Cremolose - Flash

Date of Dining: 2/25/2012
Price: $8-12 appetizers, $8-11 sandwiches, $11-15 pizzas
Location: 840 5th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
website

The Quick Bit:

+ unique environment of Italian dessert + "club"

+ large selection of desserts

Δ "lost" order during non-peak hours

Δ mis-labeled dish naming

Δ could get higher quality ingredients for the price paid

I visited Cremolose along with several other San Diego bloggers as part of a SeriousEats meetup. While the meeting occurred several months ago, I sat on my photos for a long time because I was conflicted on whether to post my thoughts.

On one hand, Cremolose has an interesting concept for downtown San Diego in that it contains the club atmosphere with a wide variety of Italian desserts.

On the other hand, my experience at the restaurant was so bad that I find it hard to write anything even neutral about the experience.

When I ordered my food during non-peak times (as in our party was maybe 15 of 25 people in the restaurant), it took over an hour for my food to arrive. It turned out that despite paying my money prior to the food being served, the ticket was lost and there was no intention to serve the food. Further, when I inquired to my order with the manager, I was treated as a liar and was met with skepticism at my claim even though I produced the receipt.

When the food finally arrived, I felt that the description of the items on the menu may not have correctly reflected the food that was finally served.

The Food

portabello e speck - cow milk mozzarella, portobello mushroom, imported speck, and truffle oil

quattro formaggi - gorgonzola, mozzarella, asiago, and parmigiano

The pizzas were provided as part of the SeriousEats meetup, and was the least offensive food served by the restaurant. Still, I would prefer pizza from Bruno, Blue Ribbon, Calabria, and many other San Diego pizzerias, especially at the price point.

carpaccio di bue - thin sliced filet mignon, arugula, shaved parmigiano, cherry tomato, lemon olive oil

For the price of this menu item, I thought there would be more than the seven thing slices of filet served. Further, the shaved parmigiano didn't make the plate and it was sorely missed as the dish required that additional element to really elevate the flavors against the relatively flavorless filet.

porchetta panini - slow roasted imported pork, provolone cheese, roasted mushrooms, mayo

Calling the protein porchetta would be a huge insult; calling the protein even ham would constitute as an insult to ham. Calling the final sandwich a panini is probably even a stretch.

Conclusion:

Over two months after my dining experience at Cremolose, I still feel some outrage at the memory of the food I was served. If I ever return to Cremolose again, it will be too soon.

Luckily, the company that I enjoyed in meeting the other bloggers and SeriousEats personalities made the time enjoyable and worth the trip. I look forward to more blogger meetup events in the future, but perhaps at establishments with less offensive dining options.