A gang of us went out to a late lunch today at a new restaurant in Jamul: the Venetia. It’s an Italian restaurant, though their menu has a number of things on it that are not Italian at all (e.g., jambalaya and chicken noodle soup). The restaurant is located in the little strip mall just behind the 7/11 at the intersection of Campo Road (94) and Steele Canyon Road.
We had a great meal, with dishes that uniformly surprised us with their excellent quality. Between the four of us we had salad, minestrone soup, clam chowder (excellent!), garlic bread (it will make your brains fall out!), lobster ravioli (very good!), mozzarella/sausage/mushroom pizza (yum — watch out, Filippi’s!), fettucini with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, and chicken (great!), and tira misu (mmmm!). Even the iced tea was very good, and that’s something that’s often mediocre even at nice restaurants. Including a nice tip (because the service was very good), we ended up spending about $23 per person. We thought that represented a very good value for what we got.
After the meal, we introduced ourselves to the proprietor (Sam), who told us things were going well — and expected to go even better soon, after they get their liquor license. I suspect he’s right about that!
We’ll be back to the Venetia regularly, I suspect. Next time you’re in the mood for a nice Italian meal, give it a try — I don’t think you’re likely to be disappointed…
