Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Chula Vista's Via Lago Trattoria

Last December, after closing on our new house in Chula Vista, our real estate agent gave my husband and me a $100 gift card for the Busalacchi family of restaurants. There is one, he said, not too far from our new house. We found it in January.

We went, we dined, we came home with $24 left on the gift card. Last week, I found said gift card in my wallet and returned to Via Lago Trattoria alone and in need of some quiet indulgence.

It was about 5:30 on a Wednesday evening. Inside, the restaurant was dim and quiet. A few people sat at the bar. In the dining room, only one table was occupied. The hostess sat me at a table by a window obscured from the outside by foliage. It was the perfect hideout for me.

My waiter, whose name I would later learn was Stefano, took my order for a glass of Clos du Bois Chardonnay ($8.75 per glass), the arugula salad (with pistachios, apples, goat cheese, and lemon herb vinaigrette - $7.95), and the rigatoni sausage (with fresh tomato, capers, and olives - $15.95).

When I asked Stefano to bring the salad and the pasta at the same time, he seemed surprised. I guessed he wasn’t accustomed to such a request and that threw him off of his routine, but then he said, with a rich Italian accent, “In Italy, we never eat the salad before the pasta. But in America, everyone wants the salad before the pasta. ”

“I was going to eat them at the same time,” I said.

“This is Ok,” he said. “I will bring them at the same time. Would you like some bread to start?”

I hesitated for a second.

“Of course,” he answered for me. “A little bread is good.”

And he was right. It was very good bread. As was everything else. The pasta was eyes-rolling-in-the-back-of-my-head good, and the salad (though a little heavy on the pistachios) was the perfect cool, crisp complement to the spicy sausage.

The food and the quiet atmosphere alone would have made it a pleasant evening, but in Stefano’s care, I was in heaven. Everyone knows what bad service looks like, and most people have an idea of what good service should look like, but excellent service is rare. As other people came into the restaurant and sat in Stefano’s section, he charmed them all. And when he came back to me, I felt as though I were the only one.

Stefano, the oldest server on staff, has been waiting tables for 28 years. He told me the secret to his brilliance.

“I do this job with my heart,” he said. “I tell everybody, when you do a job only for money, no good. You must do it with your heart.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?
Next Article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule

Last December, after closing on our new house in Chula Vista, our real estate agent gave my husband and me a $100 gift card for the Busalacchi family of restaurants. There is one, he said, not too far from our new house. We found it in January.

We went, we dined, we came home with $24 left on the gift card. Last week, I found said gift card in my wallet and returned to Via Lago Trattoria alone and in need of some quiet indulgence.

It was about 5:30 on a Wednesday evening. Inside, the restaurant was dim and quiet. A few people sat at the bar. In the dining room, only one table was occupied. The hostess sat me at a table by a window obscured from the outside by foliage. It was the perfect hideout for me.

My waiter, whose name I would later learn was Stefano, took my order for a glass of Clos du Bois Chardonnay ($8.75 per glass), the arugula salad (with pistachios, apples, goat cheese, and lemon herb vinaigrette - $7.95), and the rigatoni sausage (with fresh tomato, capers, and olives - $15.95).

When I asked Stefano to bring the salad and the pasta at the same time, he seemed surprised. I guessed he wasn’t accustomed to such a request and that threw him off of his routine, but then he said, with a rich Italian accent, “In Italy, we never eat the salad before the pasta. But in America, everyone wants the salad before the pasta. ”

“I was going to eat them at the same time,” I said.

“This is Ok,” he said. “I will bring them at the same time. Would you like some bread to start?”

I hesitated for a second.

“Of course,” he answered for me. “A little bread is good.”

And he was right. It was very good bread. As was everything else. The pasta was eyes-rolling-in-the-back-of-my-head good, and the salad (though a little heavy on the pistachios) was the perfect cool, crisp complement to the spicy sausage.

The food and the quiet atmosphere alone would have made it a pleasant evening, but in Stefano’s care, I was in heaven. Everyone knows what bad service looks like, and most people have an idea of what good service should look like, but excellent service is rare. As other people came into the restaurant and sat in Stefano’s section, he charmed them all. And when he came back to me, I felt as though I were the only one.

Stefano, the oldest server on staff, has been waiting tables for 28 years. He told me the secret to his brilliance.

“I do this job with my heart,” he said. “I tell everybody, when you do a job only for money, no good. You must do it with your heart.”

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Carbs inside of carbs

Hollowed-out rolls filled with pasta
Next Article

Gifts for Teachers

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.