Antica Trattoria is a warm restaurant with an old-fashioned sense of hospitality that quickly became a gathering place for diners in Lake Murray and the rest of San Diego when it opened in 2001.

For executive chef and owner Francesco Basile, good cuisine is about honest flavors, fresh ingredients and simplicity. That’s the kind of food he grew up eating by the seaside in Sicily and it’s what he learned in culinary school in Italy. “My food is fresh and seasonal and the prices are reasonable,” Francesco says. “That’s why we have so many diners who come back over and over again.”

Diners savor Antica Trattoria’s richly flavored dishes such as salmone al pistacchio, etna bronte pistachio crusted fresh salmon in a prosecco orange beurre blanc sauce tender cavatelli pasta with roasted eggplant, fresh tomatoes and shaved asiago cheese; or zabaglione painstakingly whipped by hand.

Francesco and his cook Eric Ruiz and Antony Deluca look forward to the changing seasons which allow them to showcase dishes like lobster with roasted fennel in spring, caponata bursting with the flavor of tomato in summer or pumpkin ravioli with chestnut cream sauce in autumn. “Sometimes you see food and and it has a beautiful presentation but you taste it and it’s not good,” Francesco says. “My philosophy when I do a plate is people have to taste all the ingredients in the dish.”

The team at Antica Trattoria are skilled at all facets of hospitality whether their clients are dreaming of a romantic dinner paired with specially selected wines, or need off-site catering for corporate events or family parties. Come experience the old-world style of service and satisfying Italian cuisine at Antica Trattoria.