Pernicano's Restaurant Review

To useless owners: sell the Hillcrest property already.

Cheese was way to stringy and I almost choked to death

Great meal and terrific service. Particularly good wine pairing made for a good dining experience.

Absolutely delicious and wonderful service. The food was great.

A great find by accident! Had a flat tire and while waiting for AAA to come to my rescue, I found Pernicano's. The very family who had the original restaurant in Hillcrest many years ago. Ordered the lasagna to go, it was amazing!

Poor service, disorganized, mediocre food. Allowed other loud patrons nearby to bring a dog in the dining room and fart repeatedly. Disgusting place to ever attempt to eat!

Slow but tastes good. Order ahead if possible, especially for pizzas.

They were having an offnight with the service, yet the food is always so deliciously good. We also get delivery from here. Never had their pizza, I recommend their classic Italian dishes.

Been going here for over 20 years. Really tasty sauce. Decent salad bar can be included in the price.

My husband and I went last Friday for dinner and ordered the special fruti de mare, the presentation was great and thought it's really good but when I bite the shrimp it taste pure salt and pepper. Why would you sprinkle salt and pepper for presentation. In short both my husband didn't really eat much and asked for more bread. Please easy on salt we don't need it.

Celebrated a birthday there. Food was fabulous. Staff extremely helpful.
price perfect Will return

Quaint.
Soup was great. Waiting for our entrees now.

Really enjoyed the food, and had great service from the staff!

Hadn't been here since they moved from Scripps Ranch. Much nicer location and we enjoyed the food.

I was looking for a solid Italian dinner to enjoy on a nice, cozy, evening. I had not been here for a while, so I decided to give it a shot. Best decision I could have made. Their chipotle chicken penne pasta is a must from now on. Margherita pizza was on point. Lasagna hit the spot. All of it was shared among three people and none of it was left. The zeppole (doughey dessert) with coffee, sealed the deal. Chef knows what he's doing back there...mann...

Stopped in for a quick bite after long day. I absolutely loved the Sausage and Peppers appetizer, the peppers were perfectly cooked, the meat sauce they were in was well seasoned, but the sausages really stole the show. Very flavorful, rich and delicious. I was very impressed and will come back in the very near future.

Got some takeout for lunch and it was great! We got mozzarella sticks and the bologenese. Everything was really good! My kids loved it (and they are picky) Very tasty and at a reasonable price. Support this awesome local business! Will be dining in soon!

Excellent neighborhood gem. We had the chicken and pasta with excellent pesto. Pizza crust is perfect. Paired with a bottle of Chianti. Bella. And a large size Cannoli to take home .

My friend and I went to the restaurant for an early dinner. On a Saturday late afternoon, the place was surprisingly empty. Given the positive reviews on Yelp, we decided it was a hidden gem. Wrong!

Service was terrible. The waitress was rude and inattentive. While we were one of the two tables that had customers, we had to wait a while to get our orders taken. In the meantime, there was a fabulous conversation among staff going on behind the bar.

Food was ok, but candidly, I could have made it like that at home. Minimal flavor, just pasta with seafood. Sauce was excessively oily as if trying to mask non-existing taste with fatty residue.

Atmosphere was rather relaxed with Italian music playing in the background, and this is the only extra star that I could give them (even that with a stretch). Parking is plentiful.

Overall, don't come here. There are so many other good Italian restaurants in the area, just drive a few extra minutes.

I went to Pernicano's to eat this evening. I got to the restaurant about 8:30 pm. The web site said they were open till 9:00. There were 3 or 4 people sitting at the bar and 2 separate parties at tables. I was greeted by a young lady and was told they close at 8:30; I looked at my phone and it was 8:32. She then said I could get something to go so I know the kitchen was open. I left and looked at the sign on their door, which said they were open till nine.

I couldn't believe a business would turn away a paying customer during normal business hours. I left and went to Sammy's Wood Fire Pizza. The food was great and the service was incredible; she really made me feel welcome, unlike the young lady at Pernicano's.

I do not recommend Pernicano's.

Sweet staff.
Food is good, not to die for.
Clean restrooms.
Light, yummy pizza crust.

FABULOUS customer service & Great food!! Will return soon!

Love the food! very tasty! the services is also great, people is very friendly, plus the prices are reasonable :)

Best sauce and thin crust pizza. Closest to NY style. Family oriented, always wonderful.

Rude service. Terrible food. Lasagna fell apart as it was served
Chicken parm was salty and server never offered choice of pasta as she should have.. Was served rigatoni not spaghetti like most usa served with. Server was rude when I asked about it. She did offer to exchange it but by then I had discovered how salty and gross it was.

The pizza is great. Love the lasagna.
The mediterranean pasta dish is one of my favorites.

It s the best Italian Restorante in San Diego! You won t find better pasta or pizza for miles around. The staff is incredibly friendly and knowledgeable about the entire menu. Please give Pernicano s a try and they will treat you like family. You will not regret it.

Always good food and service. Anyone that wants good Italian food should head to Pernicanos.

Very small restaurant. Almost invisible from the exterior. The greeter was friendly when the three of us entered and said, "Sit anywhere you want". When we picked a table, she came over and said, "Except that table and the one across from it". Those tables remained empty throughout our meal. We were escorted to a very corner table in the back near the restroom and separated from the main eating area. The dinner rolls had a lot of corn meal on the bottom from the pizza oven. The spaghetti was thin noodles and not many! Mostly sauce. The pizza was burned all around the crust. The coffee was served hot, but got cold quickly and nobody came around to offer more. The pizza also had too much corn meal on the bottom that I basically just ate the topping and left the paper thin burnt crust on a nearby plate. The water was served in very small glasses and again, nobody offered more. The prices are very high in relation to the quality of the food. I will definitely not go back. Good luck!

Service was really slow. Took 1.5 hours from start to finish. It wasn't crowded. My wife had lasagna and salad bar. I had a 14 pizza with some additional toppings. The toppings were $2.25 per topping. Two glasses of wine. Dinner cost $79.00. Way too expensive. I hate giving out such a low review but it generally wasn't a good experience for us.

Had arancini , pizza and frutti di mare. All tasted great to the whole family.

Had their manicotti which was great and zeppoli for dessert. Took most of the desert home.

Our regular place we go to, Mama Rosa's, was closed so we went to Pernicano's to order a take out pizza. We ordered a pizza with thick crust & told them to not burn the crust. We got a burnt, thin crust pizza that was not very good. We will definitely not go back. We will stick to Mama Rosa's. They are always excellent.

My family and I went here for the first time and we were so pleasantly surprised! I've passed it countless times and just never went in but I'll definitely be back. Great menu, nice specials, and good service. We all enjoyed our meal and even got dessert.

Friendly staff and great service. Food was delicious and on point. Glad to have found an Italian hidden gem.

Glad to see this local family owned San Diego restaurant reopen in Scripps Ranch at an even better location, right off of the 15 FWY at Mercy Road. Lot's of parking, larger space. They kept the ambiance and charm of the old location with the same wooden booths and salad bar station.

Pizza was excellent, light crust, just the right amount of sauce and cheese. Salad bar was fresh with fun choices.

Staff were super friendly, had a great chat while I ate my dinner.

Awesome Italian fare. The calamari steak is to die for, my husband raves about the pork chops, and the pizza is excellent!

Great wine, food and company. What more does one need? Kate is a charming server. Get the sausage and peppers!

We loved the food and the kids loved the gummy pizza they got at the end!

I love this Italian style restaurant. The food is delicious. The selection is very good. Also they have specials.

Came here again for a second time during lunch. The service is fast and the waitresses are sincere. They do have outdoor seating but I prefer sitting inside where the atmosphere is very calming on a sunny day, which I look for during busy work days.

The lunch specials are a good deal. This time I picked up a Creamy Chicken and Rice soup (Wed soup of the day), cannelloni, and house bread. The soup was creamy goodness. Didn't really taste much chicken or rice but it didn't matter because it was just that creamily good. The bread was extremely fluffy and bland alone, but tasty with butter spread over it. I wasn't a fan of the cannelloni. It came out piping hot with good presentation, but the taste just wasn't there.

The first time I came I very much enjoyed my Sicilian burger. I'd return just to have the soup again as a meal on its own. Find me here during lunch on a Wednesday ordering the soup and trying something new from the menu.

Best Italian restaurant in the area. Good food good atmosphere friendly people

Love there linguini & white clam sauce there the best in the area.

Freeze your under arrest for the murder of Humphrey Williams.

Great food but a little pricey for atmosphere and portion

Good down home italian. Excellent sauce on the lasagna. Better than I've had in a long time. The arrancini appetizer were light, fall apart tender and full of cheese.

Had lovely dinner with family. The server was attentive and made excellent recommendations. l ordered the manicotti. The ricotta filling was whipped and very light, stuffed into hand made crepes. I typically order white wines, but again the server suggested I try a red. I ordered a glass of the Chianti and enjoyed it very much. Good food, good service, pleasant atmosphere.... will be back.

Excellent staff food excellent come every time when I visite

This place is right near my office and I eat here when I'm in the mood for Italian food. Their bread is amazing. Pizza is excellent. Sandwiches are always a good choice. Highly recommend!

We had an amazing experience at Pernicano s tonight! Everything we ate was top-notch: bolognese, chicken parm, antipasto, kids curly noodles and the pink sauce- don t get me started on the pink sauce! The service was amazing thanks to Tina and the staff. We ll be back soon!

The food is soooooo good. The calamari is outstanding. Their homemade marinara sauce had me licking the plate.

There is definitively potential, but overall this place is slightly below average. The prices are fair, but the experience is definitively not any better than the prices. I will start off with what was great - excellent service and our pizza was very good. I was told the coffee was fresh and I received it a few minutes after ordering which probably means it was instant or Kurig. Either way, it was not even 7-11 good. For three bucks I would expect a solid pour over, or at least a fresh batch of quality brew. The tiramisu was absolutely a one star product. It was horrible. Olive Garden's is not good, but great compared to this one. The one trip salad thing also gives this place a cheap feel. If you are going to have a salad bar just charge the extra buck and let people get seconds - even Chuck E Cheese is classy enough to do that, and their (Chuck E Cheese) salad bar actually has a lot more selections...like real bacon instead of bacos. That bacos stuff is really trailer park. I blame management on this one. The line between good and great (in this case bad) is very thin. We need to get someone with a little experience and maybe an associates degree in business to manage this place. Otherwise it will meet the fate of every other business in this location.

Excellent Veal Parmigiano, salad bar and desert, which I rarely order.

Favorite of ours for pizza pasta quick and casual. Food is good waitstaff is awkward at times...

One of the best Italian restaurants in san diego. Food and staff are awesome.

Hot fresh rolls, served with delicious hot plates. I love the quaint atmosphere.

Nice quiet atmosphere. Food was great, and reasonsble prices. Fast service with a smile. Enjoyed my birthday, with free desert. Plan on going back in the next week or two.

A bit overpriced, the service wasn't that good either.

This place has the most delicious pizza I've ever tasted and the wine fits perfectly. I've always loved the little gondola still in was small.

I believe that we were over charged. Otherwise it doesn t make any sense.
We went there for valentines dinner last night and they had special valentines limited menu which was $45 flat rate, no order from regular menu wasn t available. Because the review was good, we thought it is worth to try.
It was four course meal, appetizer, salad or soup, main, and dessert.
Compared with their regular menu, the main should cost around $25~$29 with salad or soup.
The appetizer was bruschetta. It was good, but just one piece per person....
I had Frutti di Mare (Clam, mussels, and shrimp pasta) and my husband had baked salmon. Mine was good, but nothing really special. The baked salmon was supposed to come with home made risotto, but it came with fusilli (spiral, pasta salad kind of pasta) with very light sauce...
And the dessert was a small cup of Panna cotta (Milk jello)... No drink included, even coffee...
Even the main was $30, one slice of bruschetta and tiny plastic cup of Panna cotta shouldn t be $15...

Good good food. A perfect place to conduct a gang meeting.

My wife loved it everything went great and very happy about it

Love their Pizza! The crust is just perfect. They have that handmade thin crust that's just crisp yet flavorful. We always get Pernicano's for our office when ordering pizza.

Great menu and super service. The pizza is excellent.

I haven't been to Pernicanos FOR MANY YEARS and it was the one in El Cajon but i went out of the blue to this on in scripps ranch and it was great. Clean and servers were pleasant

The arancini was mushy, kind of disgusting. We had to wonder if the clam chowder came out of a can . Even if it didn't, it's still a miss.

The cannelloni was bland, shells were very soft, not really overcooked, just weird.

The upside was the antipasti salad was very good period more antipasti then lettuce. Service was good.

Very expensive, even for an Italian joint.

Save you money and go to one of the great places in Poway or Santee.

Good idea to go to Pernicano. Long lost friend was found. Great food great value.

The appetizers are on point, but some if the pastas miss the mark. The lasagna is all noodles and it makes it a bit dry to eat, it almost tastes like you're getting an old batch. The mozzarella garlic bread, on the other hand, is amazing. Grab some with a glass of wine and it's a pretty good cocktail hour place!

The food was absolutely amazing. There were a couple of mix ups, but the quality of the service and for definitely made up for it!