Acqua Al 2

Looks like this place closed down unfortunatly. I liked this joint. It’s too bad. Hopefully something good
it’s place. Very. prime location.

Omg the food is delicious! If your looking for a Italian restaurant this is the place to go! They are a bit expensive but totally worth it, I come from an Italian ground where when it’s tomato season they jar all there sauce. The sauce they make taste just like my grandmothers. They not only get a 5 star because there food was delicious, but also because our waitress was so patient and kind. My daughter was being a little fussy and she was so nice to us! This place rocks!

Uncomfortable chairs, pleasant staff, but unfortunately food that just didn’t taste that great. With a $ 100+ price tag, I really do expect better. Major lack of flavor, texture, and preparation skills.
I guess once you’ve eaten in cities like New Orelans where every other restaurant seems to have a world class chef (even the cheap ones) you realize how food is supposed to taste. And can easily recognize food that is just plain lackluster and unsatisfying to eat.

Mmmm pretty nice place to get some Italian in the gaslamp. After all these years that this restaurant has been in downtown SD, this is the first time we got a chance to have dinner here. Our friends invited us to dinner and we quickly obliged. It’s right on 5^th so this place is in the heart of the gaslamp and supposedly they have a sister restaurant with the same name in Italy. So this place is pretty legit.
We were offered complimentary warm bread in a bag, marinara sauce and oil/​balsalmic vinegar. If you show your Unilocal check-​in you get a free appetizer of the chef’s choice, which was a salad. We ordered a bottle of Pinot Noir for the table and it was good!
For dinner, I ordered the special fettuccine pasta with filet mignon. Very filling and the entrée was a good large sized portion. Rich in last as well, so don’t load up on the bread! For dessert we got the sampler. The chef will pick out the sampler tasters, but if you have a special request they will accommodate. The flourless chocolate cake was very dry and disappointing. The tiramisu was the best dessert sampler and is highly recommended.
The restaurant is small and the tables are super close together. My peeve was that my chair kept getting bumped by the servers.

The best Italian food in town. We so loved it. The pasta sampler was awesome. Lot of vegetarian options. Panini was so good. It was crisp and cheesy. Also we got a free appetizer by checking in to Unilocal for this place. It was a chef choice but super healthy and delicious.

We live in the Marina District and we’re quite spoiled having fantastic eateries at our fingertips. We’ve walked our dog past this place hundreds of times and finally gave it a shot. WORTH IT. My boyfriend lived in Sicily for two years so he is quite the snob when it comes to authentic Italian food. He LOVED it here. Definitely start with the chefs choice tastings as an appetizer. Worth it! You get to try a variety of their pastas and sauces. I’d even go back for lunch and JUST order that appetizer. I got the seafood pasta, it was a special. My boyfriend ordered the blueberry glazed steak. (I can’t remember the exact name) but he loved it. It was a bit over cooked… Probably sat on the pan too long. He asked for medium rare and received medium. He still ate every bite though :-)
Give it a try! You won’t regret it!

Food was amazing! Loved the pumpkin pasta, balsamic steak, and every desert! You cannot go wrong! The staff are incredibly friendly and everything is full of flavor. Anything short of 5 stars doesn’t not do justice.

Yummy Italian food! The sauces are so delish! Great atmosphere in this little spot. Friendly waiters and staff. Very accommodating. Enjoyed a mushroom and cream pasta dish with a nice cocktail.

Pretty underwhelming for such an expensive place. Service was just «OK» and food was not very delicious. I had Farfalle with funghi in a creamy «ish» sauce which was thickened with corn starch and pretty bland. My husband had the Tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce and again, there was not much flavour to it.
The bread was served in a paper bag (odd but neat) and was to be dipped in their «home made» sauce which really was pretty bad: tasted like canned tomatoes.
For the price, it was not worth it. We had lunch.

Just had a great dinner and excellent service… especially Edite! Will be back again!!!

Still our favorite Italian restaurant since our first visit to the one in Florence, Italy during our honey moon in 2012!. It’s our 3^rd time in SD location and we absolutely loved the food and service!
This time I’ve decided to add some photos to the Unilocal.
We ordered: chef’s special 2 steak and chicken sample that had steak with blueberry sauce, steak with balsamic glaze sauce (our all time favorite) chicken which was also good.
We also got Quino salad by CHECKING IN on Unilocal.
Tube shaped Pasta; mozzarella, basil with tomato; tiramisu desert don’t even need a review.
Only one think we DIDN’T like here it’s a side of Fingerling potatoes (it was our first time trying it and we didn’t know what kinda potatoes they are), so the restaurant kindly removed it from our bill.

We came here for lunch one day during Comic Con 2015. We were walking around the Gaslamp with all of our comic gear and really just wanted a delicious, fresh meal… and preferably some AC to get cooled down a bit.
A gentleman was standing out front and recruited us into the restaurant. We didn’t think twice, and headed straight to our table.
The waitress that we had was nice and brought us ice cold waters right away. We were given a little appetizer to snack on, but the dish had meat in it so we were unable to eat it (we are vegetarian).
I had the caprese salad, and my husband had the Gnocchi dish. One great thing was that we didn’t have to wait long. We were able to relax and chat while we waited, and before we knew it, our food arrived to the table.
My salad was very good. I loved the fresh mozzarella cheese, and the balsamic dressing. It was relatively small, though, so I would order another side with it if you are more hungry. The Gnocchi was lovely as well. We were thankful for a great meal, but this isn’t our favorite restaurant.

One night, after a haircut at a nearby salon, I decided I was hungry, but since it was so hot, I didn’t want much.
So, I walked by Acqua Al 2 and luckily it was during Apperitivo time! For $ 5.50 I got a dirty martini (you can pick your poison) and all you can eat small bites. There were two yummy (albeit cold) pizzas — one that was like a hawaiian pizza and the other a different kind with pine nuts. There were also cold stuffed mushrooms and some meatballs.
It was great to have the left patio to myself, an ice cold martini and some appetizers while watching the world go by on 5^th Avenue.
Apperitivo, I believe it’s 5 to 8pm every weeknight. Try it, you might like it!

I wish I could say I ate Italian food more often but the truth of the matter is that I simply don’t. I don’t consume pasta and don’t usually eat all that much cheese so going out to a nice Italian restaurant hasn’t really been my thing (friends will gripe and attest to that). I’ve heard of Acqua al 2 (pronounced ah-​cua alh do-​ay) as friend’s parents went to their original location in Florence. The restaurant is still alive and well in Italy. The parents loved the food there and actually visited the Gaslamp location some years ago. I had seen Acqua al 2 many times when I was clubbing it up in the Gaslamp (that’s totally not a truthful statement — I saw the restaurant many times at the mercy of getting lost driving around Gaslamp). So I was curious and open minded when I had an opportunity to try out this Italian restaurant.
We tried:
— Fusilli corti agli Spinaci:
The fusilli was prepared a nice al dente. I enjoyed this with the hot spinach sauce.
— Gorgonzola con chiglia :
These shell pastas were enrobed in a creamy gorgonzola cheese sauce. I LOVED LOVED LOVED this pasta. The sauce didn’t taste like overly pungent gorgonzola cheese that I found wretched so many years ago when I first tried it. The gorgonzola melted wonderfully in the cream sauce which the thirsty shell pastas seemed to drink up.
— Farfalline alla Zucca:
This was a simple yet flavorful bowtie pasta dish. You could absolutely taste the beautiful orange butternut squash in the sauce.
— Penne in a zesty tomato sauce:
I know this dish looks plain but I think this was my favorite pasta of the day. It was hard stopping myself from finishing this plate.
— Rigatoni alle Melanzane:
The tomato sauce was pleasant and I enjoyed the bits of eggplant that was in the dish.
— Filetto all’Aceto Balsamico :
The filet was beautifully prepared a medium rare. The meat was so incredibly tender and soft. I was afraid balsamic vinegar glaze would be too sweet and strong for the filet but the sweetness was nicely balanced.
— Filetto al Mirtillo :
I was apprehensive of this filet as it was topped with quite a bit of blueberries and thick sauce. Surprisingly the blueberry sauce wasn’t cloyingly sweet. You could taste the port wine in the sauce. Unfortunately, this particular cut of filet had more tendon that was difficult to cut through as well as masticate.
— Petto di Pollo ai Funghi Porcini:
This was a nice piece of chicken breast. It was moist and the porcini mushroom sauce added a nice salty richness to this dish.
Of the desserts we sampled, tiramisu was our favorite.
Gilbert, the General Manager, said that all their pasta dishes start as 100% vegetarian. You can add proteins such as shrimp or chicken to the pastas if you should so choose to. He also mentioned that the menu here at Acqua al 2, in San Diego, is 100% based off the same exact menu in Florence. Friend thought that was incredibly cool.
It was for sure a fun meal with lots of great items to try out. I can see myself coming back here on Thursdays to try out their Aperitivo Happy Hour.

DON’T EAT HERE! I don’t care how close it is, how tired you are or how busy others places look. This food cannot be consumed. I ordered the vodka pasta and it was 17 steps below Kraft macaroni. Horrible after taste and I ate two bites and sent it back. Thank goodness they took it off the bill. This is the only spot that won’t be packed… and there is a good reason.

Im sorry to see some of the negative reviews here.
I can say it was a fabulous meal for my husband and I. Martinis were wonderful on the patio watching the world walk by on the gas lamp, how nice is that?
The sauce and bread was to die for seriously, and we know good sauce and this was so excellent in flavor.
I had the Martins Favorite rigatoni which was perfect in flavor and size, and my husband had a shell seafood special that was very tasty as well. We had a good glass of Chianti and felt very happy.
The patio had a few people and the inside was quite, I actually wondered why, this is such a marvelous gem. After some thought on the way home I felt that, it is possible a lot of the clubbers that are walking by don’t eat they only drink so that being said I feel the restaurants have a lot of competition to stay current and good.
This restaurant has such potential and should not be over looked. Our waiter Michael was very attentive and nice, so much when were dining and then a couple came with a couple of kids, YIKES, he said he would happily move us if we were not satisfied,
but we were fine and the kids were good too.
I guess my only real suggestion to the manager would be to lower the lights in the dinning room and get rid of all the dang plates. who cares… a nice block wall with traditional décor from Florence would be simple and nicely done, and might intrigue those that are walking by as to whats inside rather than thinking its just another Italian …
This is no ordinary Italian and it deserves a peak. Check it out.

Great service! Carlos the GM will take of you 100%!!!
Pasta sampler rotates and is the best way to expand your palate. They will also customize items that aren’t on the menu if you have something special in mind. I’ve also eaten at the Acqua al due in Florence and the food is as similar as it can be.
Also fantastic wine list.

The food was horrible I came her last night. It made me think of the behind the scene shows. Where they say authentic and it turns out it’s all from a box. The only reason I didn’t send all the food back was I didn’t want to ruin the night and embarrass my husband. We ordered the chicken in sauce which was over cooked. I ordered the pasta made with a creamy cheese sauce that tasted like it was from a box. I added shrimp and a ton of shredded Parmesan cheese to make it tasty.
The ambience was great our server was nice. The other waiter even noticed our faces when we tasted the food. He said is there something wrong with your food.

I came here last night with a group of people and let me just start out with saying how amazing Letizia was! She was a great server and truly took care of us from the beginning to the end. When I found out they have a location in Firenze, Italy as well, I knew we were going to have a true Italian experience. Letizia then began describing the region their food is influenced by and even made the remark, «this is true Northern Italian food, not the Americanized Italian you find here.» When she said this, I knew I was going to enjoy the good here.
I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to get their ai Spinaci or Porcini Funghi dish, so I asked Letizia which one she recommended and she said she would surprise me with one, which I thought was fun. She ended bringing me the Spinaci dish, which worked out great since my boyfriend decided to last minute order the Porcini dish, so I got to try both. They were both great! Although I fully enjoyed the Spianci dish, I think it was missing a little flavor of something; it seemed as though it could have used a little more flavor but still delicious. My favorite part was how well the pasta was made! Nice and true al dente– not too mushy and not too hard and crunchy, just a little tiny bite under the teeth (which is what al dente truly means). A couple of people at our table ordered the blueberry sauce steak. They both agreed it was phenomenal, meaning I need to come back and try it.
When it came time for dessert, we did not know what to order so we decided to order the tiramisu, Nutella gelato, and panna cotta to share together. They were all so fresh and delicious!
If you’re looking for a true Italian experience, I highly recommend coming here. Try to sit outside too, it took me back to the restaurants on the side of the streets in Italy so it had that full Italian effect!

As a food lover, I was so excited that one of the gifts I got as a result of being the 3^rd in a Frida Kahlo look-​alike contest was a $ 75 gift certificate to go to Acqua Al 2. I normally do a LOT with $ 75 but not here, unfortunately. I checked the menu online and no prices there, so I was expecting expensive but not that expensive. Anyways, I understand is a place mostly focused in congress goers and tourists, as many other Gaslamp restaurants, but honestly is not a place I would go often. I wanted so much to give this place a 4 or a 5, mostly because I feel very grateful that they gave such generous prices to the winners of that contest, but the cold meat was a turn off.
We ordered the balsamic vinegar filet mignon and the berry sauce filet mignon and both were delicious, tender meat, well cooked as we wanted but… cold when arrived to the table. Same as the risotto, barely warm. I want my meat sizzling, maybe I should have asked for that, and not assumed it will come like that. Besides, I did not like the appetizer we were given complimentary: some soupy beans with rosemary and bread. Those beans look better as soup, not as appetizer and the bread was nicely presented in a brown bag, that that was it. Give me just bread and olive oil and balsamic vinegar so I can create my own pansimonio and will be happier.
My friend had a beer and we did not have dessert. I did not want to go over the gift certificated, and even counting the pennies, we ended up paying not bad out of pocket. The service was great, the hostess very gracious, waiter professional and nice, atmosphere at the terrace facing the street quiet and nice (interior décor not as nice in my opinion, don’t like those tacky ceramic plates covering the walls), overall a pleasant restaurant. I would suggest to go lower on the prices and hotter on the meat. I am glad I skipped the pasta, antipasti and all the rest, I could have ended up frustrated. Thanks for the treat, though!

Balsalmic filet … live guitar, amarone 2007 .
Splendid fun.