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

Handmade Pasta

Located near the beginning of Orange, soon after that broad avenue peels away from the Strand, Island Pasta in Coronado is a humble Italian-American styled pasta house just a stone's throw from the luxury of the Hotel Del Coronado. Crown City isn't the most rambunctious place and Island Pasta's corner is particularly peaceful on any given night. It capitalizes on that quietude with some lovely seats on the patio for taking in the evening air, a glass of wine, and a bowl of the restaurant's handmade pasta.

While the menu offers some entrees and pizzas to round things out, it's really dedicated to pasta dishes of varying complexity. Expect to pay as little as $8 for a bowl of pasta with one of the house sauces, or as much as $14 for something like lobster ravioli and other, more substantial dishes. Island Pasta deserves credit for preparing their own pasta, as there is no task more time consuming in the history of restaurant prep. Because of this, it seems like the simple dishes that highlight the pasta itself (rather than what's served with it) are most in keeping with the restaurant's strength.

The restaurant's pasta selection included spaghetti, the smaller spaghettini, fettuccine, rigatoni, and shells; each of which could be dressed with pesto, marinara, meat sauce, oil and garlic, or with creamy alfredo sauce that's almost always too rich for my blood. The meat sauce was very satisfying, although anything but subtle. It was rich, thick, and laced with meat and mushrooms. In similar fashion, the pesto was a bold explosion of green basil and raw garlic that left little to the imagination, but also satisfied to the extreme. The pasta had the texture of a fresh egg noodle, which is a little bit softer than dried pasta ever is, though still toothsome and able to stand on it's own as a flavorful ingredient. Superfluous, but no less delicious, slices of bread tucked in at the edge of each bowl could have been provided with butter but were of good enough quality that they didn't expressly need it.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/25/32164/

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/25/32165/

Competent, gracious service and $5-$7 glasses of, admittedly unremarkable, wine combine with Island Pasta's unsophisticated fare to create a spot that's ideal for a quick bite to eat. The restaurant's best virtues are in simplicity and frugality and it delivers on both those points with aplomb. Spending much more than $15 per person on food and drinks could lead to disappointment, but keeping it simple and will do just the opposite.

1202 Orange Avenue
619-435-4545

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

Previous article

Best Kratom Capsules: Top Brands, Benefits & Where To Buy

Located near the beginning of Orange, soon after that broad avenue peels away from the Strand, Island Pasta in Coronado is a humble Italian-American styled pasta house just a stone's throw from the luxury of the Hotel Del Coronado. Crown City isn't the most rambunctious place and Island Pasta's corner is particularly peaceful on any given night. It capitalizes on that quietude with some lovely seats on the patio for taking in the evening air, a glass of wine, and a bowl of the restaurant's handmade pasta.

While the menu offers some entrees and pizzas to round things out, it's really dedicated to pasta dishes of varying complexity. Expect to pay as little as $8 for a bowl of pasta with one of the house sauces, or as much as $14 for something like lobster ravioli and other, more substantial dishes. Island Pasta deserves credit for preparing their own pasta, as there is no task more time consuming in the history of restaurant prep. Because of this, it seems like the simple dishes that highlight the pasta itself (rather than what's served with it) are most in keeping with the restaurant's strength.

The restaurant's pasta selection included spaghetti, the smaller spaghettini, fettuccine, rigatoni, and shells; each of which could be dressed with pesto, marinara, meat sauce, oil and garlic, or with creamy alfredo sauce that's almost always too rich for my blood. The meat sauce was very satisfying, although anything but subtle. It was rich, thick, and laced with meat and mushrooms. In similar fashion, the pesto was a bold explosion of green basil and raw garlic that left little to the imagination, but also satisfied to the extreme. The pasta had the texture of a fresh egg noodle, which is a little bit softer than dried pasta ever is, though still toothsome and able to stand on it's own as a flavorful ingredient. Superfluous, but no less delicious, slices of bread tucked in at the edge of each bowl could have been provided with butter but were of good enough quality that they didn't expressly need it.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/25/32164/

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/sep/25/32165/

Competent, gracious service and $5-$7 glasses of, admittedly unremarkable, wine combine with Island Pasta's unsophisticated fare to create a spot that's ideal for a quick bite to eat. The restaurant's best virtues are in simplicity and frugality and it delivers on both those points with aplomb. Spending much more than $15 per person on food and drinks could lead to disappointment, but keeping it simple and will do just the opposite.

1202 Orange Avenue
619-435-4545

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