Union Kitchen & Tap

Classic example of over promise, under deliver. Pretty place, great location, ho-hum food which does not live up to the hype or the history. Maybe once it did when the original owners who hail from Brusi and Calabria were doing the cooking...but too many pre-packaged restaurant supply items being passed off as "authentic Italian cuisine," in my opinion. When you add in the price this becomes a genuine disappointment where you leave shaking your head muttering, "never again." Service, however, was attentive and pleasant. But if you are looking for an authentic food-to-moan-by Italian meal you'd have more luck in my kitchen at 1/3 the price. That, or Stouffers lasagna.

That restaurant started out in Leucadia, about two miles (or three) north of its present location. Later it moved in to replace Portofino, also an Italian eatery that had started strong, and then lost its edge. (This all goes back almost twenty years.) The last time we were at When in Rome, the service was pathetic. The waiter had all the aplomb of a hod carrier, and spoke little English. He could not answer a couple simple questions, but had the patter down to assure us that the soup of the day was "Out of this World." Encinitas has SO many Italian restaurants now--most named trattorias--that you need not settle for When in Rome. Try the various Vigilucci offerings on the North Coast first.