Toast Enoteca & Cucina

We came here for brunch and had an awful experience. The day we went was apparently the first day they had brunch, so it’s understandable to have a few minor miscues. However, having disrespectful employees and sub par food quality is no excuse. We ordered waffles that came out cold and when we ordered bottomless mimosas, all we wanted was less orange juice and more champagne, which was apparently out of the question. Our server we had was excellent and the manager ended up taking care of our whole bill, after the bartender lady refused to just pour only champagne in our mostly orange juice mimosa because «she’s too hungover to deal with this» and that «no you can’t have just champagne» in one of the worst displays of customer service I have ever seen. This is a place we will never be back to.

As a regular patron of Toast, I can speak of this establishment with more credibility than the one-​time visitors from out of town that posted a previous comment. The food is excellent and fresh, and the people who work here are kind and sincere. The staff and management treat each person like family and truly take pride in their work at Toast. If you’ve never tried Toast I would highly recommend it for great locally run and operated restaurant.

Came here to check out Acqua Al 2’s sister restaurant, which I also loved. Toast is a different experience, but also absolutely scrumptious. Loved the décor and the relaxing ambiance. Ordered the Baja octopus salad and Italian sausage as appetizers, where do I begin! The blend of flavors harmonize perfectly to create delectable bites. Then came the entrees, Calabrese Pizza and Seafood Risotto, stop! Each full of flavor and personality. (BTW, they really like arugula here, LOL!) Dessert was Banana and Nutella Crepes; by this time, my taste buds were about to explode! Friendly tip: if there is a Padres game during your visit, park in Horton Plaza and take a pedicab to the restaurant.

Lover of pizza with gluten allergy… hands down best gluten free pizza! Bonus great happy hour! So nice anytime a restaurant has their menu items labeled with gluten free items

If you don’t care much about wine or having a good meal — and enjoy spending money on overpriced items, then feel free to give this a try. The chef and management’s lack of passion and love for their wine and food is clearly seen.
== Update ==
I was contacted by the manager, and I provided him detailed information of what went wrong.

This is a cute little wine bar in East Village with tasty pasta dishes. I’ve been here a couple times for dinner and liked what I had. Additionally, I’ve always had good service here. However, lunch is a different story and the food is hit or miss. Their lunch special is a good deal where you can get small pizza and salad or salad and soup for $ 8.
The last time we were here, I opted for the salad and soup, which was the wrong choice because neither were satisfying at all. The salad was a mix of spring greens, mostly the purple and herb-​looking leaves with a few tomatoes on top. My friend ordered the veggie pizza and unfortunately, either the dough was not cooked through or the veggies had watered down the crust because when he got it, it was thin and dough and unappetizing. Haven’t been back since, but I’d like to think my first few experiences were more reflective of the kind of food served here.

Came here for a late dinner date, and we sat outside because it was a nice warm night.
We decided to order a bottle of wine and got the Castle Rock Syrah, which we loved! Not too heavy, and not to sweet either. I would definitely order this bottle again.
We ordered the following food items:
Meat Board — came with 4 different meats, bread and olives. Great with any wine.
Steamed black mussels — they were a bit on the chewy side, but the broth was flavorful. However, the dish came out a bit cold.
Creamy tomato basil soup — far from creamy and looked/​tasted more like chunky marinara sauce. Not good at all.
We also got the free appetizer from the Unilocal check-​in and it was good! Almost like a quesadilla.
I was disappointed with the service our server gave us – or DIDN’T give us. She checked on us one time and we never saw her after that. I even had to walk the bill and my credit card over to her and there were only 4 occupied tables that night.
Two stars off for the service, and not-​so-​good food. I would only come back for the wine. Great location though!

The food here is a total hit and miss. There is absolutely no consistency with the menu. The thing that drives me fucking crazy is that I never know how much food I’m going to get as the portion sizes change depending on who is working. Seriously, I order a full entrée dish and they give a small side order for full price. Be prepared to pay for everything. I’m surprised they don’t charge for using silverware or napkins as they charge for bread.
The worst part is the food is always so over seasoned. The cooks shouldn’t be so depressed that you can taste their tears in the food. Seriously, cool it with the salt. It makes me wonder how many days they are holding the food when it has been so violated and abused. All the problems in the restaurant distill down to one huge problem of poor or no competent management.
Pasta is usually overcooked but sometimes on point. Sometimes the sauces are broken and sometimes they are nicely emulsified. Almost every time the food is over salted. Sometimes you get a full portion, sometimes a half. But never fear, you will always pay full price.

Toast is located right next to my office and after finding out there was a new GM, I stopped in and gave It another shot! I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed my lunch. The service was a lot quicker than it was during my first visit, and the paninis tasted much better! I tried the Panini di Pollo, and it was very tasty and a great size! I was able to take half home for dinner. My fiancé got the Panini di Manzo with sliced tenderloin and he also enjoyed it. The prices are very reasonable and I would definitely go back! The new GM Joshua has truly turned Tosst around, and I am so glad I was able to expand my lunch options in East Village! Definitely worth a second shot or First visit if you’re looking for a nice new lunch spot.

Had dinner here on a Friday night. It was very good food, and the wine-​by-​the-​ounce idea was really cool. When our waiter wasn’t great Josh stepped in. I’m not sure if he was the owner or the manager, but either way he made a huge difference and I left here a fan! We got two pizzas, and an app to share for the three of us and it was the perfect amount.

In short, they don’t know how to properly cook pasta or bake pizza.
I ordered the farfalle pasta with butternut squash and sun dried tomatoes. It was chewy. I returned it and 15 min later I received another dish of it. Not as terrible but still mediocre. Also they didn’t offer me a discount or anything. Still had to pay the over priced amount ($ 14, if I wanted chicken it would have been $ 20).
Furthermore, everyone else had pizza and it was floury. I’m not sure how anyone can mess up pizza but this place did. This place will be on kitchen nightmares or restaurant impossible eventually.

The service was excellent! We dropped in around happy hour and there was no one else in the restaurant so the chef threw together a little apéritif for us– mushrooms with a balsamic glaze and a baguette; was delicious!!! Oh, and the chocolate lava cake is divine… more lava than cake with mint ice cream… yummmmm
Must try!

Excellent italian food
Try the flat bread & honey, it’s really yummy.
And their seafood and salads are excellent

Last night my friend and I had dinner and sampled wine at Toast. I had heard great things about the restaurant and decided to try it for myself.
I had also purchased a Groupon which we used to sample four wines and an appetizer.
For an appetizer we got the assorted cheese platter. I was heart broken when I accidentally dropped a piece, luckily out food came out. We both decide to get two dishes and split them. Probably the best excision ever because we tried the Pizza alle Salsicce e Pomodorini and the Tagliatelle all a Bolognese (pasta).
Both dishes were really good. The sauce on the pasta was amazing. It had a lot of flavor and everyone knows that the sauce either makes or breaks a dish.
I can’t complain about the pizza it was good but nothing really mind blowing.
The staff was very friendly and our waitress was awesome. I would recommend Toast for the food and warm ambiance.

As you’ve probably read, Toast has a unique wine sampling system that allows you to try and pay for a couple dozen wines by the oz. Great place for winos. The beer though though is short and not too impressive.
The porchetta was tasty but nothing super special. I’ve had better and i’ve had worse. Pretty nice size portion which is good. I also tried the sausage and fagioli appetizer which was my favorite part of the meal. Green beans and sausage meatballs stewed in a robust tangy tomoato sauce. The sauce was pretty awesome. But, there was no bread on the table to dip. So, we ordered some bread for the table.
Which gets me to the real issue I have with this place. Three star experience really but i take away a star for one simple reason — they shouldn’t be charging $ 6 for a tiny loaf of bread. I just think that’s really chintzy. Really, the bread was more like a roll. If this is an italian restaurant they need to serve bread. Period. And if they can’t find it in their nature to offer bread, they need to recognize that charging $ 6 should entitle the table to bread all evening. Literally, the bread was only enough for one person — or maybe two. Sertainly shouldn’t charge $ 6. We had 6 people and spent like $ 200 … you really can’t find it in your P&L to offer up bread? Come on.
For that alone I won’t be back and given the average food, high prices, and chintzy nature of the place I just can’t recommend it to anyone.

TOAST Enoteca & Cucina in East Village is simply missed by most. Last week was embarrassingly my first time to eat at this beautiful Italian wine bar. Chef Martin Gonzales has simply outdone himself again, first by opening Acqua Al 2 in 2000 and now with this authentic Italian with a nice twist in 2010.
I had the pleasure of meeting with Chef Gonzales as he was leaving. It was pretty awesome because it gave me the chance to get his input on what we should have to eat. Straight from the chef’s heart to our plate. It was an enjoyable evening at Toast Enoteca & Cucina.
We started with a glass of wine. TOAST has an innovative system that allows you to sample different wines by the ounce. What a wonderful idea! This allows you to pick different wines to pair with your meal.
Chef Gonzales suggested the Focaccia Ripiena for our antipasti, a stuffed focaccia with stracchino cheese and grilled endives. The result was a very enjoyable flaky pastry filled with cheese that went very well with the Cabernet we were drinking. Next was Cavolfiore al Forno. I must admit that I was timid about a cauliflower dish, as cauliflower is not my favorite vegetable, but to my surprise it was outstanding! Nick, our culinary guide for the evening, guaranteed I would like it and he was right! You must try this dish! It’s made with roasted cauliflower, tomato, garlic sauce, topped with Grana Padano cheese. Every couple of bites you get the roasted, crispy cheese deliciousness that had me grabbing more than my fair share of this enjoyable appetizer. My favorite was definitely the Fagioli Verdi all’Uccelletto: a sautéed, homemade Italian sausage, green beans, garlic and zesty Pomodoro sauce. A delectable dish which you must try. I could easily make a meal out of the Fagioli Verdi all’Uccelletto. If all that wasn’t enough, we added the Cozze del Marinaio so we could sample the seafood. It was a good call. The steamed mussels were beautifully presented with broccolini and served with garlic, white wine and butter sauce. I don’t eat mussels very often, but these were the best I’ve had in years.
Then, we moved on to the entrees. We chose the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese, a homemade Tagliatelle pasta with rustic-​style Bolognese sauce. We also ordered the Lasagna al Ragu Bianco d’Antra: a Duck ragu, chard, kale and Parmesan lasagna; a unique dish with the Chef Gonzales touch I now love. The presentation was a work of art, as you can see in the picture.
No Italian dinner is complete without an extravagant dessert. We were guided in the right direction by our now good buddy Nick, who suggested we try the Italian Bread Pudding. I’m now recommending that you do the same. A homemade amaretto bread pudding that needs no explanation. The picture speaks a thousand words!
Certified #goodeatsSanDiego

This place is more of a panini and pizza place. Not a lot of selections if you’re looking for pasta.
Service was great though. Our server, Brigida was really nice! But I wasn’t a fan of my pasta. Mediocre and funky smelling. My coworker got a pizza with salami and it looked yummy but he didn’t share :(

I absolutely LOVE this place! Their food is fantastic! I think that the people that were complaining were bland tourists looking for places like YardHouse and Cheesecake Factory!
Their food is all local and organic! just amazing! And their wine list… Impeccably curated!

It’s been a while that I visit this place and I regret not stopping by sooner. Amazing atmosphere, friendly servers and amazing food. I can’t not leave out a wide variety of wines which are exquisite!
This is a perfect date place, I highly recommend it. You will not regret it. If you are looking for a cozy, private and love wine and delicious food this is definitely the place!

We were leaving NerdHQ during the first day of Comic Con, conscious of how very little free time we had before our next panel started. We were starving, and knew that we needed to find something that wouldn’t be bursting at the seams with our fellow con-​goers, but that wouldn’t be tasty and relatively cheap.
We pass this restaurant pretty often, usually when we’re on our way to the ballpark, or to any of the other restaurants around here, but we never went in. This day, though, the place wasn’t busy (something I typically shy away from — if every other restaurant is full but this one isn’t, it should tell you something, right?), the menu was appealing, they had A/​C and a clean bathroom. My standards weren’t so high.
The guy working the «host stand» wasn’t exactly immediately attentive, but once he realized he had customers, he took us to a table. Despite the heat, we chose to eat outside. I immediately went to the bathroom (a one-​holer, so hopefully you don’t have to go when they’re busy). The bathroom was large and clean, if a bit dim inside. No complaints there.
After settling back at the table and perusing the menu, I had an idea of what I wanted. Glancing at my watch, I saw that the minutes kept marching past, faster than it seemed they should. I think the waitress saw that, and she came bustling out. Points for that!
My husband and I both ordered the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese, with an iced tea for him (I stuck with water, because I knew I’d be downing it like there was no tomorrow), and we sat back to people-​watch and wait for our food.
The dishes came out relatively quickly, which I appreciated more than you can even know.
The Bolognese was surprisingly delicious. They don’t use ground beef as the base for the sauce, which was definitely pleasing. The meat — I don’t have a sensitive enough palate to know what kind it was — was shredded, perfectly cooked so it wasn’t overly chewy or soggy, and perfectly seasoned.
I don’t mind admitting that I was impressed by the sauce as a whole. No, I wasn’t expecting much going in, but what they put in front of me almost knocked me out of my chair. I think it’s my favorite non-Carmine’s Bolognese! (Say what?! I KNOW!) Also, it didn’t look like a whole lot of food in the bowl, but it definitely filled me up (and I hadn’t eaten at all that day — it was 1 pm by then.)
Our waitress was attentive and friendly, plus she was quick. She got us out of there with enough time to get back to the Convention Center panel rooms… or at least in time to get there and line up for the panels. =/​
The only thing that made me sad was that they didn’t give us any free bread or crackers or bread sticks or anything. I mean, come on!