Pernicano’s Family Restaurant
San Diego, CA 92109 (858) 488-2900
Hours
| Mon | Closed |
|---|---|
| Tue | Closed |
| Wed | 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm |
| Thu | 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm |
| Fri | 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm |
| Sat | 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm |
| Sun | 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm |
Rewievs :
Soooo we almost went to the taco place next door, which undoubtedly was good due to the line out the door. Instead we came here and I'm SO glad we did. Now this place is old school so don't expect expedient service, expect to take initiative and ask for anything you don't have.
The ambience is amazing, Johnny was on the piano playing great old tunes and even came by to sing happy birthday to my girl.
The food was great! Chicago style thin crust cooked just right. We also ordered the lasagna and the sauce on it was amazing.
If you want an experience when you go out, come here!
This was the worst experience I've ever had. I'm pretty sure my pizzas were frozen at a grocery store before I ordered them and they popped them in the oven. They were terrible, hard as cardboard and saltier than the sea. I'm still guzzling down water hours later, trying to hydrate!
To make matters worse, the waitresses yelled at each other in from of me about my check not being ready, in front of other customers. The women who work here are like wild chihuahuas, angry, mean and ready to attack each other.
Before you accidentally step inside this hell hole, move along! This is fair warning.
Sadly we came here because the taco place next door was sooooo busy and we have two tired and starving children. I so wish we would have waited the extra 20 minutes for tacos. We ended up waiting over half an hour for our pizza anyway - cheap pizza. There's no way that was made fresh!!!
The place looked pretty nice on the inside, with a small boat in the middle of a dark room. We were supriced it was completely empty while a place next door had a long waiting line. Unsure whearher we want to stay or not, we decided to first take a quick look at the other place's menu.
An older lady (slim, short) came running after us and said we need to move our car immediately or pay for the parking cause it's free just for their customers but not if you go to Oscar's. Didn't want to hear any explanations, said something about cameras and threatened to tow our car, even if we stay for 0.5 min.
We turned around, went to back the big empty parking lot and left.
The lady was very rude and aggressive. Apparently there must be some sort of tension between the owners. We got kicked out even before we decided whether we wanted to stay or not. No wonder it was empty, that's not how you treat your clients. While we were leaving an old grandpa was shouting at us that they've been there for 70 years (and now a new place is more popular so you're taking it out on the customers? Not nice).
Overall rather unpleasant experience that left a bad taste.
As others have said, if you try parking in their lot they will verbally harass you instantly. I parked and was walking towards the pay station near the entrance and before I could even get there a woman comes out of the side door and says I need to pay to park there. First of all, it's free if you're eating there so she didn't even let me get in the door before she assumed I wasn't eating there. Second, I didn't even get a chance to pay before she decided to go off on me. I then tell my girlfriend let's leave and she starts harassing her two and has a notepad out saying she's taking down my license plate number for next time!
They must be very bitter that oscar's next door gets all the business and no one wants to eat at their restaurant. Maybe if they cared more about customer service and being nice people then they'd actually have customers. I hope they go out of business. They're a bad representation of our community.
CAUTION: Stuffed cat and Werewolf Santa NOT for sale.
You might be wondering why this review is about a stuffed black cat and a werewolf Santa named Geoffrey instead of their food, but I assure you if you're eating here you've already given up on your tastebuds.
Upon entering we were approached with the offer that all Halloween decorations are for sale. After laying eyes on Geoffrey himself we knew we had to have him. Soon after our first bites of tortellini, which can only describes as mystery-meat stuffed Mac-and-Cheese minus the flavor, we decided to make our first move.
"40 dollars for the Werewolf Santa!"
"It's not for sale"
A bold move from the place selling what I assume is Freezer-Pizza with heaps of additional salt. But everything has a price and we need Geoffrey. By the time we finished our week old fermenting iced tea, she came back with a counter offer.
"60 dollars for the Werewolf Santa."
"Throw in the stuffed cat" we rebutted. After all, at this point we had bonded with the cat. He was resting directly above our table gently shedding hair into our dressing soaked iceberg "salad."
"Deal!"
As we began to collect our high priced crap-ola she came back with the cash.
"The cats not for sale. No deal"
We grabbed our things and left.
I will not be returning. 1 extra star for the pianist, an absolute rock star.
You can dump some Preggo sauce on pasta and it would be more satisfying than this restaurant. Every dish was buried in salt.
Stopped by for a bite and we were greeted by an older gentleman who told us the parking lot was free for pernicanos and the place next door. We walked in, took one look at the dirty old place with no air conditioning and decided to go next door. Placed our order and a couple minutes later a bitchy old lady comes over yelling at us to move our car or pay immediately. I told her we were told the parking lot is for customers of this place. She began barking at us that it was for the other taco shop on the other side. I assured her we would be gone in 30 seconds when our order came out. She yelled even louder that we needed to leave NOW! Then as I'm moving the car the older guy starts yelling at us to pay him . I told him we were leaving and he told us the parking was for the taco shop. He just kept yelling that we needed to pay him. I told him I would never go to his restaurant in the future, ever! He replied, "I don't care just get out of here, or pay us!"
What a nightmare these people are. Do not patronize this place! This dirty old restaurant needs to go out of business. I heard the original owners were involved in organized crime and now I believe it. What a bunch of losers
They have the best food and it's the most homey feel and make us laugh and have a jolly old time, every time!
This place is horrible please if you do any type of yelping do not come in at this place waitress tell you to go complain to Facebook because she does not want to hear it and I asked if the food was refrigerated she said no its home made we make it freeze it and put warm sauce on top of it and then the manager /owner will not come talk to you since he want to play the piano ? Please just stay away from places like this they do not appreciate the revenue yelp has to offer so we as yelper should not bother
Let me start by saying they don't post their hours on their yelp profile. In fact they probably don't care about yelp at all. Let's go out on a limb and say they really don't care about business in general. I pull into the parking lot at 3:15 in the afternoon. I don't know whether they're open or not but I am greeted very brusquely by a man that pokes his head out of the side door and says, " Are you going to Oscars?"
OK first of all I don't know what an Oscar is, second of all let's try to be a little kinder to somebody that just parked in your parking lot and may be a patron. I told him that I was coming to his restaurant because I haven't eaten there in 25 years and it brought back memories of when I was young. He says "well we're not open" and shut the door on me. No "gosh I'm sorry" no "gosh come back again". Absolutely nothing.
I realized at that moment that I will never come back to this restaurant and try to relive the past days of when I was a kid. Quite honestly, when you try to recapture the essence of a restaurant when you were younger, you will most likely be disappointed by either the service or the food. Maybe I'm glad he saved me that agony
I was planning on eating here but I wanted to check out the other places near by. There is a parking meter but only if you don't eat here. But like I said I was just planning to look by as I walk past this restaurant some rude lady comes out of the restaurant and demands I pay5 dollars to park . This whole interaction was so disrespectful and unneeded that I just left. Don't spend money here. If some one is willing to come out and disrespect a customer then it's not worth it. Just pass on this place
Old school and authentic Italian family restaurant. The decor is a trip back in time 40 years. The eggplant Parmesan was delicious! The best part is Johnny Pernicano himself on the piano in the corner.
On a visit here in SoCal and stopped in for a pizza and salad. Love this place ! It's a old school family restaurant. The atmosphere is wonderful and such a friendly welcome with a perfect pizza as a bonus. The father who is 90 years old still sings and plays the piano here. You must come and experience this place before some cheesy franchise takes over this spot.
I happen to like the old school Italian family restaurants you know there's one thing to say about it they lasted for hundreds of years and without social media Network ain't that amazing good food good attitude you don't like it leave I love her attitude it's just like that if you want to stay you can have some of the fabulous homemade sauces and Pizzas around and PB takes a little time sometimes a waitress as a little attitude it's all family it's great had nothing but great experiences here love their sauces love their pasta best deal on TV
I came here because I heard everything is good. We'll I ordered the lasagna and it was good, not amazing but good.
The wait was considerable even though the restaurant wasn't packed so prepare for that or call in.
Check came out to about 20. For just lasagna and a coke, so a tad pricey. Family friendly environment.
OMG what happened to this place? We used to bring our kids here when they were little and the food was good. We went back after some years now and the food was all terrible. Everything is so dingy and dirty felling now and the seats are caving in. It's really sad to see the place in such a state.
I have not eaten here. I have stopped in a few times in order to check out the atmosphere. To tell you the truth I fell in love. There is an older gentleman playing the marimba as well as playing the piano. Everyone always seems happy here. The gondola is located in the middle of the restaurant and you can sit in the gondola and eat pizza. The pizza pies look unbelievable. They've been making pizza for over 90 years I've heard. I really want to eat here soon. My girlfriend also wants to eat here because she heard the pies are tasty. I love the atmosphere and I will be back to have a pizza.
Been going here since I was born. They've upgraded the food lately, any pizza is amazing, and you cant go wrong with the antipasto salad.
Not so good.
I ordered a pepperoni and sausage pizza. The sausage had no taste except the fennel that over powered every 3rd or 4th bite. The sauce had way too much pepper and the pepperoni was lifeless.
The only good thing about thus pizza was the crust. Cracker thin and crispy and slightly burned around the edges.
I think this place is competing with chuck-e-cheese. The pizza tastes just as bad.
Been eating here since I was born and have never been disappointed. The Handlebar pizza is my absolute favorite ever and the eggplant parmigiana is my favorite pasta dish. Gary is always coming out to the table to make sure your taken care of. Waitresses are always very sweet and refilling drinks on time.