Elvira

"Over the weekend I finally got to try the fine dining restaurant Elvira (across the street from 3rd Corner in the former Bo-Beau location) that opened a few months back. Elvira is newest Italian restaurant from the same crew that run the very popular Cesarina over by Catalina Lounge. What an incredible meal! While inside the restaurant I forgot I was still in Ocean Beach and felt like I had time warped to Italy for a late lunch. I was a little overwhelmed by the menu so I asked my friendly server to point out a few favorites on the menu. I went with the Fettuccine Maiale E Spuntature and I’m glad I did. It was homemade fettuccine, braised pork shoulder, baby back ribs in fresh tomato sauce and pecorino cheese. I could instantly taste the high quality of food from the first bite all the way till the last. This plate was deliciously meat heavy under the thick fresh pasta. Their service was top notch as everyone was super friendly and attentive. From my first steps walking inside this restaurant, it felt like I was invited into someone’s home for a great home cooked meal. Elvira will definitely be a spot I’ll be visiting on special occasions. Highly suggest making online reservations as the reserved tables fill up pretty fast. They also have a bar that takes walk ins for dining but I’m guessing those spots will also fill up fast."

"Great little Italian spot. I felt like I was transported to the streets of Italy eating pasta in Florence or something. Our table shared a bunch of pasta dishes and pizzas. The pizza with the pepperoni meats was the best one. The pasta was all handmade and very good. Just don’t ask them for a side of ranch when you order pizza. They will get really sad if you do."

"We had dinner reservations for Elvira on Sunday at 7 pm. We were seated immediately. The restaurant was busy and incredibly noisy. We tried the fritti del giorno which was bacalhau and arancini. The bacalhau was really good - very crispy and well seasoned. The arancini was also good - it tasted like it was flavored with a really intense Bolognese sauce. For entrees, we had the cotolette del fiorentino, fiori e alici pizza, and pizza special. The cotolette del fiorentino was ground veal that was made into huge patties and fried (it looked like schnitzel) and it was served with arugula and artichokes. This was good but I don't know if I would get it again - it seems like it would be monotonous to eat after a while. The fiori e alici pizza is one without tomato sauce and it had sardines and squash blossoms on it. It was really beautiful to look at and the zuchinni crema on top was tasty! However, my favorite was the special pizza which had prosciutto and burrata on it. The meat and burrata were just perfect on the pizza. For dessert, we shared a maritozzo which is a fluffy bread roll filled with whipped cream. This was served slightly warm and was also delicious! I have never had this before and we were instructed to use our hands instead of utensils to eat! Overall, I thought the food was good. This seems to be the place to go to if you want pizza. If you want more pasta options, I think Cesarina (same owners) is the better option. There is pretty limited parking here and they were also out of the pasta special for the day by the time we got there too. I don't think there is an outdoor seating here as well."

"This restaurant opened this week and we went there for dinner on their third day. We have been long time fans of the sister restaurant Cesarina, and so we were very excited to check this place out. This restaurant is in the old BO-beau location. I highly recommend getting reservations for dinner. They have an extensive menu. Some of the Cesarina favorites are now going to be exclusively available at Elvira. I am vegetarian and my friends eat meat so we ordered a lot of things off the menu. Everything tasted good. The pastas were exactly like the pastas from Cesarina ,so no complaints there. Since this is a pizza restaurant, we want to try pizzas and we ordered a couple of them. The Ortolona and Parmigiana were both excellent pizzas, and they were both vegetarian. The parmigiana was definitely a showstopper with the smoked provola, fried eggplant, and mozzarella on it. In the dessert section we ended up ordering CIAMBELLINE MBRIACHELLE. These were hard fried donuts that you could eat with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. The donuts had a find taste of anise.. we all liked the dessert but we did not love it. we will explore the dessert menu more as we keep going back to this place. Last thing to mention is that the restaurant runs hot, so definitely wear layers that can be peeled off if needed ,if you’re going there. This restaurant definitely is another gem in the Italian restaurant scene of San Diego. Will definitely be going back here."