies already seated. The décor was nice and the server was very pleasant. We both ordered the pasta with clams.
My wife had it with red sauce; while I had it with white sauce. Prior to the entrees arriving they brought us some garlic rolls which were very good. We both enjoyed our entrees. I tried a bit of her pasta, but prefered the white sauce. Both were very good. The serving was quite generous for a lunch portion.
Our server was very kind. We received the food quickly and were not rushed along or left for overly extended periods of time. We were both very happy with our meals and will certainly be back.

We came here early on a Saturday night for dinner, between 6−7pm. It was pretty empty. This is a great time to go as it got much busier later on.
They give out garlic rolls before dinner comes out and they are DRIPPING with garlic and oil. We thought they were fantastic but some people may think otherwise. My kids got the spaghetti with meat sauce and it was some of the best spaghetti we’ve had anywhere.
I had the Linguine di Zucchero which was great and my wife had the gnocchi. She added meat sauce instead of the marinara. They obliged and it tasted great. There is so much food we hardly ate even half of it. We also go the tiramisu which was a perfect finish to the meal. We can’t wait to come back to try something else ;)

For my birthday dinner, we decided to try a new place in the area. Cucina di Zucchero has been open for just about a year and is on one of the main streets in Vista. When we arrived, we were warmly greeted by Katie and selected a booth where we would have dinner. The service was top notch and very attentive, the food was fantastic and the décor made you feel like you were dining in someone’s home. Overall, a great experience and Emilio even came out from behind the stove to talk with us. A place we will definitely return to soon and we’ll bring our friends also.
For antipasti, we shared the Antipasti Rustico Plate (a variety of Italian meats & cheeses with marinated artichokes, kalmata olives and tomatoes served over a bed of Romaine lettuce) and Panino di Zucchero (homemade garlic rolls). For dinner, Robin ordered Cheese Tortellini (tortellini served in a housemade pesto sauce with pinenuts), LJ had the Capesante di Zucchero (pan seared scallops with garlic, sundried tomatoes, deglazed with white wine on a bed of spinach and served with grilled vegetables) while I had the Black Angus Rib-​Eye (12 oz. steak grilled to order with potata fritta and grilled vegetables). Of course you can’t leave an Italian restaurant without trying the dessert… so we had homemade Tiramisu, Cannoli and Caffè Corretto. So amazing and so delicious!!!

Great authentic, homey, Italian restaurant!
The food was delicious and the portions are pretty decent! The garlic rolls they give you before your meal are AWESOME. the bread is fresh and they’re not stingy with the garlic. mmmmm garlic.
The servers are genuine and nice but I wish they would check up on tables more because we were in need of water for a while.
I would definitely recommend coming here for a date or any other intimate setting. or heck if you want really good italian food.

Yup, it still gets 5 stars! We went on Christmas eve for dinner (bad idea, they were understaffed and packed! But they still served the same awesome quality food… the wait was just insane).
I’ve been back several times for lunch and dinner. The grilled salmon lunch is to die for… I could swim in the sauce they put on it. The veggies are always well seasoned and crisp. My daughter loves the clam chowder, my husband is obsessed with the gnocchi we have to order 2 orders of calamari because the 6 of us fight over every piece, even though it is a good sized helping!
I took a good friend (that I love very much but happens to be a bit of a food snob) she LOVED the arabiatta sauce & always says we need to go back there next time we lunch together.
I haven’t had a single thing from this place that isn’t top notch quality. Everything is made to order, The owners stop by your table and say hello. The chef, Emilio, is the absolute best — classic Italian to the core. He makes all his own bread (yeast rolls OMG) and everything else from scratch.
You will never be disappointed by this restaurant.

So excited to Find Emilio opened his own restaurant! I used to go to San Georgio’s in Vista (now John’s Neighborhood bar) which I rarely go to and only go to see Jeff the awesome bartender!
My friend and I finally found Cucina di Zucchero’s. It’s not in a location you’d think to find a restaurant so it’s a hidden lil gem. If you’re snobby and not looking for a quaint lil place then this isn’t the place for you.
Emilio has a great lunch menu as well as a dinner menu. My friend got the Caprice salad which she enjoyed. I got a Caesar salad (a lil overpriced in my mind) I wouldn’t get it again or Id ask for extra dressing.
I was excited to see that Emilio’s Chicken pesto lasagna was on the menu! I had to have it! My friend got chicken Piccata. He serves the best garlic rolls– I’m talking you see the chunks of garlic! YUM I thoroughly enjoyed my Lasagna. I’m not a huge Piccatta fan (I don’t care for lemon) I tasted my friends and it was very light and the chicken was very tender.
It may take longer than some restaurants for your food to come out but, that’s because.
Emilio’s food is fresh– it’s not frozen and it’s made with his Italian charm and love.

Cucina di Zucchero deserves it high reviews and is off to a good start for its first three months in business. The complementary garlic rolls are heavenly with a red sauce to dip in. The lunch menu was super cheap and tasty. My first choice recommendation would be the salmon vodka cream pasta. Very creamy flavorful sauce and a good portion size for $ 8. I also like the Capellini alla Checca — basil, tomato and mozzarella with pasta, which is super cheap at $ 6. They are open 11−3pm for lunch on Mon-​Fridays in addition to everyday for dinner. A very simple Italian restaurant run by an authentic Italian chef. He came out and gave us spoons so we could eat the pasta like the Italians do! Great option for Italian in the Vista area.

This restaurant is bringing charm and authentic southern Italian cuisine to vista, and I can’t wait to try it out! I have seen what the owners have put in to this location, and I have no doubts that they will find success. The restaurant has a quaint charm with beautiful wrought iron chandeliers and inviting décor that will have you feeling like you teleported to Italy for the evening. I see this being a perfect place to take my significant other and share a delicious Italian dinner.
The grand opening is on Father’s Day (Sunday, June 17^th) so show you support and celebrate the fathers in your life by eating at Cucina di Zucchero!