Monello

Decided to try out Monello after seeing a few social media posts about the cheese wheel. Monello and their staff did not disappoint . Service was excellent . Located right in downtown San Diego in an area with plenty of parking options nearby . We were early to our reservation but we were seated right away . Tasty drinks , appetizers (calamari tasted fresh) and a good selection of wine. The cheese wheel pasta was TO DIE FOR. I highly recommend Monello .

Great food but a little pricy.

We came here because they do the thing where they toss the pasta in the middle of a giant wheel of cheese, so the pasta gets covered in cheese. Apparently they change the pasta each day, but if you want to do the cheese wheel thing you only get the one choice of pasta, which was fine. I personally though the gnocchi I ordered was cheesier tasting than the cheese wheel pasta, but the cheese wheel pasta was still fantastic. You could tell the pasta was made fresh. We sat outside since we had our dogs with us. It's just off the main drag in Little Italy, so it wasn't quite as scenic but that's fine. The restaurant next door had kind of loud club-like music going the whole time, which was a little annoying but it's not like it's Monello's fault. It rained while we were there, and there was just enough cover on their patio that we didn't get wet, but we were glad our dogs were in a stroller or they would have ended up in a puddle. I could definitely see going here again, it was a bit pricey but we kind of expected that for the cheese wheel pasta. The only real negative was the service was kind of slow, like we asked for the dessert menu and then waited a LONG time for the server to come back, like he kept forgetting we were out there or something. The food came out quickly, so maybe that one guy just kept forgetting since we were the only people outside, not a big deal and we'll give them another chance.

You can find the word worst carbonara there. No idea why they have 4.4 stars. I will never even come close to this place.

We both ordered pasta and they brought it less than five minutes after we ordered. Pasta was cold. Very disappointing.

Statff is amazing and extremely polite. This place is a must if you're in Little Italy! The food is out of this world, very authentic Italian cuisine.

This place was OK. Our pasta came out kind of lukewarm and the noodles itself was almost too al dente. We thought that the cheese wheel would be cooked in the cheese wheel in front of us, but it ended up being a red sauce pasta not at all what we were expecting not sure why they call it a cheese wheel Pasta, if it changes all the time and is not made, in a cheese wheel in front of you. Severe didn’t care about the disappointment .

The service at Monello is great. We were promptly seated upon arrival. We made our reservation online. We ordered lasagna, ravioli, calamari and the special of the week- because we wanted to try the iconic Parmesan cheese wheel. The pasta for the cheese wheel changes weekly. The food was delicious, made fresh and with qualify ingredients. Great ambience. We seated outdoor with the heat lamps. Average portion sizes. Authentic Italian food. Unfortunately our server wasn’t very attentive and was missing in action a few times.