Monello

Welcome to Italy in San Diego!
The pasta was al dente! The vongole were outstanding! The carbonara was truly a carbonara, none of the American cream sauce excuse.
Our waiter, Bruce, was really wonderful. Friendly, knowledgable of the menu, and expressed his loyalty to the owners and chief (all from Italy). Bruce was also helpful with our decision on the wine.
Truly a little spot of pure Italian deliciousness in San Diego, of all places! I have been raving about Monello to all my friends, and will be back ASAP! It really is a must do!

Been here twice. Once for an early dinner. The other for restaurant week. Both times… not a disappointment.
Service. Excellent. Had the same waiter both times. Friendly and knowledgeable of his menu. Can’t remember his name. But I’ll get it next time. Yeah. We’re going. Again and again and again.
The first time we had the Benecotto pizza. Dough, sauce, ricotta. Basic. Simple. Delicious!!! My favorite pizza… ever! Now I’m a meat lover pizza kinda guy. I can tell you that this is way better. I dream about this pizza. I crave it. The kicker? The sauce! I don’t know what’s in it. All I know it’s the best tasting sauce. Rich and tomatoey (not sure that’s a word but it is now). Trust me. Just get it.
Porcini. Know it. Learn it. Live it. Pasta with cream sauce, black truffles and truffle oil. Holy wow!!! Again. Another dish you won’t want to miss.
Restaurant week. We had the Margherita pizza. Again, simple and delicious. Dough, THE SAUCE, mozzarella, basil. *sigh* so good. Get that too.
Ragu. Touchdown! Crowd goes wild!!! Pasta, THE SAUCE with meat. What more can I say? I can’t. The words escape me. But the memories of these dishes haunt me.
Get haunted.

Nice food with probably the worst service I’ve ever had at a restaurant.
Let’s just say it took OVER 30 minutes for them to take our table’s order. When I finally got our server to come over, I asked him if we could order appetizers. I told him one appetizer, and he left the table without taking anyone else’s order on apps. I understand it was a busy night. The restaurant was full, but our server was rude, probably because he’s taking care of too many tables. Either way, the worst thing to have as a server is a bad attitude, and he brought his with him to work that day. Let’s just say he’s lucky gratuity was included.
Okay let’s get to the food, which saves this review from being a 1-​star.
Prosciutto Pizza ($ 24)
I didn’t really like it that much, actually. The prosciutto was good, but I’m too used to having sausage and pepperonis on my pizzas. The cheese is an acquired taste. It’s very strong and wasn’t really for me.
Ragu Spaghetti ($ 18)
I really loved the Ragu. The sauce was awesome and creamy. The Ragu tasted amazing. I wish there was more! Loved it and definitely worth the price. Highly recommended.

Phenomenal dinner — best Italian food we have had in a long time. The Raspa Dura was a hit with the sautéed collard greens. The gnocchi melted in our mouths creating a supremely divine happy sensation! Love Monello — you brought back memories of perfect pastas from our trip to Milan!
The service was also impeccable — our hostess reseated us at a quieter area of the restaurant since the original table was right beside a very noise bevy of drunken women. Our server periodically checked on is to make sure we had everything we wanted!
What a gem of a restaurant! Will def be back next time we are in SD

Monello, an endearing Italian term translates to «naughty little boy», created by the same owners (Valentina DiPietro, Guido Nistri, and Fabrizio Cavallini, Executive Chef) behind San Diego’s «Best Italian Restaurant» Bencotto Italian Kitchen. Monello delivers authentic Milanese cuisine with a modern twist.
The menu is inspired by the upscale street food found in Milan with a strong tradition of quality. Expect dishes to be prepared with the highest quality of ingredients locally sourced from the Little Italy Mercato.
You cannot go wrong with anything off the incredible menu although a few of our favorites included the Casonsei alla Bergamasca, handmade ravioli filled with beef & pork sautéed with butter, sage and bacon. Or the irresistible Gnocchetti Con Midollo, small handmade spinach gnocchi topped with brown butter & sage sauce, served with a side of beef bone marrow. Carve the marrow into the gnocchi and allow it to meld into buttery goodness.
For Pizza lovers, recommend sampling the Calzone Monello, four calzones (pictured below) filled with cremini mushrooms, fontina and prosciutto cotto served with arugula, burrata & tomato. Or the Brunch Pizza offered on weekends with cheese sauce, bacon, spinach graced with two perfectly runny farm eggs.
Cheese aficionados: Monello delivers an impressive selection of Italian formaggio, from the Raspa Dura, one of the fewest restaurants offering this young lodigiano cheese, hand carved and served in paper cones, to pecorino al tartufo, toma piemontese, gorgonzola piccante, to testun al vino rosso, a semi-​hard cow’s milk cheese aged in small oak barrels under the residues of the Nebbiolo grapes — the grape to make Barolo wine. Add to that a side of salame, prosciutto al coltello, hand carved to order and you’re set for a perfect Italian apertivo.
The food, warm hospitality, passionate respect for quality in all experiences is what makes Monello a favorite top Italian restaurant of ours.

Just off India Street, in the heart of Little Italy, you’ll find Monello. The restaurant décor is classy yet modern. There is also an outdoor patio that is prime for people watching. The menu is filled with classic Italian dishes with unique ingredients (like black squid-​ink spaghetti). I ordered from the specials — gnocchi di zucca — it was good, but I couldn’t really taste the butternut squash. It was also pretty rich, so I suggest sharing it with someone else or taking home leftovers. We ordered drinks before food, so I got a glass of sangiovese. Just as expected from an Italian restaurant, it was really good. The wait staff couldn’t have been nicer. Our group of 15 was well taken care of. The waiter gave us a run down of the menu, which was helpful in figuring out what we wanted to order. Our water glasses were never empty and our drinks came out quickly. As we ordered our waiter took note of how we were splitting checks, so it was really helpful when we went to pay. The awkwardness of trying to split the bill at the end of the meal was avoided.

This past weekend we came to Monello with a group of 18. They kindly took the reservation over the phone and set up two big tables next to each other so that we can stick with our group.
The restaurant is fairly good sized for groups no more than 4 – 6. The décor is definitely upscale and modern but still gives you a homey feeling as soon as you step in. The staff greeted us very nicely as they sat us down.
We proceeded to order our wine and appetizers from the help of our waiter.
The food I ordered were:
MISTO FRITO: 5 STAR. Big Prawns and Calamari was delicious
RASPA DURA: 5 STAR. Very thinly sliced cheese, delicious!
COPPA ARROSTO: 4 STAR on portion 5 STARS in taste. Tender pork neck, and house mashed potato.
Overall, I loved the service here. The staff is quick and attentive. LOVE MONELLO!

Across from Café Gratitude. This place has a really vibrant atmosphere.
And the servers there are super generous, like offering free kitchen-​prepared bar food during happy hour. And not batting an eye when you tell them you’re vegan and ask them to bring back without cheese.
Many of the dishes here can be made vegan and service is very good.
No issues so far. Street parking.

WORST. SERVICE. EVER. I normally don’t write reviews unless the experience is excellent, but in this case, it was so bad I felt compelled to write one immediately upon getting home!
The dinner outing was for a girlfriend’s birthday, with a party of about 18 people. Rather than write a novel, I’ll condense key points.
A) It took forever to order drinks, and when we finally received them about 40 minutes later, several had to be returned they were so awful. Not sure how you mess up a vodka soda, but believe me, they messed it up.
B) Our waiter was clearly overwhelmed with too many tables and not enough support. No one bussed the dirty dishes; it got so bad that the magician my friend’s bf hired to entertain bussed some dishes just so he could do tricks without the mess interfering!
C) The entrees, when they finally came (if at all, as some did not arrive– mine was one of those that disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle) were spaced unevenly timewise, so the entire table ate at different times. Two of us finally just cancelled our order after 3 hours of waiting.
D) The food was just okay, nothing special. My husband’s food was cold; the cheese coagulated like plastic.
E) Adding insult to injury, the restaurant did nothing to offer to mitigate the bill. At the very least, the manager should have gotten involved and acted like he/​she cared about customer service and overall dining experience.
I will never dine here again. There are too many other great Italian restaurants in San Diego that I’d rather spend time and money on.

This is by far my favorite restaurant in San Diego. It has everything: a great, unique Italian menu, ambiance, happy hour, homemade ingredients, fun cocktail menu, incredible five-​star service, and I’ve never had a bad experience here! This place is great for date nights, groups, special occasions, and casual meetings. The noise level is medium, but not too loud.
Since I am gluten free, I always order the same thing: gluten free pasta with the Monello sauce (a meaty tomato sauce with pancetta). I also order the mista side salad and occasionally order the raspa dura (a thinly sliced cheese appetizer that comes in a paper cone… basically like cheese ribbons that taste fresh and buttery).
I highly recommend this place. Go and go often.

Service is great. The food is also good. Love the décor and atmosphere.
The osobucco ravioli were great. Will come back to try other dishes.
The $ 35 lobster spaghetti dish was definitely not worth it. The lobster was dried and tough. The amount of lobster meat we got was equivalent to two regular sized shrimp.

Best Caesar salad ever!!! If you like Caesar salad you must try it! I went to Monello for pasta and didn’t know they had a lunch menu. They have a fixed menu with options for appetizers, main and dessert. It’s only $ 20 for lunch but you get so much food that you can take it to go with you! My friend and I both got Caesar Salad and she got the spinach lasagna with ground beef (so good) and I got the spaghetti carbonara (was a big greasy and heavy but still good). Overall a very good experience! For dessert she got mango sorbet and I got the coffee gelato. I would definitely come back here and get a larger portion of the spinach lasagna because it was so good.
You’re not going to find much parking here since it’s in Little Italy but if you work or live in downtown you can call for the free ride golf cart that can pick you up and drop you off anywhere downtown!

Visited Monello for the second time this Saturday. YUM I’m still dreaming of my amazing gnocchi.
Five stars to Monello for many reasons! First off, to be able to walk up and get a table for dinner on a Saturday night without pretention was great.
We immediately got seated and served water. We started off by ordering their famous raspa dura cheese– I was raving about its texture to my bf prior to going there and it was a must. They also serve some beans while you wait — which are great they have an edamame like texture but much bigger. Our waitress was kind enough to bring a second serving since we loved them so much.
Onto the food given the holiday season I decided to go with their butternut squash gnocchi di zucca with gorgonzola cream sauce– seriously amazing. The sauce was true perfection– the perfect amount of cream and the texture was truly exquisite and beautiful. Every bite was to die for so much that it’s hard to feel guilty.
My bf ordered the lasagna– I had a couple bites and it was also very good. However, I would say the butternut squash was the better order of the two.
All in all Monello is a solid choice in Little Italy– If you haven’t been I highly recommend it.
Tips: One downside they only have one restroom.

My friend and I stopped by for dinner on a busy Friday night. Wait for a table was over an hour but we got lucky since bar seating was available. Comparing Monello and Bencotto, this one definitely seems a bit more laid back and relaxed. I could tell by the crowd and by what everyone was wearing since Bencotto had a lot of dressed up people.
For our food I decided on the ravioli with veal and marrow filling. I forgot the name but it was excellent. The filling was super tender and flavorful. The marrow gave it a nice richness and creaminess that I really enjoyed. The sauce it came with was a tomato sauce which was also excellent. Top it off with grated parmesan and pepper and I was a happy camper. They make all of their pastas here in house every day so how could you not go with a pasta dish. My only complaint was some of the ravioli seemed a bit undercooked to me but it wasn’t that big of a deal since the filling was so good. My friend got the cacio e pepe and she said her dish was very good as well.
Service was ok. Although friendly and super helpful it wasn’t as attentive as I expected a place like this would be. We had to ask for everything including water refills to clearing our table. The food definitely made up for it though. Reservations are recommended as this place is very popular, especially on a weekend night.

Bencotto & this place are the exact same– which is weird to me when they are right next door to each other (?)
Average Italian food at its best, which is disappointing since its in little Italy & I think it really has potential!
–I’ve had the pesto pasta and their «spicy» sauce rigatoni which had legit zero kick at all (disappointing).
The one thing I reaaaally liked was for happy hour everyone you order a drink they bring out a little sample of pizza, meatballs, salad, pasta which I thought was really cool. Keep drinking so they keep bringing more small bites to try ;)
They tried to serve us gelato but it was def ice cream and I was SO bummed! (They even said it was made in house)
The little patio is cute but it’s littttttle. Like the waiters can’t even come by little.
I would dine at a different place down the street is you’re really wanting food Italian.

Came here with a large group and tried a bunch of stuff. Parking was kind of difficult, i found parking a few blocks away after some exploring but they do have valet parking.
Started by sharing some dishes
Gnocchi — i always weary about getting gnocchi because I’m usually let down with some tough rubbery gnocchi. This however passed with flying colors. I think we got the cacio e pepe (black pepper, pecorino, and raspa dura, cheese) upon the waitresses’ recommendation. The gnocchi was so pillowy soft, i loved it, it was the best gnocchi I’ve ever eaten. The raspa dura cheese so soft and yummy, put some of it on some of the pizzas that we ordered as well.
Grilled octopus — It was soft and tender and grilled nicely but i want to say too soft, it had a spongy texture maybe from over boiling? Still very good though, better too soft than rubbery right?
Panzerotti — were like mini Hot Pockets, but the grown up version. Fried and filled with gooey melted cheese, basil and pasta sauce. I added some of the chili pepper flakes, and cheese that accompanied the pizza.
Fried Calamari — Nice and crispy, but not something that you couldn’t find anywhere else. I guess if you really like fried calamari then this is worth ordering, but it’s not something i order at fancy restaurants.
They had a special where they finished a seafood risotto table side in a cheese wheel. We ordered that and shared it as an appetizer. The risotto was very cheesy from being finished in the cheese wheel and the seafood was fresh. Im not much of a risotto person so I’m not the best judge of it but i thought it was good and the table side presentation was a nice touch. My friends loved it!
We got a few pizzas, the crust was thin and crisp and still had the perfect amount of chew to it, the crust is on par with the best artisanal pizza places in SD. Definitely worth getting.
Porchetta pizza (cheese sauce, porchetta, arugula) was good but i was expecting more, i couldn’t really taste the porchetta,
Piccante pizza (mozzarella, arrabbiata sauce, and spicy salami) oh man this was so good, one of our friends who frequents this place calls it «Crack Pizza» I like how the spicy arrabbiata asauce builds upon the spicy salami to create a nice depth of flavor. It was so good we ended up ordering another one! No wonder she calls it «crack pizza!»
For my entrée, i got the lobster bisque and the squid ink pasta. The lobster bisque had a very intense lobster flavor. I guess thats what you want in a lobster bisque, I wish there was more bread or something to balance the intensity of it.
The squid ink pasta was also made with this lobster bisque and tossed with octopus. This was the first time ive had squid ink pasta, and it was very tasty, the noodles were perfectly done, and it had a very strong sea food taste to it, from both the squid ink and the lobster bisque that it was tossed in. The octopus was the same as in the appetizer version. For my first time trying squid ink pasta, I was really impressed, it’s something i’d order again.
I also got to try a bite of my friends lobster spaghetti, also sauced with the lobster bisque and a brandy sauce. Oh man this was mighty tasty. I have to remember to order this one next time.
For dessert i got the chocolate panna cotta with mixed berries, it was kind small but very tasty, the panna cotta was smooth and had a nice intense chocolate flavor, the berries were a nice touch and were a nice accompaniment.
Phew i was stuffed!
Service was friendly and helpful, i found our waitress’ recommendations to be spot on. There is an 18% gratuity added on to groups of 6 or more, pretty standard at most places and understandable as it can be hard to deal with large parties. There is also a pre-​fix menu with $ 35, $ 40 and $ 45 options, which seem like a good deal. I might explore that option next time.
Over all we all had a great time and i was so glad that i finally found a place that made an awesome gnocchi! Now i know how gnocchi is supposed to be done.

Service was great. We had reservations but weren’t able to be seated right at the time of the reservations so they gave us a cheese plate complimentary while we were waiting at the bar. I really appreciate businesses who go out of the way to make sure their guests have a good experience and I feel Monello did this.
I ordered the cacio e pepe. It was a white sauce and very heavy. I enjoyed it but wish I would have gone with the arrabbiata sauce because it wasn’t as heavy and I liked the little spicy kick it had.
I would come back here for an appetizer and drink becuase both menus look amazing and I wasn’t able to try an appetizer last time.

I really enjoyed this place!
I went with a group of people and we started with a Moscato Breeze and a focaccia app. The bread is a great starting point at this place. After our app we got three Pizzas: Ragu, Margherita, and Piccante as well as an order of Gnocci di Zucca. I believe the Gnocci was boiled, not pan fried. I tend to like pan fried better, but this was still very good.
We sat outside and the atmosphere was nice, though tight quarters. Parking was relatively easy, but the tough spot about this was getting a table. It’s busy!
I’ll definitely be back to this yummy Italian resturant.

This is the sister jawn of Bencotto’s pasta, italian, cheese dipped, pizza palace located in the Italy of Little, in San Diego’s Californications.
We made a reservations, but to our dismay we were only optioned a dining in the outside region of the locations. The outside areas is very small, and we had lots of pizza and pasta to shove in our faces, so we opted to dine in the bar, where our good friend Jorge took care of us the entire nite, shoveling noodles, man made salted meats, and gooey slimey man made sauces down our throats all night long! It was simply to die for!
The hidden menu item of the lobster pasta drenched in creamy hand created sauces and bisque was amazing and so fresh! We licked and scooped every ounce of this white meat into our mouths and swallowed every piece begging and groping each other for more and more! It simply must be put in your mouth to believe how amazing it feels and tastes!
We also enjoyed the special Monello pepper pizza with the exclusive raspa dura cheeses on top, this white man made cut to perfection cheese can only be touched and licked in san diego at this location, and it just melts all over the salted meats and in your mouth, you can feel the plethora of sensations inside you the second they enter, and drip down your throat! soooo amazing
To end the Menage a trois special delight of italian fantasies, we had our ultimate fantasy of tentacle erotica… the legendary squid ink noodles… this one has the juices of the squid all over your noodles, so you get a nice black noodle juice drenched in liquid goo that just simply must be experienced to believe! It’s so amazing to tongue down the white tender octopuss meats covered in a squids juices! The mix of squid ink and octopussy is so hot that everyone that passed by our table wanted to finger it and talk about how much they wanted tentacle erotica as well! They were all so jealous!!!
As you well know by now, no trip would be complete without us getting totally trashed and wasted while we cover ourselves in juices and meats! However this particular location serves one twisted and wicked cock of a tail! The Sweet Vermouth is one nasty medicine drenched hot mess! It definitely does not go down easy, but if you are ready to experience the ultimate in hand crafted booze to get you totally inebriated in Italian ecstasy than this is your tail of a cock ready for you dining pleasure!
If you are looking for that greasy, tentacle erotica, infused with vermouth all over your salted meats topped with the best man made sauces in the county of San Diego, then you absolutely need to call and make a reservation at Monello, to quench that burning desire deep inside your loins.

Love. I can’t wait to come back to San Diego to revisit Monello in Little Italy.
We had the Tartufo pizza, cremini mushrooms, black truffle and cheese sauce. To die for. The crust was perfect, mushrooms so earthy it was like they were fresh picked. The herbs in green, white and red order.
We also had the fried zucchini. So crispy and the aioli was lovely. Yum yum!
Cocktails were wonderful too. We were very pleased with everything and are excited to come back and try entrees.