Menu
Popular dishes
People also searched for
Location & Hours
Amenities and More
About the Business
Business owner information
Matteo C.
Traditional Neapolitan, fried and classic Italian style, gluten free pizzas. House made specialty pastas, seafood, meat and house made desserts.
Ask the Community
Q:
Which location is the original one and is it the best?
A:
I believe the South Park location is the original one. I personally prefer the Liberty Station location.
Tobi T.Â6 months agoQ:
Is the pizza in a jar still available to order?
A:
No it is not on their menu the last few years, I've not seen it as a special either the last few years. Perhaps call and ask to get a better idea just incase
Dawn B.Â10 months ago
Recommended Reviews
Overall rating
3493 reviews
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
- Mar 16, 2023Updated review
I like eating in this South Park neighborhood Buona Forchetta is located. It's mostly one or two story buildings. This spot was chosen for our monthly team lunch.
Bread had a crunchy outer layer with soft inside. Loved the fresh flavor.
Strawberry gelato had frozen strawberries throughout. Gelato was rich and creamy and bursting with strawberry flavor.
Vanilla gelato was rich and creamy. Bold vanilla flavor.
Round 2 on the gelato had an extra berry but it looked like the gelato had been left out for awhile as it was melted this time.
Buona Forchetta has excellent gelato and bread. Server was nice and provided good service except for serving me the melted gelato.
Leaving South Park the cute houses gave way to fog covered skyscrapers.Helpful 39Thanks 2Love this 37Oh no 0Feb 14, 2022Previous reviewCold filled my mouth. My teeth and tongue froze. I slowed down so I wouldn't get brain freeze. But it was so rich, creamy, and full vanilla and egg custard flavor I couldn't stop. Vanilla gelato was so good. The closest I have had to this delicious treat is Blue Bell French Vanilla ice cream.
https://www.hungryones.com/2018/04/blue-bell-ice-cream/
Raspberries added a tart raspberry flavor.
I visited Buona Forchetta for a work party and ordered gelato. They had vanilla and chocolate. I tried the vanilla. You get a small bowl for $9.
Staff was nice and got orders out pretty quickly. I like the South Park location. It's nice seeing single family houses with yards. The downside is during busy times there isn't much parking. - Dave L.Sunset Cliffs, San Diego, CA271Apr 6, 2024
Always lovely. Staff, food and environment is consistently wonderful. I recommend asking staff what is best that night
- they usually have a fun surprise.Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 1Oh no 0Business owner information
Team B.
Apr 7, 2024
Hi Dave , we really appreciate your 5 stars review , your Satisfaction is our reward , thank you very much !!!
- Catherine B.Clayton, MO01May 5, 2024
Wonderful restaurant! Casual ambiance, friendly staff, and really good food. We had an excellent eggplant torino appetizer and Margherita pizza with different red wines -- all superb -- followed by the best pannacotta. I felt like I was back in Italy for a while! And then could walk home.
Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0Business owner information
Team B.
May 9, 2024
Hi Catherine !
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this nice Review , your satisfaction is our reward , hope to see you soon.
Renato GM - George G.Vista, CA01Apr 28, 2024
Great food, even better service! Will definitely return! New favorite Italian spot in San Diego
Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0Business owner information
Team B.
May 9, 2024
Hi George!
Thank you very much fot this nice Review , we hope to see you soon!!!
Renato GM - Lindsey L.San Diego, CA103142May 10, 2024
This is a long overdue review. I recently moved out of San Diego and it only made me appreciate Buona Forchetta even more. My husband and I were regulars here, both dine-in and takeout. We've also been to every location multiple times, but we lived closest to the South Park location.
We tried so many different things over the years and I can honestly say all of them were amazing. Our go-to dishes were the Margherita pizza and cacio e pepe with bucatini pasta, and our go-to appetizer was the Burrata Caprese. You really can't go wrong with anything you choose!
The service was always great here. I do recall one experience where our server neglected us a little bit, but it was Mother's Day and he seemed to be prioritizing people who came with their mothers, so we weren't too phased.
I also love the atmosphere here. No mater what time of day we went, there was always great energy from both the staff and the customers. We love this place so much, we even had our wedding rehearsal lunch at the Encinitas location! Definitely one of our top Italian go-to spots.Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - May 8, 20241 check-in
My first time here I made a reservation on Open Table for a close friends' birthday. It was perfect from start to finish. As the host was walking us to the table she asked whose birthday it was and then I said it was my friend. Our meal was fantastic. We ordered a pizza and custom pasta. The pizza was honestly so good I couldn't stop talking about it after. Right after our meal they brought out a small dessert with a sparkler for my friend. This was a really nice touch and one of the reasons I choose this restaurant to celebrate her special day.
I really enjoyed my experience the first time so I decided to take my boyfriend here for his birthday dinner the following week. I make a reservation on Open Table and again stated that it was a birthday on the reservation. Similar to the first experience we were seated right away but the host didn't make any mention of a birthday.
I got the same pizza as the first time but this time it felt more doughy. All the toppings fell off the slice when we tried to hold it. My boyfriend said he would prefer if it was crispier at the bottom which I would have to agree. However, the lasagna was excellent.
I stated on the reservation that it was a birthday but I guess that didn't get communicated like it did the first time. I was expecting them to bring out the dessert after we finished our meal but they just asked if we wanted dessert as if this was a normal dinner. It made me think that they didn't even know it was his birthday. I wanted it to be a surprise but that didn't happen. I was quite disappointed. We ended up just leaving right after and got dessert somewhere else.
I can't give them a perfect 5/5 stars because of the miscommunication and the quality of the pizza was much different from the first time I had it.Helpful 1Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - Kianna J.University City, San Diego, CA21425May 6, 2024
Buono Forchetta is one of my favorite Italian Food spots in San Diego and its very authentic. Almost all of the staff speak Italian. My favorite location is the one on Coronado because the ambiance is great and its in an old vintage garage. They also have a little store front of Italian foods/specialty ingredients. Next, I would suggest the South Park on because its in a cute neighborhood. The one in liberty station is good too, but there's not much character to the space.
In terms of food, the focaccia bread with garlic is delicious with balsmaic vinegar and olive oil for an appetizer. For the entrée I would go with the build your own pasta and get the Buono Forchetta sauce. The marinara is a little spicy, but you can have them put it on the side and choose decide how much you want to add in. I haven't tried all the pizza's, but the bread itself is super soft and fluffy. Its delicious! And for dessert the panna cotta is so creamy and yummy!
This is a popular restaurant so if you are going on the weekend, expect a long wait.Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - 124232423May 18, 2024
Wow!!! Absolutely fantastic food! The GF Barbara pizza was marvelous!! You'd never know it was GF. We also got the GF foccacia but failed to capture a photo. And the salad was good just had a bit too much dressing. Over all, I would definitely recommend this to a friend and look forward to returning and trying something different!!
Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - 83220110May 5, 2024
There's a reason everyone says Buona Forchetta has the best pizza in San Diego. Got to experience it for the first time and agree with the hype. The crust is fluffy and baked perfectly. The toppings were all really fresh and together made a great pizza (I got the Juni and would have a hard time picking another after trying that one).
They have an extensive wine list, we went with the BF House Red and it was great! Our server was really friendly and made great recommendations.
If you haven't been here yet- you have to try it!Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0Business owner information
Team B.
May 9, 2024
Ciao Kimberly!
Thank you very much for this nice Review , we are very happy that you had a good experience with us , please come back soon !!
Renato Gm - May 10, 2024
Really good food! The margherita pizza was delicious and the buona forchetta pasta was even better. I loved that the red sauce was just dolloped on top, and they let me sub just normal marinara instead of the spicy marinara. Giving 4 stars because they don't give free bread anymore and I used to loooove their bread. The focaccia is good but they charge $6 for it. Please bring back the free bread :(
Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - 1659579177Mar 3, 2024
Buona Forchetta always has great food, atmosphere and service at all their locations. The South Park location is more intimate and neighborhood friendly for me. The main restaurant with outdoor dining under the tent and a bar two doors down that reminds me of dining at a friend's kitchen. However, parking is terrible.
The pastas are fresh and have choices for vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free lovers.
They don't have a full bar and offer a fixed menu of cocktails, beer, and wine. Their cocktails are made with soju which are 25% alcohol content and boy, do they sneak up on you! We got:
-Venetian spritzer: Prosecco, club soda, orange vermouth - bubbly
-Italian 76: gin, lemon, Prosecco - favorite! Refreshing
-Menabrea rossa: Italian craft red beer - not many red beers on the market. I'm also not a beer drinker but this Italian beer was so smooth!
For food, I stuck to vegetarian options.
-Focaccia added garlic: huge 10 inch 6 slices
-Built my own pasta with pesto pappardelle.
-margherita pizza: same size as the focaccia bread
We had a party of 11, celebrating 3 bdays and we received 2 focaccia on the house as well as 2 straccetti alla Nutella desserts on the house. The dessert are fried pizza dough strips with Nutella, fruits and powdered sugar. Reminded me of funnel cake. The menu said this serves 2 people, but we had more eaters and still had leftovers.
Overall, great experience!Helpful 1Thanks 0Love this 4Oh no 0Business owner information
Team B.
Mar 7, 2024
Thank you so much for dining with us Myphuong !!
We LOVE 5 star reviews :-)
Please come back again and make yourself known next time. I would love to meet you!
Renato GM