Verona Bistro

My husband and I went here once. After a 20 minute wait we ordered beef stroganoff. The older woman working there ignored us completely. She was busy talking to other people at a larger table, who were done eating. We eat almost ALL our dinners out, and were very disappointed and sad. We had heard good things about this place. Our food was lousy, including the so-​called Focatia bread. The salads were plain &her house dressing had NO FLAVOR, our bill was about 50 dollars. A total WASTE! Reading other reviews amaze me! The Angels from Italy had definitely taken flight the night we were there! If you have money to FLUSH GO HERE!

Tastes like homemade Italian. Only gave it four stars instead of five because there really isn’t anything outrageous on the menu just basic good food and they don’t have a bar which is kind of a bummer because this is walking distance and I hate to have to take a cab to dinner if I’m going to have drinks. All in all the food is good, the service is great and I’ll be back

We ended up having lunch at Verona Bistro by chance. There were 4 of us and we all chose from their lunch entrees– chicken tetrazzini, which had a deliciously smooth cream sauce, and lemon chicken rice pilaf with perfectly-​cooked vegetables. Two of us had the salad and two had soup appetizers. The tomato bisque soup was extraordinary and the minestrone was very fresh and tasty. The salad was fresh with a good balsamic vinagrette. For desert, we shared an order of cannoli. These were the freshest cannoli we have had outside of Italy! We were glad to have had lunch here and we’ll be back!

Tasty food. Fresh! My husband had the stroganoff and I had bottecelli. The portion size was good-​a little too much. Their breadsticks were amazing! Like oversized croutons that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The room temperature was a bit too cold even with a jacket on. I don’t know if this is normal or if their heat was just out when we came.

Go here to eat delicious food. Seriously, don’t let the location scare you. The food is amazing and the service is great. Even Better than the old D’Leone’s.

Excellent food, although ambience is average the food is really awesome. Owner. Maristella is very courteous. Had a memorable Christmas dinner.

What a wonderful restaurant! We’ve been by there a few times, but never at meal time. Last night we finally were in the neighborhood for dinner, and loved this place. The food was fresh (salmon with penne pasta, lasagna, chicken parm and caprese), the service wonderful and it’s a nice touch that the owner/​chef came out to greet us.
We had the best caprese we’ve ever had in San Diego and we definitely will be back to Verona Bistro.

Simply awesome! I have never ordered one chicken parm and been both full and completely satisfied. My son devoured his fries and half a (large) kids spaghetti. Sat right by the window and listened to nice Frank Sinatra Christmas on a rainy day the week of Christmas. I’ll be coming back. A LOT!!!

This place is a hidden jem. I cannot say enough about the stroganoff it’s to die for. and the tiramasu is absolutely the best I’ve ever had. please if your in the area or looking for a great place to have a home cooked meal. STOP HERE!!!

The freshest tasting and prepared on the spot food. If you want something different than the usual, I strongly and highly recommend Verona Bistro. Excellent food and service. It’s a two person show and they are working so hard to make this place succeed. Try it!

Excellent, delicious, wonderful. Oh my the tomato bisque is soooo delicious.

My wife, son and I ate here for the first time today. We went for lunch. The food was excellent. My wife enjoyed the manicotti, my son had the parmesan chicken sandwich, and I had the spicy linguine with calamari. We will definitely be there again.

It’s like Italian angels came down from Italy’s heaven and blessed my tastbuds with the finest of flavors.
This little restaurant is owned by a New Yorker and an Italian and they are sweet like their Tiramisu. The chef, the New Yorker, even came out and said hello (which I find extraordinarily courteous).
The restaurant’s walls are on one side touched with New York photography and the other side Italian scenery. It all compliments each other so very well (especially as a New Yorker and an Italian myself). The atmosphere is just so homey and adorable.
NOW THE FOOD. The Gnocchi is delicious, the Italian onion soup is literally the best I’ve ever tasted, the meatball marinara sub is a masterpiece I would kill for and the meatloaf is so fresh and tasty. I can tell everything was fresh and cooked to perfection. And the Tiramisu is to DIE for. You’ve never had good tiramisu until you’ve had this. It’s that good.
It’s affordable, beautiful, friendly, and frickin delicious it’s borderline heavenly. I’m coming here far more often. Thanks for taste-​bud euphoria :-)

I have traveled as a consultant everywhere. I ate on an expense account. This place, OMG!
My mother took me to dinner here based upon the number of reviews on Unilocal and the quality.
This place does not disappoint. She had a yen for Fettucine with Bolognese sauce. It wasn’t on the menu but they made it for her special. I had the Beef Stroganoff. It was the best ever. Tender morsels of beef, peas and mushrooms in a cream sauce. It was orgasmic with every bite. I kept just humming over and over: Hmmmm! Hmmm!
I had to get more bread (hot, savory focaccia) to suck up the sauce. I cleaned my plate, Italian style. My mom did the same. The service was impeccable. Maristella was absolutely charming and delighted my mother. My mom went so far as to say that our family had been in the restaurant business for fifty years and her meal was perfection. The only bad thing was that they had run out of Tiramisu, which, given everything else here, would probably be scrumptious but now we have an excuse to go back. We had to «settle» for Cannolis, which instantly reminded me of both Ferraro’s Pastry in Manhattan and Mike’s Pastries in Boston’s North End.
Unfortunately, I can tell that with all the reviews and the quality of this food, the place will probably get mobbed but it is truly fabulous.
Note: it is in the mini mall with the 99 cent store right by the CHP offices.

Just moved to the area from central San Diego and we were looking for a local Italian restaurant which served quality freshly prepared food. Verona Bistro definitely does NOT serve quality or freshly prepared food.
We arrived on a Wednesday night at 8pm to a completely empty restaurant. We were immediately seated by an older woman and given menus. About a minute went by and she returned asking if we were ready to order. We obviously were not as we had just arrived, never eaten here before and needed a few minutes to review the menu. We asked for a few minutes to look over the menu and told her it was our first time eating here. She walked away and 2 minutes later she again came to ask if we were ready to order. Really? We had to tell her again to gives us about 5 minutes to look over the menu at which point she left. At nearly exactly 5 minutes she came back appearing annoyed and stated «did you have enough time now».
We placed our order for the Chicken Parmesan and Linguine Maristella. About two minutes later the woman came with foccacia bread and 2 salads. The bread was cold and hard and inedible. The «salad» consisted of lettuce with slivers of carrots and a slice of tomato. The salad was obviously from a bagged salad.
About 10 minutes later the woman appeared with our meals and placed them on the table and said «enjoy» but did not clear off the salad plates or ask if we needed anything else and left. As soon as we took our first bite of both the Chicken Parmesan and Linguine Maristella it was very apparent that neither of our dishes were fresh or prepared with quality ingredients. The Chicken Parmesan tasted like Stouffers frozen meal that was heated up in the microwave. The Linguine Maristella was completely watery and tasted as if it was a boil in a bag meal. It was very apparent that this business does not freshly prepare their food on site.
After dropping off our food the woman never asked us if the food tasting good or if we needed anything else but she had no problem walking near our table every five minutes to see if we were done eating. After her 4^th time walking by and seeing that we were no longer eating and half the food still on the plate she took out the bill and placed it on the table and asked if we were finished. We said yes and again she did not ask about food quality but did ask if we wanted to take left overs home which we declined.
They were obviously in a hurry to have us leave as they began to close up at 8:45pm and wanted us out of there so they could leave so we paid our bill and left.
If you enjoy eating Italian food that is similar in quality to a frozen meal cooked in a microwave then this «restaurant» may be the place for you. I however enjoy authentic freshly prepared quality Italian food so I will not be returning here.

I got the tomato bisque for lunch. It came with focaccia. The bisque and the bread were both very good I would order it again.

What a great find! My friend and I was just cruising around El Cajon to find a place to eat and we saw this place on Unilocal!It’s a very basic looking place, BUT… the HOST and FOOD were Amazing! Very authentic italian food. And who better to run the show and serve you, but a Super Friendly and Nice Host (I think her name is Maricella??). She is so sweet and nice, SHE is what makes the restaurant. We had the artichoke appetizer (D-​LICIOUS!) And I had the Lemon Chicken and my friend had the Salmon entrée. Both — perfectly seasoned and tastes Amazing. To add the icing to the cake… the homemade Tiramisu is to die for. I’m a huge Tiramisu connoisseur and I have to say, it’s one of the best I’ve had. I highly recommend this place to anyone. Great Atmosphere, Friendly Host and Delicious Food.

This place is so good! They have great prices especially at lunch time. I’ve been there 3 times in the past 2 weeks. Two little secrets: if you have a passport dining card you can get a buy one get one free and they do not have a liquor license but they allow you to bring your own beer and wine and they do not charge a fee! Check this place out, you will not be disappointed. Yum!

The food and service here make this small shop top my MacArthur List. We shared the pot roast and beef stroganoff. Both were sooo much more complex and delicious than we expected. Highest complements to their chef on their mastery of flavor and herbs to make these dishes go from comfort food to art.

A panini for dinner, why not?
I stopped in for dinner after work and ordered a house salad for $ 5 (
) and a chicken pesto panini sandwich on multi-​grain bread. The salad was well presented with some strong Gorgonzola cheese, house made balsamic and olive oil dressing, and a side of house baked foccacia bread (
). The salad was very good with all its fresh ingredients and especially delicious with that balsamic dressing. (
) I could not help myself, but I just had to soak up that dressing up with all the foccacia bread. By the way, that foccacia bread was quite good.
The panini was well prepared and came with some great grill marks and a side of chips (
). It came with a very good amount of tender chicken, freshly sliced tomatoes, and melted mozzarella throughout the sandwich. (
) The pesto aioli however was lacking in that great pesto flavor. It was creamy and silky, but I could not taste it as much as I wanted to. (
) But still, it was a great panini and I would order it again, with double the pesto flavor. It just, I really like pesto.
The owner at this place is very pleasant and well informed regarding the quality and freshness of her food. I liked that they prep everything fresh for the day, and when they out, they run out. More importantly, what they do not use by the end if the day, they throw it out. Out I say…